Missing Cruise Passengers in Australia

There has been yet another setback for the now infamous Carnival Cruise Line. While traveling on a ten day Pacific Island cruise, a couple was discovered to be missing from the Carnival Spirit. It wasn’t discovered that they were missing until last Thursday when the ship arrived in Sydney, Australia to dock. They didn’t come to pick up their luggage. However, they were on the cruise with family and friends, who probably should have noticed that they were missing. After watching surveillance footage, it is thought that they were about halfway up the ship when they fell off supposedly near Foster, New South Wales. It is 135 miles from Foster to Sydney, but police believe that they will be able to find them.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/09/world/asia/australia-missing-cruise-passengers/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews

 

Sentence for the Seller of Fake Bomb Detectors

            James McCormick was sentence to 10 years in prison by a London judge after he profited from selling fake bomb detectors to various agencies and companies throughout the world. It was discovered that the ADE, or Advanced Detection Equipment, that he sold was really just a golf-ball finder that had its label taken off. Although they cost McCormick less than $60 to produce each of his devices, he sold them for anything between $2,500 and $30,000 each. He has shown no remorse even though he made millions from his fraud that he used to live a luxurious lifestyle. Some devices are still in use and are threatening security throughout the world.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/02/world/europe/uk-fake-bomb-detector/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Rise in Minimum Wage?

For the past 22 years, the federal minimum wage for workers who also rely on tips for their income has remained at $2.13 an hour. This is the reason that many restaurant and hotel workers are living in poverty; according to former waitress, Gina Deluca, 19.3% of those who make $2.13 an hour are living in poverty. However, President Obama has made a proposal that will raise the federal minimum wage to $9. Although most states have their own minimum wage levels that are higher than $2.13, 13 states rely on the federal minimum wage. Many are hoping that the bill will be passed.

Hepatitis Spread through Violating Dentist Office

Dr. Scott Harrington has surrendered his dentistry license after an investigation found numerous violations and many patients were diagnosed with Hepatitis B and C.  The Oklahoma-based dentist office has been under intense scrutiny after 57 patients tested positive for Hepatitis C and three tested positive for Hepatitis B. There was also at least one patient that tested positive for HIV. Although it is not known if all of these patients contracted the virus and Harrington’s dentist office, an investigation has revealed many problems with sterilization. Employees were using improper methods of IV sedation and were unlicensed to use it at all. The drug cabinet had drugs that had expired in 1993, and there is also evidence that it was “unlocked and unattended.” All of these issues resulted in the voluntary surrender of Harrington’s license.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/18/health/oklahoma-dentist-investigation/index.html?hpt=he_c2

Uruguay to Allow Same-Sex Marriage?

Same-sex couples were first allowed to be married in 2001 in the Netherlands and, now, other countries are considering allowing the same privilege. Last week, Uruguay had a marriage equality bill that was passed by lawmakers and only needs the president’s signature before it becomes the second country in Latin America and the twelfth country in the world to allow same-sex marriage. The Roman Catholic Church, a prevalent force in Argentina, which allows same-sex marriage, and Uruguay is opposed to the new laws, citing that it is interfering with the foundation of marriage. Despite this opposition, Uruguay was the first country in Latin America that permitted children to be adopted by same-sex couples.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/10/world/americas/uruguay-same-sex marriage/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Middle School Students Without Lunch

Although kids that attend schools that have their meals supplied by the Whitson’s Culinary Group would normally receive milk, a cheese sandwich, a fruit, and a vegetable if their accounts had a negative balance, middle school children at the Coehlo Middle School in Massachusetts were denied this. Last week, 25 children were not given food as a result of having debt in their lunch accounts. Students in this situation were instructed to throw out their food before they could eat it. Parents of children that attend the school were outraged. The principal of the school and the Whitson’s Culinary Group both apologized for the incident.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/05/us/massachusetts-lunch-denied/index.html?hpt=us_c1

Charge for Facebook Use

On Friday, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will not be able to operate unless it issues a fee to its users. Starting next week, logging into Facebook will result in a $5.00 fee that will be charged through a credit card that users must provide. The charge for posting statuses will be $0.20 per character. Posting a photo or video will be $3.00. Active Facebook user, Arianna Fearing, said “I am willing to pay this extra charge to fulfill my love for Facebook and social networking in general.” However, many others are considering deleting their accounts and relying solely on other forms of social networking.