VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The government will raise the capacity of participants and the budget for the pre-employment card program, in the coming second phase in response to the high level of interest, in the program among community members. As quoted by Antara,Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartanto made the statement at the coordination meeting on the pre-employment card and capacity building for the pre-employment program. The meeting, held via videoconference, was attended by Head of the Presidential Staff Office Dr Moeldoko in addition to several ministers and related officials. According to a press release sent by the Presidential Staff Office in Jakarta, Friday, the first wave of the Pre-Employment Card registration process was closed for participants on April 16. The program had a total of 5.7 million registrants, of which the status of 3.1 million participants had been verified//Ant

Head of Bank Indonesia’s Bali branch Trisno Nugroho stated, that the central bank had streamlined various instruments of the payment system policy, to boost non-cash payment transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic. As quoted by Antara, Nugroho remarked in Denpasar that among other things, Bank Indonesia has waived, the imposition of the Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS) transaction fees, for traders in the micro business category. Nugroho noted that the validity period for the QRIS Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) of zero percent is from April 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020. Moreover, Nugroho highlighted that Bank Indonesia had reduced the cost of the Bank Indonesia Clearing System (SKNBI), from Rp3,500 to Rp2,900, which is the maximum fee charged by banks to customers. This policy is effective from April 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020//Ant

A crew of three are due to return from the International Space Station (ISS) early on Friday, to a very different planet they left last year. No strangers to isolation, Russian Oleg Skrypochka and Jessica Meir from the US left Earth in September 2019, well before Covid-19 emerged. Another American, Andrew Morgan, has been on the ISS since July 2019. The coronavirus pandemic has changed the usual routine for returning space crews.

"It's quite surreal to see it unfolding on Earth below," Ms Meir told reporters during a recent video call.

"From here, Earth looks just as stunning as usual, so it's hard to believe all of the changes that have taken place since we left."

The trio are scheduled to return to Earth at 05:00 GMT on Friday, by which time Mr Skrypochka and Ms Meir will have spent 205 days in space, and Mr Morgan 272 days. The capsule normally lands somewhere in Kazakhstan, then a search team picks up the crew and brings them to the closest airport and they all fly home. This time Kazakhstan has declared a state of emergency and most of the airports are closed. The search party is currently in strict quarantine and will have to take a test immediately before going out to pick up the arrivals, to ensure they cannot be infected//BBC

Switzerland will start gradually relaxing from Apr 27 the drastic restrictions it brought in last month, to tackle the spread of the new coronavirus, the government said on Thursday, Apr 16. Hospitals will be allowed to perform all procedures, even elective surgeries, while hair salons, massage parlours and cosmetic studies will be allowed to reopen. This will be followed by compulsory schools, shops and markets from May 11, it added. In a third stage it will reopen secondary schools, vocational schools and universities from June 8.

"The spread of the coronavirus was slowed, and our hospitals are not stretched to the limit," Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga told a news conference.

Switzerland's death toll from the COVID-19 respiratory disease the virus causes has risen past 1,000, with nearly 27,000 people testing positive. The rate of infections has slowed in recent days, while the government has come under increasing pressure to reopen businesses which have struggled during the shutdown//Reuters