Janet Lam, now a 24-year-old university student, was eight during Hong Kong’s SARS outbreak between 2002 and 2003. Though many businesses were still open as normal, schools were closed for at least six weeks. Here, Lam reflects on how her mum kept her busy and learning during her time off […]

Russia said it sent medical equipment including 600 ventilators, military virologists, and epidemiologists, to Italy to help with its coronavirus outbreak. It also sent disinfectant and sterilization supplies, Italy’s La Stampa newspaper reported. Footage of the convoy going toward Bergamo, Italy’s hardest-hit region, was widely shared on social media. But […]

Russia is aggressively exploiting the confusion and panic in Western countries over the coronavirus pandemic, a new report by the European Union’s foreign policy analysis service has found. The report has not been made public, but was described to Business Insider by an intelligence official based in Belgium who tracks […]

Turkish forces decimated the Syrian army in a series of drone and F-16 strikes in rebel-held Idlib this weekend, leaving Bashar al-Assad’s forces unable to protect their frontline armour and artillery units. It’s part of Operation “Spring Shield,” a Turkish campaign to push against the Syrian advance in Idlib. Russia […]

Turkey appears to be relaxing its efforts to prevent Syrian refugees from leaving for Europe via land and sea crossings with Bulgaria and Greece. “We have decided, effectively immediately, not to stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe by land or sea,” an anonymous Turkish official told Reuters. Turkish news channels […]

Ex-Taliban fighters pledging allegiance to ISIS took over multiple villages in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province from 2015 to about 2019. The hardline fighters shut down schools and markets, and banned simple pleasures in life, like driving and listening to music. In Achin, only eight of the region’s 42 schools still […]

Police in France believe they have identified the man who killed anti-Putin blogger Imran Aliev in France last month. A source told Insider that the man – whom authorities refuse to name – travelled to Germany, then flew to Moscow. Investigators think Aliev’s death is linked to Ramzan Kadyrov, the […]

Syrian troops killed five Turkish soldiers in northern Syria Monday, the latest escalation between the two nations in an increasingly tense fight. Russian and Turkish diplomats had begun meeting Monday in Ankara for emergency talks to de-escalate an already tense standoff between Syrian and Turkish forces. The battle is for […]

French police believe the killing of a Chechen opposition blogger in a French hotel last week was “politically motivated,” an official briefed on the case told Business Insider. Imran Aliev, a 44-year-old blogger who was vocally opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, died when […]

AeBeZe Labs has patented “digital pharmaceuticals” and has a development contract with the US Air Force. These systems could one day be used to monitor troops in space. The technology keeps a record of the user’s emotional changes throughout the day, and according to AeBeZe’s patent will eventually be able […]

Iran says it will pursue war-crimes charges against President Donald Trump at the International Criminal Court in the Hague over this month’s assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani. A legal expert told Insider that Iran would have a good chance of winning any case at the ICC. The US has defended […]

Iran is doubling down on the success of last summer’s cruise missile attack on two Saudi oil facilities by positioning advanced weapons around the Middle East from Yemen to Lebanon, a NATO source told Business Insider. “The Iranians learned that they have a longer leash for conducting operations against the […]

K-pop’s squeaky-clean image was further marred this week by the sudden death of Goo Hara, reportedly of attempted suicide, and after two K-pop stars, Jung Joon-young and Choi Jong-hoon, were found guilty of gang raping a drunk, unconscious woman. In November, Insider published a story of the dark side of […]

Nine students at the University of Southern California have died this semester. Four of the 9 deaths are believed to have been caused by drug or alcohol overdoses. USC Vice President of Student Affairs sent a warning letter to students about the dangers of opioid use. It’s an issue that […]

I recently boarded a two-hour flight on China United Airlines, a domestic budget airline that used to be a branch of the People’s Liberation Air Force in the 1980s. I was impressed by the shiny new Beijing airport from which I departed, the leg room, and the flight’s punctuality. However, […]

Snake charming is a centuries-old tradition among the Bedia people of India. Charmers say they provide an essential service to locals by handling and removing snakes in the area. But many argue snake charming is cruel to animals. And officials in the country have outlawed the practice, leaving many Bedia […]

US troops leaving Syria for Iraq hit a hurdle Tuesday after Iraq said it hadn’t given permission for them to regroup there. US defence secretary Mark Esper said Monday troops would be re-stationed along the Iraq-Syria border, with a mission to secure oil fields and monitor ISIS activity. But the […]

President Donald Trump’s claim that he has “secured the oil” in Syria as the US withdraws troops from the country is incorrect, and US forces are scrambling to figure out how to protect key oil fields in the country, both US and Kurdish officials say. Trump tweeted Sunday that the […]

US officials who negotiated a ceasefire deal in Syria with Turkey caved in to nearly all its demands, a NATO official told Business Insider. The deal saw Turkey agree to a ceasefire in Syria in exchange for Kurdish forces withdrawing from the border region and US ending sanctions imposed earlier […]

China opened its new international airport to great fanfare in late September. Beijing Daxing International is the largest single-terminal airport in the world. The project cost $US63 billion and took four years to build. I travelled through the airport and experienced the futuristic architecture and state-of-the-art facilities first-hand earlier this […]

One thousand elite US troops are leaving their posts in northeastern Syria after President Donald Trump told them to withdraw. Sources told Business Insider that the troops were struggling to get out of a fast-moving situation in which control of roads and settlements keeps shifting. The situation is compounded by […]

Turkish threats to send millions of Syrian refugees to Europe’s doorstep if it is sanctioned or condemned for its military intervention in northeast Syria are credible, European and Turkish security officials told Business Insider Friday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to flood Europe with Syrian refugees if EU […]

Demetrick Jones, of Jacksonville, Florida, was beaten, bound, and dragged naked for more than two blocks last month. Police have not ruled the attack a hate crime, but friends of Jones say that while he didn’t identify as transgender, he often dressed in women’s clothes. Jacksonville was dubbed “America’s transgender […]