VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta - President Joko Widodo held a limited meeting at the Halim Perdana Kusuma Air Force Base in Jakarta on Sunday with a number of Cabinet Ministers and National Police and National Military Chiefs, following the evacuation of 238 Indonesians and five members of an advance team from China's Hubei Province.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in a press conference following the meeting that the Indonesian Government will temporarily ban direct flights from and to Mainland China. The policy will take effect at 00.00 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

All visitors coming in from Mainland China, who had been there for 14 days are also temporarily banned from entering or having a transit in Indonesia, the Foreign Minister said.

The government is also stopping the visa-free policy and issuance of visa on arrival towards Chinese nationals residing in Mainland China for the time being. Indonesian nationals are asked not to travel to Mainland China.

The limited meeting came after the government airlifted 243 Indonesian nationals, including five members of an advance team, from Wuhan, and have them returned to the country.

They have arrived in Natuna and will undergo a 14-day observation period, joined by 42 personnel of the evacuation team.

"A total of 285 people will undergo observations. Up until now, Alhamdulillah (thank God), everyone is in healthy conditions," Marsudi stated.

She further said that the Ministry of Health team will establish an office in Natuna, where the Health Minister's spokesperson will actively provide updates from the grounds.

The limited meeting, led by President Joko Widodo, was attended by a number of cabinet officials, including Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly, Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi. National Military Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto and National Police Force Chief Police General Idham Aziz also attended the meeting.

The Indonesian government has successfully evacuated 243 Indonesian nationals, including five members of an advance team, from China's Hubei Province, on Sunday, by using a Batik Air Airbus 330-300CEO wide-bodied aircraft belonging to Lion Air Group.

The evacuees and members of the team landed in Batam's Hang Nadim Airport in Riau Islands on Sunday morning for transit, during which they were transferred to another aircraft. They then departed to Natuna by boarding Hercules A-1315, Boeing AI 7304 and Boeing A 7306.

They are due to be quarantined in Natuna for 14 days before returning to their families. (ANTARA)

Armed men have attacked an indigenous community in Nicaragua, killing at least six people and kidnapping another 10, rights groups say.

Police confirmed two deaths and said they were investigating. The reason for the difference in the toll is unclear.

The attack on the Mayagna group took place in a protected nature reserve in the north of the country.

The Bosawás Biosphere Reserve has been the focus of land disputes between indigenous groups and new settlers.

A Mayagna leader last year accused the government of doing nothing while his community was gradually "exterminated".

The men reportedly attacked the Mayagna commune deep inside the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve, the second-largest rainforest in the Americas after the Amazon.

Mayagna lawyer Larry Salomon told the Reuters news agency that the raiders were part of a group of non-indigenous "settlers" in the area.

"This is a land conflict. They want our lands for cattle farming and to destroy our forests," he added.

Environmental group the Rio Foundation called the attack a "massacre".

Tensions have been rising in recent years between Nicaragua's indigenous communities and newcomers who move to the region in search of fertile land, timber and gold. There have been reports of armed groups seizing indigenous land.

Gustavo Lino, the highest-ranking Mayagna leader, said last year: "They're exterminating us little by little and the state is doing nothing."

The 30,000-strong Mayagna make up around 0.5% of Nicaragua's population. (BBC)

All eyes were on four Republican senators ahead of Friday to see if they would vote to call witnesses to Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

If four moderate Republicans decide to vote with Democrats, it is likely the trial will hear from the former National Security Adviser, John Bolton.

Senior Republicans had pushed for a speedy trial with no witnesses or new evidence presented to senators.

But reports that Mr Bolton may have damning testimony shifted the calculus.

Senators sat in session on Thursday for a second day of questions to Democratic impeachment managers and Trump defence lawyers. The senators are expected to vote on witnesses on Friday.

Why are the four so important?

The four moderate Republicans - Senators Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Lamar Alexander - have all indicated they remain undecided on how to vote.

All four would be required to vote with a unanimous Democratic block in order to achieve the necessary Senate majority.

Senator Alexander appeared poised on Thursday to announce his decision, telling the Washington Post that he would make his mind up after the final questions in the Senate chamber.

According to Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly, Mr Alexander had a Senate page deliver a note to Senator Mitch McConnell - the most senior Republican in the Senate, who has led the charge for a speedy acquittal of President Trump.

"McConnell let it sit on his lap for a couple minutes, then read it and stuffed it in his suit jacket pocket. McConnell's face is tough to read. But he didn't look in Alexander's direction," Mr Reilly wrote on Twitter.

If Democrats lose the vote, and no witnesses are called, the president could be acquitted of the impeachment charges as soon as Friday. A two-thirds majority in the Senate is required to remove him from office, and Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate.

If all four Republicans decide to vote with Democrats, the trial will go on into next week. The president would remain highly likely to be acquitted.

Why is Bolton so important?

A bombshell report in the New York Times earlier this week said that Mr Bolton had written in his upcoming book that the president told him directly that military aid was being withheld from Ukraine in exchange for dirt on a Democratic political rival - the key impeachment charge against the president.

The report reinvigorated Democrats' attempts to call new witnesses to the trial, and simultaneously energised Republican efforts to push the process through without anyone being called.

If the reports about Mr Bolton were true, and he testified to that effect, he would be the first witness in the process to directly link the president to an alleged quid pro quo with Ukraine and an abuse of presidential power.

Mr Trump's lawyer expanded their defence in the Senate earlier this week to suggest that anything a president does in service of his own re-election, believing that to be in the public interest, cannot be impeachable. The tactic shocked Republicans and Democrats alike.

How did the White House react?

The White House pushed back against the publication of Mr Bolton's book, citing security concerns. The National Security Council alleged that the book had "top secret" details that must be removed, a claim Mr Bolton rejects.

Mr Bolton's lawyer Charles Cooper responded to the NSC letter last week by saying the book contained nothing classified top secret.

"We do not believe that any of that information could reasonably be considered classified," Mr Cooper wrote in an email to the White House on 24 January, the Washington Post reported.

Mr Cooper also said he had asked for an expedited review of a chapter about Ukraine, adding that Mr Bolton was "preparing" for the possibility he could be called to testify in the trial. (BBC)