VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A police trooper walks on the rubble of a building destroyed by Saudi-led air strikes at Sanaa Airport in Sanaa, Yemen, on Dec 21, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah) - 

The aviation authority run by the Houthi administration in Yemen has allowed temporary resumption of flights by the United Nations and other organisations to Sanaa international airport on Monday, the Houthi-run Saba news agency said.

The Iran-aligned Houthi movement said earlier this month that the capital's airport had been put out of operation after air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.

The coalition said it only attacked military targets at the airport, from where drone strikes have been launched against Saudi targets.

The airport has been closed to civilian flights since 2015, after the Houthis ousted the Saudi-backed government from Sanaa, although UN planes have been permitted to land there.

The Houthi-run aviation authority said in a statement on Monday it allowed the resumption of the UN flights "after the malfunctions in communications and navigational devices were temporarily fixed," the agency report said.

The authority complained that it could not guarantee the long-term continuity of these old devices, and urged the UN to help the entry of new devices that it had purchased, it added.

The coalition said that the strikes it had carried would have no effect on operational capacity, airspace management, air traffic, or ground handling operations//CNA

People queue to get tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) after the Christmas holiday break, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, at Doce de Octubre Hospital in Madrid, Spain, on Dec 27, 2021. (Phoot: REUTERS/Javier Barbancho) - 

Spain's coronavirus infection rate exceeded 1,000 cases per 100,000 people for the first time on Monday (Dec 27), stoked by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, although hospitals were under much less strain than in previous waves of the pandemic.

The rate, measured over the preceding 14 days, rose to 1,206 cases following the Christmas weekend, according to health ministry data. That compares with 911 reported on Thursday, when it first topped the previous record of 900 cases set in late January.

The tally had not been updated since Thursday and has added 214,619 new cases to the 5,932,626 recorded since the start of the pandemic.

The ministry added 120 deaths to its coronavirus death toll since Thursday, bringing the total to 89,139. Daily deaths have been hovering below 100, sharply lower than some 1,000 at the peak of the first wave last year or about 600 last January, when vaccination against COVID-19 had only just begun.

Hospital occupancy with coronavirus patients rose to 7.69 per cent from Thursday's 6.4 per cent, remaining much below 24 per cent registered in late January. Intensive-care occupancy reached 18.26 per cent, after January's 43 per cent.

"We are obviously going to see high numbers of infections, but not hospitalisations and ICU admissions compared to previous waves," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters earlier on Monday, citing Spain's high vaccination rate and urging Spaniards to keep taking the recommended shots.

With nearly 80 per cent of its population fully vaccinated and a booster programme gathering pace, Spain was largely spared the rampant wave of infections that led several Northern European countries to toughen curbs in the autumn//CNA

A nurse administers a dose of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine to a patient at Sparrow Laboratories Drive-Thru Services in Lansing, Michigan, U.S., December 27, 2021. REUTERS/Emily Elconin - 

The United States has administered 503,480,667 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Monday morning and distributed 609,589,955 doses, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The agency said 242,433,620 people had received at least one dose, while 205,196,973 people are fully vaccinated as of 6am ET on Monday.

The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, as well as Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine.

Over 66 million people received an additional dose of either Pfizer or Moderna's vaccine since Aug 13, when the US authorised a third dose of the vaccines for people with compromised immune systems who are likely to have weaker protection from the two-dose regimens//CNA

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin. (ANTARA/HO-Setwapres) - 

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin and Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar handed over the 2021 Company Performance Rating Program Award for Environmental Management (Proper) at the Vice Presidential Palace on Tuesday.

Amin lauded the Environment and Forestry Ministry as well as the companies that received the Proper Award for their efforts and abilities pertaining to sustainable environmental management.

"For 24 years, Proper has developed into a platform for businesses to conduct sustainable business practices by implementing the principles of the green economy," he stated.

Proper has undergone transformation. At first, it was only limited to the assessment of water pollution control, but it has gradually developed into assessment of continuous improvement and disaster response.

The vice president expects all companies to not only prioritize profits but also follow the principles of environmental management in sustainable development.

These various criteria, which were taken into account for the award, were expected to be indicators for companies to participate in sustainable environmental development, so their focus was not limited to profit, he emphasized.

The minister stated that the company's rate of compliance with regulations also demonstrated that the company's performance was commendable despite the current situation amid the pandemic.

"The company's level of compliance with environmental regulations is capped at 75 percent. Evaluations are conducted on 2,538 companies. None of them are listed in the Black category," she elaborated.

Some 645 companies were placed in the Red category, 1,670 companies were listed under the Blue category, 186 companies categorized as Green, and 47 companies ranked in the Gold category.

The Proper award aims to gauge or encourage industry compliance with environmental protection and management laws and regulations. Their rating is divided into two categories, with one being based on adherence (Blue, Red, Black) and beyond compliance (Gold and Green).

The award takes into account several criteria for environmental management and community empowerment that comprise environmental management systems, energy efficiency, emission and greenhouse gas reduction, water efficiency, B3 waste reduction and utilization, 3R waste management, biodiversity protection, community development, implementation of life cycle assessment, and social return on investment.//ANT