January 13, 2009

Interest in ‘best job in the world’ swamps island paradise Web site

By Calvin Palmer
It is being billed as “The Best Job in the World” and with thousands of people being laid off as the global recession bites, it is sure to arouse considerable interest.
The tourism department in Queensland, Australia, is offering the position of island caretaker on Hamilton Island, one of the Whitsunday Islands.
The duties involve [...]

January 13, 2009

Dance teacher at academy accused of sex with girl, 15

By Calvin Palmer
A teacher at a Connecticut magnet school was charged yesterday with sexually assaulting a student following an investigation into another teacher’s alleged sexual relationship with a student.
Anastasia Gagnon, 20, of Willimantic, was charged with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.  The choreographer and dance instructor at the Capitol Theater [...]

January 13, 2009

Better screening accounts for record number of chlamydia cases

By Calvin Palmer
Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are on the rise again, with reported cases of chlamydia setting a record, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today.
Dr. John Douglas, who heads the CDC’s division of sexually transmitted disease, or STD, prevention, said syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea rates are unacceptably high.
The rise in [...]

January 13, 2009

Police chief believes ‘plane crash’ businessman has left the U.S.

By Calvin Palmer
Authorities searching for an Indiana businessman who may have tried to fake his own death in a plane crash say that he could be anywhere.
Police Chief David Latimer of Harpersville, Alabama, says there’s no reason to believe 38-year-old Marcus Schrenker is still in Alabama.
“He could be anywhere at all,” said Latimer after investigators discovered that [...]

January 13, 2009

Father accused of selling daughter, 14, for $16,000 and 150 cases of beer

By Calvin Palmer
A 36-year-old man in Greenfield, central California, was arrested for arranging to sell his 14-year-old daughter for marriage for $16,000, 150 cases of beer, several cases of meat, soda and wine, police said yesterday.
An 18-year-old Greenfield man who lived with the girl for a week after the alleged transaction was also detained on [...]

January 13, 2009

‘Little or no gas’ flowing into Europe, say EU officials

By Calvin Palmer
Despite an agreement by Russia to restore gas supplies to Eastern Europe, European Union officials today reported that “little or no gas” was flowing into Europe from Ukraine pipelines.
Within hours of the gas being switched back on today, Russia and Ukraine had become embroiled in yet another round of disagreements.
After claim and counter-claim [...]