VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A screenshot of Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini while painting during the celebration of National Children's Day held virtually on Friday (July 23, 2021). (ANTARA/Desi Purnamawati/RA) - 

Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini encouraged Indonesian children to never stop pursuing their dreams despite challenging times presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are currently facing hard times. You cannot meet your friends at school and must study virtually from home. However, you should still never give up," the minister told Indonesian children virtually during the commemoration of National Children's Day (HAN) 2021 monitored online in Jakarta, Friday.

Rismaharini believes that giving up was not an option since God presented opportunities to all without discrimination. Hence, what needs to be done is to keep striving and praying.

"No matter how difficult the situation is, we should never give up and go through it all. It is not easy, but that is the path we must take since success can never be achieved without hard work," she affirmed.

During the pandemic, when children are required to study from home virtually, boredom could set in due to the lack of interaction with their friends. Hence, the minister has encouraged children to cultivate hobbies at home, for instance, painting, reading, or gardening.

The minister shared with the audience her penchant for collecting seeds and planting them until they bore fruits. Crops, such as chilies and tomatoes, can be useful, she stated.

"It means, no matter how small our action is, it can be useful for others," she remarked.

During her speech, Rismaharini also reminded children to use cell phones for productive purposes.

"Do not use your phone to bully and badmouth friends. There is no point in having enemies. It is great to have a lot of friends," she emphasized.

Although students cannot be physically present in school, the minister believes it should not be an excuse for them to become complacent in studies.

Rismaharini further stressed that Indonesian children should not harbor a sense of inferiority, shame, or fear to compete with their counterparts in the world since Indonesia is a big country, and its independence was achieved through hard work. Hence, Indonesian children are the descendants of fighters, who never give up on fighting for the nation's independence//ANT

Money supply in rupiah - 

Economic liquidity, or the nation’s money supply, reached Rp7,119.6 trillion in June 2021, growing 11.4 percent (yoy), compared to 8.1 percent in May 2021.

"The increase was mainly driven by the acceleration of the components of the narrow money supply (M1) and quasi money," said Erwin Haryono, Executive Director of the Communications Department of Bank Indonesia, in a statement released on Friday.

Erwin noted that the M1 component in June 2021 grew by 17 percent (yoy), higher than the growth in May 2021 of 12.6 percent. The growth was mainly due to an increase in the circulation of currency and rupiah demand deposits.

In June 2021, currency outside the monetary system was recorded at Rp739.1 trillion and grew by 13.4 percent (yoy) compared to the previous month of 8.6. 

Likewise, quasi-money growth increased from 6.8 percent (yoy) in the previous month to 9.6 percent in June 2021.

Then rupiah demand deposits in June 2021 grew 19.3 percent (yoy), higher than the previous month's 15.5 percent .

Nevertheless, the float of electronic money issued by banks grew 9.8 percent (yoy) lower than the previous month's 31.4 percent.

Meanwhile, quasi-money in June 2021 amounted to Rp5187.6 trillion with a 72.9 percent share of M2, increasing from 6.8 percent (yoy) in May 2021 to 9.6 percent . The increase occurred in almost all quasi money instruments, both rupiah term deposits and foreign currency demand deposits.

"Based on the influencing factors, the increase in M2 in June 2021 was mainly influenced by growth in net foreign assets and an increase in lending," Erwin said.

The increase was also recorded in the net foreign assets factor, which grew by 11.5 percent (yoy), an increase compared to the growth in May 2021 of 6.4 percent.

Then, credit disbursement recorded a positive growth of 0.4 percent (yoy), after recording negative growth since September 2020. On the other hand, net bills to the central government grew 33.9 percent (yoy), lower than the previous month's growth of 61.4 percent //ANT

SpaceX's Elon Musk gives an update on the company's Mars rocket Starship in Boca Chica, Texas, US on September 28, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Callaghan O'Hare) - 

Elon Musk's private rocket company SpaceX was awarded a US$178 million launch services contract for NASA's first mission focusing on Jupiter's icy moon Europa and whether it may host conditions suitable for life, the space agency said on Friday (Jul 23).

The Europa Clipper mission is due for blastoff in October 2024 on a Falcon Heavy rocket owned by Musk's company, Space Exploration Technologies, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said in a statement posted online.

In April, SpaceX was awarded a US$2.9 billion contract to build the lunar lander spacecraft for the planned Artemis programme that would carry NASA astronauts back to the moon for the first time since 1972.

But that contract was suspended after two rival space companies, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics, protested against the SpaceX selection.

The company's partly reusable 23-story Falcon Heavy, currently the most powerful operational space launch vehicle in the world, flew its first commercial payload into orbit in 2019.

NASA did not say what other companies may have bid on the Europa Clipper launch contract.

The probe is to conduct a detailed survey of the ice-covered Jovian satellite, which is a bit smaller than Earth's moon and is a leading candidate in the search for life elsewhere in the solar system.

A bend in Europa's magnetic field observed by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in 1997 appeared to have been caused by a geyser gushing through the moon's frozen crust from a vast subsurface ocean, researchers concluded in 2018. Those findings supported other evidence of Europa plumes.

Among the Clipper mission's objectives are to produce high-resolution images of Europa's surface, determine its composition, look for signs of geologic activity, measure the thickness of its icy shell and determine the depth and salinity of its ocean, NASA said//CNA

Most US soldiers deployed in Iraq in 2014 to lead a coalition against the Islamic State group have left. (Photo: AFP/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE) - 

Weakened by pro-Iran factions at home, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi will meet with US President Joe Biden on Monday (Jul 26) to discuss a possible full US troop withdrawal from his country.

The White House talks between the two allies come just a week after a deadly attack claimed by the Islamic State group, despite Baghdad declaring the Sunni extremists defeated over three years ago.

Kadhimi finds himself backed into a corner by the influence of Iraq's other main ally - neighbouring Iran, which has long seen the United States as its arch-nemesis.

Despite shared enmity on the part of the US and Shiite Iran toward a resilient Islamic State, Kadhimi is under intense pressure from pro-Tehran armed factions who demand the withdrawal of 2,500 US troops still deployed in Iraq.

Operating under the Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary network whose tentacles extend deep into the state, these Shiite factions stand accused of carrying out around 50 rocket and drone attacks this year against US interests in Iraq.

"If there is no significant announcement on the withdrawal of troops, I fear that the pro-Iran groups may ... increase attacks on the US forces," Iraqi researcher Sajad Jiyad told AFP.

Such concerns are given weight by the leader of one such paramilitary group Asaib Ahl al-Haq, who recently warned that "resistance operations will continue until all American forces have left Iraqi territory".

Most of the US soldiers, deployed in 2014 to lead an international military coalition against Islamic State, left under Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, who hosted Kadhimi at the White House last August.

The troops that remain are officially classed as advisers and trainers for Iraq's army and counter-terrorism units.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, already in Washington for several days, has assured Iraqi media that "the talks will successfully establish a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces".

But US media outlets have only pointed to a "redefinition" of the troops' mission.

Ramzy Mardini, an Iraq specialist at the University of Chicago's Pearson Institute, believes there will be no "radical change" in the US position.

The Biden-Kadhimi meeting may cosmetically be "shaped" to help the Iraqi premier alleviate domestic pressures, "but the reality on the ground will reflect the status quo and an enduring US presence," he said.

Mardini points to "political costs" for Biden were he to authorise a full withdrawal of US troops, stemming from the catastrophic "legacy" of the 2011 withdrawal, which created a vacuum exploited by Islamic State during their lightning 2014 offensive.

Kadhimi will therefore also seek to secure a softening of secondary US sanctions relating to Iran when in Washington, to help Iraq honour crucial transactions with its neighbour and tackle the power crisis//CNA