Drug found in pilot’s body administered by medics
PHOENIX — Authorities trying to determine whether drugs were involved in a fatal hot air ballon crash in Arizona released an amended autopsy report Friday stating an anesthetic was administered to the pilot by an air ambulance company while he was being transported to a hospital.
The Pinal County Medical Examiner’s Office said earlier this week that toxicology tests showed Cornelius van der Walt had a high amount of ketamine in his blood following the Jan. 14 fatal accident that killed him and three passengers, but did not specify how it got into his system or when.
The amended report released Friday answered the question, clarifying the ketamine was administered by the company that transported Van der Walt to a hospital.
The balloon operated by Droplyne Hot Air Balloon Rides plummeted about 2,000 feet to the desert floor south of Phoenix near Eloy.
Investigators do not yet know the cause of the crash.
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The demolition of a building that is
leaning precariously after an earthquake in Taiwan was halted on Saturday because of aftershocks that made it lean even more, media reports said.
The red building, about 10 stories tall and inclined over a street in the city of Hualien, has become an iconic image from the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that also buried people under boulders at nearby Taroko National Park, a popular hiking destination about 15 miles northwest of Hualien.
The death toll rose to 13 after a third victim was found on the park’s Shakadang Trail. Six other people are still missing, including three on the same trail. More than 400 people remained stranded three days after the quake in locations cut off by damage. Most are at a hotel in Taroko park.
LONDON — A second British lawmaker has acknowl
edged receiving explicit messages on his phone in what police are investigating as a malicious phishing attempt against politicians, their staff and journalists.
Conservative legislator Luke Evans said he had been a victim of “cyber flashing and malicious communications” a month ago, when an unknown individual sent him “an explicit image of a naked lady.”
Evans said in a video message Friday that he’d immediately reported the incident to police and parliamentary authorities.
Another Conservative MP, William Wragg, revealed on Thursday that he had disclosed some colleagues’ phone numbers to an unknown individual who contacted him on a gay dating app. Wragg told The Times of London that he was “scared” and “manipulated” into giving his colleagues’ numbers to the unknown individual he had met on Grindr.
HARRISBURG, Pa. — POV: You’re on TikTok, and so is
your governor — even as your Legislature considers banning the app from state-owned devices and networks.
Efforts to ban TikTok over security concerns about China’s influence through the platform have picked up steam in the past year in state legislatures, with an expansive ban even proposed by Congress. In Pennsylvania, forward movement on a bill that first unanimously passed the state Senate last year could send legislation to the Democratic governor’s desk imminently.
But even as the app faces scrutiny and bans, governors and state agencies — and even President Joe Biden — are still using the app to promote their initiatives and expand their voting pool. Their target is the youth vote, or the people who largely make up the app’s U.S. user base of 170 million.
NEW YORK — Procter & Gamble is recalling more
than 8 million bags of Tide, Gain, Ace and Ariel laundry detergent packets sold in the U.S. and Canada due to a defect in the products’ child-resistant packaging.
According to Friday notices from both P&G and product-safety regulators in the U.S. and Canada, the outer packaging meant to prevent easy access to the liquid laundry detergent pods can split open near the zipper track, posing serious risks to children and others who may ingest them, in addition to possible skin or eye injuries.
The recall impacts select batches of Tide, Gain, Ace and Ariel laundry detergents that were manufactured between September 2023 and February 2024 and sold at major retailers including Walmart, Target, CVS and Amazon.
Consumers in possession of the now-recalled bags are instructed to keep the products out of the reach and sight of children and contact Cincinnati-based P&G for a full refund and replacement child-resistant bag to store the detergent, which itself remains safe to use for laundry purposes.