The rooms are filled with elderly residents, their hands wrinkled and backs bent. They shuffle slowly down the corridors, some using walkers. Workers help them bathe, eat, walk and take their medication. But this isn’t a nursing home – it’s Japan’s largest women’s prison. The population here reflects the aging society outside, and the pervasive problem of loneliness that guards ...

World leaders have been rushing to get on Donald Trump’s good side since his reelection as US president, arguably none more so than Ukraine. In his annual New Year address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had “no doubt that the new American president is willing and capable of achieving peace and ending Putin’s aggression,” in comments that embody his ...

Don’t let Israel’s approval of the Gaza ceasefire fool you: There are deep schisms in Israeli politics that could threaten the longevity of the deal. The ceasefire as agreed to in Qatar is set to last 42 days. Over that period, 33 hostages are expected to be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, there will be a slow ...

Donald Trump said he held a “very good” phone call with China’s President Xi Jinping, as the US-president elect prepares to return to the White House next week. “I just spoke to Chairman Xi Jinping of China,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. “It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately.” ...

Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, but he is sending Vice President Han Zheng as his special representative. The decision, announced Friday in China by the foreign ministry, came more than a month after Trump extended the unusual invitation to Xi, a break from tradition since no heads of state have previously made an official ...

Israel’s government approved a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas, paving the way for the agreement to take effect Sunday and potentially signalling a new chapter in a bloody 15-month conflict that has enflamed the Middle East. The 33-member cabinet deliberated for more than seven hours into early Saturday before green-lighting the agreement, according to a statement from Prime ...

Pope Francis has fallen over and injured his right arm but did not suffer any broken bones, the Vatican says. In a statement, the Holy See press office said that due to a fall Thursday morning in the Casa Santa Marta, the pope’s residence, the 88-year-old pontiff “suffered a contusion to his right forearm, without fracture.” The statement added that ...

A woman in Australia has been charged with poisoning a child and allegedly posting videos of the infant suffering online in order to garner viewers and donations, police said Thursday. The 34-year-old woman from the Sunshine Coast allegedly “administered several unauthorised prescription and pharmacy medicines to a one-year-old girl, who was known to her, without medical approval,” according to a ...

From Gaza to Greenland, the disruptive force of President-elect Donald Trump is being felt across the world, his incoming administration casting aside conventional diplomatic niceties in favor of an intensive global pressure campaign that already appears to be yielding results. In the Middle East, Trump quickly took credit for the Israel-Hamas hostage deal resulting from months of painstaking negotiations involving ...

Seoul, South Korea (AP) — Lawyers for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol failed in their court effort to secure his release on Thursday, a day after he was detained at his residence for questioning over rebellion allegations linked to his martial law declaration last month. Yoon was sent to a detention center near the country’s capital, Seoul, after ...