VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

PHOTO : ASENGLISH

More than half million coronaviruses have been confirmed in South Africa. South Africa Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize announced 10,107 new cases on Saturday, bringing the tally to 503,290, along with 8,153 deaths. South African health authorities have said the rate of infection is increasing rapidly, with cases currently concentrated around the capital, Pretoria. South Africa is the hardest-hit country on the continent and accounts for half of all reported infections in Africa. It also has the fifth-highest number of cases in the world after the US, Brazil, Russia and India//BBC

PHOTO : INQUERENET

Russia's health minister is preparing a mass vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus for October, local news agencies reported on Saturday, after a vaccine completed clinical trials. Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said the Gamaleya Institute, a state research facility in Moscow, had completed clinical trials of the vaccine and paperwork is being prepared to register it. He said doctors and teachers would be the first to be vaccinated. A source told Reuters this week that Russia's first potential COVID-19 vaccine would secure local regulatory approval in August and be administered to health workers soon thereafter//JP

PHOTO : FORBES

The White House appears keen to endorse a temporary extension of a $600 per week supplemental unemployment benefit, as the popular boost to both the economy and family budgets is about to expire. As quoted by APNews.com (31/7) the idea is a prominent feature of top-level Washington talks on a major election-season COVID-19 response measure. After late-night talks failed to produce a breakthrough, the two sides took their case to the media Friday morning, with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows appearing before reporters on short notice at the exact moment House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared at her weekly news conference. Meadows accused Democrats of refusing to negotiate, saying President Donald Trump has instructed him to be “aggressive and forward leaning” in trying to extend the supplemental jobless benefit//APNews

PHOTO : WVNEWS

Small groups of pilgrims performed one of the final rites of the Islamic hajj on Friday, as Muslims worldwide marked the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday, amid a global pandemic that has impacted nearly every aspect of this year’s pilgrimage and celebrations. As quoted by APNews.com (31/7) the last days of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia coincide with the four-day Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” in which Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor. The pandemic has pushed millions of people around the world closer to the brink of poverty making it harder for many to fulfill the religious tradition of purchasing livestock. In Somalia, the price of meat has slightly increased. Abdishakur Dahir, a civil servant in Mogadishu, said that for the first time he won’t be able to afford goats for Eid because of the impact of the virus on work//APNews