Thai woman accused of murdering 12 friends in cyanide poisonings

Published

1 year ago

April 27, 2023

editor

Thai police say they have arrested a woman suspected of killing 12 of her friends and acquaintances by poisoning them with cyanide.

Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn was arrested in Bangkok on Tuesday following recent inquiries into a friend’s death.

The victim’s family had raised suspicions after she died on a trip with Sararat earlier this month.

Following inquiries, police this week said they believed Sararat had killed 11 others, including an ex-boyfriend.

Police allege she killed for financial reasons. Sararat has denied all the charges. Thai authorities have denied her bail.

Two weeks ago, she had travelled with her friend to Ratchaburi province, west of Bangkok, where they had taken part in a Buddhist protection ritual at a river, police said.

Shortly after, her friend Siriporn Khanwong collapsed and died on the riverbank.

Traces of cyanide were found in her body during the autopsy, police said. Her phone, money and bags were also missing when she was found.

Authorities said the other alleged victims had died in a similar way, but did not disclose further information. The murders began in 2020, they said.

They also didn’t identify all of the victims, but named Sararat’s former partner, as well as two female police officers, among the dead.

Thai police have also questioned Sararat’s partner- a senior police officer in Ratchaburi province, where her friend died. The pair have recently split, Thai media reported.

Police said Sararat knew all of the victims and she may have been motivated by financial reasons.

One friend, who police believe was targeted, had loaned her 250,000 baht (£5,900; $7,300) police said. The woman had vomited and fainted after having lunch with Sararat but survived.

Relatives of victims had also reported missing jewellery and cash, police said.

But the families had not suspected foul play at the time, officers said, indicating that evidence gathering could be a challenge. Some bodies had also been cremated, police said.

Cyanide can be detected in corpses several months after death, if a lethal amount was used.

The poison starves the body’s cells of oxygen, which can induce heart attacks. Early symptoms include dizziness, shortness of breath, and vomiting.

Its use in Thailand is heavily regulated and those found to have unauthorised access face up two years in jail.

(BBC News)

NY police arrest around 300 in campus raids

Published

7 hours ago

May 1, 2024

editor

Police arrested about 300 protesters during campus raids at Columbia University and CUNY in New York on Tuesday night, officials say.

Eric Adams, the city’s mayor, says the “massive operation” took place at Columbia’s request to remove those who were disrupting a peaceful protest.

Elsewhere, rival protesters have clashed at pro-Palestinian encampments in Los Angeles.

At the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), vice-chancellor Mary Osako said: “Horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight”.

She says the university “immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support”.

Footage online appears to show masked counter-demonstrators – supporting Israel – attacking their rivals with sticks and attempting to dismantle barricades.

US universities have been gripped by protests over the war in Gaza, as students demand a boycott of companies and individuals with ties to Israel.

(BBC News)

AstraZeneca admits its Covid-19 jab could cause a rare side effect

Published

1 day ago

April 30, 2024

editor

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has for the first time admitted that its Covid-19 vaccine could cause a rare side effect that could lead to blood clots and death, according to court documents.
The company is fighting a class action lawsuit alleging that its inoculation, which was developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford, can result in death and serious injury.

The legal battle was initiated by Jamie Scott, a father of two, who suffered a blood clot that left him with brain damage after he was inoculated in April 2021 in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. He is seeking compensation over claims that the AstraZeneca vaccine is “defective” and less safe than expected, an allegation the company denies.

In May 2023, AstraZeneca also insisted that “we do not accept that TTS [Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome] is caused by the vaccine at a generic level,” as quoted by The Daily Telegraph.

TTS is a rare condition, in which a person has blood clots, which could reduce the blood flow, combined with a low platelet count, which could prompt difficulties in stopping the bleeding. TTS symptoms include severe headaches and abdominal pain.

Despite previous denials, AstraZeneca said in court documents, which were submitted to the UK High Court in February but received media attention only recently, that “it is admitted that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS. The causal mechanism is not known.”

“Further, TTS can also occur in the absence of the AZ vaccine (or any vaccine),” the company added, as quoted by the Telegraph.

At the same time, AstraZeneca insists the available data shows the drug has “an acceptable safety profile,” and that “regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.”

Dozens of Western countries suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in the spring of 2021 over fears it may have caused some patients to develop blood clots. At the time, the head of the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) vaccines strategy, Marco Cavaleri, said that there was an evident link between AZ vaccine intake and blood clots in the brain, but maintained that the benefits still outweighed the risks.

According to World Health Organization data, the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine has an efficacy of 72%. As of April 2021, over 17 million people had received the jab in the EU and the UK, with just under 40 cases of thrombosis, according to the company.

(Agencies)