WORLD NEWS FLASH
UNITED STATES
After months of no answers, some may finally be coming in the death of a local native turned groundbreaking councilwoman.
On May 30, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone announced that an arrest had been made in the murder of Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour. The East Orange and Newark native by way of Ghanaian heritage was shot Feb. 1 right outside of her home at around 7:17 p.m. and was pronounced dead not long after.
The suspect in question has been identified as Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, of Portsmouth, Virginia. Bynum was arrested at 10:45 a.m. outside a residence in Chesapeake City, Virginia without incident. He has been charged with first-degree Murder, second-degree Unlawful Possession of a Handgun, and second-degree Possession of a Handgun for an Unlawful Purpose.
So far, no motive has been established, but preliminary evidence suggested that the suspect was labeled in the victim’s address list under the acronym “FCF,” which Ciccone said stood for Fire Congress Fellowship. went to the same church in some capacity. Cell phone and E-ZPass data were used to link Bynum to the crime, and a murder weapon had been recovered.
“Local Talk” will bring you more details as they become available.
MASS SHOOTING UPDATE
Information recent as of 5-30-2023 at 12 p.m.
2023 Mass Shooting Stats: (Source: Mass Shooting Tracker – https://www.massshootingtracker.site/data/?year=2023)
Total Mass Shootings: 308
Total Dead: 429
Total Wounded: 1167
Shootings Per Day: 2.05
Days Reached in Year 2023 as of May 23: 150
Latest High Profile Incident
Location: 1200 block North Boardwalk – Hollywood, FL (not to be confused with a Hollywood, SC shooting.)
Time: Around 6:40 p.m. local time, May 29.
Deceased: None, by some miracle.
Injured: 9, including 4 children.
Shooter(s): Five suspects.
Weapon(s): Handguns.
Motive: An argument between two groups.
Status: Three suspects at-large, two in custody, charged with firearm offenses.
Notes: Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy: “It is completely unacceptable that innocent people spending time with family on a holiday weekend have been affected by a shooting altercation between two groups who came into our city with guns and no regard for the safety of the law abiding public around them … Law enforcement agencies are fully engaged in their investigation, and I assure you that no stone will be left unturned in bringing the perpetrators to justice.”
NORTH AMERICA
NOAA EXPECTS “NEAR NORMAL” HURRICANE SEASON
The United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts “near-normal hurricane activity” in the Atlantic this coming storm season, said the UN weather agency on Friday, forecasting between five and nine major storms that could become hurricanes.
The US National Hurricane Center acts as WMO’s Regional Specialized Meteorological hub, based in Miami, Florida.
There is a 40 percent chance of a near-normal season, 30 percent possibility of an “above-normal season,” and also 30 percent of a below-normal season, according to forecasters with the Climate Prediction Center.
The hurricane season covering the Atlantic region, including the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and US east coast, lasts from June 1 to November 30.
NOAA forecasts between 12 and 17 total named storms, which means winds of at least 63 kilometers per hour, or 39 miles per hour.
Among the potential hurricanes, it forecasts one to four “major hurricanes” – categories three to five – with winds of at least 178 kmh, or 111 mph.
WMO said that NOAA has “a 70 percent confidence in these ranges.
“It is expected to be less active than recent years, due to competing factors – some that suppress storm development and some that fuel it – driving this year’s overall forecast for a near-normal season, according to NOAA,” WMO reported in a press release.
The agency reminded however, that it takes just one landfalling major hurricane to set back years of growth and development.
Statistics presented to the ongoing World Meteorological Congress showed how Small Island Developing States suffer disproportionately in terms of both economic impact and the human toll.
For instance, Hurricane Maria in 2017, cost the Caribbean island nation of Dominica, a staggering 800 percent of its Gross Domestic Product.
“Between 1970 and 2021 tropical cyclones (the generic term which includes hurricanes) were the leading cause of both reported human and economic losses worldwide, accounting for more than 2,000 disasters,” said WMO.
However, the death toll from deadly storms has fallen from around 350,000 in the 1970s to less than 20,000 in 2010-2019. Reported economic losses in 2010-2019 were at $573.2 billion.
“Tropical cyclones are major killers and a single storm can reverse years of socio-economic development. The death toll has fallen dramatically thanks to improvements in forecasting, warning and disaster risk reduction. But we can do even better,” said WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas.
AFRICA
FEAR SPREADS ABOUT TAINTED COUGH SYRUP
In the summer of 2022, 70 Gambian babies and young children died from kidney failure after ingesting cough syrup spooned out by their caregivers. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a global alert that four tainted pediatric products had originated in India, as local health authorities continue to investigate how this tragedy unfolded.
This feature, which focuses on the illegal trade in substandard and fake medicines, is part of a UN News series exploring the fight against trafficking in the Sahel.
From ineffective hand sanitizer to fake antimalarial pills, an illicit trade that grew during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is being meticulously dismantled by the UN and partner countries in Africa’s Sahel region.
Substandard or fake medicines, like contraband baby cough syrup, are killing almost half a million sub-Saharan Africans every year, according to a threat assessment report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The report explains how nations in the Sahel, a 6,000-kilometer-wide swath stretching from the Red Sea to the Atlantic, which is home to 300 million people, are joining forces to stop fake medicines at their borders and hold the perpetrators accountable.
This fight is taking place as Sahelians face unprecedented strife: more than 2.9 million people have been displaced by conflict and violence, with armed groups launching attacks that have already shuttered 11,000 schools and 7,000 health centers.
Health care is scarce in the region, which has among the world’s highest incidence of malaria and where infectious diseases are one of the leading causes of death.
“This disparity between the supply of and demand for medical care is at least partly filled by medicines supplied from the illegal market to treat self-diagnosed diseases or symptoms,” the report says, explaining that street markets and unauthorized sellers, especially in rural or conflict-affected areas, are sometimes the only sources of medicines and pharmaceutical products.
The study shows that the cost of the illegal medicine trade is high, in terms of health care and human lives.
Fake or substandard antimalarial medicines kill as many as 267,000 sub-Saharan Africans every year. Nearly 170,000 sub-Saharan African children die every year from unauthorized antibiotics used to treat severe pneumonia.
Caring for people who have used falsified or substandard medical products for malaria treatment in sub-Saharan Africa costs up to $44.7 million every year, according to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates.
