VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

photo : wearesocial

French winemakers will transform wine that went unsold during the country's two-month COVID-19 lockdown, into hand sanitiser and ethanol to make room for the next harvest, a farming agency said on Thursday (Jun 4). Wine sales and exports, particularly to the United States, plunged at the height of the coronavirus crisis, leaving winemakers with millions of litres of unsold wine. Didier Josso, head of the wine branch in the farming agency FranceAgriMer, at a video press conference, that from tomorrow, 33 licensed distillers will be able to collect the wine and distil it. The alcohol resulting from the distillation is exclusively reserved for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry and the production of hand sanitiser, and for the production of ethanol. European public funds will finance the distillation of 200 million litres of French wine after Brussels gave its green light for the exceptional measure. Experts said 300 million litres were in-need of distilling. Major wine-producing countries such as Spain and Italy have resorted to similar measures to regulate the excess, as well as to the exceptional destruction of young grape vines//AFP/CNA

photo : olympic

Tokyo 2020 officials are looking at ways to scale back next year's postponed Olympics, the city's governor said Thursday, amid reports the opening ceremony could be streamlined and spectator numbers cut. Yuriko Koike told reporters that organisers were weighing up what could be "rationalised and simplified" as costs spiral for holding the first postponed Games in history. The International Olympic Committee announced in March the Games would be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands and brought international travel to a virtual halt. The Games are now due to open on July 23, 2021, but organisers face the unprecedented headache of rearranging the event, which requires a costly rejigging of everything from venues to transport. The Yomiuri Shimbun daily quoted an unnamed source as saying that everyone including athletes, officials and spectators would be required to take a test for the virus. Tokyo 2020 spokesman Masa Takaya declined to offer further details as a press conference later on Thursday, saying only that discussions were ongoing//AFP

photo : nytimes

U.S. President Donald Trump met with his top campaign advisers on Thursday, officials said, amid polls showing his tumbling prospects for re-election, as the U.S. economy suffers from a global pandemic and protesters gather in cities across the country. The president had a second, larger meeting with a broader group of campaign and RNC officials where he discussed attack lines for use on his opponent in the Nov. 3 election, Democrat Joe Biden, a campaign official said. Trump was described as upbeat and engaged at the meeting, but one source familiar with his thinking said he has been frustrated as he struggles to respond to a crushing set of problems, most recently mass protests resulting from the death last week in police custody of African American man George Floyd in Minneapolis. Trump on Friday cancelled a planned weekend visit to his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, an FAA advisory said, thus sparing him criticism about the optics of such a trip//Reuters

photo : ABC

Thousands of Hong Kong protesters lit candles and chanted democracy slogans as they defied a ban on Thursday, Jun 4, against gathering to commemorate China's Tiananmen incident, with tensions seething in the financial hub over a planned security law. Crowds streamed into Victoria Park, which has hosted huge Tiananmen anniversary vigils for the past three decades, chanting slogans such as "End one party rule" and "Democracy for China now". Smaller rallies took place across Hong Kong. Police made arrests in Mong Kok as they sought to disperse protesters. Reuters reported that pepper spray was fired in Mong Kok. The Jun 4 anniversary has struck an especially sensitive nerve in the former British-ruled city this year, after China's move last month to impose national security legislation and the passage of a bill outlawing disrespect of China's national anthem//Reuters/CNA