VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

McLaren have withdrawn from this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix after a team member tested positive for coronavirus. McLaren said the infected team member was now self-isolating in Australia. The manufacturer added its choice to withdraw was "based on a duty of care" to F1 stakeholders. The coronavirus outbreak, now declared a pandemic, has led to widespread disruption of sporting fixtures around the world.

In a statement McLaren said "The decision has been taken based on a duty of care not only to McLaren F1 employees and partners, but also to the team's competitors, Formula 1 fans and wider F1 stakeholders."

On Wednesday, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton said he was surprised the event in Melbourne was still going ahead in the wake of other sporting events being called off and increasing travel restrictions around the globe. The first ever Vietnam Grand Prix on 5 April is under threat but the Australian race at the Albert Park circuit remains on. Two members of the Haas Formula 1 team are self-isolating after also contracting the virus//BBCnews

Earth's great ice sheets, Greenland and Antarctica, are now losing mass six times faster than they were in the 1990s thanks to warming conditions. A comprehensive review of satellite data acquired at both poles is unequivocal in its assessment of accelerating trends, say scientists. Between them, Greenland and Antarctica lost 6.4 trillion tonnes of ice in the period from 1992 to 2017. This was sufficient to push up global sea-levels by 17.8mm.  "That's not a good news story," said Prof Andrew Shepherd from the University of Leeds in the UK.

"Today, the ice sheets contribute about a third of all sea-level rise, whereas in the 1990s, their contribution was actually pretty small at about 5%. This has important implications for the future, for coastal flooding and erosion," he told BBC News. 

It's a team of experts who have reviewed polar measurements acquired by observational spacecraft over nearly three decades. These are satellites that have tracked the changing volume, flow and gravity of the ice sheets. Greenland and Antarctica are responding to climate change in slightly different ways. The southern polar ice sheet's losses come from the melting effects of warmer ocean water attacking its edges. The northern polar ice sheet feels a similar sort of assault but is also experiencing surface melt from warmer air temperatures//BBCnews

India has announced that all visas, barring a select few categories, will be suspended for a month in order to halt the spread of Covid-19. Visa free travel afforded to overseas citizens of the country has also been suspended until 15 April. The move is expected to impact tourism, hotel and aviation industries in what will be more bad news for the slowing economy. As quoted by BBC.com (12/3) , the health ministry said that  India has 60 confirmed cases of the virus. This number is expected to grow in coming days, as the results for tests conducted earlier become available. The advisory, issued on Wednesday night, says that only diplomatic, official, employment and project visas will be exempt from the current restrictions, which will be reviewed again in a month. However, it has said that even those allowed in could be subject to 14 days of quarantine and has warned against "non-essential travel". India's health ministry says it was among the first countries in the world to prepare for an outbreak of the respiratory illness. However, there are concerns about whether the country will be fully equipped to prevent and treat an outbreak//BBCnews

Stock markets tumbled Thursday after US President Donald Trump announced a 30-day ban on travel to the United States from Europe over the coronavirus. As quoted by AFP.com ( 12/3)  Asian markets were already a sea of red at the open, with traders taking their lead from a global rout as the World Health Organization declared the spread of the new virus was officially a pandemic.  But Trump's announcement of the 30-day ban, which excludes Britain, caused further selling, despite a series of measures intended to ease the financial pain of the outbreak, which has paralysed travel and hit businesses around the world. Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei was down 5.42 percent or 1,051.88 points to 18,364.18, while the broader Topix was down 5.06 percent or 70.15 points to 1,314.97 in the hour after Trump's address.  Australia's ASX was down 5.4 percent, while Hong Kong tumbled three percent at the opening//AFP