SOUTH KOREA
Senior doctors to quit
A group of senior doctors yesterday said that they would resign starting March 25 in support of junior medics in a nearly month-long strike over government training reforms that has plunged hospitals into chaos. Representatives of medical professors at 20 universities — who are also senior doctors at general hospitals — held a meeting late on Friday, with those at 16 institutions “overwhelmingly in favor” of supporting their junior colleagues, said Bang Jae-seung, head of the group. Professors at “each university have decided to voluntarily submit resignation letters starting from March 25th,” Bang told reporters yesterday. However, “we have reached a consensus that until the resignation is finalized, each individual should do their best in the treatment of patients in their respective positions, just as they have done so far,” he added. Bang did not disclose the exact number of professors expected to walk off the job on March 25.
FIJI
China police deal to stay
The country would maintain a policing cooperation deal with China after a review of the agreement, the Guardian Australia news site reported on Friday. “We are now back on the original police agreement [with China] — that has been restored. We had reviewed it for 12 months,” Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration Pio Tikoduadua was quoted as saying. Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka put on hold the decade-old police cooperation deal between Fiji and China shortly after forming a government in December 2022, citing differences in policing, investigations and legal systems. Guardian Australia reported that Tikoduadua said “there will only be Fijian officers training in China and no embedding of Chinese officers in the Fiji police force.”
THAILAND
Cannabis faces partial ban
Thodsapol Hongtong is enjoying a smoke with his friends at the “Green Party,” a venue where recreational cannabis enthusiasts meet in Bangkok to chat and have a good time, but it is a pastime that might be coming to an end. The booming cannabis sector is estimated to be worth US$1.2 billion by next year, the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce has said. However, the government is looking to stamp out cannabis culture with a ban on its recreational use to be rolled out by the end of the year. Medical use would still be permitted. Minister of Public Health Cholnan Srikaew last month described recreational marijuana as a “misuse” of cannabis that has a negative impact on Thai children and could lead to other drug abuses. The draft law banning recreational use of cannabis is be up for cabinet approval later this month.
UNITED STATES
Judge delays Trump trial
The New York judge presiding over former president Donald Trump’s trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs on Friday ordered a delay in proceedings that had been scheduled to start on March 25. “Trial on this matter is adjourned for 30 days from the date of this letter on consent of the People,” Judge Juan Merchan said in a court filing that would push the trial to at least the middle of next month. The exact date would be determined at a hearing on March 25 that would also address complaints by the defense team about the disclosure of evidence ahead of trial, the letter said. Prosecutors preparing to try Trump on Thursday said they would accept a delay of up to 30 days after both sides received a deluge of case documents.
The Burmese junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son said he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing. In an interview in Tokyo earlier this week, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held incommunicado in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after a 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government and sparked a civil war. She is serving a
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
‘EAST SHIELD’: State-run Belma said it would produce up to 6 million mines to lay along Poland’s 800km eastern border, and sell excess to nations bordering Russia and Belarus Poland has decided to start producing anti-personnel mines for the first time since the Cold War, and plans to deploy them along its eastern border and might export them to Ukraine, the deputy defense minister said. Joining a broader regional shift that has seen almost all European countries bordering Russia, with the exception of Norway, announce plans to quit the global treaty banning such weapons, Poland wants to use anti-personnel mines to beef up its borders with Belarus and Russia. “We are interested in large quantities as soon as possible,” Deputy Minister of National Defense Pawel Zalewski said. The mines would be part
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