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Guyanese soldier wounded in border gunfight with armed men in Venezuela

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A Guyanese soldier was wounded following a gunfight with armed men in Venezuela along the shared border, authorities said.

The Guyana Defense Force said in a statement that a patrol vessel on the Cuyuni River came under fire late Friday.

Venezuela’s government issued a statement on Saturday accusing Guyana of manipulation and of “fabricating a false narrative” with the objective of “playing the victim.”

The incident is the latest of several bloody clashes in recent years as tensions remain high over Venezuela’s claim to two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. A previous attack wounded eight Guyanese soldiers.

The two countries appeared earlier this month before the International Court of Justice in The Hague for arguments in a dispute over a 62,000-square-mile (160,000-square-kilometer) territory that is rich in gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources. It’s also located near major offshore oil deposits currently producing an average 900,000 barrels a day.

Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez told judges in The Hague that political negotiations and not a judicial ruling will resolve the century-old dispute.

Venezuela considers Essequibo its territory because the region was within its boundaries during the colonial period. It claims that a 1966 Geneva agreement among Venezuela, Britain and then-British Guiana — now Guyana — nullified a border drawn in 1899 by international arbitrators.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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