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Bill Gates, in rebuke of Trump, calls WHO funding cut during pandemic ‘as dangerous as it sounds’

President Donald Trump’s decision to withhold funding to the World Health Organization pending a review of its handling of the coronavirus pandemic is “as dangerous as it sounds,” Bill Gates said Wednesday.
“Their work is slowing the spread of Covid-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs @WHO now more than ever,” the Microsoft founder and philanthropist said.
The WHO declared coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern in late January and a week later, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged up to $100 million to help contain the outbreak.
Those funds, the foundation said, would be used to help find a vaccine for the virus, limit its spread and improve detection and treatment.
About $20 million was directed toward groups including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO.”
It’s not the first time the couple has directed funds toward public health causes. In 2009, they worked to combat a tuberculosis outbreak in China and a year later committed as much as $10 billion to vaccine research.
Bill Gates, who since March cautioned about the effects of delayed social distancing measures, urged the United States to implement a country-wide shutdown, saying a state-by-state strategy wouldn’t work as effectively. He predicted the number of coronavirus cases will peak in late April.
Trump said Tuesday a review of the WHO will cover its “role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of coronavirus,” he said.
“Had the WHO done its job to get medical experts into China to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out China’s lack of transparency, the outbreak could have been contained at its source with very little death,” Trump said.
In response to criticism by the president last week, the head of the WHO outlined a timeline of the organization’s actions in response to the pandemic, saying in a statement, “please don’t politicize the virus.”
“If you don’t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it. My short message is: Please quarantine politicizing Covid. The unity of your country will be very important to defeat this dangerous virus,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Trump said the United States funds $400 million to $500 million to the WHO each year, adding that China contributes “roughly $40 million.”
Gates’ concerns over the president’s announcement echoed ones made by the American Medical Association on Tuesday, which also called Trump’s decision “dangerous.”
“During the worst public health crisis in a century, halting funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) is a dangerous step in the wrong direction that will not make defeating Covid-19 easier,” the association’s president, Dr. Patrice Harris, said in a statement.
Harris urged Trump to reconsider, saying AMA was “deeply concerned by this decision and its wide-ranging ramifications.”
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American tourist arrested for vandalizing Jesus statue at church in Jerusalem: ‘You can’t have idols’

An American tourist has been arrested for vandalizing a statue of Jesus Christ at a church in Jerusalem, reportedly due to his belief that the statue constituted idolatry.
A man in his 40s, whose name has not been released to the press, was arrested Thursday after he defaced and broke parts of a statue of Jesus at the Franciscan Church of the Condemnation, a property that includes the Church of the Flagellation.
In a video taken at the church, the man could be heard shouting, “you can’t have idols in Jerusalem, this is a holy city,” Fox News reported.
According to tradition, the church was built on the space believed to be where Jesus was flogged by the Roman soldiers back in the first century and presented with a cross to carry.
“We take very seriously damage to religious institutions and sites,” an Israeli police spokesperson said in a statement. “The police will continue to act against acts of violence and vandalism in the holy places of all religions.”
Custodia Terrae Sanctae, a Franciscan organization that oversees the care and protection of Catholic Church holy sites in the Middle East, released a statement denouncing the vandalism.
The vandalism marked the fifth incident within the last month, according to Custodia Terrae Sanctae, which cited examples of recent vandalism that included attacks on a monastery and a local Christian cemetery.
“We follow with concern and strongly condemn this growing succession of serious acts of hatred and violence against the Christian community in Israel,” added Custodia Terrae Sanctae. “It is no coincidence that the legitimization of discrimination and violence in public opinion and in the current Israeli political environment also translates into acts of hatred and violence against the Christian community.”
The group went on to call upon the Israeli government to “act decisively to guarantee security for all communities, to guarantee the protection of religious minorities and to eradicate religious fanaticism.”
Last month, a group of people believed to be radical Jewish Israelis attacked an Armenian restaurant in the Christian quarter of the city, waving Israeli flags and throwing chairs at patrons.
The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land denounced the violence leveled against the restaurant, expressing concern over “the escalation of violence in the Holy City.”
“This unprovoked violence instilled fear in the shopkeepers and residents of the Christian quarter as well as visitors,” stated the Assembly.
“It is only the latest in a series of episodes of religious violence that is affecting the symbols of the Christian community and beyond.”
Sources:Christian Post
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ക്രിസ്ത്യൻ അഭയാർത്ഥികൾക്ക് അഭയവിസകൾ നൽകണമെന്ന് യുഎസ് കോൺഗ്രസിനോട് ഫിയകോന

ന്യൂയോർക് :മതപരമായ അക്രമത്തിന് ഇരയായ ക്രിസ്ത്യൻ അഭയാർത്ഥികൾക്ക് 10,000 അഭയവിസകൾ നീക്കിവെക്കണമെന്നും മതപരമായ അക്രമത്തിന് ഇരയായവർക്കും വ്യാജ പോലീസ് കേസുകൾ ചുമത്തപ്പെട്ടവർക്കും ഇന്റർനാഷണൽ നിയമത്തിനു വിധേയമായി അമേരിക്കൻ കോടതികളിൽ പോലീസിനും സർക്കാർ ഉദ്യോഗസ്ഥർക്കും എതിരെ കേസ് ഫയൽ ചെയ്യാൻ അനുവദിക്കുന്ന ഒരു നിയമം പാസാക്കണമെന്നും ഫെഡറേഷൻ ഓഫ് ഇന്ത്യൻ അമേരിക്കൻ ക്രിസ്ത്യൻ ഓർഗനൈസേഷൻ ജനുവരി 30 നു പുറത്തിറക്കിയ വാർഷീക റിപ്പോർട്ടിൽ യുഎസ് കോൺഗ്രസിനോട് ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ടു.
ഇന്ത്യൻ ക്രിസ്ത്യൻ സമൂഹത്തിനുണ്ടായ നഷ്ടം കണക്കാക്കുകയും അക്രമത്തിന് ഇരയായവർക്ക് ഇന്ത്യൻ സർക്കാർ നഷ്ടപരിഹാരം നൽകണമെന്ന് തുടർന്നു റിപ്പോർട്ടിൽ ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ടു. പൗരന്മാരെ സംരക്ഷിക്കുന്നതിൽ ഭരണകൂടം പരാജയപ്പെട്ടതിന്റെ ഫലമാണ് ഈ നഷ്ടം സംഭവിച്ചതെന്ന് ഫിയകോന വിലയിരുത്തി. ഇന്ത്യയിൽ ഇതുവരെ ആരും ഇത് ഉന്നയിച്ചിട്ടില്ല. USAID അല്ലെങ്കിൽ DoS പോലുള്ള യുഎസ് ഏജൻസികൾ ഈ വിഷയത്തിൽ കൂടുതൽ പര്യവേക്ഷണം ചെയ്യാൻ ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നുവെങ്കിൽ വിശദമായ പഠനം നടത്താനും ഫിയകോന തയാറാണെന്നും പ്രസിഡന്റ് കെ ജോർജ് (ന്യൂയോർക് )പറഞ്ഞു
Sources:globalindiannews
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Church mourns pastor, wife who died trying to save son from drowning at the beach

A Brazilian church is mourning the loss of a pastor and his wife, who died attempting to save their teenage son from drowning at the beach.
Felisberto Sampaio, 43, and his wife, Inalda Sampaio, 42, saw their 13-year-old son, Ian Sampaio, struggling in the water at Camacari Beach in Brazil on Jan. 10. The couple entered the ocean to rescue the boy, but they failed to reach him.
As Brazilian news outlet Universo Online reported, the incident occurred around 10 a.m., citing the Civil Police, who reported that the boy was rescued by a fisherman and another family member while his parents were not pulled from the water in time.
The Fire Department confirmed to UOL that the two victims were removed from the water. The department attempted to revive them, eventually declaring the couple dead at the scene.
The Sampaio family was from the city of Campina Grande in Brazil, and the father had been a pastor for 12 years at the Assembly of God Church in Quixaba, Paraíba, according to The Daily Mail. The family was spending a couple of days in the Paraíba city of Lucena.
Members of the church mourned the couple’s death, as well as Leonardo Meneses, a pastor at a church that the family had frequently attended.
“I know that the circumstances are painful and difficult for us to understand. Only eternity will explain all the mysteries of life,” Meneses said
The couple’s oldest son, Issac Sampaio, told TV Borborema on Jan. 11 that he planned to visit his parents before their tragic deaths. The eldest child said he last saw his parents on Jan. 8.
“The thing that goes through people’s minds is that it’s a lie,” he said.
Sources:Christian Post
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