VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Several esports athletes attend the national training center for the 31st Hanoi SEA Games in Megamendung Sub-district, Bogor District, West Java Province, on April 7, 2022. (ANTARA PHOTO/Yulius Satria Wijaya/aww/uyu) - 

The Youth and Sports Ministry has guaranteed that all athletes dispatched to the 31st Hanoi Southeast Asian (SEA) Games will be able to bag medals for Indonesia since their performance had been reviewed and analysed.

The ministry’s head of National Sports Performance Improvement (PPON) review team, Mochamad Asnawi, stated during a discussion here on Friday evening that the data used for the analysis were the achievements of athletes in the earlier SEA Games as well as regional and international tournaments in which the athletes participated during the 2019-2021 period.

At the 2019 Philippines SEA Games, Indonesia had sent 841 athletes without being reviewed.

However, the review team head noted that the number of medals won did not compensate for the number of the athletes sent and the amount of budget spent.

Hence, at the 31st Hanoi SEA Games, the ministry decided to focus on efficiency by reducing the number of athletes sent to the biennial sporting event.

“We send a lot of athletes to the 2019 Philippines SEA Games, though many of them lost in the early rounds. We do not want it to happen again since we have to use the budget efficiently. Thus, we expect that any athlete, who competes, can win a medal,” Asnawi emphasized.

Regarding 38 esports athletes sent to the event, he assessed that they have the potential to secure gold medals since several of the Indonesian esports athletes had recorded various international achievements.

"We will recommend them to be sent to the 31st Hanoi SEA Games, so that the gold and silver medals of the esports event will not be snatched by other contingents," he emphasized.

The same applies to vovinam for which 10 athletes can be sent, although it is not a prominent sport included in the ministry’s National Sports Grand Design (DBON) and is not competed in the Asian Games.

However, he assessed that Indonesian vovinam athletes have potential to bag gold and silver medals at the international sporting event//ANT

National Police's (Polri's) official Ahmad Ramadhan (left). ANTARA/HO-Divisi Humas Polri/FR - 

The One Million Booster Vaccine Program, held in collaboration among the National Police (Polri), Executive Board of Nahdatul Ulama (PBNU), Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, and Religious Affairs Ministry, had reached 72.38 percent of its target.

Polri's official Ahmad Ramadhan stated here on Saturday that 867,449 vaccine doses had been administered to the people within two days of the program's execution.

In detail, of the total vaccine doses administered, 62,347 were of the first dose, 166,562 of the second dose, and 638,540 doses of booster.

The One Million Booster Vaccine Program had begun to be implemented since Thursday simultaneously across Indonesia, he explained.

The people's enthusiasm in participating in this activity is quite high, as was apparent from the fact that 72.38 percent of the target had been reached within two days, he pointed out.

The total number of participants for the first day reached 378,390, or 31.57 percent, he noted.

In detail, out of the total, 26,638 were for the first dose; 67,940, second dose; and 283,812, for the booster.

Meanwhile, on the second day, the program managed to administer vaccines to 489,059 participants, or 40.81 percent.

Out of the administered doses, 35,709 were given the first dose; 98,622, the second dose; and 354,728 people offered the booster.

"The total number of vaccine targets reaches 1,198,359. Meanwhile, the vaccine booths are available at 2,397 points that involve 21,668 vaccine workers," Ramadhan explained.

For the third day, the program aims to record the participation of 330,910 citizens, or 27.62 percent, to achieve the main target of this activity, he stated.

The One Million Booster Vaccine Program is held as a preparatory measure for the 2022 Eid al-Fitr homecoming.

The program was unveiled by Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, Chairman of PBNU K.H. Yahya Cholil Staquf, and Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas at the PBNU Building here on Thursday//ANT

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu at a press conference in Ankara on Apr 1, 2022. (File photo: AFP/Adem Altan) - 

Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian civilian and military planes flying to Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying on Saturday (Apr 23) by local media.

The announcement marks one of the strongest responses to date by Turkey, which has cultivated close ties with Moscow despite being a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defence alliance, to Russia's two-month military assault on Ukraine.

"We closed the airspace to Russia's military planes - and even civilian ones - flying to Syria. They had until April, and we asked in March," Turkish media quoted Cavusoglu as saying.

Cavusoglu said that he conveyed the decision to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who then relayed it to President Vladimir Putin.

"One or two days later, they said: Putin has issued an order, we will not fly anymore," Cavusoglu was quoted as telling Turkish reporters aboard his plane to Uruguay.

Cavusoglu added that the ban would stay in place for three months.

There was no immediate response to Turkey's announcement from Russia, which together with Iran has been a crucial supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the war-torn country's civil war.

Turkey has backed Syrian rebels during the conflict.

Ankara's relations with Moscow briefly imploded after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border in 2015.

But they had been improving until Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Turkey views as an important trade partner and diplomatic ally.

Turkey has been trying to mediate an end to the conflict, hosting meetings between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul, and another between Lavrov and Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya.

Ankara is now trying to arrange an Istanbul summit between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, although Cavusoglu conceded that the prospects of such talks at this point remain dim.

"If they want a deal, it's inevitable," Cavusoglu was quoted as saying. "It might not happen for a long time, but it can happen suddenly."//CNA

Travellers wait in lines at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport as an unannounced strike of ground staff caused many delays and cancellations, in Amsterdam, Netherlands April 23, 2022. REUTERS/Anthony Deutsch - 

Amsterdam's Schiphol airport urged travellers to stay away for several hours on Saturday (Apr 23) as a strike by ground personnel at the start of a school holiday caused chaos at Europe's third-busiest airport.

"The terminal is too full at the moment ... Schiphol is calling on travellers not to come to the airport anymore," airport authorities said in a statement issued shortly before noon (1000 GMT).

Almost three hours later the airport said passengers were welcome again but would still face long waiting times and possible delays or cancellations.

Police closed down highway exits to the airport briefly on Saturday afternoon as lines at departure gates stretched out of the airport buildings.

A Schiphol spokesperson said the temporary closure was necessary to guarantee safety and to get as many as possible of the thousands of frustrated passengers aboard their often-delayed flights.

Baggage handlers for KLM, the Dutch arm of airline Air France-KLM, had early on Saturday gone on a previously unannounced strike to press demands for higher pay and better working conditions.

KLM ground staff handle about half of all luggage coming through Schiphol, Europe's third busiest airport after Paris Charles de Gaulle and London Heathrow.

Labour union FNV said the walkout had ended around noon//CNA