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EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know with your morning cup of tea.
1. #TENSIONS: Russia is hailing the results of a referendum in Crimea in which 96.6 per cent of voters chose to split from Ukraine and rejoin Russia. However the West has denounced the result and said the vote was illegal.
2. #ST PATRICK’S DAY: Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in parades and events around the country for St Patrick’s Day today. Some half a million people are expected to turn out on the streets of Dublin alone, where the theme of this year’s parade is Let’s Make History.
3. #NOT HAPPENING: Guinness has pulled out of sponsoring the St Patrick’s Day parade in New York City today in a row over the treatment of LGBT groups. In a statement, Guinness said it withdrew after the “policy of exclusion” was not reversed ahead of the parade.
4. #GONE: Convicted criminal John Gilligan left Ireland late last night immediately after he was discharged from hospital following a gun attack in which he was shot four times, the Irish Independent reports.
5. #MISSING: The number of countries involved in the search for missing flight MH 370 has increased to 26, the Malaysian prime minister has said. Police officers have again visited the homes of the pilot and co-pilot, and taken a flight simulator from the home of the pilot.
6. #COURT: A man is due before a special sitting of the Dublin District Court today in connection with the shooting dead of 66-year-old Mary Dargan at her home in Killinarden on Saturday.
7. #IT WASN’T ME: The man named by Newsweek magazine as the creator of Bitcoin has issued a statement saying he has never had any involvement with the internet currency. Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto said the article has been the source of a great deal of confusion and stress for him.
8. #DRUGS: The Irish Medicines Board has reassured patients taking two blood-thinning drugs that they are safe following reports of a high number of deaths being linked to the drugs. RTE reports that that there is no increased mortality rate for the drugs.
9. #FAKE PRINCE: A Facebook user who pretended to be Britain’s Prince Harry conned an Austrian workman out of thousands of euro after offering him a contract to renovate the floors at Buckingham Palace. The workman transferred €27,500 to several UK bank accounts but never heard back from the prince. Ouch.
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Seeing as my comment was deleted where I linked into a drug safety website, it would help if RTE and this page spell the drug names correctly so that people can check if their lives are been put at risk. Yesterday Pradaxa was spelled Pradaza. And now I notice the other drug is spelled Xarelton. There is no such drug when you search on Google. But there is Xarelto.
May seem a minor thing but drug companies use various names for different drugs in different countries. It is almost a lexicon in itself. Can be confusing for some until a person learns the various drug names eg Citalopram comes under the brand names Celexa, Cipramil, Ciprager etc
Seeming the trials are set to begin in September. And I don’t mean the clinical trials! I mean the lawsuits.
USA Today 2012 ~ Blood-thinner Pradaxa target of mass-claims suit ~
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-08-19/pradaxa-blood-thinner-lawsuit/57134628/1
[Don't stop or change prescribed drugs without talking to a medical professional, due to dangers of withdrawal etc but always do your own research on reputable sites]
Cochrane signs up to AllTrials initiative to campaign for registration and reporting of ALL clinical trials ~
“Hundreds of thousands of clinical trials have been conducted from which no or limited data have been made available; these data are critical to enable doctors and regulators to make informed decisions about treatment. This is a serious problem for evidence-based healthcare researchers, including The Cochrane Collaboration, because Cochrane Review authors need all the evidence about a treatment in order to fully understand its harms and benefits. Without a complete picture of trial results available, information is lost, bad treatment decisions may be made, opportunities for better and more effective treatment are missed, and trials are repeated unnecessarily, duplicating effort and wasting resources”
My biggest regret when doctors were over prescribing drugs (for 3 years after my adverse reaction to Citalopram) was that I didn’t check into lawsuits and class actions against the harmful drugs I was given. Or research the drugs more. But then when your in a zombie state due to the drugs and sleeping half the day due to the sedating nature of the drugs I can see why I may have been unable to do it.
I need a glass of Guinness! Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
The Irish Medicines Board will always protect the drug industry rather than the patients, because it is wholly funded by the pharmaceutical industry. People think the medicine’s reguator is there to protect Irish consumers – not so, as I have found to my cost.
Anyone researching a prescription drug will find much more truthful information on the FDA (US medicines Regulator) website. This is because it is much easier to bring a case against a pharmaceutical industry in America, so warning of all adverse-effects protects them somewhat from further litigation.
Article from 2012 (nearly 2 years ago) ~
Pradaxa And Xarelto: Top Heart Doctors Concerned Over New Blood Thinners ~
“NEW YORK, June 14 (Reuters) – For millions of heart patients, a pair of new blood thinners have been heralded as the first replacements in 60 years for warfarin, a pill whose hardships and risks have deterred many from using the stroke-prevention medicine.
But growing complaints of risks and deaths tied to the new crop of drugs have made some t op U.S. cardiologists hesitant to prescribe them”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/14/pradaxa-xarelto-blood-thinner-doctors-heart_n_1595971.html
Delighted to hear it, kudos to Guinness.
Will BOD be gracing the streets of Dublin with that wee trophy we took back from Paris?
Boycott Guinness today.
what planet are u living on
Why Guinness is great for gay times
Guinness gives you bent,sorry strength,Hic!
An alcohol conglomerate having to intervene to knock sense into a Patrick’s Day parade. That’ll do wonders for our image abroad.
You don’t have a story on Gilligan?
I hope you wrote that article while swigging on Guinness and munchin on a packet of tayto! Paddys Day lovesies
I thought I read Gilligan has no passport… then how does he get out of the country?
Why?
They have principles as well.
have your say