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Ukrainian rescuers evacuate elderly and infirm as Russians close in

Toretsk, Ukraine Reuters Anzhelika Sharonova and her 86-year-old mother held out in their battered eastern Ukrainian town for as long as they could before finally fleeing this week with just a few bags between them. Russian forces are steadily advancing north and south of Toretsk as they press on multiple parts of the eastern front, […]

Biological pattern

I’ve now lived long enough to notice a biological pattern to life – if things go to script. GRAPHIC: leremy/iStockphoto The first part of life, your parents nurture you, hopefully helping you become a well-adjusted adult. Then you nurture your own children, hopefully realising just how important this is before they’ve left home. Then there […]

Silver lining: Tutoring the elderly is growing fast in China

Hong Kong/Beijing, China Reuters China’s rapidly aging population is fuelling a promising and fast-growing market for companies providing recreational classes and activities for the elderly middle class, from yoga to African drumming and smartphone photography. The growth potential of the industry contrasts sharply with the decline of the after-school private tutoring sector following a government […]

Aged care

Teen hands holding elderly couple with walking sticks in heart shape, older people mental health, age care concept

Did you know Australia has the leading rate of aged incarceration in the world? GRAPHIC: SewcreamStudio/iStockphoto I’m not talking about putting our aged into jails, I’m talking about putting them into care. At first this sounds good – how rich are we that we can house all our elderly in specialised houses of care? But when […]

Older people account for a third of Ukraine’s war victims – UN

Elderly people walk in the city centre after a 58-hour curfew, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kherson, Ukraine, on 8th May, 2023.

London, UK Reuters Older people have suffered and died at a disproportionately high rate since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a UN report showed on Wednesday, with some perishing because they were barred from fetching medicines or leaving basements. The report compiled by UN human rights monitors showed that about a third of the civilians killed […]