eAdelaide

.A Qantas flight from Sydney to New Zealand had to be aborted today minutes before take-off. A Qantas spokeswoman says an engineer noticed a technical fault in the plane's right wing flap during checking as the plane was taxiing towards the runway. More than 200 passengers have been given accommodation and meal vouchers and have been booked on another flight tomorrow. She says the flight was aborted as a precaution. . The cause of the damage is being assessed the spokeswoman said. And in October...

. A New Zealand-bound Qantas flight had to be aborted minutes before takeoff when wing damage was discovered by an engineer at Sydney airport. The Christchurch-bound Qantas 747-300 was taxiing towards the runway at 9. The engineer notified the pilot, who aborted the flight.15am (AEST) Saturday, when an engineer noticed damage to its right wing flap. The cause of the damage is being assessed, a spokeswoman for the airline said. Qantas said all 213 passengers on the plane have been provided with accommodation and meal vouchers, and booked on another flight on Sunday...

. Jailed gangland killer Carl Williams is mourning the death of his mother Barbara, who is believed to have taken her own life by overdosing on drugs. The body of Barbara Williams was found in the bedroom of her home in Melbourne's north-western suburbs on Saturday morning. Ms Williams was said to have been suffering from depression after her son Carl was last year jailed for 35 years for the murders of three gangland rivals, while her estranged husband George Williams, 61, is also serving time for drugs convictions. Police confirmed an empty pill...

.The Federal Opposition has criticised the Government's decision to axe the general knowledge quiz about Australia in its overhaul of the citizenship test. The Government has dumped questions about famous Australian sporting identities like Sir Don Bradman from the test, after a review conducted by a panel of experts. And the standard of English will be lowered for "disadvantaged" applicants such as refugees, who will sit a special course. The Government today revealed the focus of the citizenship test will move away from general knowledge about...

.A severe weather warning has been cancelled for south-east Queensland. The region has been lashed by wild weather for almost a week, damaging over 4,000 homes. The Bureau of Meteorology says the trough system has moved out to sea and winds are no longer expected to be damaging. "We are still looking at relatively windy conditions across the Brisbane area and south-east area as well, but not the anticipated wind gusts that we forecast getting up to 90kph," he said. Senior forecaster Craig Mitchell says...