Australia & Pacifics

WELLINGTON, Nov 21 (NNN-XINHUA) – New Zealand recorded 24,068 new community cases of COVID-19 and 40 more deaths from the pandemic over the past week, the country’s Ministry of Health said, today.

On average, new cases per day reached 3,434 last week. The country has seen the number of daily cases going down steadily from over 10,000 cases nationwide, in early July.

With the new cases, New Zealand reported 1,891,853 confirmed cases and 2,182 COVID-19-related deaths, since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020, the ministry said.

WELLINGTON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - New Zealand's highest court ruled on Monday that the country's current voting age of 18 was discriminatory, forcing parliament to discuss whether it should be lowered.

The case, which has been going through the courts since 2020, was bought by advocacy group Make It 16, which wants the age lowered to include 16 and 17 year olds.

The Supreme Court found that the current voting age of 18 was inconsistent with the country's Bill of Rights, which gives people a right to be free from age discrimination when they have reached 16.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s prime minister said Friday he remained committed to building a fleet of submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology despite the French president describing the plan as a “confrontation with China.”

The previous Australian government infuriated President Emmanuel Macron last year by canceling a contract for a French-built fleet of conventionally-powered submarines worth 90 billion Australian dollars ($66 billion) and opting instead for nuclear-powered versions in a deal secretly brokered with the United States and Britain.

PALMERSTON NORTH, New Zealand (AP) — How do you stop a cow from burping?

It might sound like the start of a humorous riddle, but it’s the subject of a huge scientific inquiry in New Zealand. And the answer could have profound effects on the health of the planet.

More specifically, the question is how to stop cows, sheep and other farm animals from belching out so much methane, a gas which doesn’t last as long as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere but is at least 25 times more potent when it comes to global warming.

BALI, Indonesia, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here on Monday for the 17th Group of 20 (G20) Summit.

On the theme of "Recover Together, Recover Stronger," the G20 Summit will open on Tuesday with a focus on strengthening the global health architecture, accelerating sustainable energy transition and promoting digital transformation.

It will be followed by the 29th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting in the Thai capital of Bangkok.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday he would ask Chinese President Xi Jinping to lift billions of dollars in trade barriers in the event that the two leaders hold their first bilateral meeting.

Both leaders will attend a Group of 20 meeting in Indonesia and then an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meeting in Thailand next week.

Albanese was speaking in Sydney before departing Australia on Friday for an East Asia Summit in Cambodia, which Xi is not expected to attend.

SYDNEY (AP) — Half-centuries from Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan helped Pakistan beat New Zealand in dominant fashion to book its place in the T20 World Cup final.

Rizwan scored 57 runs and Azam added 53 as Pakistan made easy work of a 153-run chase on a placid Sydney wicket. It finished with 153-3 in 19.1 overs.

That came after Shaheen Afridi took 2-24 to help restrict New Zealand to a sub-par 152-4 from its 20 overs.

Pakistan awaits the winner of Thursday’s semifinal between India and England in Adelaide. The final will be played in Melbourne on Sunday.

WELLINGTON, Nov 2 (NNN-XINHUA) – New Zealand’s unemployment rate was 3.3 percent in the Sept, 2022 quarter, unchanged from last quarter, the country’s statistics department, Stats NZ said, today.

While the unemployment rate remained level, the underutilisation rate, a broader measure of spare labour capacity, dipped slightly to nine percent, from 9.2 percent last quarter.

“Unemployment and underutilisation rates have been sitting at or near record lows for more than a year,” said work and wellbeing statistics senior manager, Becky Collett.

SYDNEY, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Australia's state of New South Wales (NSW) has been installing or upgrading courthouses for more safe spaces to help empower domestic and sexual violence survivors to testify without fear.

The NSW government said on Monday that additional safe rooms where the victims can prepare for court privately, and remote witness rooms where they can provide evidence via audio visual link (AVL), have been delivered to 45 courthouses across the state, aiming to alleviate survivors' trauma and ensuring fair trials.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Beijing was targeting its Pacific aid to new diplomatic allies Solomon Islands and Kiribati while Chinese financial support across the region continued to decline, the Lowy Institute reported Monday in its latest annual analysis of regional assistance.

China’s aid to the Pacific has fallen from a peak of $287 million in 2016 to $187 million in 2020 — the lowest level since 2008, when the Sydney-based international policy think tank began quantifying support for developing island nations in the Pacific.