Carndonagh, Donegal: Elderly Couple Murdered By Suspected Hatchet Attacker, Man Charged: *UPDATED Link

*Gardaí have sealed off a house after the discovery of the remains of a couple in their home in Co Donegal this morning.

PHOTO: MURDERED: Kathleen and Jimmy Cuddihy:

The man and woman, who are in their 70s, were found dead by their son at the family home at about 8.30am in Carndonagh on the Inishowen peninsula.

*www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/son-42-charged-with-murder-of-couple-in-donegal-1.1976060

Garda sources said another man has been arrested at the scene and has been taken in for questioning about the deaths. The man in custody was known to the dead couple. He is 42.

A hatchet has been taken from the scene for examination.

The house has been sealed off by gardaí and the bodies remain at the scene pending the arrival of State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy.

She was due to carry out a preliminary examination of the bodies at the scene later today. When that examination has been completed, the bodies will be removed for full postmortem examinations.

The deaths are officially being treated as suspicious deaths and the Garda inquiry will not be upgraded to a murder inquiry until the results of the post mortems are known.

However, gardaí in Buncrana have already committed all of the resources of a murder inquiry to the case and sources said the couple had been attacked violently.

A large amount of blood was found at the scene and gardaí believe they were attacked by a man with a weapon.

The man in custody is the chief suspect in the case. He was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be detained for up to 24 hours without charge.

The property where the victims died was also due to undergo an examination by members of the Garda Technical Bureau.

The dead couple are well-known in the area. A priest has been called to the house to give the last rites.

Local Fianna Fáil councillor Rena Donaghey said the community had been left stunned by the deaths.

“It is truly shocking. Cardonagh is a small town and the close-knit community has been left in shock by the news,” she said. “At this stage we are just awaiting further details to find out exactly what happened.”

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Gardaí in Donegal are questioning a 42-year-old man over the deaths of a couple in their 70s.


The bodies of the pensioners were found at their home in Carndonagh shortly after 9am this morning.
Shortly after, a man in his 40s was arrested, and is being questioned at Buncrana Garda Station.

The scene remains sealed off and the State Pathologist has been notified.
A hatchet found at the house is also to be examined as part of the investigation.
It is understood the couple died from multiple wounds.

A garda cordon has been put up to seal off the large, neat bungalow which is surrounded by gardens and is on the edge of the town on the Carn side of Mountain Road.

There were emotional scenes as relatives of the pensioners arrived at the scene earlier this morning.
Fianna Fáil councillor Martin McDermott, who knows the family, said people had been left numb by the deaths.

“The community is just numb,” he said. “You do not think things like this will happen on your doorstep but, sadly they do.
“It is a very sad day.
“The couple would be very well-known and were well-liked in the area. They have a big family connection in the town.

“I would have known them personally and would have worked with them as part of my own work.
“It really is a tragedy.”
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ENDS:

Belfast: 100 People Die Each Year From Illicit Drugs, Pushers Are Serial Killers On The Loose

Drug abuse has claimed the lives of two people every week, Northern Ireland's health minister has warned. Edwin Poots said there were 110 drug-related deaths during 2012 - the equivalent of nine a month.

"These figures are quite alarming. This is far too many and totally unacceptable," said Mr Poots.

Earlier this year, senior Coroner John Leckey said a cluster of drug-related deaths was similar to a serial killer being on the loose.

www.myrecovery.com/drug_addiction-speckled-crosses-claims-19--in-northern-ireland.html &

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/speckled-rolex-linked-to-20-drugrelated-deaths-30331934.html 

An estimated 20 people have died after taking stimulants known as "speckled cherries" or "speckled crosses".

Mr Poots was in Banbridge, Co Down, where 32% of the recent deaths have happened. He met police, community outreach workers and anti drugs campaigners and urged people to think twice before taking unregulated or illegal substances.

Mr Poots added: "The illegal drugs industry is not regulated and people have absolutely no idea what they are putting into their bodies so I urge people to think again before taking any illegal drugs."

Helpline links:  www.drugfreeworld.org & www.drugscope.org.uk & www.drugs.ie & 

www.spunout.ie & www.citywide.ie 

Meanwhile, Upper Bann MP David Simpson said communities should wake up to the grim reality of drugs.

The Democratic Unionist said: "We are well aware of the damaging effects drugs are having in the Banbridge area, particularly in recent months.

"This should be a wake-up call for us all."

Dublin: "Miraculous" New Drug (Ibrutinib) Hailed As Breakthrough In Leukaemia Treatment

Scientists at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland were involved in the clinical trials of the drug

An international trial of a new drug for the treatment of the most common form of leukaemia has found it increases survival rates.

The drug leads to more sufferers being clear of the disease within one year, produces fewer side effects and is effective for those with a resistance to chemotherapy.

Scientists at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland were involved in the clinical trials of the drug.

RELATED AUDIO & VIDEO

• Watch: Dr Patrick Thornton, Consultant Haemotologist, discusses new leukaemia treatment

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia is a slow-growing cancer affecting cells that fight disease in bodies.

Leukaemia claims 200 lives in Ireland annually, and CLL accounts for nearly half of the 500 new cases of the disease diagnosed in the country each year.

While conventional treatments for leukaemia are reasonably effective, they can cause severe side effects.

However, a new drug, Ibrutinib, is being hailed as a breakthrough in leukaemia treatment.

It has been trialled on 400 patients internationally, including in Ireland.

Trial results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed survival rates for patients using it rose 10% when compared to the conventional treatments, and patients responded more quickly.

Those trying the drug reported fewer side effects and it was also effective on those whose cancer cells have built up resistance to chemotherapy.

Report co-author Dr Patrick Thornton from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland said the new drug represents a complete paradigm shift in leukaemia treatment, which could replace the need for chemotherapy.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Dr Thornton said: "It works for all CLL, but in particular it works for the most risky version of CLL - people with various chromosomal deletions that normally do very badly or are resistant to chemotherapy, and have a very shortened survival.

"This drug seems to overcome that resistance and is extremely effective with very little side effects."

The consultant haematologist at Beaumont Hospital described the effects of the new drug on some patients as "nothing short of miraculous".

He said Ibrutinib can be given in tablet form to replace the more severe and invasive chemotherapy.

Keywords: leukaemia, ibrutinib

Fresno, California: Methamphetamine Pours Across US Border In Liquid Form

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — In methamphetamine's seedy underworld, traffickers are disguising the drug as a liquid to smuggle it into the United States from Mexico.

Dissolved in a solution, it's sealed in tequila bottles or plastic detergent containers to fool border agents and traffic officers. Once deep in California's Central Valley, a national distribution hub, meth cooks convert it into crystals — the most sought-after form on the street.
www.blogdelnarco.com & www.borderlandbeat.com

Tough policing has driven the highly toxic super-labs south of the border where meth is manufactured outside the sight of U.S. law enforcement, but the smaller conversion labs are popping up domestically in neighborhoods, such as one in Fresno where a house exploded two years ago.

People inside the home had sealed it tightly so the tale-tell fumes didn't give them away.

"These guys, they don't have Ph.D.s in chemistry," said Sgt. Matt Alexander of the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. "They're focused on not getting caught."

Investigators say it's impossible to know how much liquid meth crosses the border, but agents in Central California say they have been seeing more of it in the past few years.

A California Highway Patrol officer in late 2012 pulled over a 20-year-old man on Interstate 5 who said he was headed to Oregon from Southern California and seemed nervous. The officer found 15 bottles in the trunk full of dissolved meth but labeled as Mexican tequila.

The man pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and received a federal prison sentence of 46 months.

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In this March 2014 photo provided by PARC Environmental, Jeff Davis, a hazardous materials specialis …

Three men were indicted in late 2013 and await trial after a drug task force found 12 gallons of liquid meth in a Fresno house along with 42 pounds of the drug ready for sale, four guns and 5,000 rounds of ammunition.

Officers raided a Madera home earlier this year, finding a lab used to convert liquid meth into 176 pounds of crystals with a street value over $1 million. Nobody was arrested, but agents said the bust dealt a blow to the organization behind the lab.

Mike Prado, resident agent in charge of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigation's Fresno office, said law enforcement agencies are always on the lookout for creative ways cartels smuggle meth.

"We've become better at detecting certain things," Prado said. "When they catch on to that, they modify their methods."

The super-labs driven south to Mexico are notoriously toxic to people and the environment, but Prado said the small conversion labs in the Central Valley are more dangerous. His agents have found them in densely populated apartment buildings and foreclosed homes in quiet neighborhoods where children play on the street.

In the conversion process, cooks evaporate off the liquid and use highly combustible chemicals such as acetone to make crystals. The fumes are trapped inside. "A spark can turn this into a fireball," Prado said.

That's what happened in 2012, when a home in a middle-class area of Fresno was blown off its foundation. The blast shot the air conditioner into a neighbor's yard; another neighbor had to replace a roof rippled by the concussion. Two men ran from the home, and investigators said a third was seriously injured.
www.drugfreeworld.org & www.drugscope.org.uk & www.drugs.ie

Central California's interstates and proximity to Mexico make it an attractive distribution hub for cartels, officials say.

John Donnelly, until recently in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Fresno office, said agents all over the country have tracked meth to California's Central Valley. "We're the source point for Seattle, Portland, Alaska and as far east as the Carolinas," Donnelly said.

Not all the meth travelling north makes its way to Central California. Two men were arrested last month in San Bernardino when investigators found a conversion lab, 206 pounds of crystal meth and 250 gallons of the liquid capable of producing 1,250 pounds of crystals.

The seized drugs, which investigators suspect came from Mexico, were valued at $7.2 million.

Not all liquid meth makes it across the border. Last year, a 16-year-old from Mexico was stopped at the crossing near San Diego. He volunteered to take "a big sip" to convince inspectors the liquid he had was only apple juice, not meth. The teenager began screaming in pain and died within hours.

Eric L. Olson, a Latin America researcher at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington D.C., said he witnessed agents seize liquid meth disguised in soda bottles during a 2012 tour of the border crossing at Laredo, Texas.

Liquid meth is just the latest innovation for transporting drugs for profit, he said. Smugglers have used tunnels, submarines, drones and once, Olson said, a 90-year-old farmer was used as a decoy.

"There's no end to the creativity to getting the drug to market when there's demand," he said of the turn to liquid meth.

PHOTO: In this November 2012 photo provided by PARC Environmental, a traffic stop on Interstate 5 led to the seizure of multiple tequila bottles disguising liquid methamphetamine near Coalinga, Calif. Authorities in California’s Central Valley say that in recent years they have begun to see more meth dissolved as liquid and put into tequila bottles or plastic detergent containers to smuggle it across the border from Mexico. Once in the Central Valley, it is converted into crystals, it’s most sought-after form on the street. (A P).

Liverpool: Medical Experts Issue 'Diabetes' Warning To Middle-Aged Adults About 'Statins' Drug

Drugs that cut cholesterol could make middle-aged women more susceptible to diabetes, a group of top doctors has warned.

Known as statins, the drugs are currently offered to as many as seven million people who have a one-in-five chance of developing heart disease within 10 years.

1. Statins - side effects and problems - Saga

   www.saga.co.uk/health/medicines/statins-case-against.aspx   Cached
   

   Saga looks at how the side effects of cholesterol lowering statins could outweigh the possible benefits

Earlier this year, the NHS was urged to offer them to people with just a 10% risk , with advisers claiming there is "no credible argument against their safety".

However, leading clinicians have now written to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, warning against what they call the "medicalisation of millions of healthy individuals".

They say draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) is based almost entirely on studies funded by drugs companies.

People who take statins are at risk of fatigue and psychiatric problems, while men may suffer erectile dysfunction, they warn.

Professor Simon Capewell, from the University of Liverpool, said: "These recommendations are deeply worrying, effectively condemning all middle-aged adults to lifelong medications of questionable value."

Dr Aseem Malhotra, a London-based cardiologist, added: "Although there is good evidence that the benefits of statins outweigh the potential harms in those with established heart disease, this is clearly not the case for healthy people.

"A doctor wouldn't give chemotherapy to a patient who didn't have cancer or prescribe insulin to someone without diabetes."

However, Professor Mark Baker, director of the centre for clinical practice at Nice, said the proposals were intended to tackle coronary heart disease, peripheral arterial disease and stroke, which are responsible for around one in three deaths in the UK.

"The independent committee of experts found that if a patient and their doctor measure the risk and decide statins are the right choice, the evidence clearly shows there is no credible argument against their safety and clinical effectiveness," he said.

Professor Baker also rejected allegations that the advice had been financially motivated.

"The committees are made up of clinicians, patients and others with the skills necessary to help interpret sometimes complex data," he said.

"None of them have put their names to the recommendations to make money for themselves."

Atlanta, Georgia: Baby Hit By Police Stun Grenade Fights For Life

A 19-month-old boy has been left critically injured after police tossed a flash bang onto his bed during a raid.

CBS in Atlanta, Georgia, said the boy has a 50% chance of survival.

Police were on a night-time raid to arrest a suspected drug dealer after getting a tip from an informant.

The officers did not know that a child was in the house, local reports said.

As officers broke into the house of the suspected drug dealer, Wanis Thometheva, they tossed inside a flash bang - a device used to distract suspects during raids.

Alecia Phonesavanh, the child's mother, told CBS Atlanta: "It's my baby. He's my only baby. He didn't deserve any of this."

The boy is reported to be in an induced coma in with serious burns. Police defended the officers' actions.

"The last thing you want is law enforcement to injure someone innocent," Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"It was a terrible accident that was never supposed to happen."

The relationship between the suspect and the boy's family was not clear.

Reports said the suspect was not at home at the time of the raid but was later arrested.

DONEGAL: HSE Issue 'New Drug' Warning After Man 22 Dies

The HSE is warning drug users to avoid a new batch of dangerous ecstacy-type pills - known as "Double Cross" or "Double Black".

It comes as gardaí investigate the death of a 22-year-old man at a house party in Co Donegal yesterday.

It is believed officers are looking into whether he had taken the drug or not.

Another man is fighting for his life after taking ill at the party.

The alert comes after the HSE issued warnings last week about green ecstasy pills, called 'Green Apple' and 'Green Rolex', with an apple or Rolex symbol.

www.garda.ie & www.drugs.ie & www.drugfreeworld.org