Fiji court dismisses claim that coup was illegal

By (AP)

Britain will compensate more than two dozen women from its Pitcairn Island territory in the South Pacific for decades of sexual abuse carried out by male islanders, the governor there said Friday.

The islanders are descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers who seized their ship in 1789, and the Tahitians who settled with them. The mutineers landed on the remote island, burned the Bounty and sank it in the bay to evade the British Navy.

The islanders lived in isolation until an American trading ship arrived in 1808. British Navy ships independently rediscovered Pitcairn Island...

By (AP)

Qantas Airways said Thursday it will compensate all passengers who were on board a plane that made a terrifying plunge this week, tossing people around the cabin and injuring dozens.

Every passenger will receive an airfare refund and a travel voucher equal to the cost of a flight between Australia and London, a Qantas spokesman said.

The airline also planned to help pay medical expenses for injured passengers, said the spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity because of company policy.

More than 40 people were taken to hospitals, with 14 seriously injured after the...

By (AP)

Instruments aboard a Qantas airliner warned of a glitch in its stabilization system when it suddenly rose and plunged, tossing unbelted passengers to the ceiling and injuring more than 70 people, Australian investigators said Wednesday.

The A330-300 was carrying 303 passengers and 10 crew from Singapore to the Western Australian city of Perth, and was nearing its destination Tuesday when it experienced the sudden altitude changes while flying at 37,000 feet.

The plane made an emergency landing in Learmonth, Western Australia.

Passenger Jim Ford, of Perth, said he...