WORLD NEWS FLASH
UNITED STATES
This past week, there were not one, but two, big announcements concerning food that you or your children should not be eating.
On Dec. 15, the Quaker Oats Company announced the recall of specific granola bars and granola cereals listed below because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.
A list of the products in question can be found at: https://www.quakergranolarecall.com/_files/ugd/b51df1_09e6b5962bf2480882147c2b679ca766.pdf
Consumers should check their pantries for any of the products listed and dispose of them. Additionally, consumers with any product noted below can contact Quaker Consumer Relations (9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. CST, Mon.-Fri.) at 1-800-492-9322 or visit www.quakergranolarecall.com for additional information or product reimbursement.
To date, Quaker has received no confirmed reports of illness related to the products covered by this recall. Quaker informed the FDA of its actions.
Then, on Dec. 18, the FDA announced that “extremely high” levels of lead were found in cinnamon at a plant in Ecuador that made applesauce pouches. The recalled pouches have been linked to dozens of illnesses that have ailed children in the U.S.
Samples taken by the FDA came from ground or powdered cinnamon from Negasmart, an Ecuadorian company that supplied it to Austrofoods, which made the pouches in question. The applesauce pouches were sold under these known brands – WanaBana, Schnucks and Weis. The FDA has noted that lead has not been detected in WanaBana products made without cinnamon and sold in the U.S.
While matters like this are usually accidental, there is concern that this could be intentional, as the sabotage can affect market prices.
Due to the source being in Ecuador, the FDA has said that its enforcement powers are limited when it pertains to Negasmart, but they hope that officials in that country will do something.
MASS SHOOTING UPDATE
Information recent as of 12-19-2023 at 12 p.m.
2023 Mass Shooting Stats: (Source: Mass Shooting Tracker – https://www.massshootingtracker.site/data/?year=2023)
MIDDLE EAST
HOSPITAL DESTROYED IN MIDST OF WAR
The head of the UN health agency Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has spoken out against the “effective destruction” of a hospital in northern Gaza by Israeli forces over the weekend, leading to the deaths of eight patients including a nine-year-old child.
Kamal Adwan Hospital was raided by the Israeli military over four days last week and the World Health Organization (WHO) said that many health workers were reportedly detained.
“Gaza’s health system was already on its knees and the loss of another even minimally functioning hospital is a severe blow,” Tedros wrote on social platform X.
Less than a third of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are at least partially functional, including only one in the enclave’s north.
“Attacks on hospitals, health personnel and patients must end. Ceasefire NOW,” Tedros insisted.
The WHO chief said that many patients at Kamal Adwan had to self-evacuate “at great risk to their health and safety” while ambulances were unable to reach the facility.
UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said in an update that on Dec. 16 Israeli forces withdrew from the hospital and according to media reports “an Israeli military bulldozer flattened the tents of a number of internally displaced persons outside the hospital, killing and wounding an unconfirmed number of people.”
Tedros said on X that WHO is “extremely concerned” for the well-being of those displaced people.
According to OCHA the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah has called for an investigation into the incident. OCHA also quoted the Israeli army as saying that it had detained 90 people as part of the operation and “found weapons and munitions inside the hospital.”
Due to a telecommunications and internet blackout in Gaza which started last Thursday and continued into the weekend, OCHA stressed that its latest update on the humanitarian situation in the Strip provided only “limited” information from the past 24 hours.
Gaza’s health authorities have not updated their casualty numbers since the start of the blackout, which at that point stood at 18,787 fatalities and over 50,000 people injured since October 7.
The UN Office reported continuing “heavy Israeli bombardments” across the Strip over the weekend in particular in Khan Younis in the south and in several areas of Gaza city in the north.
Intense fighting raged between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in Khan Younis and Rafah, as well as continued firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups into Israel, OCHA said.
HAITI
HOPE NOT LOST
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has published its investigation findings on a recent case of influenza A(H1N2)v. The case was detected as part of routine national flu surveillance undertaken by UKHSA and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).
“Haiti is not hopeless”, the President of the UN General Assembly said on Dec. 18 during a meeting addressing the multiple crises besetting the Caribbean nation, alongside the presidents of the UN Security Council and Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Dennis Francis, a veteran diplomat from Trinidad and Tobago, said he had returned from a visit to Haiti at the end of last month “with hope and the full knowledge that while Haiti is facing extraordinary challenges, its future holds indomitable promise.”
The country has seen almost 4,000 killed and 3,000 kidnapped in gang-related violence just this year, following a political, economic and security crisis that has left much of the country descend into lawlessness.
Driving in the streets of Port au Prince, I saw visible signs of hope – sustained by the undying resilience and perseverance of the Haitian people – who seem to create inventive ways to meet the daily challenges,” Mr. Francis told the meeting.
“There is, in my view, no shortage of potential in Haiti – and it is not too late that, as the international community, we must do something to accompany the Haitian people, further”, he said noting that the most pressing need is for greater security.
“Uncontrollable violence has robbed and continues to rob the Haitian people of their freedoms and rights; and it is stifling the country’s path to sustainable development,” he said.
Around 40 percent of Haiti’s healthcare workers have reportedly left the country, while women and girls have been subject to brutal sexual violence “with many living in a cycle of fear and trauma.”
He said “we cannot be credible, as the UN and the international community, to just look the other way.”
Mr. Francis noted that the much-needed deployment of a Multinational Security Support Mission authorized by the Security Council on Oct. 2, has not materialized.
It is “awaited with great urgency by many in Haiti,” with 80 percent of the capital under gang control and spreading further afield into rural areas, he said.
He expressed “deepest thanks” to Kenya for “demonstrating leadership of this critical mission”, as well as all other countries that have pledged or are planning to contribute.
According to news reports, despite political and legal setbacks the first group of Kenyan officers are due to be deployed early next year.
“I encouraged the authorities, as well as representatives of Haiti’s political parties and civil society representatives, to surmount their differences – emphasizing that every stakeholder has a duty to work for the interests of the country and the people.”
He called on political elites in Haiti to abandon their self-centered pre-occupation and to prioritize their constituents “who have endured too much turmoil and who deserve to be given a chance, to succeed. I emphasized that Haiti belongs to them too and that it is their responsibility as elites seeking office to fix the country so that young Haitians would be guaranteed a life chance.”
WORLD
OVER 250 TRAFFICKERS ARRESTED
An INTERPOL-coordinated operation against people smuggling and human trafficking across the Americas has led to 257 arrests, the rescue of 163 potential victims and the detection of nearly 12,000 irregular migrants from 69 different countries.
During Operation Turquesa V, authorities in 33 countries carried out more than 850,000 checks at major transit points to disrupt the transnational organized crime groups profiting from smuggling routes to the USA and Canada.
Throughout the five-day operation (Nov. 27 – Dec. 1), INTERPOL set up an Operational Coordination Unit in Costa Rica. Officers from the Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants unit were also deployed to the land border in Tabatinga, Brazil, and to the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, where they used INTERPOL Mobile Devices to perform live checks against its global databases.
Since 2019, Operation Turquesa has provided a snapshot of migration trends in transit countries across South and Central America, allowing destinations further north to monitor changes in migration flows.
Preliminary results of this year’s edition show a marked increase in trans-continental flows, particularly from China, which was the third most detected country of origin among irregular migrants, behind Venezuela and Ecuador.
During interviews, smuggling victims provided valuable insights on recruitment methods, travel conditions and costs. Migrants reported paying between USD 2,700 and upwards of USD 20,000 depending on the journey.
Jürgen Stock, INTERPOL Secretary General said: “The number of nationalities detected during Operation Turquesa V demonstrates how this major migration corridor, once considered a route reserved to the Americas, has become the target of organized crime groups from around the world.
“They are making enormous profits by smuggling vulnerable migrants and exploiting men, women, and children along the way. As law enforcement, we must form a united, global front by sharing more information across borders to empower frontline officers.”
In Curaçao, a passport check flagged an inbound passenger from the Dominican Republic as a potential migrant smuggler. Though he claimed to be part of a softball team travelling for a tournament, his luggage contained no equipment or uniforms, nor did his ‘teammates.’ They were deported to the Dominican Republic where the man was arrested on arrival.
Thanks to information provided by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), authorities in the Bahamas detected a group of 18 Ecuadorian irregular migrants, pointing to a potential new route through the Caribbean.
The majority of victims identified during the operation had been trafficked for sexual exploitation. Dozens of underage victims were rescued, including 12 children in Honduras, the youngest of which was six years old.
After identification of three victims of sexual exploitation and nearly 200 irregular migrants, Chile’s Policia de Investigaciones arrested three suspected members of an organized crime group linked to the Tren de Aragua. At the request of Venezuela, INTERPOL published five Red Notices for additional members of the group.
In a rare case, Brazilian authorities were alerted by hospital staff to a man who had made two separate paternity claims for abandoned newborns in less than one month. They later found that the 49-year-old had recently traveled to Portugal with a newborn, but returned to Sao Paolo alone. Following extensive cooperation between both countries, the baby girl was safeguarded in Portugal and international child trafficking investigations are ongoing.
With organized crime groups becoming increasingly digital, most trafficking victims reported being recruited via messaging apps and social media platforms. In Brazil, the Federal Police froze USD 286,000 in criminal proceeds belonging to an organized crime group running cyber scam centers in Cambodia. More than 100 Brazilians had been promised cryptocurrency jobs through social media ads offering generous wages, productivity bonuses, food, and lodging. Once they arrived, however, they were held against their will and forced to carry out online investment scams.
