Denmark bans drone flights after fresh drone sightings at military bases
Denmark announced on Sunday that it was banning civilian drone flights after sightings of drones near several military facilities overnight, following...
Qantas Airways has been fined A$90 million ($58.64 million) for illegally firing 1,800 ground staff during the COVID-19 pandemic and replacing them with contractors, the Federal Court of Australia said on Monday (August 18).
In imposing the penalty, the largest ordered by a court on a company in the history of Australia’s labour laws, Federal Court Judge Michael Lee also inveighed against the airline's litigation strategy.
While Qantas made changes to its board and management team, Lee said subsequent expressions of regret seemed more aligned with "the damage" the case had done to the company than remorse for the harm caused to workers.
"I accept Qantas is sorry, but I am unconvinced that this measure of regret is not, at least in significant measure ... the wrong kind of sorry," he added.
Lee said the size of the penalty, about 75% of the maximum he could have set, was important to ensure it "could not be perceived as anything like the cost of doing business".
He said A$50 million of the fine would be paid to the Transport Workers' Union (TWU), which brought the case against Qantas.
After the decision, Michael Kaine, the national secretary of the TWU, said, "Against all the odds, we took on a behemoth ... that had shown itself to be ruthless, and we won."
This penalty of $90 million, an unprecedented amount for an industrial breach, reflects the gravity of this. This is the largest breach in industrial relations history, and it devastated these workers and their colleagues and their families," Kaine said outside the court.
Monday's decision follows a December agreement on a compensation fund of A$120 million struck by the airline and the sacked workers.
Qantas said it was a commercial decision but the Federal Court in 2021 held the move to be "adverse action", preventing staff from exercising their workplace rights and unionising, in breach of Australia’s Fair Work Act.
Assessing Qantas’ actions, Lee said he was unconvinced it was truly contrite and criticised its culture, public relations approach and litigation strategy.
AnewZ has learned that India has once again blocked Azerbaijan’s application for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while Pakistan’s recent decision to consider diplomatic relations with Armenia has been coordinated with Baku as part of Azerbaijan’s peace agenda.
A day of mourning has been declared in Portugal to pay respect to victims who lost their lives in the Lisbon Funicular crash which happened on Wednesday evening.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Denmark announced on Sunday that it was banning civilian drone flights after sightings of drones near several military facilities overnight, following a week in which drone activity forced the temporary closure of a number of Danish airports.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday called on his Labour Party to stop “navel gazing” and to unite against Reform UK, accusing the rising populist party of pursuing a “racist policy” of mass deportation if it came to power.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday there was “a real chance for greatness in the Middle East”, though he offered no concrete details or timeline, just days after claiming he was close to securing an agreement to end the conflict in Gaza.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has vowed a “significant improvement” in the security of government administrative systems after a major fire at the national data centre brought online services across the country to a halt.
The Kremlin on Sunday dismissed warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Russian officials should familiarise themselves with bomb shelters, saying Kyiv was losing the conflict and that its negotiating position was weakening.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment