Legislatures

Any decision by the United States to go ahead with the sale of F-16 fighter jets and upgrade kits to Turkey would be "baffling" given the "belligerent" stance of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan towards NATO ally Greece, said Senator Bob Menendez, chair of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, reiterating that he will not approve the sale.

New Zealand is a country where its prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, stepped down at the age of 43 because she has "no energy to seek re-election" and because "it's time." Greece is the country of "do you know who I am? I wear the pants" (Antonis Samaras in the tumultuous year of 2012).

New Zealand's incoming prime minister Chris Hipkins criticised the "abhorrent" treatment endured by Jacinda Ardern and vowed on Sunday to shield his own family, three days after her shock resignation.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins is set to become New Zealand's next prime minister after he was the only candidate to enter the contest Saturday to replace Jacinda Ardern.

Hipkins, 44, must still garner an endorsement Sunday from his Labour Party colleagues, but that is just a formality now. An official transfer of power will come in the days to follow.

The decision by the prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, to step down from office does not just signal a rare moment of humanity in politics, it is also a paradigm of democratic culture.

By making the decision she made, Jacinda Ardern showed that the relationship of political representatives with their office should never be allowed to become anything more than a "job."

Jacinda Ardern's shock resignation sparked a push on Friday for New Zealand to choose its first Maori prime minister, as a small pack of candidates emerged for the top job.

Ardern, a global figurehead for progressive politics, stunned New Zealand on Thursday by announcing her abrupt exit from office, less than three years after securing a second term in a landslide election win.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will not seek re-election and plans to resign no later than early February, she said in a televised statement

She added that general elections will be held on October 14.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, whose empathetic handling of the nation's worst mass-shooting and health-driven response to the coronavirus pandemic led her to become an international icon but who faced mounting criticism at home, said Thursday she was leaving office.

Fighting back tears, Ardern told reporters in Napier that Feb. 7 would be her last day as prime minister.

The new head of the European Stability Mechanism, Pierre Gramegna, announced on Monday he will visit Greece in the next couple of weeks.

Latest economic data shows the European Union may avoid a recession that was expected earlier and have a more shallow contraction instead, European Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Monday.