VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian composite index (IHSG) of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) opened higher at 11.47 points, or 0.19 percent, to 5,963.55, Tuesday morning, and projected to continue strengthening daylong amid the global markets' positive sentiment.

"Positive trends in global markets and the US stock market may push the IHSG to rebound today," Valbury Securities Head of Research, Alfiansyah, noted in Jakarta. He added that the US stock market had grown stronger since earlier this week amid a release season of the company's earnings report.

In the meantime, the index of the 45 most liquid stocks, or LQ45, in the Indonesia Stock Exchange, also climbed 3.36 points, or 0.35 percent, to 971.7.

Despite a positive trend in the global market, investor concerns remained rife over the Coronavirus outbreak that has infected at least 25 countries outside mainland China. Several company representatives canceled some international meetings owing to the outbreak.

While Japan's Nikkei was closed for a holiday, regional markets that rose this morning comprised Hang Seng, climbing 333 points, or 1.22 percent, to 27,574.3, and the Straits Times Index, rising by 25.44 points, or 0.8 percent, to 3,188.59. (ANTARA)

Some 24 hotspots were detected in Aceh Province and had the potential to cause forest fires, according to the Climatology, Geophysics and Meteorology Agency (BMKG).

The hotspots were monitored by the Terra, Aqua, NPP Suomi satellites, Zakaria Ahmad, the Data and Information Section head of the Banda Aceh BMKG Station, stated on Monday

"Based on the satellite data, most hotspots are in Southeast Aceh and Gayo Lues, with a confidence level of 63-82 percent," he remarked.

The 24 hotspots had emerged since Sunday (Feb 9), as the weather in Aceh was quite hot and sunny.

The temperature in regions, such as Gayo Lues, Southeast Aceh, Aceh Besar, Bener Meriah, Subulussalam, Central Aceh, Aceh Tamiang, and Aceh Jaya, had reached up to 33 degrees Celsius, with low-intensity rainfall.

"Hence, we urge the local people to not set fire to clear land for farming, as it could lead to forest fires and trigger haze in Aceh," Ahmad stated.

According to a report from the Aceh Disaster Management Office (BPBA) on Monday, wildfire burned a half-hectare land in Mon Ikeun Lhoknga, Aceh Besar District.

The fire allegedly arose from the unsupervised burning of trash, so the fire expanded rapidly and spread around the area, as the weather was hot at the time.

"In addition to Aceh Besar, wildfires also occurred in Southeast Aceh, Aceh Jaya, and peatland areas in South Aceh. However, the fires have already been extinguished," Sunawardi, Aceh BPBA chief executive, stated. (ANTARA)

Sixty Army personnel are readied to evacuate victims of MI 17 helicopter that crashed around Mandala Mountain in Pegunungan Bintang District, Papua Province.

The Army personnel arrived in Oksibil to evacuate the victims using three Army helicopters, Chief Commander of the Cendrawasih Regional Military Command XVII Lt. Col. Dax Sianturi said on Tuesday morning.

Dax who is now in Oksibil said he had no idea when exactly the victims will be evacuated since the crash site is on a cliff with 90 degree slope.

"Today (Tuesday/Feb 11) the evacuation team still conducted an aerial survey to find a location to airdrop the personnel who will evacuate the victims," he said.

He expressed the hope the weather would be good since the cliff is located 11,000 feet above sea level

It is believed the MI 17 helicopter was connected to the Indonesian Army Aviation Center and carried 12 passengers including five members of infantry battalion 725/WRG.

The helicopter reportedly lost contact during its flight from Oksibli to Sentani on June 28, 2019. (ANTARA)

A British Airways (BA) flight has broken the record for the fastest-ever subsonic flight between New York and London, reaching a top speed of more than 800mph (1,287km/h).

The Boeing 747 aircraft flew overnight from Saturday to Sunday and reached its destination in four hours and 56 minutes, as Storm Ciara sped towards the United Kingdom.

"The flight was riding a much stronger than usual jet stream, with winds over 200 mph propelling the aircraft," says senior CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller.

"The supercharged jet stream is also responsible for powering Storm Ciara, which has brought damaging wind gusts and massive waves to the UK, Ireland and other parts of Northern Europe this weekend.

"The jet stream is a fast moving 'river of air' high in the atmosphere, around the height that commercial airliners fly. The jet stream is responsible for carrying weather systems around the planet."

The plane landed at Heathrow airport at 4:43 a.m., almost two hours earlier than scheduled. Its top speed during the flight was 825mph (1,327km/h), according to Flightradar24, an online flight-tracking service.

The flight-tracking platform estimates that the average time it takes a plane to fly between London and New York is six hours and 13 minutes.

Flightradar24 announced the news of the record-breaking flight on its Twitter account, writing: "If we're not mistaken, BA now retakes the fastest subsonic NY-London crossing from Norwegian."

The service added that the British Airways flight was one minute faster than a Virgin Airbus A350 flight, which touched down at Heathrow moments later. It beat another Virgin plane which landed half an hour later by three minutes.

All three flights comfortably beat the previous record of five hours and 13 minutes, held by Norwegian since January 2018.

Although the BA plane was clocked apparently going faster than the speed of sound -- 767 mph -- it would not have breached the sonic barrier because it was being pushed by the air around it. Even when traveling at more than 800mph, the 747 was traveling much slower than the speed of sound relative to the air around it.

A spokesperson for BA said: "We always prioritise safety over speed records, but our highly trained pilots made the most of the conditions to get customers back to London well ahead of time."

Storm Ciara made landfall in the United Kingdom over the weekend and caused severe travel disruptions elsewhere. Two of Europe's busiest airports -- one in Frankfurt, Germany, the other in Amsterdam, Netherlands -- each grounded more than 100 flights due to the storm.

A company spokesperson told CNN that BA, like all other airlines operating flights into and out of the UK, was being affected by Storm Ciara -- and had canceled some of its flights and merged others. (CNN)