New Zealand PM gives birth to baby girl
Wellington, June 21 : New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth to a baby girl on 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 p.m. and weighed 3.31 kg, CNN reported.
"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.
Ardern, 37, was admitted to the hospital earlier in the day. Her expected due date had been June 17.
She was elected in October and had 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.
Excitement and anticipation had been building over the last few days, with many media outlets setting up live blogs to track the latest developments.
Jessie Chiang, a New Zealand Radio reporter, tweeted that she and other journalists had been at the hospital since 6 a.m. "No baby yet...but they are feeding the media," she wrote.
Another outlet even put together a baby-themed playlist to "help bring her bub into the world".
New Zealanders also speculated over the baby's gender and name. One Twitter user joked on Thursday: "If it's a boy I'm going with Winston Michael Joseph Peter Norman David David David Phillip Andrew Gayford Ardern."
However, the baby has a higher chance of being named Oliver or Jack -- the two most common baby boy names of 2017. If it's a girl, it might be Charlotte or Harper, the most common girl names, the CNN said.
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“Union Min. HDK has collected crores of rupees for bypolls,” alleges Cheluvarayaswamy
Mandya: Agriculture Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy has accused Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy of collecting crores of rupees from various companies for the bypolls of three assembly constituencies of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Addressing press persons on Monday, he stated that the JD(S)-BJP alliance has poured large amounts of funds into the bypolls of three constituencies in the state. “We could not compete against them, money alone cannot make anyone win. People will bless owing to our pro-people programs,” he added.
He claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party through its ‘operation lotus’ has been attempting to poach Congress legislators since the formation of the government in 2023. He further said, “Kumaraswamy and BJP leaders keep saying that the government will fall, what other proof is required to determine that Operation lotus is being conducted.”
“Everyone is aware that operation lotus cannot run without money. They have lured our MLAs with money. However, our legislators have ignored such attempts. We will provide adequate proof about the amount of money and the legislators they tried to poach at the right time. Let them (BJP-JDS) prove allegations against us (Congress) first,” said the Minister responding to a reporter’s question.
Cheluvarayaswamy also refuted claims of scandal and cited them as ‘baseless.’ He further said, “Everything is under investigation. Ask them to prove their allegations first. It is just an illusion that the state government will fall owing to the scams.”
