north america uk australia

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APRIL 12 (GMT) – APRIL 13 (AEST), 2021

AUSTRALIAUKNORTH AMERICA

Optimism over US economy

The US economy is poised for an extended period of strong growth and hiring, the chair of the Federal Reserve says, though the coronavirus still poses some risk. Chair Jerome Powell also said that he doesn’t expect to raise the Fed’s benchmark interest rate, currently pegged at nearly zero, this year. And he downplayed the risk of higher inflation stemming from sharp increases in government spending and expanding budget deficits.

Destructive protest over curfew

Hundreds of protesters set fires and smashed windows through a swath of downtown Montreal in defiance of a newly adjusted curfew intended to stem surging COVID-19 case numbers in the city. Police responded with tear gas in a bid to control the crowd, who were purportedly protesting Quebec Premier Francois Legault’s decision to roll the city-wide curfew back from 9:30 to 8pm.

Homes feared lost after cyclone

Hundreds of properties in the West Australian town of Kalbarri are feared to have been destroyed or sustained major damage from Tropical Cyclone Seroja. No deaths or major injuries have been recorded as a result of the cyclone which tore across WA’s mid-west coast overnight. Much of the carnage was concentrated in popular tourist spot Kalbarri, 580km north of Perth and home to about 1400 people.

England eases out of lockdown

England’s shops, hairdressers, pub beer gardens and pavement cafes reopened as the coronavirus lockdown eased. Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the nation to “behave responsibly” as life took another step back towards normality, with indoor gyms, swimming pools, nail salons and zoos also welcoming customers. Wales was also enjoy renewed freedoms, with non-essential retail reopened and border restrictions eased to permit travel again.

Baby gets life-saving transplant

A four-month-old girl has become the 50th patient to receive a life-saving transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) using a pioneering treatment for a rare disorder. The hospital is one of only two centres in the world to perform thymus transplants – which sees tissue that would otherwise be discarded after heart operations donated to children born without a working thymus gland.

Ardern defends vaccine slowness

New Zealand’s latest cluster of COVID-19 has grown to three but Australian officials have so far held off making any changes to border arrangements. Last week, health authorities announced a security guard at New Zealand’s biggest quarantine facility, the Grand Millennium hotel in Auckland, had caught the virus. Now, two further cases were unearthed, with genome sequencing showing links to the original case and a recent returnee at the facility.

NEW ZEALANDUKNORTH AMERICA

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AUSTRALIAUKWORLD

Iran blames Israel for sabotage

Iran has blamed Israel for a sabotage attack on its underground Natanz nuclear facility that damaged the centrifuges it uses to enrich uranium there, warning that it would take revenge for the assault. The comments by Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh represent the first official accusation levelled against Israel for the incident on the weekend that cut power across the facility.

Ecuador backs conservative

Voters in Ecuador appeared to turn to a conservative businessman in presidential runoff election, rebuffing a leftist movement that has held the presidency for over a decade marked by an economic boom and then a yearslong recession, while in neighboring Peru a crowded field of 18 candidates was virtually certain to result in a second round of presidential voting in June.

Fire-hit ship nears Australia

Australia’s fire-damaged Antarctic resupply ship will soon return to the country carrying expeditioners, some who haven’t seen home in more than a year. The MPV Everest, sailing on auxiliary power after fire tore through its port side engine room last week, is expected to reach Fremantle on Tuesday night. The chartered ship was originally set to dock in Hobart but was diverted to a closer port following the blaze, which destroyed two inflatable boats on deck.

Sturgeon confident of indy vote

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon does not believe Boris Johnson will prevent a second Scottish independence referendum if the SNP wins a majority at next month’s Holyrood election. The Prime Minister has so far rejected calls by Scotland’s First Minister to give the go-ahead for a referendum, but Sturgeon said she believes UK Government discussions have moved on.

UK shivers through record lows

Pub-goers can expect ice-cold pints after sub-zero temperatures and snow hit parts of the country on the first day of outdoor hospitality reopenings in England. The Met Office said that record low April temperatures had been recorded in some parts of the UK overnight on Sunday and that temperatures would struggle to get into double figures at the start of the week.

Hotel cases directly linked

Genome results show the infection of three Grand Millennium workers who have tested positive for COVID-19 are very closely related, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says. However, an audit of the facility has found no significant findings or any cause for concern, MIQ head Brigadier Jim Bliss says.

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NORTH AMERICA

Protesters have started fires and thrown projectiles during demonstrations against a

curfew in Montreal. - CP

Destructive protest over coronavirus curfewHundreds of protesters set fires and smashed windows through a swath of downtown Montreal in defiance of a newly adjusted curfew intended to stem surging COVID-19 case numbers in the city.

Police responded with tear gas in a bid to control the crowd, who were purportedly protesting Quebec Premier Francois Legault’s decision to roll the city-wide curfew back from 9:30 to 8pm. The move, previously replicated in other COVID-19 hot spots across the province, took effect in Montreal and nearby Laval.

The protest began in relative calm, with a mostly young crowd dancing to music from loudspeakers while lighting fireworks and chanting, “freedom for the young.”

But the festive atmosphere quickly turned violent as a few protesters lit a garbage fire in Montreal’s Jacques Cartier Square, which was met with tear gas from riot police.

Police soon rushed the crowd, prompting dozens of protesters to scatter and cause mayhem down the cobblestone streets of Montreal’s tourist district.

They lit garbage fires at many intersections and seized projectiles from city streets, hurling them at nearby windows and shattering many.

A spokeswoman for Montreal police said she couldn’t offer any comment on the protests, describing them as an ongoing situation. She said that more information would become available as things stabilized and police on the scene could file their reports.

Marwah Rizqy, a Liberal member of the provincial legislature that represents a Montreal riding, tweeted her disapproval of the protestors’ actions.

“Chanting freedom while ransacking windows of stores that are already just getting by. It’s disheartening / outrageous,” Rizqy tweeted in French.

A few protesters were still out on the streets at around 9:30pm throwing glass, breaking city infrastructure and running from police. ■

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. - AP

NORTH AMERICA

US economy to see ‘very strong’ growthThe US economy is poised for an extended period of strong growth and hiring, the chair of the Federal Reserve says, though the coronavirus still poses some risk.

Chair Jerome Powell also said that he doesn’t expect to raise the Fed’s benchmark interest rate, currently pegged at nearly zero, this year. And he downplayed the risk of higher inflation stemming from sharp increases in government spending and expanding budget deficits.

“We feel like we’re at a place where the economy’s about to start growing much more quickly and job creation coming in much more quickly,” Powell said. “This growth that we’re expecting in the second half of this year is going to be very strong. And job creation, I would expect to be very strong.”

In the wide-ranging interview, Powell said that the Fed is closely studying the development of a digital dollar, but hasn’t yet made a decision on whether to proceed. Powell said last month that the central bank wouldn’t issue a digital currency without approval from Congress.

Powell noted that roughly a million jobs were added in March, when revisions to jobs data in January and February are included. The unemployment rate fell to 6 per cent from 6.2 per cent.

“We would like to see a string of months like that,” he said. “That is certainly in the range of possibility.”

Still, there are about 8.4 million fewer jobs than before the pandemic, and Powell acknowledged that he regularly sees a homeless encampment near the Fed’s headquarters in Washington.

“There’s a lot of suffering out there still,” he said. “And I think it’s important that, just as a country, we stay and help those people. The economy that we’re going back to is going to be different from the one that we had.”

Powell also said the primary risk to the economy remains the pandemic and a breakdown in precautions that Americans have largely taken for the past year. ■

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UK

Four-month-old Florentina, from Gatringen in Germany who has become the 50th patient

to receive a life-saving transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital. - PA

Four-month-old gets life-saving transplantA four-month-old girl has become the 50th patient to receive a life-saving transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) using a pioneering treatment for a rare disorder.

The hospital is one of only two centres in the world to perform thymus transplants – which sees tissue that would otherwise be discarded after heart operations donated to children born without a working thymus gland.

Babies born with the condition, known as athymia, can be at risk of dying within the first two years of life without a transplant.

While the first coronavirus lockdown in March last year saw transplants initially suspended, GOSH managed to treat 10 patients in 2020 – double the average number performed in each of the previous three years – after the programme was granted special permission from NHS England to continue.

GOSH carried out its first thymus transplant in 2009, and four-month-old Florentina, from Gatringen in Germany, became its 50th patient to undergo the life-saving procedure in March this year.

The thymus is situated in the chest, and tissue is normally removed to gain access to the heart during surgery for congenital heart disease in children.

The thymus gland produces T-cells – the white blood cells with a vital role in helping the body to fight infections.

With thymus transplants, the removed tissue – which would otherwise be discarded – is donated with parental consent and grown in a laboratory before being implanted into the thigh muscles of the patient with athymia.

The donor is not usually affected because their immune system has already developed and not all of the gland is removed, GOSH said.

Professor Graham Davies, who leads the thymus transplantation programme at the hospital, said: “We’re thrilled to have reached this important milestone and have given so many children the chance to live a relatively normal life. ■

- PA

UK

England eases out of virus lockdownEngland’s shops, hairdressers, pub beer gardens and pavement cafes reopened on Monday as the coronavirus lockdown eased.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the nation to “behave responsibly” as life took another step back towards normality, with indoor gyms, swimming pools, nail salons and zoos also welcoming customers.

Wales was also enjoy renewed freedoms from Monday, with non-essential retail reopened and border restrictions eased to permit travel again with the rest of the UK and Ireland.

Remaining school pupils returned to face-to-face teaching in Wales and Northern Ireland, in moves being echoed in Scotland as some pupils return from their Easter breaks.

The “stay at home” order in Northern Ireland also ended as the number of people permitted to meet outdoors increased from six to 10.

April snow showers made al fresco dining a chilly prospect in parts of southern England but the wintry conditions appeared to do little to dampen enthusiasm as customers queued outside shops and waited for hairdressers to cut locks after months without a trim.

Despite the relaxation in lockdown rules, social mixing indoors will remain heavily restricted, with around two in five adults yet to receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and the vast majority yet to get both.

The Prime Minister urged caution during the “major step forward” as a scientist advising the Government warned the rules must be followed to minimise a possible rebound in case numbers.

“I’m sure it will be a huge relief for those business owners who have been closed for so long, and for everyone else it’s a chance to get back to doing some of the things we love and have missed,” Johnson said.

“I urge everyone to continue to behave responsibly and remember ‘hands, face, space and fresh air’ to suppress COVID as we push on with our vaccination programme.” ■

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NEW ZEALAND

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. - AAP

Ardern defends speed of virus vaccine rolloutNew Zealand’s latest cluster of COVID-19 has grown to three but Australian officials have so far held off making any changes to border arrangements.

Last week, health authorities announced a security guard at New Zealand’s biggest quarantine facility, the Grand Millennium hotel in Auckland, had caught the virus.

Now, two further cases – of a security worker and a cleaner – were unearthed, with genome sequencing showing links to the original case and a recent returnee at the facility.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has downplayed the risk of an outbreak, saying the new cases had already isolated.

Ardern said she and the Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield were “not anxious”.

“It’s someone we already identified, so that’s always heartening. As they are a close contact … they were already in isolation.”

However while the spread may have been contained, the new cases have brought to light concerns over New Zealand’s vaccination program.

The government has prioritised all border workers and front-facing health professionals in the rollout but six weeks on, many have not been vaccinated.

Dr Bloomfield said two of the three recent had not received their shots.

“There is no suggestion they are vaccine hesitant,” he said.“Many people on the front line have been vaccinated and

others are in the process of being vaccinated.“It’s a large workforce. Everyone has been invited. Some

haven’t yet taken up that invitation.”While a small number of community cases has previously

prompted Australia to pause quarantine-free travel from New Zealand, on this occasion it has not done so.

Last week, Ardern announced New Zealand would reciprocate quarantine-free travel from Australia from April 19, effectively creating the trans-Tasman bubble. ■

A satellite image released by NASA shows Tropical Cyclone Seroja hitting the coast of

Western Australia. - AP

AUSTRALIA

Homes feared lost after cyclone pounds coastHundreds of properties in the West Australian town of Kalbarri are feared to have been destroyed or sustained major damage from Tropical Cyclone Seroja.

No deaths or major injuries have been recorded as a result of the cyclone which tore across WA’s mid-west coast overnight.

Much of the carnage was concentrated in popular tourist spot Kalbarri, 580km north of Perth and home to about 1400 people.

Premier Mark McGowan said up to 70 per cent of properties in Kalbarri had some damage.

About 40 per cent of those properties are believed to have sustained major damage including total loss.

“This is heartbreaking,” McGowan said.“All West Australians are thinking of those people who have

been affected.“The next few days will be very tough and difficult but we will

get through this together.”Seroja made landfall south of Kalbarri about 8pm on Sunday

as a category three storm with wind gusts up to 170km/h.It has now been downgraded to a tropical low and moved

offshore near Esperance on WA’s south coast.A red alert has been lifted for Kalbarri but remains in place in

nearby Northampton, where residents are urged to stay home.McGowan, who is expected to visit Kalbarri on Tuesday, said

it was too early to quantify the total damage but many areas had been affected.

More than 31,500 homes remained without power in Kalbarri, Geraldton, Northampton, Dongara, Port Denison and Mullewa.

“Power returning may be a matter of days, not hours, given the significant damage to infrastructure across a very wide area,” the premier said.

Sewerage and telephone infrastructure in Kalbarri has also been damaged.

Evacuation centres have opened in Shark Bay and Dongara and a third centre will open in Geraldton. ■

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WORLD

Guillermo Lasso speaks to supporters after a presidential runoff election at his campaign

headquarters in Guayaquil, Ecuador. - AP

Ecuador backs banker to become new presidentVoters in Ecuador appeared to turn to a conservative businessman in presidential runoff election, rebuffing a leftist movement that has held the presidency for over a decade marked by an economic boom and then a yearslong recession, while in neighboring Peru a crowded field of 18 candidates was virtually certain to result in a second round of presidential voting in June.

Voters in Ecuador and Peru cast ballots under strict public health measures because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has recently strengthened in both countries, prompting the return of lockdowns and heightening concerns over their already battered economies. Peruvians also were electing a new Congress.

The Electoral Council in Ecuador had not declared an official winner in the contest to replace President Lenín Moreno next month, but results released by the agency showed former banker Guillermo Lasso with about 53 per cent of votes and leftist Andrés Arauz at 47 per cent, with just over 90 per cent of votes counted. Arauz had led the first round of voting with more than 30 per cent on Feb. 7, while Lasso edged into the final by finishing about a half a per centage point ahead of environmentalist and Indigenous candidate Yaku Pérez.

Arauz was backed by former President Rafael Correa, a major force in the South American country despite a corruption conviction that sent him fleeing to Belgium beyond the reach of Ecuadoran prosecutors. Moreno was also an ally of Correa but turned against him while in office.

“Correa’s negatives outweighed the expectation of a new, unknown candidate who had no career and who did not campaign very well,” said Grace M. Jaramillo, an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia whose research includes Latin America. “He did not speak for all audiences … for the entire population, and he could not respond to human rights accusations of the Correista era.” ■

A satellite photo from Planet Labs Inc. shows Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. - AP

WORLD

Iran blames Israel for sabotage at nuclear siteIran has blamed Israel for a sabotage attack on its underground Natanz nuclear facility that damaged the centrifuges it uses to enrich uranium there, warning that it would take revenge for the assault.

The comments by Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh represent the first official accusation levelled against Israel for the incident on the weekend that cut power across the facility.

Israel has not directly claimed responsibility for the attack. However, suspicion fell immediately on it as media there nearly uniformly reported a devastating cyberattack orchestrated by the country caused the blackout.

If Israel was responsible, it would further heighten tensions between the two nations, already engaged in a shadow conflict across the wider Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met on the weekend with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, has vowed to do everything in his power to stop the nuclear deal.

Details remained few about what happened at the facility. The event was initially described as a blackout caused by the electrical grid feeding its above-ground workshops and underground enrichment halls.

“The answer for Natanz is avenging Israel,” Khatibzadeh said. “Israel will receive its answer through its own path.” He did not elaborate.

Khatibzadeh acknowledged that IR-1 centrifuges, the first-generation workhorse of Iran’s uranium enrichment, had been damaged in the attack. However, he did not elaborate. State television has yet to show any images from the facility. ■

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UK

A council worker mows a lawn that has been dusted with a light covering of snow in

Beamish, Durham. - PA

UK shivers through night of record lowsThe Met Office says that record low April temperatures had been recorded in some parts of the UK and that temperatures would struggle to get into double figures at the start of the week.

Snow fell across the country in parts of Wales and southern England, including Maidenhead and London, though the majority did not settle.

The deepest snowfall was seen at Lake Vyrnwy in Wales, where 7cm (2.7in) was recorded, while Little Rissington in Gloucestershire, England, recorded 4cm (1.5in).

Areas in all four UK nations saw temperatures drop several degrees below freezing overnight on Sunday.

The coldest UK temperature recorded overnight on Sunday was at Tulloch Bridge in Scotland, which dropped to minus 9.4C (15F) – the coldest overnight April temperature since 2013, according to the Met Office.

The mercury also dropped to minus 7.7C (18.1F) in Chap, Cumbria, minus 3C (26.6F) in Altnahinch, Northern Ireland, and minus 2.9C (26.8F) in Sennybridge, Wales.

It comes as beer gardens and outdoor dining areas in England have been allowed to reopen in line with the latest easing of Government lockdown restrictions on April 12.

Non-essential shops, hairdressers, indoor gyms, swimming pools, nail salons and zoos in England will also be opening for the first time this year.

Hundreds of people dressed in hats and winter coats queued outside the world’s biggest Primark store in Birmingham, which reopened its doors at approximately 6.30am.

Customers at the Royal Victoria Pavilion in Kent – believed to be the biggest pub in the UK – cheered as the first chilly pints were served.

Nicola Maxey, spokeswoman for the Met Office said of the temperature: “We’re going to struggle to get into double figures anywhere really … quite widely across the country there will be single figures – sevens, eights or nines (degrees).” ■

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. – PA

UK

Sturgeon confident of independence voteSNP leader Nicola Sturgeon does not believe Boris Johnson will prevent a second Scottish independence referendum if the SNP wins a majority at next month’s Holyrood election.

The Prime Minister has so far rejected calls by Scotland’s First Minister to give the go-ahead for a referendum, but Sturgeon said she believes UK Government discussions have moved on.

She said: “If people in Scotland vote for a party saying, ‘when the time is right, there should be an independence referendum’, you cannot stand in the way of that, and I don’t think that is what will happen.”

Sturgeon said she believes discussions within the UK government had “moved away from ‘we can stop a referendum’ to ‘when would it happen, and on what basis would it happen?’”

She said: “People will always challenge that because of what the supposed position of the UK government is,” adding that she is “pretty confident” the SNP’s plan B of a referendum Bill at Scottish Parliament will not be needed.

In an 11-point plan earlier this year, her party said it would announce a referendum through legislation at Holyrood if there is an SNP majority but the UK Government refused to grant a Section 30 order, effectively daring Westminster to challenge it in the courts.

Sturgeon said her “strong preference and intention” is to hold another referendum in the first half of the parliament, up to 2023, but she will be “guided by the realities of COVID”.

She also addressed comments from her predecessor as first minister, Alex Salmond, in his role as leader of the Alba Party, that peaceful protests and legal action could also be used in pursuit of independence, saying they could put off potential independence supporters. ■

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Grand Millennium virus cases directly linkedGenome results show the infection of three Grand Millennium workers who have tested positive for COVID-19 are very closely related, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says.

However, an audit of the facility has found no significant findings or any cause for concern, MIQ head Brigadier Jim Bliss says.

It was announced that a third worker at the Grand Millennium Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) facility in Auckland had tested positive for COVID-19.

They are a close contact of the security guard who was reported with the virus last week and both are genomically linked to Case A, a cleaner from the facility.

Speaking at a 1pm media briefing, Dr Bloomfield says complete genomic sequencing shows a very close link with Case A and B. This shows a clear and very direct epidemiological link between the three people.

Dr Bloomfield says Case A and B are genomically identical, which suggests very direct transmission.

“We don’t have the direct epidemiological connection between Cases A and B yet, they both worked at the Grand Millennium we know and we’re just looking at their shift pattern … to find that connection.”

The latest case – Case C – and their partner are at the Auckland quarantine facility and the partner has returned a negative test, Dr Bloomfield says.

Case C has been in self-isolation during the infectious period, he says. The testing history of Case B is still being investigated, he says. The “period of interest” has been extended.

Dr Bloomfield this morning told Morning Report that he was awaiting information on the vaccination status of the latest case.

This afternoon he confirmed Cases C and B had not yet received a vaccine but there was no suggestion they were vaccine hesitant. ■

NEW ZEALAND

The Grand Millennium Hotel, which is being used as a managed isolation facility, in

Auckland CBD. - RNZ / Dan Cook

Fire-hit Antarctic supply ship nears AustraliaAustralia’s fire-damaged Antarctic resupply ship will soon return to the country carrying expeditioners, some who haven’t seen home in more than a year.

The MPV Everest, sailing on auxiliary power after fire tore through its port side engine room last week, is expected to reach Fremantle on Tuesday night.

The chartered ship was originally set to dock in Hobart but was diverted to a closer port following the blaze, which destroyed two inflatable boats on deck.

None of the 109 people aboard, including some 70 expeditioners, were injured.

Some of them had been in Antarctica for almost 18 months, well beyond their scheduled stay due to coronavirus which played havoc with transport plans.

“When they left Australia, there was no COVID. They’re coming back to quite a different and changed world,” Australian Antarctic Division operations and safety manager, Charlton Clark, said.

“They’ve done an outstanding job to respond to being away so long. It wasn’t intended for them to be away this long.”

A support ship sent from Fremantle is expected to rendezvous at sea with the Everest, which has taken a more northerly route to dodge bad weather in the Southern Ocean.

“They’ve still got strong winds over 60 knots and big seas but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as forecast,” Clark said.

“For the last day or two they’ve actually had some favourable conditions and made pretty good progress.”

Clark said expeditioners have been offered extra support and flights out of Western Australia have been arranged.

“The focus is getting our expeditioners home. I’m sure they’re quite keen to catch up with their loved ones,” he said.

The fire – which occurred four days into a two-week journey – is being investigated by the boat’s Dutch owners, the Maritime Safety Authority and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. ■

Crews douse a fire on board an Antarctic resupply ship the MPV Everest. - AAP

AUSTRALIA

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