The screams rang out just before 1 p.m., rising from the yard of a small bungalow in Scarborough and ringing out through the tree-lined residential street. It was clearly an argument, one neighbour said — a young man yelling, another man screaming “calm down,” prompting a woman to come out of the house to join them. By the time police arrived, silence. Responding to a 911 call reporting a stabbing at a home near Lawndale and Argo Rds. Thursday, police officers and emergency personnel were met by a grisly sight. One man was dead on the home’s driveway; the bodies of another man and a woman were found steps away, inside a small garage on the back of the home’s property. All died from what police described as crossbow bolt injuries, and a 35-year-old man arrested soon after the bodies were discovered is believed to be behind the attacks, a police source said.

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 The identities of the victims and the suspect have not yet been released, but the police source said investigators believe they are related. As of late Thursday night, Toronto police had not yet announced any criminal charges. Just two hours after the bodies were found, the bizarre case took another turn as Toronto police launched a separate, related investigation into a possible bomb threat at a condominium in downtown Toronto. Around 3 p.m., police ordered residents to evacuate 218 Queens Quay, then called in the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive team to investigate a suspicious package.

 Toronto police Supt. Bill Neadles said late Thursday night that the package was discovered inside one of the units in the building, after police arrived to notify someone in the apartment about “some of the events that may have transpired today.”

 Police investigate on Lawndale Road. ( Melissa Renwick )

 They were sent to the unit by a call from one of investigators at the scene of the Scarborough crossbow deaths, Neadles said. He would not say who the condo unit belongs to. Toronto police homicide Det.-Sgt. Mike Carbone told reporters police were only beginning their probe into the complex case, and had few details. “With this being (only) a four-hour investigation, we still have a ways to go to determine what exactly happened,” Carbone said in a scrum Thursday night. Immediately after the bodies were discovered, police cordoned off a wide area around the small bungalow, in a normally quiet neighbourhood near Kingston and Mason Rds. Residents arriving home in the afternoon were met with police tape blocking them from entering their houses, likely for hours. Neighbours believe the home where the deaths occurred has been occupied in the last few years by a middle-aged couple.

 A body is seen covered by a tarp at a home near Lawndale and Argo Rds. ( SUBMITTED PHOTO )

 Property records show the house was bought by Susan and William Ryan in 2010; neighbour Karen Mercado says William passed away two years ago. In an interview with the Star inside her home Thursday night — with a body still visible under a tarp, just outside her front window — Mercado said no one inside her home was aware of what happened until a family member went to leave for work and saw a large police presence outside. “It’s scary this has happened right next door,” Mercado said. “I have two kids and this is usually a very quiet neighbourhood. I was raised in this house for 22 years and nothing like this has ever happened here before.” Jerome Cruz was in his yard around 1 p.m. when he heard screaming coming from across the fence. His backyard abuts the yard where the bodies were found. “I heard somebody screaming in anger and banging. A young man screaming. I heard another man say ‘calm down’ and a lady come from the house,” Cruz told the Star Thursday. Ragu Sangaramoorthy, who lives in the area, said he arrived home from work to see his street taped off. His kids were in the back seat. “Oh my God, in front of where my kids play? . . . I’m scared now. These were human beings.”

 Police walk up Mason Road, near the scene where three people were shot by a crossbow. ( Melissa Renwick )

 Dale Lounsbury, who sells crossbows at a sporting goods store in Waterloo, Ont., and owns one himself, said they can be dangerous due to their power and accuracy. But they are not suited to firing multiple shots in quick succession, he said. “Crossbows are not a rapid-fire instrument at all,” Lounsbury said. “I can probably fire two shots a minute, maybe three.” Unlike guns, buying a typical crossbow does not require a licence. In December 2010, a man fired a bolt into his father’s back at a Toronto public library branch in another crossbow incident that captured the city’s attention. In that case, Zhou Fang then crushed his 52-year-old father’s skull with a hammer. Fang was initially charged with first-degree murder but the prosecution accepted a plea of second-degree murder after considering that he was the victim of long-term abuse at the hands of his father. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2012. With files from Jake Kivanc, Sammy Hudes and The Canadian Press

 Recap: Police respond to crossbow attack ||||| TORONTO (Reuters) - Three people were killed in an attack involving a crossbow in Toronto’s East End on Thursday and a man was taken into custody, a police spokesman said.

 In a related incident, police evacuated a building in the Downtown Core area of the city later in the day due to a suspicious package, Detective Mike Carbone told a news conference. He gave no details on how it was related or what the package contained.

 All of the victims were adults, while one other person was taken to hospital, Carbone said.

 The National Post newspaper reported that the three victims were shot with a crossbow in the garage of a Toronto home and left to bleed out onto the driveway. Drone footage appeared to show at least one body covered by a tarp in the driveway.

 In the initial incident, police responding to a call about a stabbing found three people who appeared to have been wounded by crossbow bolts, said another police spokesman David Hopkinson. The two men and a woman were pronounced dead.

 An unidentified man, 35, was taken into custody, police said.

 “We don’t have any idea with regards to why this may have happened,” said Hopkinson.

 Slideshow (6 Images)

 According to the Post, one of the victims made a 911 call, and the suspect was also seriously wounded.

 Television footage showed police tape surrounding part of a residential street in Scarborough, a suburban area east of the city’s downtown area.

 In 2010, a man shot his father in the back with a crossbow in a Toronto public library before smashing his skull with a hammer. Zhou Fang, who had suffered domestic abuse, was convicted of a lesser charge of second-degree murder. ||||| Toronto police confirm there is a link between the three deaths involving a crossbow in east Toronto and a suspicious package found in the downtown area of the city. No further details were provided.

 Earlier Thursday, police revealed that three people are dead, all of whom were found with apparent crossbow injuries, in the Scarborough area of Toronto on Thursday afternoon. A source with knowledge of the investigation said it's believed all three deceased are related, CBC News has learned.

 Police said the bodies of two men and a woman were found in a garage. Two people were found with no vital signs, and one person died after officers arrived, police confirmed.

 Toronto police were investigating a suspicious package on Queens Quay they say is linked to a deadly crime scene in Scarborough. (Marjorie April/CBC) "We have a lot of work to do," Det. Sgt. Mike Carbone said four hours into the police investigation. "We still have a ways to go."

 The identities of the victims are not being released until next of kin are notified, Carbone said.

 Paramedics said another man was taken to hospital with injuries that were not serious. "He was another victim," spokesman Evert Steenge revealed.

 Police have also confirmed that a 35-year-old male suspect, who has injuries, is being held in custody.

 Three people are dead, including at least one who was found with an apparent crossbow injury in Scarborough. 0:24 Police responded to a report of a stabbing at around 1 p.m. ET on Lawndale Road near Markham Road and Eglinton Avenue East, Const. David Hopkinson told CBC News.

 "Indications were that [a] person had been stabbed — their injuries were fairly serious," Hopkinson said. "When officers arrived, they found that person and two others suffering from injuries from what we believe to be a crossbow bolt."

 Police said a crossbow was found on the floor of the garage.

 "We don't have any idea with regards to why this may have happened," said Hopkinson.

 Scarborough crossbow deaths scene through neighbour's backyard pic.twitter.com/2a0CtAYQpT —@trevorjdunn Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu said there were other "things" found in the area that could have been used as weapons.

 Neighbour Jerome Cruz told CBC News that he heard screams before things went silent and said it sounded like a fight in the garage.

 "It was going on for about five minutes — the screaming," he explained. "After that, all quiet."

 Cruz said he's lived in the area for the past two years and said the people who reside in the house where the incident took place are normally "very quiet."

 Neighbour near crossbow attack heard screams, then silence. pic.twitter.com/1RwalICnsZ —@trevorjdunn "It was very strange to hear a big noise and screaming," Cruz said.

 "We are looking to speak to anyone that may have information," Hopkinson said.

 Nearby streets, including Knowlton Drive, Lockleven Drive and Glenda Road, are closed and the police homicide unit has taken over the investigation.

 A bolt is a crossbow projectile that is under 40.6 centimetres (16 inches) in length, according to A bolt is a crossbow projectile that is under 40.6 centimetres (16 inches) in length, according to Phillip Bednar of TenPoint Crossbow Technologies , adding that anything longer is considered an arrow.

 Dale Lounsbury, who sells crossbows at a sporting goods store in Waterloo, Ont., and owns one himself, said they can be dangerous due to their power and accuracy, but they are not suited to firing multiple shots in quick succession.

 "I can probably fire two shots a minute, maybe three," Lounsbury said.

 Unlike guns, no licence is required to buy or own a crossbow.

 Toronto Police on Lawndale Rd in Scarborough. 3 people dead. pic.twitter.com/yiaoPxdoEf —@trevorjdunn

 This isn't the first time a person has been killed by a crossbow bolt in the city. In December 2010, a man fired a bolt into his father's back at a Toronto Public Library branch before crushing the 52-year-old man's skull with a hammer.

 Zhou Fang was charged with first-degree murder but accepted a plea for second-degree murder after it was revealed that he was the victim of long-term abuse by his father. Fang, then 26, was sentenced to life in prison in 2012.

Summary: – Three people were killed with a crossbow Thursday afternoon in Toronto, Reuters reports. According to the CBC, police responded to reports of a stabbing to find three people with crossbow bolts in them inside a residential garage in a suburban area of the city. "It was going on for about five minutes—the screaming," a neighbor says. "After that, all quiet." The victims—two men and a woman—are believed to be related. However, it's unknown if they were specifically targeted, the Toronto Star reports. At least one other person was injured in the attack. Police say the crossbow attack is connected to a suspicious package that forced the evacuation of a mixed-use condo building housing a daycare later Thursday afternoon in downtown Toronto. Police aren't saying how the incidents were connected or what was in the package. A 35-year-old man with minor injuries was arrested in connection with the crossbow attack. He has not been identified, and police aren't sure of a motive. The investigation is ongoing.


Kerry Biggs needed help managing her chronic pain.

 Years of taking prescription medications to alleviate the pain caused by her fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and other ailments had left the mother of two "feeling foggy."

 Desperate to find an alternative, Biggs tried kratom. Derived from the leaves of the kratom tree, a close relative of the coffee plant, it has been used for centuries in Southeast Asia for its medicinal properties.

 In small doses, kratom acts as a minor stimulant similar to caffeine. In larger doses its works as a painkiller and can act as an antidepressant for some people.

 "It gave me a new lease on life," said Biggs, who was able to wean herself off prescription painkillers by using kratom. "It dampened down my pain without all the side effects that come with taking prescription drugs."

 That new lease on life came to an abrupt end last year, because Biggs lives in Wisconsin. In 2014, Wisconsin became the fourth state to ban kratom.

 Kratom was never mentioned by state legislators either before or after the vote that made it illegal.

 Instead, two of the chemicals in it were included on a list of synthetic opioids lawmakers classified as Schedule 1 drugs, despite the fact kratom is neither synthetic nor an opioid.

 No one in Madison has been able to explain how or why the chemicals ended up on the list, but their inclusion means kratom is now in the same category as heroin and cocaine.

 At a meeting of the Wisconsin Controlled Substances Board last week, board member Alan Bloom said he was surprised to see the kratom on the list of schedule substances.

 "They stick out like a sore thumb," said Bloom, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

 Bloom was blunt in his assessment of the scheduling of kratom. "There's no scientific basis for it," he told his colleagues.

 But state lawmakers aren't required to rely on science in their decisions. In 2012, legislators in Indiana made kratom illegal by declaring it to be a synthetic drug.

 Tennessee and Vermont followed Indiana's example, treating a tree's leaves like something created in a lab.

 "Most people in this country have never heard of kratom, and there's a lot of bad information out there about it," said Susan Ash, executive director of the American Kratom Association.

 Ash has used kratom since 2011 to manage the symptoms of advanced Lyme disease. She founded AKA last year to advocate for people who use kratom and combat misinformation and efforts to ban it.

 "There are some companies out there who aren't interested in helping people and they are promoting kratom as a 'legal high.' That's led to some hysterical stories in the media," Ash said.

 "Usually it's a story by a local TV news crew. They usually claim it's a dangerous new synthetic drug, even though it's not synthetic and it's been used for hundreds of years in Asia. They never talk to people who use for health reasons." ||||| Question

 What is kratom, and is it a helpful remedy or a harmful drug?

 Gayle Nicholas Scott, PharmD

 Assistant Professor, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia

 Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a tree-like plant in the same botanical family as the coffee tree and gardenia (Rubiaceae), and is native to Southeast Asia. Other names for kratom are ketum, thang, icthang, kakuam, kraton, thom, and biak-biak.

 Kratom has been used for centuries in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia to combat fatigue and, empirically, to treat pain and opioid withdrawal symptoms.[1,2] It is most commonly used orally, as fresh leaves that are chewed or that have been prepared as an extract, or as dried plant material brewed as a tea or ingested in gelatin capsules. Less frequently, kratom is smoked.[1,2]

 Effects are reported to be dose-dependent. Doses of 1-5 g have a stimulant effect and increase energy. Moderate to high doses (5-15 g) have opioid-like effects, including euphoria. Doses > 15 g can cause extreme sedation and stupor, similar to opioids.

 The indole alkaloid mitragynine appears to be responsible for the opioid-like effects of kratom. Mitragynine has high affinity for mu-opioid receptors, but less than morphine. Affinity for delta- and kappa-opioid receptors are lower than for mu, but higher than the affinity of morphine for delta and kappa.

 Animal research suggests that kratom has analgesic effects that are reversed by naloxone, and that kratom may have anti-inflammatory and anorexic effects. Some effects of mitragynine appear to be independent of opioid receptor activity and may involve noradrenergic and serotonergic mechanisms.[1]

 Animal research suggests that kratom can be addictive, and observational research in chronic kratom users in Malaysia suggests that kratom can lead to dependence, although social functioning does not appear to be impaired.[3,4]

 Despite its potentially addictive properties, kratom is currently legal in most states. Kratom is regulated in the United States as a dietary supplement and can be purchased in smoke shops and on the Internet. Recently, however, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) moved to ban the importation of kratom, calling it a "new dietary ingredient," on the basis of lack of marketing documentation in the United States before the enactment of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. The FDA also cited the absence of established safety and potential toxicity.[5,6]

 Acute adverse effects of kratom include anxiety, irritability, and aggression, as well as opioid-like effects, such as sedation, nausea, constipation, and itching. Chronic high-dose use has been associated with hyperpigmentation of the cheeks, tremor, weight loss, and psychosis.[1,2]

 Cases of both overdose and withdrawal have been reported by poison control centers. Common presentations of overdose include palpitations and seizures. Withdrawal symptoms include myalgia, insomnia, fatigue, and chest discomfort. Withdrawal symptoms have even occurred in the infant of a chronic kratom-using mother.[7,8] Fatalities possibly attributed to kratom, usually in combination with other drugs, have been reported.[9-11]

 Kratom appears to have a strong drug interaction potential. Kratom extracts inhibit CYP2C9, CYP2D6, and CYP3A4 in vitro.[12,13] Kratom is sometimes combined with O-desmethyltramadol, a tramadol (Ultram®) metabolite, in a product called "krypton."[9] Additive depressant effects on the central nervous system, along with potential metabolic drug interactions, in theory may increase its opioid-like effects.

 Kratom use appears to be increasing in the United States and worldwide.[7,8] Routine toxicologic screens do not detect kratom.[14] Healthcare providers caring for patients who present for emergency treatment should be aware that kratom use may be responsible for otherwise unexplained stimulant or depressive symptoms. ||||| Vivazen, a shot-format herbal liquid supplement marketed for pain relief, has removed the controversial ingredient kratom from its formulation. The decision to do so comes out of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s continued crackdown on kratom, a botanical that’s been characterized as producing opiate-like effects and addictive properties.

 In February the FDA issued an “Import Alert 54-15” for kratom, made from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia, effectively suspending its import into the United States for use as a dietary ingredient or supplement.

 “There is inadequate information to provide reasonable assurance that such ingredient does not present a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury,” the agency wrote.

 The FDA also pointed to scientific research concerning the toxicity of kratom with regards to internal organ systems. In September, 2014, U.S. Marshals, on behalf of the FDA, seized more than 25,000 pounds of raw kratom (estimated to be worth more than $5 million) from Van Nuys, Calif.-based Rosefield Management.

 Following the FDA’s suppression of the ingredient, a wave of negative press began surfacing around kratom and specifically Vivazen, which listed the ingredient on its label. In a news report aired in June, Birmingham’s WIAT called the product “addiction in a bottle.” Three months later a machete-wielding man robbed an Anniston, Ala. gas station, taking a half case of Vivazen with him in addition to the contents of the cash register. Online bulletin board Reddit has numerous posts of people chronicling their experiences with the drug.

 Meanwhile, Vivazen sales rose dramatically, achieving a 1064.4 percent increase in dollar sales over the 52-week period dating from September 6, 2014 to September 5, 2015, when it reached $5.9 million according to Nielsen sales data.

 Following a brief period in which Vivazen was unavailable for purchase, the reformulated product has resurfaced on the company’s website with four new additions to its offerings, all of which are now CGMP-certified. Offering a range of functionalities, the new 2 oz. shots come in Bliss, Relax, Pain and Sleep varieties. Twelve-packs of Vivazen are sold on the site for $66.98.

 The popularity of Vivazen has apparently led other companies to emulate its success, albeit illegally, according to United Naturals, the maker of Vivazen. The company filed a legal complaint against LXR Biotech and Capital Sales Company in the U.S. district court for the Eastern District of Michigan, accusing the companies of illegally manufacturing and distributing counterfeit Vivazen products.

 United Naturals did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story. ||||| ABC 33/40 has a follow-up to a story we first told you about last week. Talladega County drug agents say a sweep of products containing Kratom was a success. The agents gave store operators 24 hours to remove the herbal supplement from their shelves or face jail.

 This time last week, it was not hard to find these little bottles containing Kratom in Talladega County. ABC 33/40 looked for Kratom at a few stores in a half-mile area and couldn't find one. Drug agents in this county told store operators Kratom is illegal. Some law enforcement agencies say it is not true.

 "When they came, we took everything down the same day, boxed it up and took it back to the vendor we bought it from, " said Cashier Sam Elsaidi.

 Elsaidi wasted no time following the orders from Talladega County's Drug Task Force.

 "They said if we still have it after 24 hours, they are going to come back here and there will be a problem like taking someone to jail," added Elsaidi.

 Customers at Elsaidi's gas station noticed quickly they'd have to go far to get it.

 "They would come in here asking do we have it. We would answer no and they would say Talladega County is crazy and ask why," added Elsaidi.

 Drug agents hand-delivered letters insisting store owners comply with the law and ordered them off shelves.

 "This all started because we started getting complaints from parents. Some were talking about their kids walking around like a bunch of zombies. Then we had others who said they were bouncing off of the wall," said Talladega County Drug Task Force Commander Jason Murray.

 Some other law enforcement agencies in Central Alabama have not removed Kratom from stores.

 "It all boils down to the interpretation of the law. My district attorney interprets it is illegal because it hits the opiate receptor of the brain," added Murray.

 Murray knows some people claim Kratom isn't bad.

 "You know, they said the same thing about spice. They said the same thing about ecstasy. They say the same the same thing about marijuana. There is a debate going on about that. Our job is to protect the public and that is what we are doing," added Murray.

 Elsaidi has no problem keeping the Kratom out of his store. He's concerned about a similar looking product from vendors, expected to come out next month, claiming to not contain the herbal supplement. ||||| Keep Kratom Safe and Legal

 Millions of Americans depend on natural kratom for their health and wellness. In fact, kratom has been used for centuries as a natural remedy for pain management and other benefits. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is using incomplete and even false science in order to prohibit the manufacturing and sale of natural kratom.

 The American Kratom Association is your advocate in the effort to keep kratom safe and available, not only by challenging the FDA to be honest and transparent in its analysis and the information it shares about what centuries have proven to be a safe botanical, but working with industry farmers, manufacturers, and distributors to keep natural kratom pure. What you can do… ||||| Concern is particularly high in South Florida, where a rising concentration of drug-treatment providers has coincided with the sprouting of kratom bars. But kratom is now available around the country. Powdered forms of the leaf are sold at head shops and gas-station convenience stores and on the Internet. Bars have recently opened in Colorado, New York, North Carolina and other states where customers nurse brewed varieties, varying in strength, from plastic bottles that resemble those for fruit juice.

 Photo

 Kratom exists in a kind of legal purgatory. Because it is categorized as a botanic dietary supplement, the Food and Drug Administration cannot restrict its sale unless it is proved unsafe or producers claim that it treats a medical condition. (Some packages are coyly labeled “not for human consumption” to avoid tripping such alarms.)

 The F.D.A. did ban the import of kratom into the United States in 2014, however, under its authority when a substance is strongly suspected to be harmful. That year, marshals seized 25,000 pounds of it from a Los Angeles warehouse.

 The Drug Enforcement Administration has listed kratom as a “drug of concern” but not a controlled substance, which would require proven health risks and abuse potential. Indiana, Tennessee, Vermont and Wyoming have banned it on their own; several other states, including Florida and New Jersey, have set aside similar bills until more is known about kratom’s health risks. The Army has forbidden its use by soldiers.

 Kratom has been linked to seizures and respiratory depression, but deaths related to it appear rare. Linda Mautner, who lives in the Delray Beach area, has claimed that her 20-year-old son, Ian, committed suicide in 2014 in the throes of kratom addiction, but Mr. Mautner was also receiving treatment for depression. Some deaths in the United States have resulted from kratom’s being laced with the prescription pain reliever hydrocodone or morphine.

 Kratom’s narcotic effects have been known for centuries in its native Thailand, which banned the substance decades ago amid widespread abuse. Nevertheless, kratom being sold in the United States is still smuggled in from Thailand, as well as several other Southeast Asian countries. Western research of kratom is in its infancy.

 Some kratom advocates claim that it helped wean them from stronger and more dangerous opiates. Susan Ash of Norfolk, Va., said she had taken kratom during treatment for dependence on prescription painkillers, and now uses a small amount daily for chronic pain and depression. Last year, she founded the American Kratom Association, a consumer group of more than 2,000 members that lobbies against state bills to ban the substance.

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 “We know from all our experiences that kratom has the potential to be a wonderful medicine,” said Ms. Ash, 46, adding that her organization receives little funding from kratom manufacturers. “We’re all experiencing that it’s changing our lives. We do agree that more science is needed to actually prove this potential that we know it has.”

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 Meanwhile, kratom is sold somewhat under the radar. In Carrboro, N.C., a nonalcoholic bar called Krave serves kratom drinks under the name “ketum” to deter connections to the substance’s darker side, the owner, Elizabeth Gardner, said. Ms. Gardner added that if she learns that a customer is in substance-abuse recovery, she will disclose concerns about kratom’s potential addictiveness.

 Kavasutra, a popular chain of bars that sell kratom and kava, another plant-based drink, does not list kratom on its menu, but sells it regularly in bottles and small plastic bags of powder.

 Kavasutra’s owner, Dylan Harrison, was once one of South Florida’s primary manufacturers and distributors of spice, a synthetic hallucinogen banned under federal law. He was released from federal prison in August 2014 after serving 10 months on drug charges. Several telephone messages left for Mr. Harrison were not returned.

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 Mr. Mautner’s death has fueled debates among South Florida lawmakers over making kratom illegal, a move supported by the Broward County Medical Association. Neither Broward County nor Palm Beach County, which includes Delray Beach, has done so, however, and Palm Beach County decided in April to not require warning signs of kratom’s addictiveness at bars and stores that sell it.

 Ms. Pankova frequented the Kavasutra in Delray Beach not only because kratom soothed her cravings for opiates, she said, but also because it was not detectable on the drug tests she took as part of her recovery program. Many drug-treatment providers consider kratom use a full-fledged relapse. Ms. Pankova said she and many friends wound up spending $60 a day on kratom drinks before moving back to less expensive heroin.

 Another South Florida resident with that experience, Robert Waina, said he had abused dozens of different drugs before discovering kratom three years ago. He enjoyed the mild high to the point that he found himself ordering bottle after bottle. When he tried to cut back, he couldn’t, and eventually suffered from such withdrawals that he had to go to rehab for kratom three times, most recently last spring.

 Sitting in a coffee shop in Delray Beach, Mr. Waina said recently that he had stayed sober since then, avoiding kratom like any other drug.

 “If I’m taking it,” he said, “as far as I’m concerned, I’m not clean.”

Summary: – There's a little green leaf that relieves pain and helps people kick heroin, but is also addictive—so should it be legal? That's what lawmakers are trying to decide about kratom, a tree-like plant from Southeast Asia, the New York Times reports. The FDA has banned kratom imports while four states (Wyoming, Vermont, Tennessee, and Indiana) have made it illegal, but more kratom bars are emerging that serve the leaf in drink form, and powdered versions are available online and everywhere from convenience stores to gas stations. "It's a mind-altering substance, so people like me who are addicts and alcoholics, they think just because it's legal, it's fine," says Florida resident Dariya Pankova, who took kratom for heroin withdrawal. "It's a huge epidemic down here, and it’s causing a lot of relapses.” Long taken as a stimulant in countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, kratom contains something called mitragynine that seems to cause "opiod-like effects," per Medscape. But kratom also has been linked to respiratory depression, seizures, and possibly suicide; makers of the herbal-liquid "feel good" supplement Vivazen recently removed kratom from its ingredients, Bevnet reports. Yet advocates like the American Kratom Association say the leaf helps wean people off dangerous drugs, and Reason argues that states' arguments against kratom (that it's an opioid or synthetic drug) are incorrect. "It all boils down to the interpretation of the law," says a drug official in Alabama, where one county banned all kratom products last month, ABC 3340 reports. "My district attorney interprets it [as] illegal because it hits the opiate receptor of the brain." (One country may give heroin addicts what they want: heroin.)


MOSCOW — Russia has taken another major step toward restricting its once freewheeling Internet, as President Vladimir V. Putin quietly signed a new law requiring popular online voices to register with the government, a measure that lawyers, Internet pioneers and political activists said Tuesday would give the government a much wider ability to track who said what online.

 Mr. Putin’s action on Monday, just weeks after he disparaged the Internet as “a special C.I.A. project,” borrowed a page from the restrictive Internet playbooks of many governments around the world that have been steadily smothering online freedoms they once tolerated.

 The idea that the Internet was at best controlled anarchy and beyond any one nation’s control is fading globally amid determined attempts by more and more governments to tame the web. If innovations like Twitter were hailed as recently as the Arab uprisings as the new public square, governments like those in China, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and now Russia are making it clear that they can deploy their tanks on virtual squares, too.

 China, long a pioneer in using sophisticated technology to filter the Internet, has continually tightened censorship. It has banned all major Western online social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google, though it seems not to be bothered by Alibaba, its homegrown e-commerce site, which has filed the paperwork for what could be the biggest public stock offering ever. ||||| Story highlights Putin signs off on new law banning swearing in music, film and books

 Under the law, individuals and businesses can be fined for using foul language

 It covers live arts and entertainment performances, including plays and concerts

 New films containing swear words won't get a distribution certificate

 Thinking about making a film? Better leave out the foul language if you want it to be seen in Russia. The same goes for plays. Even rock stars will need to leave their potty mouths at home.

 Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off on a new law Monday that bans swearing at arts, cultural and entertainment events in the country.

 Any new film containing obscene language won't be granted a distribution certificate, so there's no chance of seeing it at the movie theater.

 And copies of books, CDs or films containing swearing can only be distributed in a sealed package labeled "Contains obscene language," a Kremlin statement said.

 According to state news agency ITAR-Tass, individuals caught using foul language face a fine of up to $70, while officials can be fined up to $40 and businesses nearly $1,400. They face a higher fine and a three-month suspension of business for repeated offenses.

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 Determination of what counts as profane language will be done through "an independent examination," the news agency said.

 According to the Kremlin, the legislation "bans the use of obscene language when ensuring the rights of Russian citizens to the use of the state language, and protecting and developing language culture."

 The law could come into effect as soon as July 1, ITAR-Tass said, but it doesn't apply to cultural and artistic works that have already been issued.

 While some may hail attempts to clean up the nation's language, it will likely be seen by critics as the latest step under Putin's leadership to limit freedom of expression and promote a conservative, nationalist viewpoint.

 A report by rights group Amnesty International in January highlighted a denial of "basic freedoms" in Russia, which last year introduced a law barring anyone from talking positively about homosexuality in earshot of minors. ||||| Putin's Internet Plan Requires 'Sharing' With Security Services

 i itoggle caption Alexey Nikolsky/RIO Novosti/Kremlin pool/EPA/Landov Alexey Nikolsky/RIO Novosti/Kremlin pool/EPA/Landov

 Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new measure that will give the government much greater control over the Internet.

 Critics say the law is aimed at silencing opposition bloggers and restricting what people can say on social media. It would also force international email providers and social networks to make their users' information available to the Russian security services.

 Putin sent a chill through many Internet users late last month with this comment at a media forum: "You do know that it all began initially, when the Internet first appeared, as a special CIA project. And this is the way it is developing."

 I think anything that's published in a blog, that's not to the authorities' liking, can be used against the person who writes the blog.

 Putin said Americans set the system up so that everything would go through servers in the United States, where intelligence agencies could monitor it.

 The president's statement came as Russia's parliament was working on a package of bills that would place restrictions on bloggers and websites.

 Bloggers Must Register

 "The objective of those laws is to block the Russian Internet from the rest of the world," says Anton Nosik, a popular blogger, "and to shut down the biggest foreign social networks, to block access to foreign social networks for Russian users, and to establish control over networks that are physically based in Russia."

 One key provision of the law, which is scheduled to take effect in August, would require bloggers to register with the government if their blogs receive more than 3,000 hits a day.

 Registered bloggers would then be treated like mass media and required to certify the factual accuracy of the information in their blogs, but they wouldn't have the same protections and privileges as other journalists.

 One of the leading sponsors of the law, Irina Yarovaya, made it clear what lawmakers are aiming for — an end to anonymity on the Internet in Russia.

 "In principle, anonymity is always deception," she said in an interview earlier this year. "It's a wish to mislead someone. I can't see any reason to raise lying to [the status of] a human virtue or an understanding of what freedom is."

 The law also gives the government new grounds to press charges against bloggers, including "defamation" and "inciting hatred."

 New Restrictions For Social Networks

 Journalist Kirill Martynov says these rather vaguely defined offenses could make it impossible to express meaningful opinions.

 "I can't incite hatred toward fascists, for example, or I can't criticize police officers," Martynov says. "I think anything that's published in a blog, that's not to the authorities' liking, can be used against the person who writes the blog."

 Another provision of the law prohibits revealing information about citizens' homes and their personal or family lives. Critics say that provision could be used against anti-corruption bloggers who have revealed embarrassing details about undeclared bank accounts and luxurious homes owned by public officials.

 Finally, Nosik notes that the law says that all email providers and social networks must store information about users, their posts and their email on servers in Russia.

 "This is what Russian authorities traditionally request from local platforms, and they are always given that information," he says. "I doubt it strongly that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, or other Google services will ever comply. And if they don't comply, they have to be blocked. That's what the law says."

Summary: – Russia's Internet is going to start looking a lot more like China's under a restrictive new law signed by Vladimir Putin, critics say. The measure dubbed the "blogger's law" will remove anonymity from bloggers and declares any website with more than 3,000 daily visitors to be a media outlet required to publish accurate information, but without the legal protections journalists have, the New York Times finds. The law comes just weeks after Putin claimed that the Internet began "as a special CIA project." The law, which comes amid a wider crackdown on the Internet, also requires email providers and social networks to make user information available to Russian security services, NPR reports. "The objective of those laws is to block the Russian Internet from the rest of the world," warns popular blogger Anton Nosik, "and to shut down the biggest foreign social networks, to block access to foreign social networks for Russian users, and to establish control over networks that are physically based in Russia." And bloggers aren't the only ones facing a crackdown: Another law signed by Putin earlier this week bans swearing in movies, TV shows, concerts, and other forms of entertainment, CNN reports. New movies with swearing won't be allowed in cinemas, while copies of older ones will come with warning labels.


An Internet company has sued one of its former employees, saying the worker cost the company thousands of dollars in lost business when he took 17,000 Twitter followers with him when he left the firm.

 PhoneDog LLC filed a lawsuit in July against Noah Kravitz, a writer who worked for the Mount Pleasant, S.C., company from 2006 until last year. Attorneys for the website, which reviews mobile devices like phones and tablets, said Kravitz owes them $340,000.

 The company said when Kravitz resigned, he changed his Twitter name from PhoneDog_Noah to noahkravitz, and kept his 17,000 followers. The company said the followers should be treated like a customer list, and therefore PhoneDog's property.

 PhoneDog said Kravitz should pay $2.50 per follower per month for eight months, or a total of $340,000.

 Steve O'Donnell, a patent and intellectual property attorney, said he hadn't heard of a similar case. He doubted that each follower is worth the $2.50.

 "On Twitter, if you hang out long enough, you'll get hundreds of follows from people who are just gathering accounts and broadcasting their own content _ people who aren't necessarily paying attention to anything PhoneDog has to say," said O'Donnell, who practices law in Lancaster, Pa. "Twitter followers can come and go. ... It's very transient. It's going to be hard for them to put a dollar number on something that's so ethereal."

 Kravitz, who now lives in Oakland, Calif., eventually went to work for a competitor website and now boasts nearly 24,000 Twitter followers.

 In court documents, Kravitz said he used the Twitter account in question mostly for personal musings about sporting events and pop culture and, after leaving the company, even sent out messages at PhoneDog's behest about the company's contests and giveaways. Kravitz said he sent such messages as recently as December 2010 and that PhoneDog only objected to his use of the account after he sued them in June for unpaid wages in an ongoing case.

 "Only after that do they come out of the woodwork for the first time and say, `Hey, you converted our property,'" Cary Kletter, Kravitz's attorney, said Thursday. "That case is without merit."

 PhoneDog's valuation is flawed and inflated, he said.

 "To claim that they're entitled to $2.50 per follower per month defies reason," Kletter said. "If that's the case, Kim Kardashian's account would probably be worth billions of dollars of year."

 Celebrities can get paid for tweets, sometimes $10,000 or more per post.

 Erik Heels, a patent and trademark attorney in Boston, said the lawsuit may provide a monetary determination, but the most valuable outcome could be in helping companies in setting up their own social media guidelines.

 "The lesson for employers is to make sure you define these things in advance for your employees," Heels said. "Don't make any assumptions because you may end up on the wrong side of the lawsuit."

 A hearing in the case is set for next month in San Francisco. An attorney for PhoneDog president Tom Klein did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

 ___

 Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP ||||| And so he began writing as NoahKravitz, keeping all his followers under that new handle. But eight months after Mr. Kravitz left the company, PhoneDog sued, saying the Twitter list was a customer list, and seeking damages of $2.50 a month per follower for eight months, for a total of $340,000.

 PhoneDog Media declined to comment for this article except for this statement: “The costs and resources invested by PhoneDog Media into growing its followers, fans and general brand awareness through social media are substantial and are considered property of PhoneDog Media L.L.C. We intend to aggressively protect our customer lists and confidential information, intellectual property, trademark and brands.”

 Mr. Kravitz said the lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California, was in retaliation for his claim to 15 percent of the site’s gross advertising revenue because of his position as a vested partner, as well as back pay related to his position as a video reviewer and blogger for the site.

 The lawsuit, though, could have broader ramifications than its effect on Mr. Kravitz and the company.

 “This will establish precedent in the online world, as it relates to ownership of social media accounts,” said Henry J. Cittone, a lawyer in New York who litigates intellectual property disputes. “We’ve actually been waiting to see such a case as many of our clients are concerned about the ownership of social media accounts vis-á-vis their branding.”

 Photo

 Mr. Cittone added that a particularly important wrinkle is what value the court might set on the worth of one Twitter follower to a media company, saying the price set could affect future cases involving ownership of social media.

 “It all hinges on why the account was opened,” he said.

 “If it was to communicate with PhoneDog’s customers or build up new customers or prospects, then the account was opened on behalf of PhoneDog, not Mr. Kravitz. An added complexity is that PhoneDog contends Mr. Kravitz was just a contractor in the related partnership/employment case, thus weakening their trade secrets case, unless they can show he was contracted to create the feed.”

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 These situations are likely to arise more often as social media tools like Twitter, Google Plus and Facebook continue to become a way for company representatives and customer service employees to interact with fans and irate customers.

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 JetBlue, for example, often answers customer queries via Twitter, although its official policy is to not respond to “formal complaints” on Twitter.

 Other issues may arise when companies hire popular Twitter users partly because of their social media presence. For example, Samsung Electronics hired the outspoken blogger Philip Berne to review phones for the company internally.

 Mr. Berne uses his personal Twitter account but often posts explicitly about Samsung products and his opinions on the phones he has tested. He cleared his Twitter account with the Samsung public relations department, he said, and he owns it.

 “Their stance was that I am entitled to have and express an opinion, but I am not a Samsung representative, and I should make it clear that any opinions are my own and not those of my employer,” Mr. Berne said. In general, social media experts advise companies to tread with caution when it comes to account ownership.

 Sree Sreenivasan, a professor at the Columbia Journalism School and the author of Sree’s Social Media Guide, said smart companies let social media blossom where it may.

 “It’s a terrible thing to say you have to leave your Twitter followers behind,” he said, talking specifically about media companies that may employ popular Twitter writers. “It sends a terrible signal to reporters and journalists who care about this, and this will make it less attractive to recruit the next round of people.”

 He said that many industries had policies that required sales staff to leave their Rolodexes behind, but that these policies were as relevant to social media as Rolodexes are to the modern office. After all, social media accounts are, almost by definition, personal.

 He also said that the average Twitter account had less clout than many might think.

 “The value of the individual users is very hard to quantify,” he said. “It’s dangerous to overestimate the value of an account to an organization and underestimate what it means for an individual.”

 Mr. Kravitz said he was confused.

 “They’re suing me for over a quarter of a million dollars,” he said. “From where I’m sitting I held up my end of the bargain.”

Summary: – Do a company's Twitter followers belong to the firm, or to the employee doing the tweeting—and how much is each follower worth? The questions are at the heart of a lawsuit in South Carolina, report AP and the New York Times: An online tech review firm is suing a former employee who ran a company Twitter account. When Noah Kravitz left PhoneDog, he changed the name on the account and kept its 17,000 followers. The company says Kravitz owes it $2.50 per follower over 8 months, amounting to $340,000. PhoneDog argues that the Twitter followers are essentially a list of customers. But Kravitz says the company didn't raise the issue until after he sued them over unpaid wages. Plus, Twitter followers are often "people who are just gathering accounts and broadcasting their own content—people who aren't necessarily paying attention to anything PhoneDog has to say," notes an intellectual property lawyer. Kravitz's attorney thinks $2.50 is too much. "If that's the case, Kim Kardashian's account would probably be worth billions of dollars of year," he says.


Credit: NASA People who live and work along coasts and coastlines everywhere may be more likely to experience a super-charged lightning strike, according to new research from Florida Institute of Technology that shows lightning can be much more powerful over the ocean than land.

 Florida Tech's Amitabh Nag, assistant professor of physics and space sciences, and Kenneth L. Cummins, research professor at Florida Tech and the University of Arizona, recently published, "Negative First Stroke Leader Characteristics in Cloud to-Ground Lightning Over Land and Ocean" in the American Geophysical Union's Geophysical Research Letters. The scientists analyzed lightning over parts of Florida and its coasts using data provided by the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network.

 Some previous indirect observations led scientists and others to believe that strikes over sea water tend to be more powerful, but the Nag and Cummins study represents the first time that an independent measurement has validated those beliefs.

 Lightning scientists break down every cloud-to-ground strike into sub-processes to get a better understanding of the way it formed. Plenty of physics is packed into fractions of a second from when charged particles in thunderclouds form into downward channels of electricity that "attach" to electrical, charge-carrying channels rising from land or water to form that familiar zigzag bolt.

 In their study, which measured peak currents of various cloud-to-ground lightning strikes over land and ocean from 2013 to 2015, Nag and Cummins calculated the duration of the "negative stepped leader" – the electrical channel that moves down toward ground from a thundercloud. When this leader touches ground a surge of current, typically with a peak value of around 30 kilo amperes, flows upward to the cloud. The durations of negative stepped leaders over the ocean were significantly shorter than those over land, which indicates that they carry more charge in them. This leads to a higher following current surge from ground.

 Nag and Cummins found that with strikes over water in western Florida, the median stepped-leader duration was 17 percent shorter over ocean than over land, and in eastern Florida the median durations were 21 and 39 percent shorter over two oceanic regions than over land. Using a relationship between leader duration and lightning peak current derived in this study, the authors estimate that lightning with peak currents over 50 kilo amperes is twice as likely to occur in oceanic thunderstorms.

 These findings suggest that people living on or near the ocean may be at greater risk for lightning damage if storms develop over oceans and move on-shore. This new understanding of the nature of lightning could inform how off-shore infrastructure and vessels are to be built to minimize the risk of super-powerful lightning bolts from thunderstorms formed over the sea.

 Explore further: Satellite data finds peak in a daily lightning cycle

 More information: Amitabh Nag et al, Negative first stroke leader characteristics in cloud-to-ground lightning over land and ocean, Geophysical Research Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1002/2016GL072270

 ||||| Access Eos Archive Issues

 Issues from 1997-2014 are freely available to the public. Older issues are available through AGU membership or through an institutional subscription. ||||| Florida often experiences the most lighting-related deaths than any other state, including in 2016 when nine people were killed.

 There are persistent myths about lightning that the National Weather Service has tried to dispel. Knowing the facts can save your life.

 Lightning is not attracted to metal. Metal is a good conductor of electricity, which is why lightning rods are used on top of tall buildings, but it is the height of the building, not the metal that meteorologists believe draws the lightning. That is why it’s dangerous to seek shelter under a tree during a lightning storm. Lighting will seek out the tallest object to strike.

 “Lightning is not attracted to anything,” said John Jensenius, an expert with the National Weather Service. “I’ve seen various articles about batteries and screwdrivers, none of which had any effect.”

 Check The Palm Beach Post radar map.

 A car with a metal roof is good shelter from lightning, but not because of the rubber tires. If lightning strikes the car, it will be conducted by the metal around and into the ground. A convertible does not offer the same protection.

 Lightning can strike from 10 miles away, meaning sunny skies when a storm is imminent are still dangerous.

 Lightning tends to strike the tallest object in an area, so trees are not safe places to seek shelter.

 Related: Watch amazing slow motion video of lightning striking Florida beach

 A person injured by lightning is not electrified. Victims typically die of cardiac arrest. People who can administer CPR will not be electrocuted if they do so.

 Lightning can strike the same place twice.

 People playing golf do not account for the majority of lightning deaths. Fishermen account for more than three times as many lightning deaths as golfers. Camping and boating each account for almost twice as many deaths.

 Download the Palm Beach Post WeatherPlus app here.

 “People get the idea that jewelry, headphones, golf clubs attracts lightning but that’s not the case at all,” said Matt Bragaw, a meteorologist and lightning safety specialist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne. “Metal conducts electricity very efficiently, but it does not draw electricity to it like a magnet.”

 If anything, Bragaw said, it’s the act of swinging a club that might draw lightning’s attention because it makes the gofer the tallest object in what is usually the mostly wide open terrain of a tee or fairway.

 “Anytime you increase your height, you increase your chances of getting hit,” Bragaw said.

 If you haven’t yet, join Kim on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Summary: – It's a popular myth that golfers account for most deaths from lightning strikes. In fact, the Palm Beach Post reports more than three times as many fishermen die from lightning strikes than golfers. A study published in Geophysical Research Letters in February and recently getting some attention may explain why. Researchers from the Florida Institute of Technology found that lightning strikes over the ocean can be much more powerful than strikes over land. It's the first independent study to show what others have long believed, according to a press release. Researchers studied lightning over Florida and its coasts from 2013 to 2015, measuring the peak currents of the strikes. They found strikes over the ocean carried more charge than those over land. In fact, they estimated that lightning with peak currents of more than 50 kilo amperes is more than twice as likely to occur over the ocean. This could mean people living on or near the ocean may be at greater risk from lightning. Worth noting: Deaths from lightning strikes in Florida—a state with a whole lot of coastline—regularly outpace those in the rest of the country. Nine people were killed by lightning in 2016 in Florida. (Pain is only the beginning of a lightning strike.)


The FBI found "no evidence" of damage caused by a firearm to the windshield of derailed Amtrak 188, National Transportation Safety Board officials said today.

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 "The FBI has completed its examination of the windshield of the Amtrak #188 locomotive and has found no evidence of damage that could have been caused by a firearm. The NTSB has not ruled out the possibility that another object may have struck the windshield. Additional updates on the investigation will be issued later this week," the NTSB said in a statement.

 The NTSB added that its investigation into the cause of the accident is expected to last up to 12 months.

 Probable cause of #Amtrak 188 accident will be determined at conclusion of NTSB’s investigation -- expected to last up to 12 months. — NTSB (@NTSB) May 18, 2015

 During an earlier interview on ABC News' "This Week," NTSB lead investigator Robert Sumwalt said there was no communication between the derailed Amtrak train engineer to the dispatch center to suggest that a projectile had hit the ill-fated train, which crashed in Philedelphia on the night of May 12.

 “We interviewed the dispatchers and we listened to the dispatch tape, and we heard no communications at all from the Amtrak engineer to the dispatch center to say that something had struck his train,” Sumwalt told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos.

 This morning, Amtrak resumed service between Philadelphia and New York City, six days after the derailment, which left eight people dead and more than 200 injured.

 The train, which accelerated before the crash, was traveling over 100 mph at the time, well over the speed limit. ||||| Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE After the Amtrak crash in Philadelphia, Americans are wondering if rail lines are safe. A technology called Positive Train Control is proven to prevent train derailments and is supposed to be installed on rail lines by the end of 2015 VPC

 An Amtrak train travels northbound from 30th Street Station, Monday, in Philadelphia. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor trains resumed service Monday following last week's deadly derailment that killed eight people and injured more than 200 others. (Photo: Matt Slocum, AP)

 As Amtrak resumed full service on the Northeast Corridor six days after the deadly Philadelphia derailment, the FBI has determined that gunfire did not damage the window of the locomotive involved in the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday.

 FBI agents had found "no evidence of damage that could have been caused by a firearm," NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said. He noted that the board had not ruled out that "another object" may have hit the windshield before the seven-car train derailed on a curve Tuesday night at more than 100 mph. The crash killed eight passengers and injured more than 200 others.

 Investigator are looking into whether the Amtrak locomotive was hit by a rock or other projectile and whether that might have contributed to Train 188's traveling at more than twice the posted speed limit.

 An Amtrak assistant conductor has told investigators she believed she heard Bostian tell a dispatcher that a rock or something else hit the train and that the engineer of a nearby regional commuter train reported his locomotive's windshield had been smashed by a rock, forcing him to make an emergency stop.

 But NTSB investigators who reviewed the recorded conversations between Bostian and dispatchers "did not hear" him report anything hitting his train, Knudson said, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The safety board has not reinterviewed the conductor and cannot yet account for the discrepancy.

 Why the Amtrak train accelerated rapidly before hurtling off the rails remains a mystery. The focus has been on the engineer, Brandon Bostian, who suffered head injuries and has told investigators he has no memory of the crash.

 Al Diehl, a former crash investigator at the National Transportation Safety Board who was an expert in human factors of accidents, said the evidence so far points to the 32-year-old engineer inadvertently pushing the throttle forward during the final minute on the tracks.

 Diehl said investigators would search for mechanical, electrical or software problems that could have led to the crash.

 But he said the train's sudden acceleration from 70 mph to 106 mph during the final minute on the tracks, as the train headed into a 50-mph curve, suggested that Bostian might have been startled and inadvertently pushed forward on the left-hand throttle.

 "The evidence so far is consistent with a startle response or a falling of the engineer and a bumping forward of the throttle control," Diehl said. "The train accelerated and the question is why. Did he fall down and bump the throttle forward?"

 NTSB member Robert Sumwalt on Sunday sought to downplay the significance of reports suggesting a projectile hit the train.

 He said on CBS' Face the Nation: "I've seen the fracture pattern; it looks like something about the size of a grapefruit, if you will, and it did not even penetrate the entire windshield."

 Diehl discounted the possibility that the engineer, who hit the emergency brake just before derailing, was trying to kill himself, as with the Germanwings pilot who steered a plane into the French Alps in March.

 "I see no indication this guy's crazy," Diehl said.

 Monday's developments came as train service was restored along the nation's busiest rail corridor, and as funerals for three victims were held in New York, New Jersey and Michigan.

 The first train left New York City southbound at 5:30 a.m. ET, and the 5:53 a.m. Philadelphia to New York City train was delayed and departed at 6:07 a.m. Services in that section of America's busiest passenger rail corridor had been suspended since the derailment on Tuesday night.

 Announcing on Sunday that service would resume, Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman said the safety of passengers and crew was the firm's "number one priority."

 He added: "Our infrastructure repairs have been made with the utmost care and emphasis on infrastructure integrity including complete compliance with Federal Railroad Administration directives."

 At a service Sunday evening to honor the crash victims, Boardman called Tuesday "the worst day for me as a transportation professional" and vowed that the derailed train and its passengers "will never be forgotten," the Associated Press reported.

 He said Amtrak would offer a "safer service" and added: "We quickly made changes, and I'm grateful. I'm thankful," according to the agency.

 On Saturday, the ordered Amtrak to take immediate steps to employ new speed control technology throughout the following the derailment.

 The FRA outlined the orders to Amtrak on Facebookand said it would formalize its action in an Emergency Order.

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1Fng3xx

Summary: – The FBI hasn't found any evidence of firearm damage to the windshield of the Amtrak train that derailed last week, killing eight people and injuring more than 200, the National Transportation Safety Board says. "The NTSB has not ruled out the possibility that another object may have struck the windshield," the NTSB says, per ABC News. "Additional updates on the investigation will be issued later this week." The probe into the crash is likely to take up to a year, the NTSB added in a tweet. Investigators want to know whether an object hitting the train may have played a role in its traveling at over 100mph—more than double its allotted speed limit—when it derailed on a curve, USA Today reports.


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 Disconnect ||||| Egypt's Interior Ministry offered a rare expression of regret Saturday after riot police were caught on camera a day earlier beating a protester who had been stripped of his clothes, and then dragging the naked man along the muddy pavement before bundling him into a police van.

 Egyptians flee tear gas fired by security forces during an anti-President Mohammed Morsi protest in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Thousands of protesters denouncing... (Associated Press)

 Egyptian protesters shout anti-Mohammed Morsi slogans before clashes in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Thousands of Egyptians marched across the country, chanting... (Associated Press)

 Egyptian riot police beat a man, after stripping him, and before dragging him into a police van, during clashes next to the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Protesters denouncing... (Associated Press)

 An Egyptian protester throws a tear gas canister back during clashes with riot police in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Thousands of protesters denouncing Egypt's... (Associated Press)

 Egyptian riot police beat a man, illuminated by the green light of a protester's laser, after stripping him, and before dragging him into a police van, during clashes next to the presidential palace in... (Associated Press)

 The video of the beating, which took place late Friday only blocks from the presidential palace where protests were raging in the streets, further inflamed popular anger with security forces just as several thousand anti-government demonstrators marched on the palace again on Saturday. The uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011 was fueled in part by anger over police brutality.

 In the footage aired live on Egyptian TV, at least seven black-clad riot police used sticks to beat 48-year-old Hamada Saber, who was sprawled out on the ground, shirtless and with his pants down around his ankles.

 In a statement, the Interior Ministry voiced its "regret" about the assault, and vowed to investigate. But it also sought to distance itself _ and the police in general _ from the abuse, saying it "was carried out by individuals that do not represent in any way the doctrine of all policemen who direct their efforts to protecting the security and stability of the nation and sacrifice their lives to protect civilians."

 Later in the day, however, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim put the blame elsewhere entirely, saying initial results from the public prosecutor's investigation indicated that Saber was undressed by "rioters" during skirmishes between police and protesters.

 "The Central Security Forces then found him lying on the ground and tried to put him in an armored vehicle, though the way in which they did that was excessive," Ibrahim said.

 President Mohammed Morsi's office called Saber's beating "shocking", but stressed that violence and vandalism of government property is unacceptable.

 The abuse took place as thousands of protesters chanted against President Mohammed Morsi on Friday. The march was part of a wave of demonstrations that have rocked Egypt since last week's second anniversary of the 2011 revolt, leaving more than 60 people dead and plunging the country into turmoil once again.

 In what appeared to be an effort to protect the police from a harsh backlash over the video, Ibrahim said that nearly 400 policemen have been wounded this past week in clashes, and warned that the disintegration of police will lead to even wider-spread chaos in the Arab world's most populous nation.

 "The collapse of police will affect Egypt and transform it into a militia state like some neighboring nations," Ibrahim said, alluding to Libya where militias comprise the bulk of security after that nation's uprising.

 Already some Islamists have warned they could set up militias to protect their interests, while a group calling itself "Black Bloc" whose followers wear black masks claim to defend protesters opposed to the Islamist president's rule.

 Rights groups have accused Morsi of not taking steps to reform the Interior Ministry, which was the backbone of Mubarak's regime. Police under Mubarak were notorious for using excessive force against protesters and beating those in custody.

 In a defining image of post-Mubarak violence against protesters, Egyptians were outraged last year when military police were caught on camera dragging a veiled woman through the streets during a protest, pulling her conservative black robe over her head and revealing her blue bra.

 Protesters and rights groups have accused police of using excessive force this past week during a wave of mass demonstrations in cities around the country called by opposition politicians, trying to wrest concessions from Morsi.

 But many protesters go further, saying Morsi must be removed from office. They are accusing his Muslim Brotherhood of monopolizing power and of failing to deal with the country's mounting woes. Many have been further angered by Morsi's praise of the security forces after the high death toll. Some have taken to attacking government buildings, from prisons to police stations to courthouses.

 The chaos prompted Morsi to order a limited curfew in three provinces and the deployment of the military to the streets.

 The main opposition National Salvation Front said Saturday that the "gruesome images" of Saber's beating demand the interior minister's resignation.

 Also Saturday, Prime Minister Hisham Kandil visited Cairo's Tahrir Square and the area around the presidential palace. He said those who are camped out there are neither protesters nor revolutionaries. He said protesters "do not torch, attack hotels, rape women, steal from shops, they do not burn the presidential palace."

 In an impassioned speech Saturday carried live on Egyptian state TV, Kandil said the street violence and political unrest that has engulfed the country for more than a week is threatening the nation's already ailing economy.

 "The Egyptian economy is bleeding," he said. "It is holding itself, but if this situation persists it will be dangerous, extremely dangerous."

 Foreign currency earners such as tourism and foreign investment have dried up in the past two years of political unrest. Foreign reserves currently estimate at around $15 billion, less than half of where it stood before the 2011 uprising that ousted Mubarak. The Egyptian pound has also lost around four percent of its value due to the turmoil and planned austerity measures threaten to curb subsidies relied on by millions of poor Egyptians.

 Kandil called on the opposition to back away from any more protests or marches.

 Also Saturday, Mubarak's former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, was found guilty of abusing his position by forcing police conscripts to work on his mansion and land outside Cairo. Both he and former riot police chief Hassan Abdel-Hamid were sentenced to three years in prison and fined around $340,000. The verdict can be appealed.

 Al-Adly is already serving time for corruption and was sentenced to life in prison with Mubarak for failing to prevent the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the 2011 revolt that ousted the longtime leader. Both men appealed, and will be given a retrial.

Summary: – Egypt's Interior Ministry offered a rare expression of regret today after riot police were caught on camera a day earlier beating a protester who had been stripped of his clothes, and then dragging the naked man along the muddy pavement before bundling him into a police van. The video of the beating, which took place late yesterday only blocks from the presidential palace where protests were raging in the streets, further inflamed popular anger with security forces just as several thousand anti-government demonstrators marched on the palace again today. The uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011 was fueled in part by anger over police brutality. In the footage aired live on Egyptian TV, at least seven black-clad riot police used sticks to beat 48-year-old Hamada Saber, who was sprawled out on the ground, shirtless and with his pants down around his ankles. In a statement, the Interior Ministry voiced its "regret" about the assault, and vowed to investigate. But it also sought to distance itself—and the police in general—from the abuse, saying it "was carried out by individuals that do not represent in any way the doctrine of all policemen." Later in the day, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim put the blame elsewhere entirely, saying initial results from the public prosecutor's investigation indicated that Saber was undressed by "rioters" during skirmishes between police and protesters. Click for more.


The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an appeal from a Quebec man who tried to claim a $27 million jackpot based on a lottery ticket printed seven seconds after the cut-off time.

 On Thursday, Canada's top court said it would not hear Joel Ifergan's lottery case. The SCC dismissed his request for an appeal with costs.

 Ifergan purchased two lottery tickets for the May 23, 2008 Super 7 draw at 8:59 p.m., one minute ahead of the weekly draw deadline. His first ticket printed with the May 23 draw date on it, but his second one came out seven seconds after 9:00, with the May 30 draw date printed at the top.

 That second ticket had all the winning numbers for the May 23 jackpot, but Loto-Quebec rejected the claim because the ticket said May 30.

 “I’m really disappointed in the decision, and it’s not because it’s about the money,” Ifergan told CTV News Channel after his case was dismissed Thursday.

 Ifergan says he’s entitled to half of the $27 million awarded in the May 23 draw because his tickets were purchased ahead of the deadline, regardless of whether they were printed after it. He blames Loto-Quebec’s 10-second processing delay for denying him his share of the jackpot, which was awarded to another winner.

 "Loto-Quebec during the trial never argued the fact that my request for the two tickets was in their system at 8:59.47," he told CTV Montreal.

 "The deadline that they advertise was for 9 p.m. –- which I did.”

 Ifergan added that Loto-Quebec’s slow processing system puts Quebecers at a “disadvantage” when compared to the rest of Canada.

 In the rest of Canada, they shut down at 9 p.m. and you can't buy a ticket," he told The Canadian Press. "But everything in their system prior to 9 p.m. gets processed and you get a ticket, even if it comes out five minutes later."

 “Had those tickets been bought anywhere else in Canada, I would have been a millionaire seven years ago,” Ifergan said.

 The career accountant spent nearly seven years and $100,000 in legal fees fighting for his half of the jackpot.

 The Quebec Superior Court and the Quebec Court of Appeal had also ruled against him in 2012 and 2014 respectively.

 “Yes, it cost me a lot of money, but it also consumed me for seven years,” he said. He added that the SCC did not provide an explanation with its ruling.

 "My crusade is up, I've done all I can, I spent enough money going to the Supreme Court," Ifergan told The Canadian Press

 The SCC typically does not provide an explanation when it chooses not to hear an appeal.

 Loto-Quebec spokesman, Jean-Pierre Roy, said he is satisfied with the Supreme Court's decision.

 "The (original) judgement was clear and convincing that Loto-Quebec procedures were altogether reliable and integrated and were the right ones," Roy said.

 He added that no protocol changes are expected in the future.

 Ifergan was out for ice cream when he made a last-minute decision to purchase a Super 7 draw ticket

 Ifergan says he stopped at a convenience store, where he was told he had less than a minute to buy the two tickets.

 The store's owner, Mehernosh Iranpur, says he sold Ifergan the tickets, and Ifergan knew the second ticket was for the next draw.

 "I asked him, ‘It’s for next week. Do you want it or not?'" Iranpur said. "He says, 'No, I'll keep it.'"

 Ifergan says he and Iranpur were both confused by the situation.

 “It was the first time he’d ever seen it,” Ifergan said. “Nobody knew.”

 But Ifergan told The Canadian Press that he accepted the ticket.

 The Lotto Super 7 draw was discontinued in September of 2009 and replaced with Lotto Max. Participants in the Super 7 draw were able select their own numbers or opt for random ones.

 With files from The Canadian Press and a report from CTV Montreal. ||||| A Quebec man who bought a winning lottery ticket seven seconds too late has lost his Supreme Court of Canada bid to appeal a decision that has denied him half of the $27-million prize.

 "I'm going to be very very honest with you … I'm very disappointed in this decision," said Joel Ifergan of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, from Montreal's West Island.

 Ifergan bought two Super 7 tickets on May 23, 2008, just before the 9 p.m. cutoff. (Super 7 was replaced by Lotto Max in 2009.)

 Joel Ifergan, pictured in 2008, had taken Loto-Québec to court over a lottery loss he said was due to a computer glitch. (CBC)

 He said he ordered the tickets at 8:59 p.m. ET — the convenience store clerk told him he had one minute to buy his tickets.

 The first ticket was printed showing the May 23 date — that night's draw. However, the second ticket, with the winning numbers for that night's $27-million jackpot, was printed after a few seconds' delay, showing a date for the following week's draw on May 30.

 Ifergan claims the delay was caused by Loto-Québec's central computer system, and believes he's entitled to half the jackpot.

 He sued the province’s lottery regulator for what he felt was his half of the jackpot. However, his attempts to bring it to Quebec courts were rejected.

 The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to accept his appeal, with cost.

 Ifergan said the court case has cost him more than $100,000.

 Still, the experience hasn't stopped him from buying lottery tickets — as he said, you never know when you'll get lucky.

Summary: – Seven has turned out to be a very unlucky number for Montreal man Joel Ifergan: He missed a $10.5 million prize in Canada's Super 7 lottery by seven seconds, and after almost seven years of fighting lottery authorities, his case has been rejected by the country's top court. Ifergan says that in May 2008, he bought two tickets at 8:59pm, a minute before the 9pm cutoff, the CBC reports. The first ticket out of the convenience store's machine was for that night's draw but the next one—which had the draw's winning numbers—was printed at seven seconds after 9pm and was registered for the following week's draw. If the ticket had been printed a few seconds earlier, he would have shared a $21 million jackpot with another winner. Ifergan sued lottery authorities in Quebec, saying the processing lag was the fault of their slow system. Loto-Quebec never disputed "the fact that my request for the two tickets was in their system at 8:59.47," he tells CTV, saying that "had those tickets been bought anywhere else in Canada, I would have been a millionaire seven years ago." But the courts in Quebec ruled against him, and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his appeal yesterday. Ifergan, who says the case "consumed him" for seven years and cost him more than $100,000 in legal fees, says he has done all he can and will stop fighting the decision—but he hasn't stopped buying lottery tickets. (A Washington woman who went to the store for pumpkin spice picked up a ticket that won $90 million as well.)