VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A fish auction in progress at the Kutaraja fish port in Banda Aceh. The government has set up five logistics corridors to strengthen connectivity between fish collection and distribution centers to increase food resilience, boost people's welfare, and create jobs. (ANTARA PHOTO/Ampelsa/foc) - 

The Marine and Fisheries Affairs Ministry (KKP) has set up five logistics corridors to strengthen connectivity between fish collection and distribution centers, as part of efforts to expand access to fisheries in eastern Indonesia.

The five corridors are Kendari-Surabaya/Jakarta, Makassar–Surabaya/Jakarta, Bitung–Surabaya/Jakarta, Ambon–Surabaya/Jakarta, and Mimika–Surabaya/Jakarta, the ministry's director general of marine and fisheries competitiveness, Artati Widiarti, informed in a statement issued here on Friday.

Connecting upstream and downstream fisheries will increase food resilience, boost people's welfare, and create jobs, while encouraging the growth of the fisheries sector in eastern Indonesia, she added.

"These corridors are expected to boost efficiency in logistics channels and expand market access to reach consumption and industrial areas, for even distribution of fish consumption and people's welfare," Widiarti elaborated.

The corridors would be opened gradually in accordance with regional and business readiness, she added.

"We will revive the fisheries sector that has been impacted by the pandemic through stock management and distribution mechanism, provision of logistics facilities, warehouse receipt systems, and access to distribution and funding," she said.

Widiarti expressed the hope that local administrations would support the operation of the logistics corridors by raising awareness about them among business operators, and mapping and monitoring the logistics processes — from production to collection centers — in their respective regions.

The ministry has also said it will speed up the evaluation of the non-tax state revenue (PNBP) imposition under the post-production scheme, which would take into account the social and economic conditions around fish ports in some regions.

An advisor to the KKP minister, Darmadi Aris Wibowo, said the directorate general of capture fisheries has identified three locations which will serve as models for the implementation of post-production PNBP imposition — the Karangantu fish port (PPS) in Serang, Banten, Nizam Zachman PPS in Jakarta, and Cilacap PPS in Central Java//ANT

Despite the crackdown, pro-democracy protesters have persisted with their demonstrations against the coup AFP/STR - 

Thousands of anti-coup protesters marched in Myanmar on Sunday (May 2), calling for a "spring revolution" with the country in its fourth month under a military regime.

Cities, rural areas, remote mountainous regions and even Myanmar's rebel-controlled border territories have been in uproar since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a Feb 1 coup.The junta has aimed to suppress dissent through a brutal crackdown that has seen mass arrests and an escalating death toll.

Demonstrations kicked off early in commercial hub Yangon as activists called for a show of force and a "spring revolution".

Youths gathered on a street corner before marching swiftly down the streets in a flash mob - dispersing soon after to avoid clashing with authorities.

"To get democracy is our course!" they chanted, waving a three-finger salute of resistance.

"To bring down the military dictatorship is our course!"

Central Mandalay region saw hundreds take the streets led by monks in saffron-coloured robes, carrying the flag of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

In northern Shan state, youths carried a banner that read: "We cannot be ruled at all."

"He was shot in the head and died immediately," said one protester, who said he rushed to hide his friend's body in case authorities tried to take it away.

"They are asking for his dead body, but we will not give them ... We will have his funeral today," he told AFP.

By midday, local media reported that security forces were chasing protesters down and arresting them.

"They are arresting every young person they see," a source in Yangon told AFP, adding that he was hiding at the moment.

"Now I am trapped."

Bomb blasts also went off across different parts of the city in the morning.

The explosions have been happening with increasing frequency in the former capital, and authorities have blamed it on "instigators".

So far, security forces have killed 759 civilians, according to the local monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

The junta - which has labelled AAPP as an unlawful organisation - says 258 protesters have been killed, along with 17 policemen and seven soldiers//CNA

View of Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore on Apr 30, 2021. (Photo: Calvin Oh) - 

Fourteen community cases were among the 39 new COVID-19 infections reported in Singapore as of noon on Sunday (May 2), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its preliminary daily update.

Among them, 11 cases are linked to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital cluster and were detected from the ministry's proactive testing of patients, visitors and staff members at the hospital.

The remaining 25 cases were imported and were placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore, the ministry said.

Among them, 10 are Singaporeans or permanent residents and three are foreign domestic workers.

No new cases were reported in migrant workers’ dormitories.

Details of the new cases will be released on Sunday night, said MOH.

Starting from Sunday, Singapore has stopped entry or transit for visitor with recent travel history to Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the COVID-19 task force also announced on Friday.

The ban covers all long-term pass holders and short-term visitors who have been in the four countries in the last 14 days, including transit//CNA

SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, with parachutes open, returns to Earth with four astronauts AFP/Handout - 

A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts back to Earth splashed down off Panama City early on Sunday (May 2), a NASA livestream showed.

Boats were retrieving the spacecraft and crew after their six-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The capsule splashed down at 2.56am local time in the dark in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast after a six-and-a-half hour flight from the ISS, images relayed by NASA's WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft showed.

Astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japan's Soichi Noguchi went to space last November as the crew on the first fully operational mission to the ISS aboard a vehicle made by Elon Musk's SpaceX, which has become NASA's favored commercial transportation partner.

Seven astronauts remained on the ISS including a new crew of four who arrived on a different SpaceX craft last week.

"Thanks for your hospitality," Hopkins said earlier as the capsule undocked from the space station for its return journey. "We'll see you back on Earth."

Prior to that, two American astronauts made a test mission to the ISS in May and stayed for two months.

That was the first launch to the ISS from US soil since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. It was also the first crewed mission run by a private company, as opposed to NASA.Until then US astronauts had caught rides to the ISS aboard Russian spacecraft//CNA