Lake Toba has been selected to host this year's G20 women's summit amid growing uncertainty over attendance following calls from member countries to boycott Russian participation.

The truck, carrying 28 passengers and the driver, was heading down a road in the Arfak mountains to the provincial capital Manokwari at roughly 2:00 am local time (17:00 GMT on Tuesday) when the driver lost control and crashed, police said.

The arrests came as authorities stepped up their investigation into the illegal incarceration of people in iron-barred cells at Terbit’s residence.

After four months of investigation, the North Sumatra Police have finally named graft suspect and inactive Langkat regent Terbit Rencana Perangin-Angin a suspect in the deaths and illegal incarceration of people at his residence.

The case of teacher Herry Wirawan has shocked the country and shone a spotlight on the need to protect children from sexual violence in the country's religious boarding schools.

Local residents found four children dead on Sunday in a fishing pond in Tinjoman Lama, Padang Sidiempuan, North Sumatra.

The statement came as the agency was handed a new role as stipulated in Government Regulation (PP) No. 13/2022 that is aimed at improving inter-institutional coordination among various government stakeholders on maritime security and safety.

A Riau court has acquitted a university dean in the first widely publicized sexual violence trial since the enactment of a ministerial regulation on sexual violence at tertiary institutions.

North Sumatra Police say they are closing in on major suspects in the deaths and illegal incarceration of people in the house of graft suspect and inactive Langkat regent Terbit Rencana Perangin-Angin, the police plan to question Terbit soon.

Nine Indonesian workers embraced their weeping families as they arrived home in Binjai, North Sumatra, on Tuesday, after being trapped in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine, while war rages on following Russia’s invasion.

North Sumatra Police have named eight suspects of human trafficking violations in the alleged fatal caging of people in the house of graft suspect and inactive Langkat regent Terbit Rencana Perangin-Angin.

All passengers and crew of a wooden fishing boat that sank off the coast of Tanjung Api in Asahan, North Sumatra, over the weekend, have been accounted for according to local authorities.

Two of the vessel's 86 passengers, who were seeking work in neighbouring Malaysia, were killed when it capsized Saturday, said Rully Ramadhiansyah, spokesman for the Belawan naval base in North Sumatra.

The wooden fishing boat was carrying 89 onboard when it departed for neighbouring Malaysia through an unguarded route. 

In a clear sign of Javanese cultural hegemony, President Jokowi on Monday invited all governors from across the country to join a ritual laden with Javanese symbolism to bless the construction of the new capital city at ground zero in East Kalimantan.

The North Sumatra police are looking into possible human trafficking violations in the alleged fatal caging of people in Langkat.

Tourism workers and the local government are hopeful that Bali's stronger reopening starting this month will get the resort island back on its feet.

Protesters say Jakarta has not included Papuans in plans to form new provinces in the region and fear the reforms will be used as a pretext to tighten government control over the area. 

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said the ceremony marked another milestone in the ambitious relocation project and represented a unification of the country at the site of Nusantara.

The shallow 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit at 4:06 am (2109 GMT) at a depth of 21 kilometres (13 miles), with its epicentre 167 kilometres west of the coastal city of Pariaman, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The volcano -- one of the most active in the world -- erupted multiple times overnight, spewing gas, volcanic ash and rocks that flowed over five kilometres down its slopes, the head of Indonesia's National Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency said. 

Merapi spewed hot clouds - a mixture of ash and volcanic materials - that flowed 5km (3.1 miles) down its slopes between near midnight (1700 GMT) and 2 a.m. local time Thursday, the National Geological Agency said on Twitter.

Unprecedented sanctions against Russia's banks over its invasion of Ukraine are taking a toll on its citizens overseas, who have been left scrambling to find cash or turn to crypto transactions to get by.

Families of nine North Sumatran workers are calling on the Indonesian government to immediately evacuate their relatives who are trapped in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine.

Known for its surfing, temples, waterfalls and nightlife, Bali drew 6.2 million foreign visitors in 2019, the year before COVID-19 struck. But only a trickle of visitors have returned since Bali started opening up to foreign tourists last October, discouraged by the need to quarantine and other rules.

The Group of 20 forum for Civil Society Organizations, Civil 20 or C20, called for an end to hostilities in Ukraine and for sympathy, support and global solidarity for the Ukrainian people.

Local fishermen suspect that a human trafficking syndicate is behind the arrival of 114 Rohingya refugees on the coast of Pawang Derih hamlet in Jangka district, Bireuen regency, Aceh, early on Sunday.

Gunmen in the mountainous district stormed the tower belonging to Telkomsel, a major state-backed telecoms company, on Wednesday, according to the military. 

A health protocol bubble system will be put in place for the Group of 20 summit in Bali later this year, government officials have said, as Indonesia rides out a third wave of COVID-19 infections while it presides over a year of G20 activities.

“We found that there had been slavery-like practices that indicated that the victims had no power or control over themselves,” Komnas HAM Commissioner Choirul Anam said in a press conference on Wednesday.