Families opt for distanced or virtual celebrations amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Limited public festivities continued to take place with health safety precautions in mind. Here’s what celebrating one of the most important holidays in the Chinese culture looks like amid the pandemic. Visit the Business section of Insider for […]

A Ugandan Jew, Yosef Kibita, has had his request to immigrate to Israel rejected. Israel’s Supreme Court has said that his conversion did not occur in a “recognised” community. Uganda’s chief rabbi wants the Abuyudaya community to be recognised and treated fairly. Visit the Business section of Insider for more […]

Since December 17, an investigation into the Beirut port blast has stalled due to political interference. At the same time, Lebanon’s economy and health sector have deteriorated during the pandemic. “We lost everything we had and have nothing else to lose,” blast victim Mehieddine Lazkani said. Visit the Business section […]

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained, a spokesperson told Reuters. Kyi, a former Nobel Peace Prize winner, was reportedly detained along with other political leaders. Myanmar is a fragile democracy with a powerful military that ruled the country for decades. Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories. […]

Protests against the imprisonment of Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, continue. Russian police have now detained over 500 people this weekend, according to the OVD-info monitoring group. Navalny spoke from his detention centre in Moscow, telling supporters: “The majority are on our side. Let’s wake them up.” Visit Business Insider’s […]

The Iranian government has blamed the mining of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for the blackouts. Cryptocurrency has become a way to bypass US sanctions in Iran, The Times reported. Both legal and illegal cryptocurrency farms are being blamed for overloading the country’s electricity grid. Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more […]

All passengers on board two Air Transat flights from Haiti to Montreal have potentially been exposed to COVID-19, the Toronto Sun reported. Passengers seated in “all rows” have been notified by the Canadian government’s exposure tracking system that they need to monitor their symptoms. The Canadian government announced on January […]

Israel is the world leader in vaccinating its population against COVID-19. About 19% of the population has already received a dose of the vaccine. Israeli citizens and Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are eligible to be vaccinated. Those in the West Bank and Gaza are not – unless they are […]

The leader of Germany’s largest anti-lockdown movement, “Querdenken-711,” has asked supporters to stop protesting until the spring. Michael Ballweg’s announcement comes after the German media reported he shared the profits from Querdenken merchandise and directed donations to the movement into his personal bank account. Ballweg never registered the group as […]

On Thursday, the Chinese Embassy in the US posted a tweet claiming that Uighur women were no longer “baby-making machines” because of the eradication of extremism. Twitter removed it on Saturday morning for violating rules against “the dehumanization of a group of people,” according to Ars Technica. The tweet was […]

Residents of St. Vincent and the Grenadines have been told to be ready to evacuate after a volcano started spewing lava, ash, and gas. La Soufrière is the highest point in St. Vincent and is located near the northern tip of the country but has remained dormant for decades before […]

The city of Wuhan, where the first-ever coronavirus cases were reported, celebrated New Year’s Eve in style. On New Year’s Eve, crowds gathered for the midnight countdown, enjoyed a funfair, and prayed at Buddhist temples. By contrast, many cities worldwide were forced to cancel the annual celebrations to control the […]

Jonathan Pollard, a former US intelligence analyst and convicted spy, arrived in Israel on Wednesday morning. He served three decades in prison for providing top-secret information about the US to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted Pollard at the airport and offered him and his wife Israeli ID cards. Pollard’s […]

A pilot on a German-bound flight from the UK told non-German passengers aboard the Sunday flight they needed to get off the plane before it took off or face mandatory COVID-19 testing and a subsequent quarantine when they landed, according to audio published by BILD. The pilot first said passengers […]

Fears around a new, more transmissible variant of COVID-19 have prompted multiple countries to cancel flights from the UK. Denmark, The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Italy, France, Ireland, and Israel are among the nations that have placed restrictions on travel with the UK. Eurostar has cancelled all journeys between London, […]

New Zealand has secured two additional COVID-19 vaccines from the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca and Novavax. This brings the total up to four vaccine providers. The number of vaccine doses available to New Zealanders now far exceeds the population of five million people. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced that New […]

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro criticised the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Thursday. He suggested that the vaccine could result in strange side-effects, such as women growing beards and people turning into crocodiles, according to AFP. Bolsonaro has revealed that he does not intend to be vaccinated. Despite the president’s claim that Brazil […]