Indonesia’s Widodo defends COVID-19 record, chides ‘polemics’

JAKARTA – Indonesian President Joko Widodo defended his record of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, asking for no “polemics” or “commotion” amid criticism that he is putting the economy over public health.

The video statement late on Saturday came as the world’s fourth-most populous country’s COVID-19 caseload rose to 299,506. Its 11,055 coronavirus-related death toll is among the highest in Asia.

The government’s handling of the pandemic since March has drawn criticism from some public health experts for prioritizing economic over public health concerns.

The health ministry has recently come under heavy criticism from volunteer groups and more generally on social media for what they say is insufficient spending on the pandemic, insufficient protection for health workers and high prices for private coronavirus tests.

Thousands protest against Netanyahu despite lockdown

TEL AVIV – Thousands of Israelis protested across the country on Saturday, flouting a new law meant to curb anti-government demonstrations during a coronavirus lockdown.

The street protests, just three days after parliament approved an edict to limit the scope of such demonstrations, kept pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the coronavirus crisis and over allegations of corruption, which he denies.

The new law bans Israelis from holding demonstrations more than 1 km (about half a mile) from their homes and forces stricter social distancing, a measure the government said was aimed at curbing COVID-19 infections. Critics have called it a blow to freedom of speech.

Most protests on Saturday night were small and scattered throughout the country, though a crowd of thousands gathered in Tel Aviv. A small number of protesters scuffled with police and tried to block city streets. About fifteen people were arrested, a police spokesman said.

EU, UK to step up Brexit talks, to close ‘significant gaps’ over trade deal

LONDON- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the head of the EU’s executive, Ursula von der Leyen, agreed in a phone call on Saturday to step up Brexit talks to close “significant gaps” barring a new trade partnership.

The two sides have said this week’s round of negotiations aimed at getting a new, post-Brexit trade agreement from 2021 made some progress but not yielded a breakthrough.

The EU says a deal must be sealed by the end of the month – or in the first days of November at the very latest – to leave enough time for ratification in the bloc by the end of the year.

Johnson and von der Leyen discussed the next steps in their call on Saturday.

“They agreed on the importance of finding an agreement, if at all possible, as a strong basis for a strategic EU-UK relationship in future,” they said in a joint statement.

“Progress had been made in recent weeks but … significant gaps remained, notably but not only in the areas of fisheries, the level playing field, and governance,” it added.

Guatemala sends over 3,000 Honduran migrants home from caravan

GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemalan authorities sent more than 3,000 Honduran migrants back to their home country over the past few days, they said on Saturday, dissolving much of a caravan heading north even while dwindling groups continued the trek toward the United States.

Thousands of caravan members had crossed into Guatemala from Honduras without authorization last Thursday, pushing past troops at the border as they sought to escape poverty exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

As many as 2,800 people crossed the border in the initial incident, according to Guatemala’s government.