Some people, desperate for drugs, injure their own pets to get narcotics from their veterinarian, DEA officials are warning doctors.

One case that garnered international attention: A Kentucky woman used her husband’s disposable razor blades to cut her mixed-breed retriever, Alice, on multiple occasions to get an opioid pain killer.

“I remember my initial feeling of disbelief, this can’t be real,” said Elizabethtown Police Officer John Thomas, who investigated the case.

“It was shocking.”

Scott Brinks, with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Diversion Control Division in Washington, cautioned more than 200 Kentucky doctors — including some veterinarians — during an August conference in Louisville to watch for potential drug seekers since animals are now among the victims of the nation’s worst drug crisis.

More: ‘Seven days of hell:’ How a Kentucky doctor fought his own addiction

Read this: Patients in ‘dire need’ of opioids after a crackdown on pain clinics

A doctor asked if it’s possible to search a state database to see if the pet owner has recently gotten narcotics from other vets — a possible indicator of “doctor shopping” for more drugs. Doctors routinely run a similar check when treating people.

Jill Lee, an investigator and pharmacy consultant with Kentucky’s prescription drug monitoring program, said vets can’t run the check on the pet owners since the animal is the patient, even though the pet owner has access to the prescription.

Alice’s owner, Heather Pereira, of Elizabethtown, doctor-shopped at an animal clinic in Louisville and then at an animal hospital in her hometown to get Tramadol, used for moderate to moderately severe pain, Thomas said. 

Medical officials at Elizabethtown Animal Hospital called police in December 2014, after noticing several red flags, including cuts on Alice that looked too clean to have been accidental as well as implausible stories about how the dog incurred the injuries. It also was the third time in two months that Alice needed medical attention, with the latest wound requiring six to eight stitches to close two cuts to her right flank.

Pereira initially claimed Alice was cut after rubbing up against a broken part of a gutter and after playing under the car, the officer said. The investigator said Pereira finally admitting she cut her dog.

Circuit Judge Kelly Mark Easton referred to Pereira’s crime as a “selfish act to feed her out-of-control drug habit,” while sentencing the pet owner to four years behind bars for obtaining a controlled substance by making false statements — a felony — and misdemeanor torture of a cat or dog, according to a 2015 report by The News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown. She was released in 2016 and remains on supervised probation, Thomas said.

Also: Opioid abuse surged in Jefferson County as JCPS drug education fell apart

Earlier: Doctors who fear being arrested for treating pain to get unusual help

Now, veterinarians across the state are trained to watch for potential signs of abuse.

“Certainly, we know that people who have a drug problem will do almost anything to obtain them,” Dr. Doug Peterson, president of the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association, said. 

“Is it something the average vet sees on a monthly basis? Probably not. But we need to be concerned about it for sure,” Peterson said.

A veterinarian for 31 years, Peterson said he relies on his experience and gut instinct and watches for a few behaviors that can indicate deception, though he didn’t want to elaborate and give drug-seekers ideas.

Peterson, who treats pets in Frankfort, said he will try to verify the injury by looking for a limp or pressing on the area where the animal is supposed to be hurting to look for a pain response.

“If I think the pet doesn’t need it or the owner is seeking drugs, I won’t prescribe it,” he said. “I ultimately make the call.”

Future vets also are being warned.

Kentucky, which doesn’t offer a college degree in veterinary medicine, contracts with Auburn University in Alabama to offer in-state tuition each year for 38 of the Commonwealth’s future vets — who are taught to watch for drug seekers.

“The potential for abuse is real,” said Dr. Dan Givens, Auburn’s associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Along with intentionally injuring pets, some drug seekers might exaggerate or fake the animal’s injury.

“Due to concerns about drug abuse, some veterinarians are not going to prescribe some controlled substances,” Givens said. “They are not going to have them in their clinics.”

He said sometimes animal hospital staff will give the narcotic directly to pets after surgery but send them home with a less potent pain reliever. 

Veterinarians also are trained to ask new clients to sign waivers allowing them to look at a pet’s previous medical treatment. If the pet owner won’t sign the waiver, some vets will refuse treatment.

Reporter Beth Warren: bwarren@courier-journal.com; 502-582-7164; Twitter @BethWarrenCJ. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/bethw.

 

 

  

 

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Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur live Premier League commentary – Live – BBC Sport

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The European Union must stop depending on the United States for security and must now rely on its own military forces for protection, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said. 

In a speech to French ambassadors on Monday, Macron said he would put forward new proposals to the EU to boost security and that all European nations, including Russia, should be involved in discussions on defence cooperation. 

“Europe cannot rely on the United States only for its security,” he said. “It is up to us to meet our responsibilities and guarantee our security.”

Since his election in May 2017, the 40-year-old leader has campaigned for a more integrated EU with a common defence budget and security doctrine.

During the speech, Macron said cooperation with Russia should occur on the condition that progress is made with Moscow on the fighting in eastern Ukraine. 

Paris is pushing for full implementation of the 2015 Minsk peace agreement that was sponsored by France and Germany to settle the conflict in Ukraine, which has killed at least 10,000 people since 2014.

In November, EU countries launched an unprecedented programme of joint military investment aimed at confronting EU security challenges. Twenty-three of the 28 member states signed up to the plan. 

‘Turning its back’

Macron called on Europe to be “a trade and economic power” that defends its strategic interests and financial independence with tools that can fend off US extraterritorial sanctions.

“Multilateralism is going through a major crisis which collides with all our diplomatic activity, above all because of US policy,” he said.  

Macron also criticised US President Donald Trump’s “aggressive” isolationism.

“The partner with whom Europe built the post-World War order appears to be turning its back on this shared history,” the French president said.

‘In our neighbourhood’

Meanwhile, Germany’s foreign minister said on Monday that European nations must fill the gaps left by the withdrawal of the US from international organisations and key regions of the world.

Heiko Maas told German diplomats in Berlin that Europe should increase its political and financial weight at the United Nations and the World Trade Organization – both of which have come under pressure from Washington since Trump took office last year.

He also urged Europe to step up its activities in the Middle East, Africa and western Balkans, warning that “the cost of war, poverty and displacement in our neighbourhood … is borne by us Europeans”.

Maas said while Europe should seek to “rebalance” its relationship with Washington, “the goal is never ‘Europe first’”.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Internationale Funkausstellung, or IFA, is Europe’s largest trade show for consumer electronics that takes place from Aug. 31 to Sept. 5 in Berlin. And it’s going to be a little different this year. 

IFA is not really about phones — it never was. The big phone show is Mobile World Congress in February, and there are tons of brand-specific events throughout the year. But a few major phone makers, including Samsung, LG, and Huawei, often launch big-name phones at IFA, stealing the headlines from the TVs, computers, wearables and tons of other gadgets unveiled there. 

Not this year. Samsung already launched its Galaxy Note 9; Huawei will likely launch a new Mate smartphone in October, and word on the street is LG won’t launch a phone at the show, either. 

And all of that is A-OK. IFA phone launches always seemed a bit forced anyway — as if the manufacturers don’t really like the late August/early September time slot and have to grumpily adjust their schedule to make those launches happen on time. Let’s face it: New iPhones are probably just weeks away, and no phone maker wants to be eclipsed by that. I’m not surprised we’ve finally reached the point where basically all major manufacturers have removed their phone launches to either a month ahead or a month after IFA. 

But the most interesting news coming from IFA was never phones, anyway. It was huge TVs with insane resolutions, extra-capacitous memory cards, insane gaming computers, and, most of all, totally bonkers gadgets such as this swan-adorned TV. 

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got nothing against phones, especially if they’re of the innovative variety, like the Asus ROG phone (which we hope to get a glimpse of at IFA this year). But IFA is just too much fun (legions of air purifiers and washing machines aside) to be eclipsed by a couple of phone launches. 

No phones, lots of fun

Image: MICHAEL RATHMAYR/MASHABLE

So what can we expect this year? Well, Asus, Acer, Dell, Toshiba, Bang & Olufsen and Beyerdynamic all have events at this year’s show, and that means tons of TVs, monitors, laptops, desktop PCs, speakers, and headphones. LG and Samsung will also have a presence at IFA, and I don’t doubt the two Korean giants will try to outshine one another with ginormous TVs as they do nearly ever year. Panasonic also typically has a huge, exciting booth, and Philips will likely have something to show as well.

Fitbit announced its new Charge 3 fitness tracker just days ago, ruining the surprise, but other wearables makers, including Casio, will have a presence at the show, so we might see a cool new smartwatch (or three) at the show as well. 

Finally, though we can’t go into specifics, through the grapevine we heard there will be new robots, self-driving tech, and cool AR/VR stuff at the show as well. And let’s not forget that every year, some unknown Chinese manufacturer brings a totally crazy gadget that ends up being a star.

Image: Michael Rathmayr/Mashable

Of course, IFA won’t be completely absent of phones this year: Huawei’s sub-brand Honor will likely launch a new phone, and Sony and HTC might (key word is might) have something to show as well. 

Still, with no flagship phone from a major brand (last year there was just one, the LG V30), this year’s IFA will be a bit different than usual. And if fun and crazy gadgets take the center stage instead of (often boring) phones, well, I wouldn’t mind that at all. 

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Monday the U.S. and Mexico have reached a new trade deal, paving the way for the possible revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In an Oval Office announcement, Trump said the new agreement would be called the United States Mexico trade agreement and would replace NAFTA, which he said had “bad connotations” for the United States.

“It’s a big day for trade,” he said. “It’s a big day for our country.”

Trump said he intends to terminate NAFTA and that the U.S. would immediately begin negotiations with Canada, the third party in the trilateral trade pact that he has called the “worst deal ever.”

“If they would like to negotiate fairly, we will do that,” Trump said. He said it’s possible that a separate deal could be reached with Canada.

The announcement of a deal between the U.S. and Mexico comes after five consecutive weeks of talks between the two nations to revise key parts of the NAFTA.

In a phone call with Trump, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto called the deal “something very positive for the United States and Mexico.”

The U.S. and Mexico are hoping to get a final deal signed before Peña Nieto leaves office on Dec. 1. But before the U.S. can sign the deal, Congress must be given 90 days’ notice. A formal notice will be sent to Congress on Friday.

Peña Nieto repeatedly expressed interest for Canada to be incorporated into the agreement. Trump said the U.S. would have a deal with Canada “one way or another.”

“It’ll either be a tariff on cars or it’ll be a negotiated deal,” he said. “Frankly, a tariff on cars is a much easier way to go. Perhaps, the other would be much better for Canada.”

In Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s incoming foreign minister under President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said Monday he was pleased to see the U.S and Mexico craft a new trade deal, according to Reuters.

“We see the agreement announced today as positive progress … in the coming days we will continue in trilateral negotiations with Canada, which is vital to be able to renew the (trade) pact,” said Marcelo Ebrard, the future foreign minister.

Douglas George, the Detroit-based consul general of Canada responsible for Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, sounded upbeat on Monday.

“We’re encouraged by the optimism shown by our negotiating partners,” George told the Detroit Free Press on Monday. “Progress between Mexico and the U.S. is a necessary requirement for any renewed NAFTA agreement. While they’ve been negotiating, we’ve been in regular contact with them over the last weeks. We’ll continue to work toward a modernized NAFTA. We have a three-way negotiation that’s been ongoing.”

He added, “We’ll only sign a new NAFTA that’s good for Canada and the middle class.”

George declined to comment on the idea of renaming of NAFTA.

Negotiators the U.S. and Mexico worked over the weekend to iron remaining differences and strike a deal between those two countries before Canada is brought back to the table.

One of the key sticking points in the talks has centered on the so-called auto rules of origin, which dictate that, to avoid tariffs, a certain percentage of an automobile must be built from parts that originated from countries within the NAFTA region.

Other stumbling blocks have included the procedure used to settle disputes between corporations and governments and the Trump administration’s push for the inclusion of a sunset provision under which the revised NAFTA agreement would expire after five years unless all three countries take steps to extend it.

Mexico and Canada have both balked at such a provision, arguing that trade agreements are supposed to offer the assurance of continuity for businesses and make it easier for them to comply with regulatory requirements.

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents major automakers on policy issues in Washington, sounded an optimistic note Monday after reports of a preliminary deal between the U.S. and Mexico.

Automakers had expressed concerns that a breakdown in NAFTA could compromise their profits, lead to higher vehicle prices and force them to shift production.

“Automakers support modernizing NAFTA to bring this nearly 25-year-old agreement into the 21st century,” the Auto Alliance said Monday in a statement. “We are pleased to hear that the U.S. and Mexico have reached a consensus on several issues, including automotive rules of origin, and we look forward to learning more.”

Trump’s supporters have argued that Mexico has benefited from NAFTA and the deal should be reworked.

Mexico’s share of vehicles manufactured in North America has grown from about 12 percent in 2007 to an estimated 23 percent in 2017, according to the Center for Automotive Research. The U.S. share has fallen from 70 percent to 62 percent during that period.

The Auto Alliance on Monday urged the U.S. and Mexico to “quickly re-engage with Canada to continue to build on this progress.”

The group called for negotiators to “continue to strike the right balance by incentivizing production and investment in North America while keeping new vehicles affordable for more Americans.”

Contributing: Nathan Bomey of USA Today and Phoebe Wall Howard of the Detroit Free Press.

More: What is NAFTA? Seven things to know about the North American free trade pact

More: U.S.-Mexico are close to reaching a deal in NAFTA talks, but Canada is still a wild card

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Could this be one of summer’s last gasps?

About 70 million Americans are under some level of heat advisory or warning, the National Weather Service said, with portions of the Midwest and Northeast forecast to see the heat index nearing 100 degrees this week. 

Some high temperature records could be broken, the weather service said.

“With the school year getting started in many areas, it could be a very uncomfortable few days for students and teachers in schools without air conditioning,” AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Thompson said.

In the Northeast, heat advisories are posted for a swath of the mid-Atlantic states, New York and New England, including the entire New York City Tri-state area and Philadelphia metros, the Weather Channel said. Excessive heat watches for more dangerous heat indices are posted for the Boston and Hartford metro areas. 

In New York City, players and spectators alike will endure stiflingly hot and humid weather at the 2018 U.S. Open, according to AccuWeather.

In St. Louis, the entire metro area is under an excessive heat warning, the highest level of heat advisory issued by the weather service. The heat can be “a dangerous situation in which heat-related illnesses are likely, especially for those living in un-air conditioned homes or apartments,” the weather service said.

A few severe thunderstorms could also rattle across the northern Plains later Monday and into Tuesday. 

The heat is due to a ridge of high pressure building in the nation’s midsection, one that will shift toward the East Coast early this week, the Weather Channel said.

Air sinks under areas of high pressure, which prevents clouds and storms from forming. That area of high pressure is responsible for the return of sultry temperatures.

A brief cool-down is forecast for later this week, the Weather Channel predicts, before another possible heat wave next week.

If you’re looking for cool weather this week, head for western portions of Wyoming and Montana, where up to 8 inches of snow is possible today and Tuesday. 

 

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World number one Simona Halep became the first top-seeded woman to lose in the US Open first round, falling to a 6-2 6-4 defeat against Kaia Kanepi.

The 26-year-old Romanian’s serve was broken five times in the first match on the new Louis Armstrong Stadium.

She fought back from a double break down to 4-4 in the second set but the Estonian broke again before Halep sent a forehand long on match point.

Halep also lost her opening match at Flushing Meadows last year.

The French Open champion was beaten by Maria Sharapova in New York in 2017.

Before Monday’s defeat, no women’s top seed had lost in the opening round at the US Open since the professional era began in 1968, the same year that the tournament was given its current name, having previously been known as the US National Championships.

World number 44 Kanepi, 33, reached the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows last year but has had a succession of injury problems in recent years.

The United States vowed to fight Iran before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), calling Tehran’s move to question the legality of recently reimposed sanctions an attempt to interfere with its national security.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued the statement on Monday as legal proceedings began before the court in The Hague.

“Iran’s filing with the ICJ is an attempt to interfere with the sovereign rights of the United States to take lawful actions, including reimposition of sanctions, which are necessary to protect our national security. The proceedings instituted by Iran are a misuse of the court,” said Pompeo.

Iran has asked the international court to order the US to lift sanctions against Tehran after Washington unilaterally pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal. 

In the Netherlands on Monday, Mohsen Mohebi, the lawyer representing Iran, condemned the US for “naked economic aggression” in the first session of the case.  

Iran said the US sanctions, which are damaging its already-weak economy, violate terms of a little-known 1955 friendship treaty between the two countries.

Tehran filed its case before the ICJ in late July, calling on the top UN tribunal’s judges to order the immediate lifting of sanctions, which it said would cause “irreparable prejudice”.

‘Won’t shy away’

The United States will formally respond in oral arguments on Tuesday.

US lawyers are expected to argue the UN court should not have jurisdiction in the dispute, that the friendship treaty is no longer valid, and the sanctions Washington levied against Tehran do not violate the deal. 

The ICJ has so far ruled the 1955 treaty is still valid, even though it was signed long before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that triggered decades of hostile relations with Washington.

The hearings – essentially a request by Iran for a provisional ruling – will last four days with a decision to follow within a month.

The ICJ is the United Nations tribunal for resolving international disputes. Its rulings are binding but it has no power to enforce them, and verdicts have been previously ignored by some countries, including the US.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Maya Lester, an international sanctions lawyer, said the 1955 treaty between Iran and the US remains in force, and had been previously invoked by both countries before the international court. 

“Certainly, if the court thinks that there’s been a violation, it won’t shy away from saying so,” Lester said, adding other courts in Europe have also looked into the legality of the sanctions.

“But this case is unusual as it is a wholesale attack on international law grounds, on the current snapback of US sanctions against Iran,” she said.

“In principle, the ICJ could declare these sanctions unlawful and in breach of international law.”    

‘Psychological war’

US President Donald Trump pulled out of the landmark 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and world powers, and announced unilateral plans to restore sanctions against Tehran.

Under the deal, Iran reined in its nuclear programme under UN monitoring and won the removal of devastating international sanctions in return.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the US this week of waging “psychological war” against Tehran and its business partners.

Although European allies have protested Trump’s move, most Western companies intend to adhere to the sanctions, preferring to lose business with Iran rather than being financially punished by the US or barred from doing business there. 

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Snakes. Scary, right?

Not so frightened of these creatures was 81-year-old Australian grandmother Faye Morgan, who casually pulled out not one, but two pythons hiding in the barbecue of a Queensland home on Sunday morning.

While the rest of us would likely freak out, Morgan didn’t flinch one bit as she hauled the snakes from the grill into an awaiting plastic container.

“I live for the drama,” Morgan says in the video. “Two of them!” 

According to 7 News, Morgan had spent her whole life on a farm, and so the reptiles didn’t really faze her. She had also pulled one from the same spot 18 months earlier, so it’s certainly no one-off. 

While snakes aren’t so commonly found in the colder months because they’re in a state of semi-hibernation, they’ll occasionally wander out if the temperature outside is warm enough.