Russia: Putin accused of deception
In Russia’s underfunded health system, staff who transferred to critical care duties were made to write resignation letters after refusing to work with infected patients without protection. Ambulances queue for hours to deliver patients to overloaded hospitals without oxygen, while desperately-needed ventilators are bought up by billionaires to install in their mansions. The president of a medical trade union who said ‘The government is openly lying’ was later detained by police on a trip to investigate hospital supplies. ‘Putin doesn’t care about loss of life, only loss of power’, said a human rights campaigner. St Petersburg has patients lying on mattresses in corridors. Doctors were incensed when Putin dispatched a planeload of medical supplies to New York when they were having to buy their own equipment online. Pray for Putin’s priority to be human lives, not his popularity or finance agendas.
Denmark: a Bible which does not mention Israel
The Danish Bible Society has released a new translation of the Bible that omits dozens of references to Israel. It rewrites ‘the land of Israel’ as ‘the land of the Jews’ and the ‘People of Israel’ simply as ‘the Jews’. Defending the deletions, the society said they prevent confusion with the modern-day country, but other countries' names from that time, such as Egypt, have not been changed. There are 59 omissions out of 60 references to Israel in the Greek origin for New Testament texts. In other places, references to Israel are translated as referencing all of humanity. The Song of Ascents from the Book of Psalms, a popular Shabbat hymn for Jews, originally states, ‘He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.’ The new translation replaces Israel with the word ‘us’.
China and the pandemic
China filed a patent for a drug seen as one of the best potential weapons against coronavirus the day after Beijing confirmed coronavirus was transmissible to humans. The revelation that it moved so fast fuels concerns about a cover-up of the pandemic when it erupted and suggests that China’s understanding of the virus was far more advanced than the impression given in public. The chairman of the US foreign affairs select committee joined the growing global call for a full, independent inquiry into China’s role, saying, ‘It is quite clear there is an awful lot that we do not know about the emergence of this disease and the responses to it. We all need to learn the lessons of the outbreak so that the international community can respond better in the future.’ Leaked documents showed that China’s officials knew they faced an epidemic but delayed warning the public for six days.
Lebanon: 'night of the Molotov'
On 29 April, banks across Lebanon were torched and vandalised by hundreds of demonstrators during the second night of protests over their currency recently losing 50% in value. The largest and most violent protests were in Tripoli, the second-largest, and poorest, city. One 26-year-old protester died from army gunshot wounds and many were hospitalised from heavy-handed responses to protests. Human Rights Watch called for transparent investigations into the death. Poverty has worsened during the nationwide pandemic lockdown. The social affairs minister estimated that 75% of the population require aid in a country of about six million - but that aid has been meagre and slow to come. Massive anti-government protests began in October but paused during lockdown. Now they are angrier and more desperate. On 30 April the Daily Star reported 23 soldiers wounded overnight in Tripoli and Sidon.
