KONFRONTASI - Half a million people, all dressed in white, radiated from the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in central Jakarta. Protesters clogged the streets for a mile in every direction; they went all the way up to the National Monument and beyond it to the presidential palace.
By. Imam Shamsi Ali*
Islam is the religion of optimism and hope. Having faith as a Muslim gives us hope but being in despair is a sign of being ungrateful to Allah's blessings.
Islam teaches us to be grateful all the time, and an important essence of that gratefulness is hope and optimism. That no matter how bitter the life is, how challenging and difficult the circumstance we live in, we are always being blessed abundantly by the Almighty Allah.
KONFRONTASI-Libya's internationally recognised government has said it shot down two fighter jets and a helicopter belonging to renegade commander Khalifa Haftar, as two civilians were killed in the capital in rocket attacks.
The Government of National Accord (GNA) said on Sunday it brought down the three aircraft east of the Mediterranean city of Misrata.
KONFRONTASI-China's northeastern border with Russia has become a front line in the country's fight against a resurgence of the coronavirus, as new daily cases, while remaining relatively low compared with other global hot spots, rose to the highest in nearly six weeks.
By Andreas Kluth
The most misleading cliche about the coronavirus is that it treats us all the same. It doesn’t, neither medically nor economically, socially or psychologically. In particular, Covid-19 exacerbates preexisting conditions of inequality wherever it arrives. Before long, this will cause social turmoil, up to and including uprisings and revolutions.
KONFRONTASI - The UN chief called the pandemic coronavirus “a generation’s fight” and a threat to global peace and security.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned the UN Security Council that the pandemic could increase social unrest and violence, which would significantly affect the world’s ability to fight the disease.
It is, he said, the most serious test of the UN since its creation 75 years ago and has already hampered efforts to resolve international, regional and national conflicts.
KONFRONTASI - The World Health Organization has rejected claims by the US President Donald Trump, accusing the body of being “China-centric,” saying its work with Beijing was important to understand the outbreak, which began in the province of Wuhan.
KONFRONTASI - More than 460,000 Chinese firms closed permanently in the first quarter as the coronavirus pandemic pummeled the world’s second largest economy, with more than half of them having operated for under three years, corporate registration data shows.
The closures comprised of businesses whose operating licenses had been revoked, as well as those who had terminated operations themselves, and included 26,000 in the export sector, according to Tianyancha, a commercial database that compiles public records.
KONFRONTASI - Indonesia is bracing for millions of people from Jakarta, the epicentre of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, to head for their hometowns across the archipelago after President Joko Widodo
said he would not ban this year’s usual surge in travel towards the end of the Muslim fasting month in May.
KONFRONTASI-A couple in India's central state of Chhattisgarh have named their newborn twins Corona and Covid amid the country's nationwide lockdown brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.