Feed aggregator

NORTH SOUND, Antigua — England's defense of the Twenty20 World Cup title is still alive after a must-win over Namibia in a rain-affected match, followed by a helping hand from traditional rivals Australia later on Saturday. To reach the Super Eight, England first had to beat Namibia in their maiden T20 matchup. Persistent showers almost ruined the chance, but the match started three hours late and was reduced to 11 overs, then 10 overs after another heavy shower. England was made to bat first and rallied to 122-5. Namibia, given a rain-adjusted target of 126, managed only 84-3 and lost by 41 runs. England did what it had to, then had to wait a few more hours and hope Scotland lost to Australia in Saint Lucia to be sure of advancing from Group B. Australia, which had already qualified from Group B, were made to work but eventually overpowered Scotland in a five-wicket win to give England the result it needed to progress to the Super Eights. England was anxious for most of the day, thanks to the weather. It had already suffered one washout — its opener against Scotland — and a second washout in four group games would have sent it home. Because of what was at stake, the umpires waited as long as possible at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium to get play under way. England lost the plot early. Only one run was taken from the opening over bowled by 39-year-old David Wiese; captain Jos Buttler was bowled for a duck by fast bowler Ruben Trumpelmann; and Wiese returned to nick out the other opener, Phil Salt. England was 13-2 after 13 balls. Jonny Bairstow and Harry Brook counterattacked. Bairstow made 31 off 18 balls just before the last rain delay. Brook finished with an unbeaten 47 off 20, and had late support from Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone, who both contributed to taking 21 runs off the last over. Namibia's chase was relatively fast but not fast enough. Opener Michael van Lingen, after 33 off 29, was pulled out under the pretense of retiring hurt, and Wiese inserted to up the run rate. He duly delivered 27 off 12 but it was too late. It was the last international for allrounder Wiese, captain Gerhard Erasmus said. Wiese started with South Africa in 2013 but after five years off he debuted for Namibia in the 2021 T20 World Cup and was invaluable. "Inspired us to new heights," Erasmus said. Australia ends Scotland's dreamAt Gros Islet, St Lucia, Group B leaders Australia were made to work hard in its maiden T20 matchup against Scotland before it rallied late to win by five wickets. After England's 41-run victory over Namibia in a rain-affected match earlier Saturday saw it jump into second place in the group standings, Scotland knew it had to beat Australia to advance to the Super Eight stage. Scotland were made to bat first and built a competitive 180-5. Australia were on the backfoot for most of its innings until some big-hitting from Travis Head and Marcus Stoinis, who both scored half centuries, seized back momentum in the late overs and saw the Aussies home. Scotland seeking to make the playoff stage of a T20 World Cup for the first time started brightly with George Munsey (35 off 23 balls) and Brandon McMullen (60 off 34 balls) getting Scotland off to a brisk start after Michael Jones was bowled by Ashton Agar in the first over. Captain Richie Berrington kept the scoreboard ticking for the Scots with an unbeaten 42 off 31 balls, but Australia's closing bowlers off Nathan Ellis, Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa restricted Scotland from getting closer to the 200 run total they looked like achieving for most of the innings. Australia's reply started shakily with David Warner out for one in the second over caught in the deep off Brad Wheal. Captain Mitch Marsh never got going in his brief innings of eight off nine balls before he was Safyarn Shariff's first wicket as Australia fell to 34-2 in a subdued powerplay. Glenn Maxwell was then bowled by a brilliant offspin delivery from Mark Watt as Scotland's hopes of reaching the Super Eight round were raised. Scotland's bowlers were mostly disciplined in their line and length as they restricted Head and Stonis from finding the acceleration they needed to chase down the 181-run target. But the match turned quickly in the 16th over when Head hit three sixes off Sharif (2-42) before he holed-out looking for another. Stoinis found another boundary off the final ball of the over to raise his half-century off 25 balls as Australia plundered a game-changing 24 runs. Now needing 36 runs off the final four overs, Tim David (24 off 14 balls) made light work of the chase with a string of boundaries to finally end Scotland's hopes of a famous victory and a spot in the Super Eight stage at England's expense. Australia topped Group B with eight points from four matches, with England leaping into second place on five points and ahead of Scotland on net run rate. India washout The India-Canada game in Florida was abandoned without a ball bowled. The outfield in Broward County Stadium was too wet for play, and the match was called off only an hour after its scheduled morning start. While there was light rain on Saturday morning, the outfield was damp from Friday showers which led to a second straight abandoned game at the venue. The United States-Ireland game on Friday never started. Pakistan and Ireland are scheduled to play at the ground on Sunday. While the teams waited for a decision, India's Rishabh Pant and coach Rahul Dravid went to the boundary to sign autographs, and Virat Kohli posed with some of the Canada players. Unbeaten India had already qualified for the Super Eight as the Group A winner. Canada finished group play with only a precious win over Ireland. India starts the Super Eight against Afghanistan on Thursday in Barbados.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The president of Honduras has announced the creation of a new 20,000-capacity "megaprison," part of the government's larger crackdown on gang violence and efforts to overhaul its long-troubled prison system. President Xiomara Castro unveiled a series of emergency measures in a nationally televised address early Saturday, including plans to strengthen the military's role in fighting organized crime, prosecute drug traffickers as terrorists and build new facilities to ease overcrowding as narcoviolence and other crimes mount in the nation of 10 million. Left-wing Castro's "megaprison" ambitions mirror those of President Nayib Bukele in neighboring El Salvador, who has built the largest prison in Latin America — a 40,000-capacity facility to house a surging number of detainees swept up in the president's campaign of mass arrests. Honduran security forces must "urgently carry out interventions" in all parts of the country now witnessing "the highest rates of gang violence, drug trafficking, money laundering" and other crimes, Castro said in her midnight address. Authorities plan to immediately construct and send dangerous gangsters to a 20,000-capacity prison near the rural province of Olancho, in the country's east, said Maj. Gen. Roosevelt Hernández, the army chief of staff. Escalated police raids have driven up the Honduran prison population to 19,500 inmates, crammed into a system designed for 13,000, the Honduran national committee against torture, or CONAPREV, reported last year. The government has rushed to build new detention facilities. Last year, Castro announced plans to construct the only island prison colony in the Western Hemisphere — an isolated 2,000-capacity prison on the Islas del Cisne archipelago about 250 kilometers off the country's coast. The Honduran defense council also demanded that Congress change the penal code to allow authorities to detain suspected gang leaders without filing charges and carry out mass trials, as they do for alleged terrorists. The raft of measures marked the latest example of Castro's hard-line stance on security that intensified amid a surge of narcoviolence in 2022, when she imposed a state of emergency to combat the bloodshed and suspended part of the constitution — a page straight from the playbook of Bukele in El Salvador. Like Bukele's anti-gang crackdown that has restricted civil liberties in El Salvador, Castro's tactics have drawn criticism from human rights groups that accuse her government of taking its tough-on-crime tactics too far. But Bukele's success in eradicating gangs that once terrorized large swaths of El Salvador has won him admiration across the region, including in Honduras, where a weary public wants to see results. Last week, Honduran Security Minister Gustavo Sánchez announced that the government recorded 20% fewer homicides in the first five months of 2024 compared to the same period last year. Yet critics remain skeptical that the Bukele model can deliver results in Honduras, where gangs remain powerful and corruption entrenched, despite the recent drop in homicides.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

SAO PAULO — Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Sao Paulo on Saturday as protests sweep across Brazil in opposition to a bill that would further criminalize abortions. If passed, the law would equate the termination of a pregnancy after 22 weeks with homicide. The bill, proposed by conservative lawmakers and heading for a vote in the lower house, would also apply in cases of rape. Critics say those who seek an abortion so late are mostly child rape victims, as their pregnancies tend to be detected later. To rally opposition, rights’ groups created the ‘A child is not a mother’ campaign that has flooded social media. Placards, stickers and banners emblazoned with the slogan have abounded during demonstrations. And viral visuals depicting women in red cloaks compare Brazil to Gilead, the theocratic patriarchy Margaret Atwood created in her dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. About 10,000 people, mostly women, filled several blocks of Sao Paulo’s main boulevard on Saturday afternoon, organizers estimated. It was the biggest demonstration yet, following events in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Florianopolis, Recife, Manaus, and other cities. Marli Gavioli, 65, has mostly refrained from protesting since demonstrations in the 1980s that called for the end of the military dictatorship, but she told The Associated Press she's too outraged to remain home. "I couldn’t stay out of this, or I would regret it too much. We are being whipped from all sides, us women. It’s past time we do something," she said. Brazil only permits abortion in cases of rape if there is an evident risk to the mother’s life or if the fetus has no functioning brain. Aside from those exceptions, Brazil’s penal code imposes between one- and three-years jail time for women who end a pregnancy. Some Brazilian women fly abroad to obtain abortions. If the bill becomes law, the sentence will rise to between six and 20 years when an abortion is performed after 22 weeks. Critics have highlighted that would mean convicted rapists could receive lesser sentences than their victims. Experts say that late access to abortion reflects inequalities in health care. Children, poor women, Black women and those living in rural areas are particularly at risk. "We cannot be sentenced to prison for having suffered a rape and not receiving support and care," Talita Rodrigues, a member of rights’ group National Front against the Criminalization of Women and for the Legalization of Abortion, said by phone. Of the 74,930 people who were victims of rape in Brazil in 2022, 61.4% were under 14 years old, according to a 2023 study of the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, an independent group that tracks crimes. "For children, it is common for a pregnancy to be discovered only after 22 weeks," Ivanilda Figueiredo, a professor of law at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, said by phone. For example, they might not know that periods — a sign a woman isn't pregnant — are monthly, she said. Among the protesters in downtown Rio on Thursday was Graziela Souza, a 25-year-old student who was sexually assaulted as a child. "I think it’s very important for victims to be present, as much as it hurts," Souza said. "We must speak out and fight against it, because if we stay at home we are going to lose." Defenders of the bill have argued that abortions at a later stage were unimaginable when Brazil’s penal code was adopted in 1940, which explains why there is currently no time limit. Had it been envisioned, they argue, it would be considered infanticide. The bill’s author, lawmaker and Evangelical pastor Sóstenes Cavalcante, declined an interview request from the AP. On Wednesday, the lower house Speaker Arthur Lira rushed through a procedure to fast-track the bill in under 30 seconds, with many lawmakers reportedly unaware it was taking place. The maneuver allows the plenary to vote without the bill first clearing committees. Lira has been a top target for protesters' ire. Signs on Saturday read "What if it happened to your daughter, Lira?" and simply "Lira out." Conservative lawmakers proposing the bill — who protesters have dubbed ‘the rape caucus’ — are playing politics, hoping to boost turnout and support from Evangelical voters in October municipal elections, Fernanda Barros dos Santos, a political scientist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said by phone. Abortion is a topic of high concern for Christians, who make up a majority of voters in Brazil. "The bill puts people who are progressive in a very difficult situation, because they lose votes by defending abortion rights," said Figueiredo, the law professor. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government has been seeking inroads with Evangelicals, a key voting bloc for far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro. Lula beat Bolsonaro in the 2022 presidential election. "The president sent a letter to Evangelicals in the campaign saying he was against abortion. We want to see if he will veto it. Let’s test Lula," Cavalcante, the bill's author, told local news outlet G1 on Tuesday. First lady Rosângela da Silva, known as Janja, slammed the proposal on social media Friday, saying women and girls who are raped need to be protected, not revictimized. Lula finally weighed in on Saturday, speaking at the G7 in Italy. "I had five kids, eight grandchildren and a great-grandchild. I'm against abortion. However, since abortion is a reality, we need to treat abortion as a public health issue," he said in a news conference. "And I think it's insanity that someone wants to punish a woman with a sentence that's longer than the criminal who committed the rape." Although strict abortion laws have long been the norm across the predominantly Roman Catholic region of Latin America, feminist movements have gained momentum in recent years and delivered successive victories for abortion-rights campaigners. Colombia’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion in 2022, following a similar breakthrough ruling by Mexico. Argentina’s Congress legalized abortion in 2020, and a few years earlier Chile rolled back a strict ban.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

athens, greece — A missing Dutch tourist was found dead early Saturday on the eastern Greek island of Samos, local media reported, the latest in a string of recent cases in which tourists in the Greek islands have died or gone missing. Some, if not all, had set out on hikes in blistering hot temperatures.  Dr. Michael Mosley, a noted British television anchor and author, was found dead last Sunday on the island of Symi. A coroner concluded Mosley had died the previous Wednesday, shortly after going for a hike over difficult, rocky terrain.  Samos, like Symi, lies very close to the Turkish coast.  The body of the 74-year-old Dutch tourist was found by a Fire Service drone lying face down in a ravine about 300 meters (330 yards) from the spot where he was last observed Sunday, walking with some difficulty in the blistering heat.  Authorities were still searching for four people reported missing in the past few days.  On Friday, two French tourists were reported missing on Sikinos, a relatively secluded Cyclades island in the Aegean Sea, with less than 400 permanent residents.  The two women, aged 73 and 64, had left their respective hotels to meet.  A 70-year-old American tourist was reported missing Thursday on the small island of Mathraki in Greece's northwest extremity by his host, a Greek-American friend. The tourist had last been seen Tuesday at a cafe in the company of two female tourists who have since left the island.  Mathraki, population 100, is a 3.9-square-kilometer (1.2-square-mile) heavily wooded island, west of the better-known island of Corfu. Strong winds had prevented police and the fire service from reaching the island to search for the missing person as of Saturday afternoon, media reported.  On the island of Amorgos, authorities were still searching for a 59-year-old tourist reported missing since Tuesday, when he had gone on a solo hike in very hot conditions.  U.S. media identified the missing tourist as retired Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Albert Calibet of Hermosa Beach, California.  Amorgos, the easternmost of the Cyclades islands, is a rocky 122-square-kilometer (47-square-mile) island of less than 2,000 inhabitants. A couple of years ago the island had a record number of visitors, over 100,000.  Some media commentary has focused on the need to inform tourists of the dangers of setting off on hikes in intense heat.  Temperatures across Greece on Saturday were more than 10 degrees Celsius (18 Fahrenheit) lower than on Thursday, when they peaked at almost 45 C (113 F). They are expected to rise again from Sunday, although not to heat-wave levels.  

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

beirut — There is a "very real" risk that a miscalculation along Lebanon's southern border could trigger a wider conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, two United Nations officials in Lebanon warned Saturday.  The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and the head of U.N. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, Aroldo Lazaro, said they were "deeply concerned" about the recent escalation along Lebanon's border.  Iran-backed Hezbollah last week launched the largest volleys of rockets and drones yet in the eight months it has been exchanging fire with the Israeli military, in parallel with the Gaza war.  "The danger of miscalculation leading to a sudden and wider conflict is very real," the two officials said in a written statement Saturday.  The United States and France are working on a negotiated settlement to the hostilities along Lebanon's southern border. Hezbollah says it will not halt fire unless Israel's military offensive in Gaza stops. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Accra, Ghana — Exasperated Ghanaians already grappling with frequent, unplanned power outages are steeling themselves for more misery after electricity distributors announced increased disruption to the grid in the coming weeks.  The blackouts — known as "dumsor" in Ghana's Akan language — are making it harder to run businesses already struggling due to the country's economic crisis — the worst in a decade.   On Thursday, the Ghana Grid Company and the Electricity Company of Ghana, which distribute power throughout the West African country of 33 million people, said there would be three weeks of load management because of maintenance work by a gas supplier in Nigeria.  Nigeria provides Ghana with a percentage of the gas it needs to fire its power-generating plants.  The announcement came a day after WAPCo, the operator of the pipeline importing gas from Nigeria, also warned there would be a drop in the quantity of gas available because of maintenance work in Nigeria.    The news has exasperated Ghanaians already dealing with frequent power cuts.  "The current unannounced power cuts are already making it very hard to keep my poultry frozen," Judith Esi Baidoo, a 50-year-old frozen poultry vendor in Accra, told AFP.  She added: "Now, with this three-week load management plan, I fear my entire stock will spoil. I don't know how my business can survive this."  The erratic power supply is tipped to become a key topic in the campaign for December's presidential election.  Timothy Oddoye, who repairs mobile phones in the Accra suburb of Kokomlemle, said, "The government had failed us. They've had years to fix these problems, yet we are still suffering from the same issues.  "How can we grow our businesses when we can't even rely on basic electricity?"  Despite being one of the African countries where electrification is most advanced, Ghana continues to experience chronic power shortages.   Domestic electricity production — generated by power plants that are in many cases old and poorly maintained — has struggled to expand in line with rising demand.  According to International Energy Agency figures, Ghana generates 34 percent of its electricity from hydropower and 63 percent from gas.   The country produces both oil and gas but still needs to import gas from Nigeria via the 678-kilometer (420-mile) West African Gas Pipeline through Benin and Togo.  "The reliance on gas, especially from external suppliers, leaves us vulnerable," said Ben Boakye, executive director of the Africa Center for Energy Policy.  "The government must prioritize investments in renewable energy and upgrade our existing hydro and thermal plants to ensure [a] consistent power supply."  Public frustration at the power cuts erupted on June 8, when hundreds of Ghanaians, led by prominent celebrities, took to the streets of Accra to protest the erratic supply under the slogan #DumsorMustStop.   These power cuts are even more disturbing for Ghanaians as the country emerges from an economic crisis that saw inflation soar to 54 percent in December 2022.  It fell back to 25 percent in April 2023, but the population still suffers. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

abuja, nigeria — Nigeria's annual inflation rose to a 28-year high of 33.95% in May, official data showed Saturday, worsening hardships that have fueled public anger against President Bola Tinubu's economic reforms. It was the 18th straight month that inflation has risen, up from 33.69% a month earlier. Price pressures have been spurred by Tinubu's reforms, chiefly slashing petrol and electricity subsidies and devaluing the naira currency twice within a year. Labor unions, which suspended a strike called to demand a new minimum wage, have argued that the reforms hurt the poor and have left millions grappling with the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. Data published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to be the biggest contributor to inflation in May. Food inflation, which accounts for the bulk of Nigeria's inflation basket, rose to 40.66% from 40.53% the previous month. High food prices and a weaker naira are the main drivers of inflation in Nigeria, analysts say. The central bank raised interest rates in May for the third time this year in response to the continued rise in inflation. Governor Olayemi Cardoso of the Central Bank of Nigeria has indicated that rates will stay high for as long as necessary to bring inflation down.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Caracas, Venezuela — A Venezuelan presidential candidate said Saturday that three opposition activists were detained arbitrarily ahead of July elections in a campaign marred by allegations of political persecution.  "They have been missing since yesterday. ... It is an unjust and arbitrary detention," said Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), the largest opposition coalition in Venezuela.  "It is not known at this moment where and how they are," Gonzalez Urrutia said of the three at a campaign event in Caracas.  The three missing people are Juan Iriarte, coordinator of opposition party Vente, and two activists of the Popular Will party, Luis Lopez and Jean Carlos Rivas.  Vente said on X, formerly Twitter, that they worked with opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and had helped organize campaign activity in Maiquetia, a port city in central Venezuela.  "It is a forced disappearance," Machado, who has been banned from standing in the July 28 election by courts loyal to President Nicolas Maduro, told reporters Saturday.  The opposition has for months alleged political persecution of its leaders and supporters through arrests, judicial procedures and obstacles to competing in elections.  Venezuela's government has not commented on the three detentions but regularly accuses the opposition of plotting against Maduro, who is looking to secure a third term in power.  At least 13 of Machado's activists have now been detained since January, while six others with arrest warrants have taken refuge in the Argentine embassy.   To date, there are 278 political prisoners in Venezuela, according to a count by NGO Foro Penal. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

BUTEMBO, Democratic Republic of Congo — At least seven people have been killed in unrest in Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province, local officials said on Saturday, after people took to the streets to protest a surge in  deadly attacks by suspected Islamist rebels.  The Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group affiliated to the Islamic State group, are alleged to have killed more than 40 people in an attack on Mayikengo village this week and more than 80 in attacks on other villages in the eastern province the previous week.  The insecurity has fueled public frustration, leading to the killing of two soldiers and their driver in Lubero territory by a crowd who torched their vehicle overnight on Friday, local official Julio Mabanga told Reuters.  On Saturday, further clashes in the area between security forces and local residents led to the deaths of another three people: a civilian, a soldier, and an agent of the ANR national intelligence service, Mabanga said.  A similar protest broke out in the city of Butembo on Saturday, with hundreds of youths taking to the streets, wielding sticks, chanting and singing songs to denounce the widespread insecurity, according to a Reuters reporter.  "I'm here at this roundabout, barricading the road. We sympathize with our killed compatriots," said Daniel Sivanzire Paluku, one of the protesters, who said they needed to block the roads to monitor who was coming and going.  Butembo Mayor Mowa Baeki Telly confirmed one civilian was killed during clashes between security forces and protesters in the city.   The ADF originates in neighboring Uganda but is now based in mineral-rich eastern Congo. It has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and mounts frequent attacks, further destabilizing a region where many militant groups compete for influence and resources.  It has not been possible to reach the ADF for comment on the attacks.  The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which follows militant websites, said on Friday the Islamic State had published communiques from its so-called Central Africa Province division claiming responsibility for the killing of 51 people in attacks in North Kivu this week. It has also claimed to have beheaded more than 60 people in a single attack in the province on June 7.  

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

SYDNEY — Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived in Australia on Saturday, saying relations were "back on track" as he started the first visit by a Chinese premier to the major trading partner in seven years. Australia is "uniquely positioned to connect the West and the East" and stands as "an important force of economic globalization and world multipolarity," Li said at Adelaide's airport, according to a statement from the Chinese embassy. Bilateral relations are "back on track after a period of twists and turns," Li said. Australia is the biggest supplier of iron ore to China, which has been an investor in Australian mining projects, although some recent Chinese investment in critical minerals has been blocked by Australia on national interest grounds. China imposed trade restrictions on a raft of Australian agricultural and mineral products in 2020 during a diplomatic dispute that has now largely eased. During his four-day visit, Li will also visit the capital, Canberra, and mining state Western Australia. "A more mature, stable and fruitful comprehensive strategic partnership will be a treasure shared by the people of both countries," Li said. He is expected to visit a pair of pandas on loan from China to Adelaide's zoo on Sunday. A lunch with wine exporters, until recently shut out of the Chinese market. Li arrived from New Zealand, where he highlighted Chinese demand for New Zealand's agricultural products. China is the biggest trading partner of Australia and New Zealand. Canberra and Wellington are seeking to balance trade with regional security concerns over China's ambitions in the Pacific Islands. In New Zealand, Li visited major dairy exporter Fonterra on Saturday after signing agreements with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on trade and climate change, with human rights and foreign interference also on the agenda.