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Biden announces first overseas trip as US President

President Joe Biden will embark on his first overseas trip in office in June, the White House announced Friday, with the aim of demonstrating his administration's commitment to the transatlantic alliance and re-engagement with key allies.

Biden will attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Cornwall, England, set for June 11-13, followed by a visit to Brussels, where he will hold meetings with European Union leadership and attend the June 14 summit of leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

The meetings with the United States' closest allies come as Biden has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to a summit in the coming months in a third country, though no date has yet been set.

Most recent American presidents have selected North American neighbours for their first cross-border trips, though former President Donald Trump, whose penchant for unilateral action and open scepticism of the NATO alliance unsettled American allies, made his first overseas stop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. For Biden, the first trip is meant to turn the page from Trump's approach to alliances.

"It's both a practical chance to connect with key allies and partners on shared opportunities and challenges," said Yohannes Abraham, the chief of staff and executive secretary of the National Security Council, in an interview with the AP.

"But also it's an illustration of something that the president has been clear about that the transatlantic alliance is back, that revitalising it is a key priority of his, and that the transatlantic relationship is a strong foundation on which our collective security and shared prosperity are built."

Biden, for his part, held "virtual bilateral" meetings with the leaders of Canada and Mexico in February and March, respectively. The June trip will follow after Biden's first in-person bilateral meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the White House last week and next month's planned visit by President Moon Jae-in of South Korea.

In Cornwall, Biden will hold bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other leaders. He will hold additional one-on-one meetings in Brussels with NATO allies, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

"This trip will highlight his commitment to restoring our alliances, revitalising the Transatlantic relationship, and working in close cooperation with our allies and multilateral partners to address global challenges and better secure America's interests," she said in a statement.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves, after a coronavirus briefing in Downing Street, London

The announcement comes shortly after the conclusion of Biden's two-day virtual climate summit, in which he received praise from leaders, particularly those in Europe, for returning the US to the Paris Climate Agreement and reengaging on a host of other issues of shared concern.

The trip will mark the most ambitious travel schedule yet for Biden since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, as the president has sought to model safe behaviour for the nation.

It comes as the US has stepped up its travel warnings for much of the world due to the virus. Both the UK and Belgium are listed by the State Department under level four, the highest, "do not travel" advisory, and are the subject of specific prohibitions preventing most travel to the US by non-citizens.

The White House said it is working closely with host countries to ensure the safety of all attendees at the summits.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention last month lifted quarantine guidance for international travel for those fully vaccinated for COVID-19, but still recommends that vaccinated individuals returning from overseas monitor their symptoms and take a test 3-5 days after returning to the US.

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Perth's snap lockdown sparks border closures across Australia

Perth has been effectively cut off from New Zealand and much of Australia as health authorities across two states rush to trace a hotel quarantine COVID-19 cluster.

New Zealand, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory closed their borders to anyone from the Western Australia capital on Friday night and NSW health authorities are quizzing travellers on arrival.

The Perth hotel quarantine cluster spread further on Friday, sparking a three-day lockdown for metropolitan Perth and the neighbouring Peel region when it was revealed a 54-year-old Victorian man had tested positive for COVID-19 after spending several days in Perth.

READ MORE: NZ pauses travel bubble with WA

The Mercure Hotel in Perth.

WA's acting Chief Health Officer, Dr Paul Armstrong, said it was likely the man was infected in hotel quarantine, before being released on April 17 and flying to Melbourne on April 21.

He was in an adjacent room on the same Mercure Hotel floor where it was revealed earlier in the week that the coronavirus had spread between guests in two separate rooms.

"Whole genome sequencing is being carried out to determine the strain and potential source of his infection," he said.

"However, it is likely he acquired the infection while at the hotel."

There were reports panic buying began even before WA Premier Mark McGowan announced the lockdown.

READ MORE: AFL clash rocked by Perth COVID-19 outbreak

READ MORE: Family caught coronavirus from across hotel corridor in Perth

Queensland, Victoria,Tasmania, NT and NZ shut borders

From Saturday, only local residents will be allowed to fly from Perth or Peel into Queensland or Victoria and any new arrivals must quarantine for 14 days, while even residents need a special exemption to enter Tasmania.

The Northern Territory doesn't differentiate between residents and non-residents but all arrivals must enter mandatory supervised quarantine.

Queensland arrivals must go straight into hotel quarantine while Victorians returning to their home state from Perth can quarantine at home.

Anyone in Queensland, Victoria or the Northern Territory who was in Perth or Peel on April 17 or later must get tested and self-isolate until they receive a negative test result.

Those already in Tasmania who visited an exposure site in Perth or Peel should contact Tasmanian health authorities.

On top of these measures, more than 250 travellers onboard Qantas flight QF778 on Wednesday from Perth to Melbourne are required to isolate for 14 days.

Anyone who was in Melbourne Airport terminal one from 6.30-7.30pm on Wednesday must isolate until they get a negative result.

New Zealand has temporarily cut WA out of the Travel bubble. 

https://twitter.com/VicGovDH/status/1385555025590509568

Sydney arrivals scanned for exposure

In NSW, anyone arriving from Perth or Peel is subject to the same stay-at-home directions they would have faced if they were still at home in WA.

Recent arrivals from Perth in Queensland face the same restrictions, even if they tested negative.

NSW Health authorities are screening arrivals at Sydney Airport and telling anyone who has visited any of more than a dozen WA exposure sites to get tested and self-isolate. 

South Australia and the ACT were yet to update travel advice online late on Friday.

https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1385504424487882754

Major events impacted

The lockdown forced the cancellation of public Anzac Day events across Perth for the second year in a row.

"I encourage everyone to take part in the driveway dawn service again this year, and I will do that again," Premier Mark McGowan said.

The new measures have also had a big impact on national sporting competitions.

The Western Force's history-making Super Rugby win over the Queensland Reds snuck in before the midnight deadline, meaning fans could still attend but needed to wear masks.

But no fans will be allowed when Fremantle hosts North Melbourne in the AFL on Saturday.

The West Coast Eagles had already arrived in Victoria for their clash with Geelong, which is still going ahead,  and had reportedly been cleared to return to WA afterwards. 

It's unclear what the lockdown means for the Queensland Reds' return home or Perth Glory's match scheduled for Sunday in Brisbane.

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Attorney Wayne Panton Sworn in as Premier in Cayman Islands

Attorney Wayne Panton was elected unopposed as Premier of the Cayman Islands one week after a general election.

“Despite the events of the past week, where there was certainty and uncertainty, this is how democracy works, and more importantly this is how democracy was designed to work,” Panton told the ceremony after being sworn into office.

He said that the occasion on Wednesday “is no doubt a precious gift, so we should be forever thankful to the former premier….”

Former premier Alden McLaughlin had asked Governor Martyn Roper to dissolve Parliament on February 14 and the change was seen by political observers as a move to avoid a no-confidence motion against Speaker McKeeva Bush, who had received a two-month suspended jail sentence in December 2020 for assaulting a woman in February that year.

Bush was re-elected to the post of Speaker on Wednesday and told the legislators “the campaign is over, we have a tremendous responsibility before us to serve our people”.

He praised the election of Panton as head of the government, describing him as a “capable lawyer and businessman” and vowed to help him “control us for the betterment of our people.”

“This cabinet is as good as any I have seen. They must be given the chance to do the work they were elected to do. With the manifestos of all of us and the demands and needs of our people, we have enough to do,” Bush said, adding “Caymanians must pull together and there is no time to bicker and plot.”

Governor Roper in a brief speech during the first sitting of the new Parliament, praised the election supervisor Wesley Howell and his team, making mention of the high turnout at the polls.

“You are privileged to have been chosen by our people to represent them… I urge you to have the best interests of the people of these wonderful islands in your hearts and minds,” Roper said, adding that the challenges ahead are to “reopen the borders and build back better in the midst of this global pandemic”.

Roper praised McLaughlin for his service and his leadership during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, saying he is looking forward to working with the new government, respecting the autonomy of Cayman’s parliament and playing his part as the UK representative to ensure a bright future for the islands.

Of the 19 elected members of the new Parliament, seven are chosen to serve as government ministers in a cabinet headed by the Governor, who also appoints the Premier.

“I want to thank all Caymanians for giving all of us a life of purpose. It is the Caymanian people why we are gathered here today to witness the peaceful transfer of an administration as required by our Constitution,” Panton told the ceremony.

“This represents the collective will of the Caymanian people and everyone that was sworn in today has the constitutional and moral responsibility to ensure that the will of the Caymanian people is reflected and respected in our policies and priorities over the next four years.

Panton told the ceremony that the event would not have been possible without the voters “coming out by the thousands to exercise your democratic franchise and for that, all of us who contested the general election are very thankful for your participation”.

Former finance minister and the leader of the Progressives party, Roy McTaggart, was sworn in as the Opposition Leader.

Prior to the ceremony, McTaggart had been canvassing for the position of head of government but conceded that the battle for the government was and that Panton had been able to muster the necessary support to form the new government.

CMC

The post Attorney Wayne Panton Sworn in as Premier in Cayman Islands appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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As Eruptions Continue-IOM Responds to St. Vincent Volcanic Devastation

St. Vincent – The first members of the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s emergency response team have arrived in St. Vincent to support displacement tracking activities and the delivery of essential shelter and emergency items to thousands of people who were forcibly displaced by the eruption of La Soufriere volcano.

The team will also provide technical guidance at shelters where more than 6,000 Vincentians now live. A shipment of approximately 1,200 hygiene kits and cleaning equipment will arrive from Trinidad and Tobago in the following hours.

“The situation in St. Vincent is still uncertain. As the eruption can go on for months, this is a crisis that will require a humanitarian response but also a response in terms of rehabilitation,” said Jan-Willem Wegdam, IOM´s Emergency Response Coordinator for La Soufriere Eruption.

“This is a crisis that is not only affecting St. Vincent, but also, directly and indirectly, the other islands in the subregion.”

After months of heightened activity, La Soufriere Volcano erupted on 9 April. The volcano has erupted several times since then and continues to expel clouds of ash that have reached the neighboring islands of Barbados and Grenada. The latest explosive eruption occurred on 18 April. According to national and regional experts, the volcano is likely to erupt for days and weeks – possibly months.

As of April 21, the government registered 13,303 displaced persons. Nearly 6,600 are being housed in 85 public shelters, while more than 6,700 displaced persons are staying with family or friends.

“There are some people who want to go to different countries, but it is not a large number,” explained the Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves during a TV programme in Grenada. “They said they want to stay at home. I have been around several of the camps, and that’s the message.”

On Tuesday, 20 April, the United Nations and the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines launched a USD 29 million global funding appeal. The appeal hopes to finance interventions to cover immediate needs – shelter, water, sanitation, food security and protection – and recovery-related activities on housing, education, and livelihoods.

IOM will begin supporting the ongoing emergency operations by responding to the shelter and housing needs of some of the most vulnerable households affected. IOM will also support the emergency shelters and shelter management sub-committee, and a coordinator for these activities will be deployed to St. Vincent.

These activities have been made possible with funding from Australian Aid and IOM’s Migration Emergency Fund Mechanism.

The post As Eruptions Continue-IOM Responds to St. Vincent Volcanic Devastation appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Victoria declares Perth a red zone as hundreds of travellers forced to isolate

More than 250 passengers onboard a flight from Perth to Melbourne have been forced to isolate and the Western Australia capital has been declared a red zone after a man on the plane tested positive to COVID-19.

Late on Friday, Victoria's Chief Health Officer declared the Perth metropolitan area and Peel region would become red zones from 2.01am on Saturday.

The move blocks non-Victorians from entering the state from the affected area and requires returning locals to quarantine at home for two weeks.

https://twitter.com/VicGovDH/status/1385555025590509568

"Victorians in these areas must follow local directions," the Department of Health and Human Services said in a series of tweets.

"If they leave to enter VIC while red zones are in effect, they must quarantine at home for 14 days.

"If non-Victorians in red zones enter Victoria, they will stay in hotel quarantine until a return flight is arranged."

Anyone currently in Victoria who was in the affected regions between April 17 and 23 must isolate until they receive a negative test result.

Perth is entering a three-day snap lockdown after a Melbourne man's positive test on return to Victoria.

LIVE UPDATES: Perth to enter three-day snap lockdown after new case detected

The Mercure Hotel in Perth.

He spent five days in the city while potentially infectious, having likely been exposed to the coronavirus in hotel quarantine.

Now, all passengers on Qantas flight QF778 on Wednesday from Perth to Melbourne will be required to isolate for 14 days, after the flight was marked as a Tier One exposure site by Victoria's Department of Health.

"If you were on this flight, you must isolate, get tested and remain isolated for 14 days – unless otherwise formally advised by the Department of Health," a health department statement read.

"The Department is contacting over 250 individuals on this flight using information obtained from comprehensive flight manifest data, and border permits.

"While the individual returned directly to his home in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, he did pass through the airport."

https://twitter.com/Melair/status/1385500942145970179

Melbourne Airport terminal one has been listed as a Tier Two exposure site, meaning all people who passed through the area from 6.30-7.30pm on Wednesday must get a COVID-19 test.

The Melbourne man's positive test brings Victoria's run of 55 days of zero community transmission to an end.

The man tested positive after undergoing two weeks of hotel quarantine in Perth.

He was declared a close contact after quarantining in a room at the Mercure Hotel adjacent to a positive case.

https://twitter.com/Brett_McLeod/status/1385394162967597064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

READ MORE: Family caught coronavirus from across hotel corridor in Perth

He arrived at Melbourne Airport on the Qantas flight on Wednesday, where he was alerted by health authorities he had roomed next to a positive COVID-19 case.

"It would appear that with a mask, he went straight to the airport and was contacted as he was coming off the plane as a primary close contact," Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said.

"He was picked up at the airport by his spouse and returned directly home to his residential location in the eastern suburbs where he lives with three household contacts, his spouse and two children."

It is understood the man isolated separately from his family upon returning home.

He checked in to the Holiday Inn on Flinders Street yesterday, a Melbourne 'health hotel' for COVID-19 international arrivals, to isolate away from his family.

The man, who is asymptomatic, then returned a positive test result at 2am on Friday.

"The public health process of interviewing, testing, following up potential exposure sites is now well underway," Mr Foley said.

His family will be required to isolate for the next 14 days. A friend of the children has also been deemed as a close contact.

Mr Foley assured Victorians the man had done "all of the right things".

"(He) got his gear, went straight home, sat in the back seat, put his mask on all the way home and stayed separate from the rest of the members of his family," he said.

"He's cooperating with our public health team."

Victoria's Department of Health is using CCTV to track the man's movements through the airport to see if he came into contact with anyone.

Mr Foley said the man's case counted as a local infection as he tested positive in Victoria, despite the virus being acquired interstate.

"As the person was positively tested in Melbourne, this brings an end to our run of … community-free transmission," he said.

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Bahamas Has Highest VAT Revenue Ratio in L. America, Caribbean

Paige McCartney Send an email 

The Bahamas had the highest value-added tax (VAT) revenue ratio (VRR) in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region just before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a just-released revenue statistics report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The VAT revenue ratio is the ratio of the actual VAT revenues to the product of final consumption (net of VAT revenues) and the standard VAT rate.

The OECD stated that the ratio provides a sense of VAT revenue loss related to exemptions and reduced rates, fraud, evasion and tax planning as well as weaknesses in tax administrations.

The Bahamas’ VRR was 82, compared to Barbados’ 68, St. Lucia’s 64 and Trinidad and Tobago’s 35.

“The highest VRR is seen in The Bahamas and many other Caribbean countries also have a high VRR. Countries in this sub-region only introduced VAT in the 2000s, much later than countries in the other sub-regions.

Their VRR partly reflects a commitment to international good practice, including a broad-based VAT with a low standard rate, a limited number of exemptions and no reduced rates,” stated the report “Revenues Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean 2021”, which was released yesterday.

“This is the case for The Bahamas, which introduced VAT in 2015 at a standard rate at 7.5 percent (later increased to 12 percent in July 2018). While The Bahamas had one of the highest VRRs in the LAC region, this may be in part because it receives a high share of revenue from tourism compared to other countries.

Receipts from international tourism as a percentage of total exports were 77 percent in 2018, compared to an average of 8 percent in the LAC region as a whole.”

Overall, The Bahamas’ tax-to-GDP ratio in 2019 was 18.7 percent. Although it is below the LAC average of 22.9 percent, the OECD acknowledged the steady pace of growth year over year.

“The tax-to-GDP ratio in Bahamas increased by 2.1 percentage points from 16.7 percent in 2018 to 18.7 percent in 2019. In comparison, the LAC average increased by 0.3 percentage points between 2018 and 2019 to 22.9 percent,” the report states.

“Over a longer time period, the LAC average has increased by 4.7 percentage points, from 18.2 percent in 2000 to 22.9 percent in 2019, whereas over the same period the tax-to-GDP ratio in The Bahamas has increased by 6.5 percentage points, from 12.2 percent to 18.7 percent. Since 2000, the highest tax-to-GDP ratio in The Bahamas was 18.7 percent in 2019 and the lowest was 10.4 percent in 2002.”

For the first half of this 2020/2021 fiscal year, VAT receipts declined by 44.4 percent due to the slowed economy as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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