Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday bid an emotional farewell on her last day as prime minister, speaking of the kindness and empathy New Zealanders have shown her, but said she was ready to be a sister and a mother.

Days after stunning the world by announcing she had “no more in the tank” to lead the country and would step down, the 42-year-old arrived at a gathering of politicians and Maori elders in the small town of Ratana, north of the capital Wellington, and was instantly surrounded by supporters seeking photographs.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the greatest privilege of my life,” Ardern told the gathering in a speech.

She will resign on Wednesday and be replaced by the new Labour party leader, Chris Hipkins.

Ardern, along with Hipkins and opposition politicians, were making an annual visit to Ratana, where a weeklong celebration is held for the birth of Maori prophet Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana.

Wearing a black dress with her shoulders covered in a traditional Maori cloak, called korowai, she led members of her party onto the community grounds as a brass band played. The speeches and accompanying songs and dances that followed saw elders speak with humour and warmth about Ardern.

“Thanks so much for teaching us to love quickly,” one elder told Ardern.

Ardern responded, saying she that hadn’t planned to speak but that those there refused to give her an out.

“My overall experience in this job of New Zealand and New Zealanders in this job has been one of love, empathy and kindness,” she said.

The left-leaning global icon gained attention for bringing her baby to a United Nations meeting and wearing a hijab after a massacre targeting Muslims. Although she became a target for hate and online abuse by right-wing extremists on social media, she said she was leaving the job with love in her heart.

“I want you to know I leave with a greater love and affection for Aotearoa New Zealand and its people than when I started.”

Before heading onto the grounds, Ardern faced the media for possibly the last time as prime minister, smiling broadly as declining to answer political questions, saying they were now the responsibility of her successor.

“I am ready to be lots of things. I’m ready to be a back bench MP (member of parliament). I’m ready to be a sister and a mum,” she said.

Her daughter Neve is 4 years old and starts school in June.

Reuters /Shakirat Sadiq

Sweden should not expect Turkey to back its Nato membership bid, Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said days after a copy of the Quran was burned in a Stockholm protest.

Sweden applied to join Nato after Russia invaded Ukraine – but needs Turkey, already a member, to approve.

Kurdish protesters in Sweden hung an effigy of Mr Erdogan this month, followed by the Quran burning.

“Sweden should not expect support from us for Nato,” Erdogan said in response.

“It is clear that those who caused such a disgrace in front of our country’s embassy can no longer expect any benevolence from us regarding their application.”

Saturday’s protest – but not the burning of the book itself – was given prior approval by Swedish authorities.

Erdogan condemned the latest protest, carried out by a far-right politician from a Danish party, as blasphemy not to be defended by free speech.

The Swedish governments also criticised the protest.

“Sweden has a far-reaching freedom of expression, but it does not imply that the Swedish government, or myself, support the opinions expressed,” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Saturday.

Responding to Mr Erdogan’s remarks on Monday, Mr Billstrom said that he wanted to understand exactly what the Turkish leader said before commenting.

“Sweden will respect the agreement that exists between Sweden, Finland and Turkey regarding our Nato membership,” he added.

Sweden, along with Finland, applied to join Nato after Russia invaded Ukraine, but the recent protests have heightened tensions.

Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said that freedom of expression was a “precious commodity” in Nato countries, and that these acts, while inappropriate, were not “automatically illegal.”

Turkey, a majority Muslim country, denounced the Swedish government’s decision to allow the protest as “completely unacceptable.”

“No one has the right to humiliate the saints,” said Mr Erdogan in his televised remarks on Monday.

“When we say something, we say it honestly, and when someone dishonours us, we put them in their place.”

BBC /Jide Johnson

One of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s key aides has resigned ahead of an expected government reshuffle.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko was the president’s deputy head of office and thanked Mr Zelensky for “the opportunity to do good deeds every day and every minute.”

He had been ‘implicated in scandals’ linked to his use of expensive cars – though he denies wrongdoing.

Mr Zelensky has signalled that other top officials will also leave his government in the coming days.

The Ukrainian leader has said “he is carrying out a series of personnel changes in government, regional authorities and the security services.”

Local media reported that the departure Mr Tymoshenko – who oversaw regional policy and earlier worked on Mr Zelensky’s election campaign – may be part of the president’s shake-up.

Clampdown on Corruption
But the restructure comes amid a clampdown on corruption in Ukraine, one of the EU’s key demands if the country is to advance its application to join the bloc. “Authorities have banned all state officials from leaving Ukraine, unless on authorised business trips.”

On Monday, Ukraine’s deputy infrastructure minister Vasyl Lozinskyi was fired and detained by police after being accused of accepting a bribe worth $400,000 (£320,000). He has denied the charges.

Ukraine has a history of corruption and in 2021 Transparency International has ranked the country at 122 out of 180 countries in its ranking of corrupt states.

In an address on Sunday, Mr Zelensky promised there would be “no return to what used to be in the past, to the way various people close to state institutions” used to live.

And David Arakhamia, the head of Mr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, has pledged that corrupt officials could face jail time.

“Officials at all levels have been constantly warned through official and unofficial channels: focus on the war, help the victims, reduce bureaucracy and stop doing dubious business. Many of them have actually listened, but some, unfortunately, did not,” he said in a Telegram statement.

“If it doesn’t work in a civilized way, it will be done according to the laws of wartime. This applies both to recent purchases of generators and to fresh scandals in the ministry of defence.”

Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has also come under fire recently, following media reports suggesting his ministry signed a contract to procure food for the military at inflated prices. Mr Reznikov said those prices were a “technical mistake.”

A report by Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda suggests the heads of four regional administrations – Sumy, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – may be the next to go after Mr Tymoshenko, due to their links to the resigned presidential aide.

BBC /Shakirat Sadiq