SOUTH KOREA
Doctors facing suspension
Seoul yesterday said it would take steps to suspend the licenses of striking trainee doctors who have defied orders to return to work in a standoff over medical training reforms. About 9,000 junior doctors walked out nearly two weeks ago to protest against an increase in medical school admissions from next year. The strikers defied a government deadline on Thursday last week for them to return to work or face legal action, including possible arrest or suspension of their licenses. Despite repeated government appeals, the number returning to work “has been minimal,” Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo told a news conference. “Starting today the government is enforcing legal measures,” he said, adding that inspections at hospitals nationwide were to be conducted yesterday to find out who had returned or not.
South KOREA
N Korea targets chip firms
North Korean hacking groups have broken into at least two makers of chipmaking equipment, as Pyongyang looks to evade sanctions and produce its own chips for weapons programs, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said yesterday. The NIS said local firms had been a key target of North Korean hackers since late last year, and called for tougher security. North Korea penetrated the servers of two companies in December and last month, stealing product design drawings and photographs of their facilities, it said. “We believe that North Korea might possibly be preparing to produce its own semiconductors in the face of difficulties in procuring them due to sanctions,” it said in a statement. Also driving the North’s efforts could be higher demand from its satellite, missile and other weapons programs, it added.
INDIA
Police hunt tourist’s rapists
Three Indian men have appeared in court after the gang rape of a Spanish tourist on a motorbike trip with her husband, with police hunting four other suspects, reports said yesterday. The attack took place on Friday night in Jharkhand state’s Dumka district, where the couple were camping. Seven men are accused of carrying out the assault. “We have formed a team to hunt the remaining suspects,” senior local police officer Pitamber Singh Kherwar said. On Sunday, three accused were seen being escorted into court with sacks on their heads by police officers holding ropes tied around their waists. The three were later remanded in custody. The Spanish woman and her husband were also in court. Kherwar said a special team including forensic officers had been formed to scour the scene of the attack, while another team was hunting more suspects.
INDIA
Drivers busy with cricket
The drivers of a train that missed a signal and plowed into another train, killing 14 people, were distracted because they were watching cricket on a phone, Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said yesterday. The fatal collision in Andhra Pradesh state in October took place as hosts India played England during the one-day international Cricket World Cup. “The recent case in Andhra Pradesh happened because both the loco-pilot and co-pilot were distracted by the cricket match,” Vaishnaw said in a Press Trust of India report. “Now we are installing systems which can detect any such distraction.” Separately, officials sacked the station master and three other employees after a runaway freight train traveled 70km without a driver last month, the Hindustan Times reported.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
RSS