The first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Monday welcomed an apology from a Swiss newspaper that had dismissed the seasoned international professional as a grandmother. “It is important & timely that they’ve apologised,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in a tweet. The development economist took over as the […]

Israel’s top court ruled Tuesday the government must curb its use of the domestic spy agency to track coronavirus infections, saying “draconian” surveillance constituted a blow to democracy. The government began using the Shin Bet’s surveillance technologies in March 2020, when Covid-19 infections began to spike. But the supreme court quickly blocked such practice, saying […]

Benedict XVI, who resigned as pontiff eight years ago, warned in an interview published Monday that Pope Francis’ historic upcoming trip to Iraq was “dangerous”. “I think it’s a very important trip,” the 93-year-old pope emeritus, who lives in a monastery in the Vatican City, told the Corriere della Sera daily. “Unfortunately, it comes at […]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he is currently in talks with U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer on the establishment of a plant to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines in the country. “I am also in talks with Pfizer to build a vaccine factory here, in Israel,’’ Netanyahu told the Galei Zahal, the radio of […]

Preliminary data by Statistics Korea, on Monday, revealed that the portion of male births of the total newborns in South Korea declined to a record low in 2020. The information came amid the latest sign that traditional preference for male children had waned as the ratio of baby boys to every 100 newborn girls came […]