VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

photo : theguardian

Former Vice President Joe Biden has earned enough delegates toofficially secure the Democratic nomination for president, CNN projected on Saturday. Biden has been the presumptive Democratic nominee since April, when Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the primary. His electoral victory in Guam on Saturday allowed him to surpass the necessary 1,991 delegates to claim the nomination on the first ballot of the party's convention, set to be held in August. Biden currently has 1,992 delegates, according to CNN's tally. In his statement, Mr. Biden said a little more than three months ago he stood on stage in South Carolina and told the American people that ours was a campaign for everyone who has been knocked down, counted out, and left behind. Those words take on an even greater resonance today, at a time when so many Americans are hurting and have suffered so much loss. The moment comes after the coronavirus pandemic postponed most of the primaries scheduled to take place in April and May and halted in-person campaigning//CNN

photo : almonitor

OPEC, Russia and allies agreed on Saturday to extend record oil production cuts, until the end of July, prolonging a deal that has helped crude prices double in the past two months, by withdrawing almost 10% of global supplies from the market. The group, known as OPEC+, also demanded countries such as Nigeria and Iraq, which exceeded production quotas in May and June, compensate with extra cuts in July to September. OPEC+ had initially agreed in April that it would cut supply by 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) during May-June to prop up prices that collapsed due to the coronavirus crisis. Those cuts were due to taper to 7.7 million bpd from July to December. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told the video conference of OPEC+ ministers, that demand is returning as big oil-consuming economies emerge from pandemic lockdown. But we are not out of the woods yet and challenges ahead remain//Reuters

photo : the week

Fiji announced it was coronavirus free Friday after the island nation's last known infected patient was given the all-clear, continuing the Pacific's remarkable record of success against the virus. There was panic among Fiji's 930,000 population when the first COVID-19 case was reported in mid-March, but strict isolation measures and border controls kept a lid on infections, which peaked at 18 confirmed cases. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama attributed the country's virus-free status to "answered prayers, hard work, and affirmation of science". He tweeted that Fiji has just cleared the last of our active COVID-19 patients. And even with the government testing numbers climbing by the day, it's now been 45 days since we recorded our last case. With no deaths, the country’s recovery rate is 100 percent. The Pacific islands were initially seen as among the world's most vulnerable to the virus, because of under-resourced health infrastructure and high rates of health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease//AFP

photo : mediaindonesia

Temperatures soared 10 degrees Celsius above average last month in Siberia, home to much of Earth's permafrost, as the world experienced its warmest May on record, the European Union's climate monitoring network said Friday. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said May 2020 was 0.63C warmer, than the average May from 1981 to 2010, with above average temperatures across parts of Alaska, Europe, North America, South America, swathes of Africa and Antarctica. C3S senior scientist Freja Vamborg told AFP that Western Siberia in particular has been unusually warm for several months running. She said that the really large anomalies started during January, and since then this signal has been quite persistent. Globally, the average temperature for the twelve months to May 2020 is close to 1.3C above preindustrial levels, the benchmark by which global warming is often measured//AFP