TanQ Baker
Belarus President Flouting Covid-19 and Planting Trees
Flouting COVID-19, Belarusâs President Heads to Chernobyl-Contaminated Zone to Plant Trees â Video
https://sputniknews.com/europe/202004251079092921-flouting-covid-19-belaruss-president-heads-to-chernobyl-contaminated-zone-to-plant-treesâvideo/
Reporting nearly 9,600 COVID-19 cases and 67 virus-related fatalities, Belarus has remained one of the few countries in the industrialized world to resist widespread lockdown and self-quarantine measures, preferring a âpinpointâ strategy to tackling the virus instead.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has gotten a name for himself for his outspoken statements about the coronavirus, traveled to the Pripyatsky National Park, about 250 km from the epicenter of the Chernobyl exclusion zone in neighbouring Ukraine on Saturday to plant trees as part of the countryâs annual âcommunity labourâ day events.
In a video of the event put out by the presidentâs press service, Lukashnko, an active outdoorsman, can be seen walking through a field, holding a tree-planting bar, with two blue buckets attached to his waist â one containing pine saplings, and the other a small dog. A female assistant in military fatigues is seen helping him in the planting process.
The president took part in the event as part of Belarusâs republic-wide âsubbotnikâ, a once-a-year day of volunteer community labour in which as many as 2.5 million Belarusians are said to have taken part.
Similar scenes could be seen across the country, as residents engaged in community cleanup efforts, planted trees, and engaged in other forms of labour to tidy up their neighbourhoods and parks.
Formed in 1996, the Pripyatsky National Park is a nature preserve in Gomel region, southern Belarus. The park is situated within the estimated 20 percent of Belarusian land area which was contaminated in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of April 1986.
President Lukashenko has made a name for himself amid the global coronavirus pandemic over his refusal to institute strict quarantine measures in his country, with Western media repeatedly poking fun at him over his off-the-cuff remarks last month about drinking vodka, driving tractors and taking dry saunas to avoid infection. The Belarusian president has taken offense over such media coverage, however, emphasizing that while the country would not disregard World Health Organization advice, it would act in accordance with local conditions and based on the need to ensure the functioning of the economy and social sector.
Not dismissing the threat posed by the coronavirus out of hand, Lukashenko has criticized global statesmen and media for what he described as coronavirusâs âpoliticizationâ and alleged efforts by some countries to use the virus to their own economic or geopolitical advantage.
Belarus is one of just a handful of European states, the others being Sweden and Iceland, which have refused to take widespread restrictive quarantine measures amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Video on twitter post: https://twitter.com/tutby/status/1254024924521472000
Berlin Police Arrest Over 100 Anti-lockdown Protesters
Berlin police broke up anti-lockdown demonstration of several hundred people and arrested over 100 protesters for violation of coronavirus (COVID-19)
https://sputniknews.com/europe/202004251079093917-berlin-police-arrest-over-100-protesters-for-violating-covid-19-restrictions/
BERLIN (Sputnik) - More than 100 demonstrators have been arrested in the German capital for violating the coronavirus restrictions, city police said.
"Our assignment at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz has ended. By blocking the surrounding streets, we were able to prevent a larger build-up on the square. However, many people violated the Covid-19 distance requirement. There were more than 100 arrests," Berlin police said on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, several hundred people gathered in Germanyâs capital to protest against coronavirus restrictions. The demonstration lasted for a little over an hour.
Farhang F. Namdar
@FarhangNamdar
Berlin protests against quarantine measures.
Despite the fact that in the country there are almost 155 thousand infected and more than 5 thousand dead, activists decided to gather for a protest, many of them do not observe the distance.#Covid_19
Sam Pye
@freddie1999
VIDEO: Thousands take to the streets of #Berlin đŠđŞ to protest against lockdown. #lockdown #Merkel #ConfinementJour40 #BorisJohnson #BeijingBoris #Huawei #Macron #RishiSunak #China #ChinaVirus #COVID19 #pritiawful #NHS
Video: https://twitter.com/freddie1999/status/1254084026467581953
COMPACT-Magazin
@COMPACTMagazin
Massives Polizeiaufgebot in #Berlin bei der Demo gegen den Lockdown. #COVID19 #coronavirusdeutschland
Video: https://twitter.com/COMPACTMagazin/status/1254083350278672386
In Berlin, as well as in the rest of Germany, demonstrations, as well as any public gatherings involving more than two people, with the exception of relatives, are prohibited until 4 May.
Germany has over 156,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and the countryâs COVID-19 death toll stands at over 5,800, according to Johns Hopkins University data. In Berlin, over 5,500 cases, including over 140 deaths, have been registered.
Norwegian Islamic Council Recommends Women Sit Behind Men For Prayer
Norwegian Islamic Council in Hot Water Over 'Home Ramadan' Prayer Brochure Amid COVID-19 Epidemic
https://sputniknews.com/society/202004241079074919-norwegian-islamic-council-in-hot-water-over-home-ramadan-prayer-brochure-amid-covid-19-epidemic/
Met with criticism, the organisation explained it merely recommended the most common practice and stressed that it âby no means claimed that the prayer becomes invalid if a woman kneels next to a manâ, and not behind, as initially suggested.
As the COVID-19 pandemic affects Muslim traditions during the holy month of Ramadan, preventing believers from gathering at mosques for prayer, Muslims communities across the globe are spreading information about alternatives.
The Islamic Council of Norway has published a brochure on home prayers, instructing Norwegian Muslims, among others, on the correct placement of family members via a series of self-explanatory pictures. In all of them, however, regardless of the number of family members and children, the wife and daughters are relegated to a separate row far behind.
On social media, this brochure sparked an uproar, as many believed it captured an outdated, âstick-in-the-mudâ view of women.
âThe Islamic Council of Norway appears to be oblivious of the fact that we live in 2020 where gender equality is a thing. Here, the authorities have failed the minorities, once againâ, writer, lecturer, and sociologist Kjetil Rolness wrote on Facebook.
âIf you need a confirmation of a woman's place in conservative religion, you have a visual guide handy hereâ, the website Rasjonalitet (âRationalityâ) wrote.
âGuidance from the Islamic Council of Norway. Not from IslamNet. Not from Saudi Arabia. From the Islamic Council of Norwayâ, writer Espen Goffeng wrote. âThose of us who sometimes rail against conservative religions are often told that we are prejudiced. That we are Islamophobic, and that we distort the faith and the holy scripture (Upon closer reflection, I cannot remember being called âanti-Catholicâ), he added.
âFor many years, funding for reactionary mosque communities has been a disaster for integration, and for gender equality in many minority communities. The picture that the Islamic Council has now shared is an excellent illustration of the systematic disdain for womenâ, lawyer Nils Inge Graven wrote.
Linda Noor of the think tank Minotenk dedicated to minorities' rights, asked what if the mother and daughter are the most learned in the family.
Tackling the criticism, the Islamic Council said that it only recommended what has been considered âthe most correct and practised among Muslimsâ, both in Norway and internationally, and stressed that the organisation âby no means claimed that the prayer becomes invalid if a woman kneels next to a manâ.
At about 200,000 followers, Islam is Norway's second-largest religion after Lutheranism.
Headquartered in Oslo, the Islamic Council Norway is an umbrella organisation for Muslim congregations and organisations in Norway. Currently, it represents about 40 congregations totalling about 60,000 members.
Facebook post (Norwegian): https://www.facebook.com/kjetil.rolness/posts/10157984960120499
Australia and New Zealand Remembered ANZAC Day Saturday April 25
Australia and New Zealand mark Anzac Day in driveways
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-52406944
Thousands of people across Australia and New Zealand have stood outside their homes at dawn to mark Anzac Day, after being urged to pay tribute even amid the coronavirus lockdown.
Crowds usually gather for services, but these were cancelled last month amid wider restrictions on gatherings.
Instead people were urged to hold a candle in their driveways and live stream services.
The day of remembrance is a hugely important event for both nations.
It marks the anniversary of the first campaign that led to major casualties for the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) during World War One.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had acknowledged the disappointment in the ceremonies being cancelled for the first time in history.
"While we cannot gather in person, we join in spirit as we remember the service and sacrifice of New Zealanders in times of war and crisis," she said in a statement, and later joined New Zealanders in standing at the end of her driveway.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison attended a closed dawn ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, which began at 06:00 and was broadcast nationally.
On Friday he had told Australians: "I look forward to the entire nation, on their driveways, lighting up the dawn, remembering our heroes and drawing inspiration from them for the task and challenge we currently face."
Some of the alternative, home-bound tributes reported on Saturday included musicians playing the Last Post on brass instruments in suburbs, while others shared pictures of poppy wreaths online and baked Anzac cookies at home.
Australia's veterans group, the Returned Services League (RSL) also encouraged "diggers" - service men and women - to call each other in lieu of the normal marches and parades.
The two nation's joint Anzac Day services at Gallipoli in Turkey are traditionally a pilgrimage for many citizens, but these were also cancelled after travel bans were brought in.
What does Anzac Day represent?
On 25 April 1915, soldiers from both countries landed at Gallipoli Cove in Turkey, part of an Allied effort to capture the peninsula from the Ottoman Empire.
Collectively termed Anzacs by a military clerk keen to fit the name on a rubber stamp, the acronym stuck.
After an eight-month campaign, the Allies retreated in defeat after heavy losses on both sides. More than 87,000 Turks died, along with an estimated 44,000 men from the British Empire and France, including about 8,500 Australians and nearly 3,000 New Zealanders - one in four of the Kiwis sent to Gallipoli.
It was the Anzacs' first major engagement on the world stage, fought by the grandfathers and great-grandfathers of today's Australians and New Zealanders.
The first Anzac commemorations were held in 1916. These have morphed into big-budget productions in Australia, New Zealand and Turkey.
Patriots who served⌠and Patriots who remembered them. Keep Well AUS and NZ Anons