News in Brief-(2024-03-06)

South Korea begins licence suspension
process against striking doctors
SEOUL, Mar 05: South Korea said Tuesday it would start notifying striking trainee doctors that their medical licences would be suspended, as it moves to punish medics who have quit hospitals in protest at training reforms. Thousands of junior doctors handed in their resignation notice and stopped working two weeks ago to protest against an increase in medical school admissions from next year which the government says is meant to help combat shortages and meet the demands of an ageing society. — AFP
Taiwan for talks with China sans conditions
TAIPEI, Mar 05: Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council on Tuesday urged China to accept the fact that the two sides are not subordinate to each other, after Beijing hardened its stance on the island in a government work report. Taiwan also urged China to create healthy cross-strait exchanges and interaction via dialogue without political preconditions, the council said in a statement responding to the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament. — Reuters
Iran executions highest since 2015
PARIS, Mar 05: Iran executed at least 834 people last year, the highest number since 2015, as capital punishment in the Islamic republic surged to a "staggering" level, human rights groups said on Tuesday. The number of executions, which Iran has always carried out by hanging in recent years, was up some 43 percent on 2022. It marked only the second time in two decades that more than 800 executions were recorded in a year, after 972 executions in 2015, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said in the joint report. — AFP
Blast shakes security base in Afghanistan
FAIZABAD, Mar 05: A blast shook a Taliban military base next to the airport in Faizabad, the capital of Afghanistan's northeastern Badakhshan province, a government official said on Tuesday. The Taliban official confirmed on condition of anonymity that an explosion had occurred at the base but would not provide further details. — AFP