Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro accused the country’s supreme court of persecuting him on Saturday after his appeal against a travel ban was rejected.

Speaking at the airport in Brasilia, Bolsonaro, who had called on the Supreme Court to reconsider a previous decision barring him from traveling to the United States to attend the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, said he was facing “huge political persecution by one person.”

Bolsonaro’s lawyers had filed an appeal late on Thursday claiming the right-wing politician had fully complied with and respected the precautionary measures imposed on him by the Supreme Court, and also rejected any possibility of him fleeing.

But Justice Alexandre de Moraes hours later upheld an earlier ruling rejecting the former president’s request to have his passport returned, a document seen by Reuters showed.

Bolsonaro was at the airport to bid farewell to his wife Michelle who will attend Trump’s inauguration.

Bolsonaro, who has been barred from running for office until 2030 and faces criminal charges for allegedly plotting a coup after his 2022 election defeat, had his passport taken in February 2024 on the order of Brazil’s top court.

Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022 and has been called “Trump of the Tropics,” said on Saturday that he had been invited to Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

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 say is so acute for some elderly prisoners that they’d prefer to stay incarcerated.

The women in Tochigi live behind bars and must work in the prison’s factories, but that suits some just fine.

Inside they get regular meals, free healthcare and eldercare – along with the companionship they lack on the outside.

One inmate, Yoko, 51, has been imprisoned on drug charges five times over the last 25 years. Each time she returns, the prison population seems to get older, she said.

Struggling in isolation

Akiyo knows the burden of isolation and poverty too well. This is her second stint in prison, after being previously jailed in her 60s for stealing food.

“If I had been financially stable and had a comfortable lifestyle, I definitely wouldn’t have done it,” she said.

When she committed her second theft, Akiyo was living off a “very small” pension that was only paid every two months. With less than $40 left and two weeks until her next payment, “I made a poor decision and shoplifted, thinking it would be a minor issue,” she said. Her prior conviction meant that she was imprisoned.

With little family support, Akiyo had stopped caring about the future, or what would happen to her.

Her 43-year-old son, who lived with her before she was imprisoned, often told her: “I wish you’d just go away.”

“I felt like I didn’t care what happened anymore,” she said. “I thought, ‘There’s no point in me living,’ and ‘I just want to die.’”

Theft is by far the most common crime committed by elderly inmates, especially among women. In 2022, more than 80% of elderly female inmates nationwide were in jail for stealing, according to government figures.

Some do it for survival – 20% of people aged over 65 in Japan live in poverty, according to the OECD, compared to an average of 14.2% across the organization’s 38 member countries. Others do it because they have so little left on the outside.

“There are people who come here because it’s cold, or because they’re hungry,” said Shiranaga, the prison guard.

Those who fall ill “can get free medical treatment while they are in prison, but once they leave, they have to pay for it themselves, so some people want to stay here as long as possible.”

Can Japan fill the gap?

Across Japan, the number of prisoners aged 65 or older nearly quadrupled from 2003 to 2022 – and it’s changed the nature of incarceration.

“Now we have to change their diapers, help them bathe, eat,” Shiranaga said. “At this point, it feels more like a nursing home than a prison full of convicted criminals.”

“Even after they are released and return to normal life, they don’t have anybody to look after them,” she said. “There are also people who have been abandoned by their families after repeatedly committing crimes, they have no place to belong.”

Authorities have acknowledged the issue, with the welfare ministry saying in 2021 that elderly inmates who received support after leaving prison were far less likely to re-offend than those who didn’t. The ministry has since ramped up its early intervention efforts and community support centers to better support vulnerable elderly, it said.

The Ministry of Justice has also launched programs for female inmates that provide guidance on independent living, substance addiction recovery, and how to navigate family relationships.

The government is now considering proposals to make housing benefits accessible to more elders, with 10 municipalities across Japan already testing initiatives to support elderly people with no close relatives.

But it’s not clear whether that will be enough, in a country with one of the world’s longest lifespans and lowest birthrates.

The elderly population is ballooning so fast that Japan will require 2.72 million care workers by 2040, according to the government – which is now scrambling to encourage more people to enter the industry, and to import foreign workers to fill the gaps.

That’s evident in Tochigi, where officers “actively ask (inmates) with nursing qualifications to provide nursing care” for other elderly prisoners, Megumi said.

Yoko, the 51-year-old inmate, is one such caregiver, having gotten her qualifications during her last sentence. Now, when there aren’t enough prison staff caring for the elderly, she helps other inmates bathe, change their clothes and move around, she said.

All the while, prisons continue filling up with white-haired inmates.

“Being alone is a very difficult thing, and I feel ashamed that I ended up in this situation,” she added. “I really feel that if I had a stronger will, I could have led a different life, but I’m too old to do anything about it now.”

A Pakistani court on Friday sentenced the country’s already-imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife to 14 and seven years in jail after finding them guilty of corruption, officials and his lawyer said.

The couple are accused of accepting a gift of land from a real estate tycoon in exchange for laundered money when Khan was in power.

Prosecutors say the businessman, Malik Riaz, was then allowed by Khan to pay fines that were imposed on him in another case from the same laundered money of 190 million British pounds ($240 million) that was returned to Pakistan by British authorities in 2022 to deposit to the national exchequer.

Khan has denied wrongdoing and insisted since his arrest in 2023 that all the charges against him are a plot by rivals to keep him from returning to office.

Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April 2022, had previously been convicted on charges of corruption, revealing official secrets and violating marriage laws in three separate verdicts and sentenced to 10, 14 and seven years respectively. Under Pakistani law, he is to serve the terms concurrently — meaning, the length of the longest of the sentences.

This is a developing story.

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 visit to the US for the inauguration.

“We stand ready to work with the new US government to enhance dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly pursue a stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relations and find the right way for the two countries to get along with each other,” the ministry’s spokesperson said when announcing the decision.

Other foreign leaders have spoken about being invited to Trump’s inauguration, including Argentinian President Javier Milei and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. The offices of Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña have also said they were invited and were planning to attend.

Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center, said the move by Xi means “China is willing to forego protocol and cater to what Trump wants.”

“It indicates that China is willing to talk, negotiate and make efforts to reach deals,” Sun wrote.

Danny Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Beijing is hedging by sending Han instead of Xi.

“Zero chance that Xi Jinping would allow himself to be potted plant at Donald Trump’s triumphal coronation. At the same time, ensuring that China extends enough courtesy to avoid bruising Trump’s ego,” Russel wrote. Han’s mission, the former American diplomat said, is “symbolic, not substantive.”

The dispatch of Han comes as the US-China rivalry is set to intensify. Several of Trump’s nominees for key Cabinet positions are known China hawks, including Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who’s nominated as secretary of state. Rubio called China “the most potent, dangerous and near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted” during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, when members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged Rubio to make countering China a top priority.

Beijing prefers leader-level talks, which it believes could help guide the bilateral relations, while Trump likes to deal with world leaders directly.

As president, Xi has traveled abroad for state visits and summits. But he did not attend the coronation of King Charles III, nor did he go to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II or the memorial service for Nelson Mandela. Instead, he sent vice presidents. Han was his special representative for King Charles III’s coronation. When Trump invited Xi to the inauguration in December, it was widely believed that Xi was unlikely to come.

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.”

Trump said the pair discussed trade, fentanyl, TikTok and other subjects, and that the call was “very good” for both countries.

“President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!” he wrote.

In a readout from China’s Foreign Ministry, Xi said he and Trump “attach great importance to mutual interactions,” and “hope for a good start of the China-US relationship” during Trump’s second term.

The phone call, believed to be the first between the pair since Trump left office after his first term, comes during a tense moment in Washington-Beijing relations.

Swiftly after the call, the US Supreme Court ruled that a controversial ban on TikTok can take effect on Sunday, rejecting an appeal from the popular app that claimed the ban violated the First Amendment.

Earlier, China’s Foreign Ministry said that Xi would skip Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Instead, Vice President Han Zheng will attend the ceremony in Washington, DC, as Xi’s special representative.

Xi sent Trump a message of congratulations after his reelection in November, telling him that the US and China “stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation,” and said he hoped the two countries could find a way ‘to get along with each other.”

In an interview with NBC following his reelection, Trump said he got along “very well” with Xi during his time in office.

But Trump’s rhetoric has not always been so amicable. As a candidate, Trump pledged to slap 60% tariffs on all goods coming in from China. As president-elect, he has tempered his claims, threatening to raise tariffs on Chinese goods by an additional 10% until Beijing prevents the flow of illegal drugs to the US.

Trump’s cabinet picks also comprise several prominent China hawks, including Marco Rubio, tapped for secretary of state and currently sanctioned by Beijing, and Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News host tapped for defense secretary who has warned China is bent on defeating the US and achieving global domination.

A complicating factor, however, is Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of the electric vehicle giant Tesla, which makes more than half its cars in China. Musk is often invited to meet Chinese officials on his trips there.

Echoing some of Beijing’s talking points, Musk has previously said the two countries can maintain a “win-win” relationship, in a sharp break from Trump’s more zero-sum attitude.

Despite pointing to the prospects for cooperation, Xi told Trump that it is “natural for two big countries with different national conditions to have some disagreements,” singling out “the Taiwan question.”

Beijing has repeatedly stressed that it views Taiwan as a breakaway territory that must be “unified” with the mainland, and that it is willing to use force if necessary.

Trump was seen as a friend to Taiwan during his first term, but his rhetoric has since hardened. On the campaign trail, Trump claimed the self-ruling democracy should pay the US more for “protection” and that it had “stolen” America’s chip business.

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 withdrawal of the Israeli military from urban centers in Gaza and a surge of humanitarian aid.

But it is very much not a permanent end to the war, nor does it guarantee freedom for the 65 hostages who would remain in Gaza at the end of this first phase – many of whom are likely dead. That is yet to be negotiated, starting by day 16 of the truce.

Whether any of it comes to pass may be dictated by the vagaries of Israeli politics. The deal to which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed is remarkably similar to a proposal he railed against for almost a year.

“We haven’t committed to any of the delusional demands of Hamas,” the Israeli prime minister said in February last year. “I told (US Secretary of State) Antony Blinken we are nearly there with complete victory.”

The proposal he was criticizing would have seen a multi-stage ceasefire, the phased withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. That happens to be the exact thing to which Netanyahu has now agreed.

Though Hamas is undeniably weakened, Israel has not achieved the “complete victory” that Netanyahu long promised. “We assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it is lost,” Blinken said this week.

Netanyahu’s extremist allies in government are confused by his sudden about-face.

“I love Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and will make sure that he continues to be prime minister,” Itamar Ben Gvir, the national security minister, said in a statement Friday morning. “But I will leave (government) because the deal that was signed is disastrous.”

Ben Gvir has said that his Jewish Power party will withdraw from the governing coalition if the ceasefire and hostage deal goes through. His departure would not by itself be enough to topple the government. And he could well return – it will be hard to step away from power for a man who not long ago was on the very fringes of politics, having been convicted of inciting terrorism and considered so extreme that the Israeli military rejected him from service.

But what could topple the government is if Ben Gvir is joined by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in withdrawing from Netanyahu’s coalition. Smotrich, also an extreme right-wing nationalist, wants to make sure that the peace in Gaza is not permanent, and that Israel goes back to war after the 42-day ceasefire that is expected to see 33 hostages released.

While Smotrich’s departure would break Netanyahu’s coalition, his government could be saved by his rival, Yair Lapid of the opposition Yesh Atid party, who has offered a political lifeline to the prime minister by supporting him in the legislature. That means that Lapid would hold a sword over Netanyahu’s neck, could collapse the government and bring about an election whenever he chooses – a threat the prime minister will surely do anything to avoid.

It is unclear whether Netanyahu has given Smotrich any promises to secure his support – solving today’s crisis is more important than solving tomorrow’s. He is clearly keen for it, having met with Smotrich twice in the hours leading up to the ceasefire announcement in Qatar. President Biden said Wednesday “the plan says if negotiations take longer than six weeks, the ceasefire will continue, as long as the negotiations continue.” But were Israel to begin bombing on day 43, the agreement would collapse.

In the hours after the Qatari prime minister announced the agreement on Wednesday, Netanyahu’s office sent a cascade of press releases accusing Hamas of reneging on promises to give Israel a veto over some Palestinian prisoners due to be released.

The statements made clear that he was being tough by telling his team to stand firm. Those 11th-hour hitches may have been real – though Hamas denies it. But the very public chest-beating crediting the prime minister’s “firm stance” was surely intended to placate the domestic, far-right audience. Once the differences were bridged, the cabinet appeared to fast-track its approval – moving a planned Saturday meeting to the final hours of Friday.

Another factor may also be at the center of Netanyahu’s capitulation to this initial ceasefire: incoming American president Donald Trump.

His self-styled image as the American president who ends foreign wars will surely bring an enormous amount of pressure on Netanyahu to stay with the agreement, for which Trump has taken credit and dubbed “EPIC.”

Netanyahu was able to ignore President Joe Biden’s overtures, confident that he had an even more steadfast ally, Trump, waiting in the wings.

Now he has no such luxury.

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 Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

Approved earlier by Israel’s smaller security cabinet after being thrashed out by negotiators in Doha, the deal will pause the fighting in Gaza, and lead to the release of dozens of Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

It also offers an opportunity for humanitarian workers to shuttle much-needed aid into the battered enclave, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are starving, according to the United Nations, and living conditions are dire.

Sunday’s ceasefire will take effect at 8:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. ET), a spokesperson for the Qatari foreign ministry Majed Al Ansari said in a statement on X. Qatar has been one of the key mediators in brokering the deal.

It will be the second ceasefire since the war started on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched an attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. The military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians and injured more than 110,000 in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its figures.

Though Israel’s Supreme Court will still hear appeals by Israelis opposing freedom for any Palestinian prisoners slated for release, that process is not expected to delay the start of the ceasefire.

Three female Israeli civilian hostages held in Gaza are expected to be released on the first day, according to two US officials. Ninety-five Palestinian prisoners are set to be released Sunday beginning after 4 p.m. local time Sunday, Israel’s Ministry of Justice said.

Hamas and its allies still hold 94 people taken from Israel 15 months ago. At least 34 of them are dead, according to the Israeli government, though the true number is expected to be higher.

All but 10 of the 94 hostages are Israeli or dual citizens, while eight are from Thailand, one is from Nepal, and one is from Tanzania, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

Negotiations for the second and third phases of the ceasefire will begin on the 16th day of the implementation of the deal, according to an Israeli official.

A joint operations room will be established in Cairo to monitor the implementation of the deal and will include representatives from Egypt, Qatar, the United States, Israel, and Palestinian officials, according to Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera News, citing a senior Egyptian official.

Humanitarian relief

Under the deal, humanitarian aid into Gaza will be ramped up to 600 trucks per day, a significant increase from the 614 truckloads of aid that entered Gaza in the first two weeks of January, according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Hundreds of aid trucks carrying food, clothing, medical supplies and other relief materials, are lined up at the Rafah border crossing in anticipation of the deal going into effect Sunday, Al Qahera News reported. The trucks came from various areas of the Egyptian region of North Sinai, and some have been waiting for months, the news outlet said.

However, the United Nations warned Thursday the increased aid allotment would be “only a start” in addressing the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

The breakthrough in talks has inspired fresh – yet cautious – hope among the families of Israeli hostages still trapped in Gaza, many of whom do not know if their relatives are dead or alive.

The start of the ceasefire Sunday will be a reprieve for Gazans who have endured 15 months of relentless Israeli strikes, which have reduced much of the enclave to rubble.

Scenes of jubilation emerged across Gaza shortly after mediator Qatar announced Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had come to the agreement, though Israel’s bombardment has ramped up in the days since.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 100 people since the ceasefire deal was announced, including 30 children, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense.

The first ceasefire, in November 2023, lasted about a week. In that period, 105 hostages being held by Hamas – primarily women, children and elderly people – were released, while Israel released about 240 Palestinian prisoners from its jails.

Netanyahu faced major political fallout ahead of the cabinet meeting to approve the deal, with two far-right parties threatening to quit the government if the deal went through – a move that could cause the prime minister to lose his majority in the Knesset, or parliament.