RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday canceled a trip to Russia for a BRICS summit after injuring his head, his office announced.
It did not say how the injury occurred but said he was taken to a hospital where doctors found he had suffered a cut to the back of his head and advised him against long-distance travel.
Local media said Lula had fallen in his bathroom on Saturday night, causing a cut that required stitches.
The 78-year-old Lula will, however, participate by videoconference in the BRICS meeting and will carry on his normal duties this week at the presidential palace in Brasilia, his office said.
The three-day summit of BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — as well as their partners, will bring some 20 world leaders to the city of Kazan beginning Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin convened the meeting in what some analysts say was a defiant gesture to show that Russia’s war in Ukraine has not left it isolated.
Lula had been scheduled to leave Brasilia early Sunday evening for Russia.
The BRICS summit would have been Lula’s first face-to-face meeting with Putin this year. In September, the two men spoke by phone to discuss a joint Brazilian-Chinese proposal to end the Ukraine war.
Putin skipped the last BRICS summit in South Africa after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest order for him over Kyiv’s complaint that invading troops had illegally deported Ukrainian children to Russia.
On Friday, Putin announced that he would not attend a G20 summit in Brazil in November because his arrival might “disrupt” the conference.
He insisted that the ICC warrant for his arrest was not a factor, saying “that rulings of this type can be got around very easily.”
Brazil’s President Lula cancels trip to BRICS summit in Russia after injuring head
https://arab.news/6cpr9
Brazil’s President Lula cancels trip to BRICS summit in Russia after injuring head
- Lula will participate by videoconference in the BRICS meeting, his office said
- 3-day meet will bring some 20 world leaders to the city of Kazan beginning Tuesday
Starting anew: Indonesians in disaster-struck Sumatra hold Christmas mass
- Many in the congregation are still sheltering at evacuation sites after the disaster wreaked havoc on the island four weeks ago
SOUTH TAPANULI: At a church in Sumatra, dozens of worshippers sang hymns at a Christmas mass, gathered together for their first service since deadly floods swept the Indonesian island.
The Angkola Protestant Church, in the hard-hit South Tapanuli district, was festooned on Wednesday with balloons and simple Christmas decorations.
Outside, the street leading to the building was buried under mounds of debris and foliage.
Many in the congregation are still sheltering at evacuation sites after the disaster wreaked havoc on the island four weeks ago.
Churchgoer Krismanto Nainggolan said this year’s Christmas service was “different,” even as he noted joy in the bittersweet moment.
“The feelings are mixed. Every word of the pastor’s sermon made us want to cry,” he told AFP after the Christmas mass.
“But the spirit of Christmas... gave us strength,” he added.
Krismanto lost his house in the flooding, while many of his neighbors were killed.
According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, 1,129 people died, and more than 170 others are still missing.
While the annual monsoon season often brings heavy rain to Indonesia, this month’s deluge was among the worst disasters to strike Sumatra since a magnitude-9.1 earthquake triggered a massive tsunami in 2004.
In South Tapanuli, churchgoer Mea Rosmawati Zebua said she had not expected to be able to celebrate Christmas this year.
“In past years, Christmas was a routine. Now, (we are) very grateful because God still gives us the breath of life,” the 54-year-old told AFP.
While Christmas mass is typically held in the evening, the Angkola church moved its service to Wednesday afternoon ahead of rain forecast in the evening, pastor Yansen Roberto Ritonga said.
To prepare for the first service since the disaster, the church had to remove towering heaps of mud that had been washed inside.
Soldiers and police had helped clear the debris and driftwood.
On Wednesday afternoon, a man rang the church’s bell before the pastor’s entrance, marking the start of the mass.
Around 30 worshippers, each of them holding a lit candle, sung Christmas hymns.
Yansen said this year’s Christmas served as a moment of “reflection” for the congregation.
Churchgoer Krismanto said that despite the widespread damage and the personal cost of the disaster, he chose to see it as a new beginning.
“Our hopes depend solely on God because we are now starting over... our lives are starting anew,” he said.
