VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Muslims across the world began marking the holy month of Ramadan, under unprecedented coronavirus lockdowns on Friday, as the US added another half a trillion dollars to an economic support package, and Europe groped towards its own huge rescue plan. Ramadan spirits have been dampened by movement restrictions on hundreds of millions of Muslims from Southeast Asia to the Middle East and Africa, with bans on prayers in mosques and large gatherings of families and friends to break the daily fast -- a centrepiece of the month. But despite the coronavirus threat, some clerics and conservatives in many countries including Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia -- the world's largest Muslim-majority nation -- have pushed back against social distancing rules, refusing to stop gatherings in mosques//AFP