Weekly news round-up: Tiger grounded, Tomic shocks and delights, and Kate Moss ties the knot

IN THIS week’s news roundup, Australia’s cheapest airline faces grounding and potential closure, Australian 18-year-old tennis star Bernard Tomic ends his dream run at Wimbledon, and supermodel Kate Moss marries a rockstar.

Grounded. Tiger Airways has been grounded by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. Photo: Wikimedia

Grounded. Tiger Airways has been grounded by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. Photo: Wikimedia

Tiger Airways facing grounding and potential closure

 

Last week Tiger Airways was grounded by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, which revoked Tiger’s permission to fly due to “systematic” safety concerns. The airline was cited to post “a serious and imminent risk to air safety.”

An estimation of over 35,000 passengers booked to travel in this coming week will now be affected by the grounding, unfortunately timed over the school holiday period. The authorities are unapologetic, warning travellers to be wary of travelling on Tiger Airways, further stating that the culture at the airline has not been acceptable to Australian regulators and that if the airline fails to adhere to the appropriate standards of aviation safety, it will not be allowed to operate

Speculation is that the grounding of Tiger Airways could be terminal – and the airline may cease to operate altogether if the permission to fly is not granted again within a fortnight. Aside from brand-damage and loss of consumer trust from this incident, the huge cash out-flow from cash refunds and compensations alone have been estimated to affect the company severely.

The budget airline, despite a reputation for being unreliable, has been heavily used by students, who favour it for its significantly lower prices.

Bernard Tomic in his match against Rafael Nadal. Photo: Wikimedia

Bernard Tomic in his match against Rafael Nadal. Photo: Wikimedia

Bernard Tomic’s Wimbledon run

On Sunday night, the Wimbledon tennis championship drew to a close with Novak Djokovic clutching the trophy for the men’s singles title; but the star at this year’s most prestigious Grand Slam was not the newly crowned Serbian world number one, but in fact an Australian teenager by the name of Bernard Tomic.

Tomic, before his unexpected success at Wimbledon, was ranked 158th in the world. Having only competed in the senior’s tour since 2009, he won three rounds in the qualifying matches to advance into the main championship draw. Tomic then went on to defeat the 28th seeded player Nikolay Davydenko in the first round, and Igor Andreev in the second. He then caused the upset of the tournament by emerging victorious against the Robin Soderling – the then 5th seeded player and a two-time Grand Slam finalist.

Winning against Xavier Malisse in the fourth round, Bernard Tomic became the first 18-year-old to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in over one and a half decades. At the quarter-finals, he was defeated by the eventual champion of the tournament Novak Djokovic. However, the dream-run at Wimbledon demonstrated not only personal promise and talent for the young tennis player, but also helped to once again raise the profile for Australian tennis on the global stage.

Rising 87 places in rankings, Tomic is now number 71 in the world according to the ATP. When asked whether he was disappointed to not have gone further in the competition, a humble if delighted Tomic said that he had never expected to make it through to even the second week of the tournament, but now added that “now I have really learnt to play my game, I’m not going to stop now.”

Many tennis veterans agreed, praising Tomic for his skills and sportsmanship. If the 18-year-old continues in the same vein, the tennis world can expect a new star in the young Australian.

Kate Moss. Photo: Wikimedia

Kate Moss’ wedding

Over the weekend, super-model Kate Moss married rock star Jamie Hince of The Killers in what many termed “the complete opposite of the royal wedding”.

Roads were shut off and there was a “large police presence” at the wedding. Local residents and guests of the wedding had to enter Little Farington, Oxfordshire and Southrop, Gloucestershire using special permits.  Many residents appeared disgruntled at the disruption caused by a three-day celebration, but Moss appeased them by gifting each and every single resident with a bottle of Moet, as a sign of gratitude for their patience and understanding.

For the ceremony, Moss wore an ivory Galliano dress, with her daughter Lila Grace as one of her 15 bridesmaids. The guest-list was no less stellar, with A-list names like designers Stellar McCartney, Dame Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, fellow-supermodel Naomi Campbell, Jade Jagger, actor Jude Law and ex-wife Sadie Frost all in attendance, not to mention international fashion power-brokers such as Vogue’s Anna Wintour and Carine Roitfield, as well as Topshop owner Philip Green.

With the three-day party, the numerous outfits and the bottles upon bottles of Moet, Moss is rumoured to have spend a hefty one million pounds on the entire occasion.

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