virgin australia a little earlier today resumed all flights.ooking to hopefully end the backlog that it built up in particular by melbourne tonight. similar story for qantas. they've all been putting on more flights in and out of melbourne as well as bigger planes. qantas has come under a little bit of criticism by some people. virgin australia can resume all flights, why can't qantas. it is a matter of safety. the attention a lot of time at the moment turning to what kind of cost is this going to be for many of the airlines. qantas suggested too early to tell at this stage. however, they suggested when the eyes landic ash cloud was causing havoc that cost $40 million. so a pricey bill for qantas when this does end. >> are there going to be more ash cloud disruptions in what's the with the volcano itself? >> look, it's a difficult one. this one coming out of khaeul lay. we have heard reports there could be a potential impact in australia. it could push away from perspective. if it doesn't we could start to see that impact on that western side o

singapore airlines and virgin australia signed a ticketing deal allowing each airline to sell seats on each other's flights. the deal will extend singapore airlines networks across the pacific as well as within australia. it's been well received by investors. shares of virgin australia's parent company rose today. in contrast, qantas saw its share price slide more than 1%. and singapore airlines fell slightly ending down 0.10%. >>> as you know, airline security has become dramatically tighter. and we could see more changes at the checkpoint so what can air travelers expect? andrew stevens gives us a look. >> reporter: welcome to the future, specifically the checkpoint of the future. this is what iata, the airline industry trade body is hoping will become common place a one-stop shop for security from the curb to the gate, as they say, with dignity. how does it work? let's ask ken dunlap. hello. >> welcome. >> thank you very much. you're head of security at iata. walk us through this. >> i want to show you the revolution. >> okay. >> the first thing you need do is identify yourself to t

airlines like a virgin australia were trying to fly around and below the ash cloud. this time, they have decided it is too dangerous. qantas has had a cautious policy throughout. it says safety is more important than schedule. this comes at the end of the year or qantas has already had problems with its super jumbos. it grounded those. also, the ash cloud in europe. a nightmare for australian airlines. >> thank you so much for updating us. you are watching "newsday" on the bbc, live from singapore and london. still to come, our series on asian mega-cities continues. what is the secret of singapore's success? >> and even worse state than previously thought. in the u.k., and there have been disturbances in northern ireland. there are reports a group of men are attacking people. >> in east belfast, there is what is called a flash point area, where a mainly catholic area meets a mainly protestant area. as you can see, there has been trouble. a lot of youths wearing masks, throwing missiles, mostly bricks and stones. sinn fein are claiming some loyalists have thrown paddl

. >> last week, some airlines like virgin australia took to the skies by flying under the plume. this time its base is 7,000 feet closer to the ground which poses too much of a risk. >> we have about 1670 flights -- 170 flights which have been cancelled today and we will go into more now that we have decided to cancel melbourne, so we're looking well over 25,000 people that will be affected by. this. >> at adelaide airport, the ash cloud remained above the flight path and it remained shut throughout the day. there was disruption in melbourne, the second busiest airport and international flights have also been affected with some london services leaving early before the restrictions took effect. and incoming flights diverted to brisbane. with meteorologists warning 5 disruption for another 48 hours, quantas has announced it is grounding all scheduled flights to and from sydney, melbourne and cambra wednesday. and then there were eight. that's how many candidates have officially announced they are running for the republican presidential nomination in 2012. today, jon huntsman was th

virgin australia resumed all flights.hey say they will be flying underneath the ash cloud that is, as you mentioned, blowing over from chile. that led to some criticism of qantas questioning why if virgin can do it why they can't do it. they said the heart of their decision-making of course is safety. >>> okay. many thanks updating us on the travel disruption there. >>> now, it's proved to be one tangleded web of a broadway production. but after months of delays the spider-man musical has finally opened on new york's great white way. >>> we'll see what it took to put such a challenging show together. that's just ahead. risks when i was young. but i was still taking a risk with my cholesterol. anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. diet and exercise weren't enough for me. i stopped kidding myself. i've been eating healthier, exercising more, and now i'm also taking lipitor. if you've been kidding yourself about high cholesterol, stop. along with diet, lipitor has been shown to lower bad chol

qantas, virgin, australia and jetstar working overtime. they brought in more planes, bringing on more stuff to try to work through the backlog. they are expecting to i suppose get that dissipated by the end of the week. the bad news, though, is for those people looking to travel to and from tasmania or new zealand. those flights still canceled at this stage. that second chilean ash cloud you mentioned is starting to thin out, dissipate. but it is moving over the as the man, hence the issues with tasmania and new zealand. jetstar says they will look to put flights back to and from as mania by 10:00 tomorrow, new zealand, they'll re-evaluate by midday tomorrow. in terms of the passengers, i suppose when it comes to safety, that is the number one concern. this time around they seem a little more prepared for the waiting around. still big, big queues. we did see a lot of passenger terminals a bit deserted. checking regularly the updates on the airlines, not quite the level of frustration and anger. still many people looking forward to finally

virgin's space ship cost $200,000. we hope to bring the cost down so years to come from now one day, you know, it will be -- shall i go to australia on the holiday or two space? >> well, i want to ask you this. you played a part in this very high-profile drug panel that recently recommended that the u.s. government needs to come up with more creative ways to legally regulate drugs, especially marijuana. why was it important to you to be on the panel? do you see actually any movement or anything coming out of the recommendations? >> i was on the panel because we looked -- we examined the war on drugs and seen if it had been working. it has not been working. more and more people take drugs every year. you have millions in prisons, and many of them just for taking drugs. and so the global commission of drugs examined what has been going on in different countries. we found places like portugal, and switzerland and germany, they treat drugs as a health problem and not a criminal problem. portugal puts nobody in prison for taking drugs. they help those people. as a result, the number fr people taking heroin has halved. and the people on