Musings From Abroad

Jacinda is first world leader in 30 yrs to have a child in office

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth to a baby girl Thursday, the first world leader in nearly 30 years to have a child while in office

Published

6 years ago

June 21, 2018

Africa News Watch

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth to a baby girl Thursday, the first world leader in nearly 30 years to have a child while in office.

In a post on her official Instagram account, Ardern said the baby arrived at 4.45 pm local time, weight 3.31 kilograms (7.3 pounds).

“Thank you so much for your best wishes and your kindness. We’re all doing really well thanks to the wonderful team at Auckland City Hospital,” she said in her post.

The 37-year-old prime minister, who was elected in October, announced her pregnancy in January via Instagram.

“Clarke and I are really excited that in June our team will expand from two to three, and that we’ll be joining the many parents out there who wear two hats,” Ardern said in the post.

Her partner, Clarke Gayford, hosts a fishing documentary series, but will give that up to be a stay-at-home dad.

Ardern has fielded several questions about whether she wanted children, but has told media outlets that she should not have to respond to such an inquiry.

“I totally accept that I will be asked that question because I chose to be honest about it,” Ardern said on “The AM Show,” a New Zealand radio program. “I think a lot of women face this dilemma in the workplace, no matter what their profession or job might be.”

In an interview with Radio New Zealand, she said, “I am not the first woman to multitask. I am not the first woman to work and have a baby; there are many women who have done this before.”

Ardern became her party’s youngest leader and New Zealand’s youngest in 150 years after defeating former Prime Minister Bill English in last October’s election. It marked the first victory for the Labour Party in nine years. She led the group for three months before being elected Prime Minister.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters will fill in for Ardern while she is on parental leave for six weeks.

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Musings From Abroad

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

Published

17 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader based abroad, has been placed under detention by the Päijät Häme District Court in Finland on suspicion of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism.

According to the local daily, Helsingin Sanomat, the court rendered the ruling on Thursday following his arraignment by the Central Criminal Police for his involvement in the terror attacks that have afflicted the southeast area of Nigeria.

“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria,” stated Otto Hiltunen, the crime commissioner and investigation head.

“The man has carried out his activity, among other things, on his social media channels.”

Hiltunen also informed the court that the police suspected four additional individuals in Finland of funding Ekpa’s activities.

According to the story, Ekpa is of Nigerian descent and was born in the Finnish city of Lahti.

His offence occurred between August 23, 2021, and November 18, 2024, according to court documents cited in the publication.

Ekpa is not the only person the police have arrested. In February 2023, they caught him at a private Lahtian flat, but he was freed the same day.

Through the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Ekpa has continued to be outspoken on social media, raising money and agitating for a Biafran nation to secede. In the southeast part of Nigeria, both factions have been involved in acts of violence, murders, and maimings.

Since gaining formal independence in 1960, Nigeria has seen the emergence of several separatist organisations. The latest surge of calls for self-determination among different ethnic groups has been louder under its immediate previous President Muhammadu Buhari.

Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.