VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

As many as 225,137 Indonesians received the first booster vaccine or the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, taking the total tally to 59,943,022, the COVID-19 Task Force has reported.

The number of people who received the second dose of the vaccine increased by 50,669, bringing the total to 170,801,764 since the vaccination program was launched last year, the task force said.

The number of Indonesians who have received the first dose of the vaccine touched 203,198,108, with 37,035 people taking the vaccine in the 24 hours ended Thursday.

The number of people receiving the second booster shot or the fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, mainly healthcare workers and the elderly, increased by 1,981 to reach 281,555 as of Thursday noon.

Meanwhile, Indonesia added 5,214 novel coronavirus infections on Thursday, according to data provided by the COVID-19 Handling Task Force.

The data showed that Jakarta recorded the most infections on Thursday at 2,389, and added 3,083 recoveries and 4 deaths.

Meanwhile, West Java recorded the second-highest number of new cases at 1,135, besides 1,222 recoveries and 5 deaths. Banten was next with 571 new cases, 372 recoveries, and zero deaths.

East Java reported 414 new cases, 406 recoveries, and zero deaths, while Central Java registered the fifth-highest number of new COVID-19 cases at 178, as well as 135 recoveries and 1 death.

Nationwide, the number of people who recovered from the virus reached 5,780, while the number of people who succumbed to COVID-19 touched 19 on Thursday, the task force data showed.

Since Indonesia's first COVID-19 case was confirmed in March 2020, the country has recorded a total of 6,334,357 COVID-19 cases, 6,129,122 recoveries, and 157,457 deaths. (Antaranews)

 The Taliban have not found the body of Ayman al-Zawahiri and are continuing investigations, group spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Thursday, after the United States said they killed the al Qaeda leader in an airstrike in Kabul last month.

The United States killed Zawahiri with a missile fired from a drone while he stood on a balcony at his hideout in July, U.S. officials said, in the biggest blow to al Qaeda since U.S. Navy SEALS shot dead Osama bin Laden more than a decade ago. (Reuters)

South Korea's president Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday ordered an update of the military's operational plans to address North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats, his office said.

Yoon gave the instructions at his first visit to a military bunker in the capital Seoul that would serve as a command post the event of a war.

His visit coincided with the start on Monday of military drills by the armed forces of South Korea and the United States that are the largest in years.

The annual summertime exercises have been renamed Ulchi Freedom Shield and due to finish on Sept. 1. They involve the first field training between the two militaries since 2017 after being scaled back amid the COVID-19 pandemic and under Yoon's predecessor who sought to improve relations with North Korea. [nL1N2ZY03S]

Yoon highlighted that this year's drills were conducted under a changed scenario and the operational plans reflect North Korea's evolving threats.

"We need to urgently prepare measures to guarantee the lives and property of our people, including updating the operational plans against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats that are becoming a reality," Yoon told military commanders during the visit.

North Korea has conducted missile tests at an unprecedented pace this year and is ready to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017 at any time, Seoul officials said this week.

The isolated, nuclear-armed North fired two cruise missiles from the west coast last week, after South Korea and the United States began preliminary training for the drills. 

Pyongyang has long criticised the combined exercises as "hostile policy" and a rehearsal for invasion.

Yoon, who has vowed to boost drills and overall readiness against the North, called for beefing up the military's independent capability to counter North Korean missiles, while reinforcing the extended U.S. deterrence including its nuclear umbrella.

He also ordered the commanders to speed up plans to set up the so-called "Kill Chain" system, designed to launch preemptive strikes against the North's missiles and possibly its senior leadership if an imminent attack is detected. (Reuters)

Thailand's new acting leader, Prawit Wongsuwan, represents little substantial change from suspended Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha for opposition forces seeking to end what they decry as military dominance of politics.

For the ruling coalition led by the pro-army Palang Pracharat party, Prawit's caretaker role represents stability until the Constitutional Court decides whether Prayuth's time as a military leader from 2014 to 2019 counts towards a constitutionally stipulated eight-year term limit, as the opposition argues. 

Prawit, 77, who has been a deputy prime minister since 2019, is a longtime ally of Prayuth and was part of the military junta that ruled Thailand for nearly five years following Prayuth's 2014 coup ouster of an elected government

Like Prayuth himself, Prawit is a former chief of the army and is known for his fierce loyalty to the monarchy - both men served in the elite Queen's Guard unit closely associated with the palace.

However, unlike Prayuth, he has tended to wield influence behind the scenes.

Prawit has long been seen as a power-broker both within the Palang Pracharat party, which he co-founded, and among the wealthy elite that align themselves with Thailand's royal family and the military.

"Prawit has his power through connection with business elite," Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of the faculty of political science at Ubon Ratchathani University told Reuters.

"By becoming acting prime minister, Prawit will help stabilise the political situation and consolidate the ruling coalition and related business interests ahead of the election," Titipol said.

EXPENSIVE WATCHES

While he may be most adept at behind-the-scenes influence, Prawit has also has faced public scrutiny.

He survived an anti-corruption investigation and fierce public criticism in 2018 after he appeared in a photograph wearing a diamond ring and expensive watch that did not appear on his public asset declaration.

Activists later identified at least 25 other luxury watches the former general was photographed wearing but had not declared. Prawit said the timepieces had been lent to him.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission later ruled there was not sufficient evidence to press charges of false declaration of assets.

That controversy, plus his close association with Prayuth's junta, means that even in an acting role, Prawit might face much of the same opposition as the man he is standing in for, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst and professor at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

"Prawit will be embattled from day one," Thitinan said. "He might be a fixer and a broker within the coalition and Palang Pracharat ... but himself he is highly unpopular with the public."

MILITARY CAREER

Prawit and Prayuth rose through the ranks together, though Prawit was the senior officer for much of their army careers.

Prawit was Prayuth's superior when they were in the Queen's Guard. Both also served in the Burapha Payak or Eastern Tigers army clique with a power base in eastern Thailand.

Prawit rose to be chief of the armed forces from 2004 to 2005 and after retirement was defence minister in a civilian government from 2008 to 2011.

But in the past year, there have been signs of tension between Prayuth and Prawit over the direction of the ruling party after it expelled 21 lawmakers, led by a Prawit loyalist, Thammanat Prompao, a former deputy agriculture minister.

However, observers don't see the change from Prayuth to Prawit as having significant impact on the political trajectory dominated by the royalist military elite.

"This is typical political conflict between factions," analyst Titipol said. "But at the end they will save each other and stay together." (Reuters)