News

Meghan Markle Shares ‘Worries’ About Her Kids Having Social Media

Published

2 years ago

October 14, 2023

Editor

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have shared their “worries” about raising their two children in a social media-driven world.

Meghan Markle spoke at The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Summit: Mental Wellness in the Digital Age during Project Healthy Minds’ World Mental Health Day Festival 2023 in New York City.

She said, “Being a mom is the most important thing in my entire life. Outside of course to being a wife to this one.”

After glancing lovingly at her husband, Meghan explained that the couple’s Archewell Foundation has been working to better highlight the negative effects that come with social media for children.

“I feel fortunate that our children are at an age, again quite young, so this isn’t in our immediate future,” Meghan said at The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Summit “Mental Wellness in the Digital Age” presentation on Tuesday, noting that “it worries me” what’s to come.

The actress — who shares son Archie, 4, and daughter Lili, 2, with Harry, 39 — added that she’s also been “given a lot of hope” based on the “progress” the Archewell Foundation has made in the last year at giving a voice to the families hurt by social media toxicity.

“Everyone now is affected by the online world and social media. Some more than others. We all just want to feel safe,” Meghan continued. “In that so much of it can come down to, if someone is looking for something, please don’t feed them the thing that they’re not looking for that is going to harm them.”

Harry agreed with his spouse, telling attendees, “I think for us, for myself and my wife, with kids growing up in the digital age, for us the priority here is to turn pain into purpose.”

The prince explained that by having parents tell their cautionary tales — or stories of loss at the hands of social media — they can make a positive change and save kids’ lives.

“Yes, these platforms are addictive. We all accept that and agree. As someone who works within those companies — as someone who designs them especially — please stop sending children content that you wouldn’t want your own children to see,” Harry pleaded. “I think that’s a really simple request. It’s an easy fix.”

Meghan added that “social media is not going away” and should therefore be a cause for concern for all parents. “By design, there is an entry point that’s supposed to be positive,” she said. “Something has devolved and there’s no way to hear that and not try to help these families have their stories be heard. Their stories are what matter.”

Earlier that day, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who were in New York City to celebrate World Mental Health Day, paid a visit to Marcy Lab School. The Brooklyn trade school is a partner of Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation.

The twosome met with a group of high school graduates that were chosen as the Fall 2023 Marcy Lab Fellows. They also spoke with alumni of the fellowship to gauge how they are using technology for good in their careers post-graduation.

Harry and Meghan’s trip to NYC is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Meghan’s next steps in her own career.

“Harry and Meghan have been busy with Invictus Games recently, but Meghan is still planning her Hollywood reinvention,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month. “Meghan has a new team around her, and they’ve been strategizing about what mediums will have the most impact.”

While nothing is “locked in yet,” the insider said that Meghan wants her next venture “to be rooted in giving back” and “philanthropy,” which could lead to more docuseries that highlight fundraising needs in different areas.

News

Peter Obi Condemns Tinubu’s Saint Lucia Trip

Published

10 minutes ago

June 28, 2025

Editor

Labour Party leader and former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s planned trip to Saint Lucia, describing it as poorly timed and lacking in sensitivity, especially amid Nigeria’s deepening economic and security challenges.

Tinubu is expected to leave Nigeria on Saturday for Saint Lucia and is also scheduled to attend the upcoming BRICS summit in Brazil.

In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Obi expressed dismay over the president’s travel, questioning the state of governance in the country.

Obi argued that Tinubu’s trip highlights a pattern of misplaced priorities by the administration, particularly at a time when citizens are grappling with widespread hunger and insecurity.

“What I have seen and witnessed in the last two years has left me in shock about poor governance delivery and apparent channelling of energy into politics and satisfaction of the elites, while the masses in our midst are languishing in want,” Obi stated.

He lamented the toll of rising insecurity across Nigeria, pointing out the country’s deteriorating safety situation.

“In the past two years, Nigeria has lost more people to all sorts of criminality than a country that is officially at war.

“Without any twilight, Nigeria ranks among the most insecure places in the world. Nigerians are hungrier, and most people do not know where their next meal will come from,” he wrote.

Obi said he was stunned when he learned of the President’s travel plans, especially following what he described as a recent holiday in Lagos.

“With such a gory picture of one’s country, you can imagine my bewilderment when I saw a news release from the Presidency announcing that President Bola Tinubu is departing Nigeria today for a visit to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean,” he said.

Quoting Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister, Philip J. Pierre, Obi noted that the visit comprises both official and personal segments.

“According to the Prime Minister’s announcement, ‘two of these days, June 30 and July 1, will be dedicated to an official visit, with the remainder of the trip set aside as a personal vacation,” he said.

Obi noted that he initially found the report hard to believe.

“I told the person who drew my attention to the Caribbean story that it cannot be true and that the President is just coming back from a holiday in Lagos.

“I didn’t want to believe that anybody in the position of authority, more so the President… would contemplate a leisure trip at this time,” Obi said.

He condemned Tinubu’s failure to visit disaster-stricken areas like Minna in Niger State, where over 200 people reportedly died and hundreds remain missing due to flooding.

“This is a President going for leisure when he couldn’t visit Minna, Niger State where over two hundred lives were lost and over 700 persons still missing in a flood natural disaster,” he said.

Obi also took issue with Tinubu’s recent trip to Benue State, claiming it was politically motivated rather than compassionate.

“The other state in crisis where over two hundred lives were murdered, the President yielded to public pressure and visited Makurdi… for what turned out to be a political jamboree than condolence as public holiday was declared and children made to line up to receive the President who couldn’t even reach the village, the scene of the brutal attack,” he said.

Drawing comparisons between Nigeria and Saint Lucia, Obi questioned the logic of prioritising a visit to the Caribbean nation over addressing pressing domestic issues.

“Makurdi is 937.4 Km², which is over 59% bigger than St Lucia, which is 617 km², and Minna is 6789 square kilometres, which is ten times bigger than St Lucia. St Lucia, with a population of 180,000, is less than half of Makurdi’s 489,839 and Minna, with 532,000 is almost three times the population of St Lucia,” the former Anambra governor said.

He concluded his post by stressing the urgent need for leadership that is grounded in empathy and focused on addressing the suffering of ordinary Nigerians.

He said, “I don’t think the situation in this country today calls for leisure for anybody in a position of authority, more so the President, on whose desk the buck stops.

“This regime has repeatedly shown its insensitivity and lack of passion for the populace…”

Obi added, “This very obvious indifference of the federal government to the suffering of the Nigerian poor should urgently be reversed.

“One had expected the President to be asking God for extra hours in a day for the challenges, but what we see is a concentration of efforts in the 2027 election and on satisfying the wealthy while the mass poor continues to multiply in number.”

News

World Bank Lists Nigeria Among 39 Nations Facing Rising Poverty, Hunger

Published

25 minutes ago

June 28, 2025

Editor

The World Bank has listed Nigeria among 39 countries where poverty and hunger are deepening as a result of conflict and instability.

In a report released on Friday, the bank said the economies, a mix of low- and middle-income countries, span all global regions. Among them are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe.

The report, which assesses the economic impact of conflict and fragility in the post-COVID-19 era, revealed that 21 of the 39 countries are experiencing active conflict.

According to the findings, extreme poverty is rising more rapidly in these countries, taking a severe toll on economic development, worsening hunger, and derailing progress toward key development goals.

Since 2020, the report noted, the average per capita GDP of these economies has declined by 1.8 per cent annually, in contrast to a 2.9 per cent growth rate recorded in other developing countries.

The report partly reads: “This year, 421 million people are struggling on less than $3 a day in economies afflicted by conflict or instability—more than in the rest of the world combined.

“That number is projected to rise to 435 million, or nearly 60% of the world’s extreme poor, by 2030.”

News

Nigeria’s Public Debt Rises To N149trn

Published

27 minutes ago

June 28, 2025

Editor

Nigeria’s total public debt rose to N149.39 trillion as of March 31, 2025, according to the latest data released by the Debt Management Office (DMO).

The nation’s public debt represents the indebtedness of the federal and state governments, as well as the Federal Capital Territory.

The Federal Government owes N74.89 trillion, while the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) owe the balance of N3.87 trillion.

The figure represents about 4. 72 trillion or 3.3 percent increase over the preceding quarter, with a debt stock figure of N144.67 trillion.

The data showed that external debt rose minimally by 0.5 percent between the end of 2024 and the end of March 2025 (N344 billion).

Although the nation’s external borrowing has been quite low since the last quarter of 2024, the Naira depreciation has had a very negative effect on the stock.

Domestic debt stood at N78.76 trillion as of the end of the first quarter compared to N65.65 trillion in March 2024.