South Korea sets deadline for striking doctors to return to work
Officials say striking young doctors have until the end of February to return to work or risk being punished. South Korea’s government has given striking young doctors four days to report back to work, warning they will face indictment and suspension of medical licences if they do not return by the deadline. The ultimatum on Monday came as about 9,000 medical interns and residents stayed off the job to protest against a government plan to increase medical school admissions by about 65 percent. The work stoppages, which began last week, have severely hurt the operations of their hospitals, with numerous cancellations of surgeries and other treatments. Safety Minister Lee Sang-min said chaos was mounting in hospitals and emergency services had reached a “dangerous situation” due to the strikes. “Considering the gravity of the situation, the government issues the last plea,” he said. “If you return to the hospital you left behind by February 29, you won’t be held responsible for what has already happened,” he said. “We urge you to remember your voice will be heard loudly and most effectively when you are by the side of patients.” Government officials say adding more doctors is necessary to deal with South Korea’s rapidly ageing population. The country’s current doctor-to-patient ratio is among the lowest in the developed world. The young protesting doctors say the government should first address pay and working conditions before trying to increase the number of physicians. Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said those who do not return to work by the end of February will be punished with a minimum three-month suspension of their medical licences. He said they may also face further legal steps such as investigations and possible indictments. Under South Korea’s medical law, the government can issue back-to-work orders to doctors and other medical personnel when it sees grave risks to public health. Refusing to abide by such an order can bring up to three years in prison or 30 million won ($22,480) in fines, along with revocation of medical licences. There are about 13,000 medical interns and residents in South Korea, most working and training at 100 hospitals. They typically assist senior doctors during surgeries and deal with inpatients. They represent about 30 to 40 percent of total doctors at some leading hospitals. The Korea Medical Association, which represents about 140,000 doctors in South Korea, has said it supports the striking doctors but has not determined whether to join the trainee doctors’ walkouts. Senior doctors have held a series of rallies voicing opposition to the government’s plan. Earlier this month, the government announced universities would admit 2,000 more medical students starting next year from the current 3,058. The government says it aims to add up to 10,000 doctors by 2035. A public survey said about 80 percent of South Koreans back the government plan. Critics suspect doctors, among the best-paid professionals in South Korea, oppose the recruitment plan because they worry they would face greater competition and lower income. Striking doctors have said they worry doctors faced with increased competition would engage in overtreatment, burdening public medical expenses. Adblock test (Why?)
At least 15 killed in attack on Catholic church in Burkina Faso
Gunmen attacked a community as they gathered for prayers in the northern village of Essakane, church official says. At least 15 Catholic worshippers have been killed in a Burkina Faso village when gunmen attacked a community as they gathered for mass at a church in the country’s conflict-hit northern region, church officials said. Sunday’s violence in the village of Essakane was a “terrorist attack” that left 12 attendees dead at the scene, while three others died later as they were being treated for their wounds, according to a statement issued by Abbot Jean-Pierre Sawadogo, vicar-general of the Catholic Diocese of Dori, where the attack happened. He said two others were injured in the attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting. “In this painful circumstance, we invite you to pray for the rest in God for those who have died in faith, for the healing of the wounded and … for the conversion of those who continue to sow death and desolation in our country,” Sawadogo said in a statement. The shooting took place in a region where armed groups have carried out several attacks, some of which have targeted Christian churches while others have involved the abduction of clergy. About half of Burkina Faso is outside government control, as armed groups have ravaged the country for years. Fighters have killed thousands and displaced more than two million people, further threatening the stability of the nation, which experienced two coups in 2022. The country’s military rulers have struggled to restore peace in violent areas since the first coup in January 2022. The number of people killed by armed groups has nearly tripled compared with the 18 previous months, according to an August 2023 report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. In addition to the limited capacity of the military government, the security situation has been worsened by the country’s porous borders with Mali and Niger, both of which are also run by military officials and also struggle with security crises. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel’s military is targeting Palestinian police delivering aid to Gaza
The United States has called on Israel to stop attacking Palestinian police officers in Gaza. The administration of US President Joe Biden has called on Israel to stop attacking Palestinian police officers in the besieged Gaza Strip. The demand comes as the Israeli military is destroying infrastructure from the north to the south, including hospitals, schools, roads, communication networks and the water system. The widespread destruction is part of a deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza – with tens of thousands of people starving and heavy fighting continuing to take lives. Why is Israel systematically targeting all arms of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Gaza? And what does this mean for the future governance of the Gaza Strip? Presenter: Dareen Abughaida Guests:Chris Gunness – Former spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Walid Habbas – Researcher at the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies Sultan Barakat – Professor of Public Policy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University Adblock test (Why?)
Taliban releases Austrian far-right activist held in Afghanistan
Vienna says its national has arrived in Doha after mediation by the Qatari government helped secure his release. The Taliban has released Herbert Fritz, an 84-year-old Austrian far-right nationalist, who was arrested in Afghanistan last May. The Austrian government said in a statement on Sunday that Fritz arrived in Doha, Qatar earlier in the day after mediation by the Qatari government helped to secure his release. Fritz was arrested last year after defying Austria’s long-standing warning against travel to Afghanistan, which in 2021 returned to the rule of the Taliban. “I think it was bad luck but I want to visit again,” he told reporters on arrival in Doha, when asked about his ordeal. “There were some nice people but there were some foolish people also, I’m sorry,” Fritz added, describing his captors. After his arrest, Austria’s Der Standard newspaper said Fritz had gone to Afghanistan and reported positively on life there. He published an article titled “Vacations with the Taliban” via a far-right media outlet. This helped fuel anti-immigration arguments that Afghanistan was a safe country to which refugees could return, the newspaper said. The Taliban arrested him on suspicion of spying, and Austrian neo-Nazis made his case public via Telegram channels, Der Standard said. Austria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had been working to secure Fritz’s release since May, and thanked Qatar and the European Union representation in Kabul for assisting its efforts to bring about his return to Austria. A spokesperson for the Austrian ministry told the Associated Press news agency that Fritz had been held in a prison in Kabul. Writing on X, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer thanked the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his team for their “strong support in releasing one of our citizens from prison in Afghanistan”. “It is only due to our trusted collaboration that this Austrian citizen will be able to return home to his daughter and grandchildren,” Nehammer said. Fritz was a founding member of the country’s National Democratic Party (NDP), an extreme right group banned in 1988, according to Der Standard and other media outlets. Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, which has been leading in opinion polls ahead of parliamentary elections due later this year, had pressed for Fritz’s release. The party has said he was researching a book in Afghanistan. Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed gratitude on X for the “caretaker government in Afghanistan” for releasing the Austrian. “The State of Qatar has proven, regionally and globally, that it is a trusted international partner in various important issues,” the ministry said. “It spares no effort in harnessing its energy and ability in the areas of mediation, preventive diplomacy, and settling disputes through peaceful means.” Adblock test (Why?)
Watching the watchdogs: Biden, US media and Arab-American political power
Arab- and Muslim-Americans and some 60 percent of all Americans have wanted for months for US President Joe Biden to pressure Israel into accepting an immediate ceasefire in the war on Gaza. The White House has all but ignored them. So Arab- and Muslim-Americans decided to flex their political muscle by using their electoral power in critical swing states in this year’s presidential election. In December, community leaders from nine potential swing states met in Dearborn, Michigan under the slogan “Abandon Biden, ceasefire now”. They vowed not to vote for Biden in the November presidential polls unless he changes his policies that enable Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza, rob Palestinians of decent life conditions, and largely ignore the views of significant minority communities in the United States. The campaign quickly attracted support in Michigan and other states with large Arab-American communities, along with criticism from Biden supporters who feared that the campaign to pressure the president might inadvertently guarantee a Donald Trump victory. Arab- and Muslim-Americans intensified their campaign in February, when demeaning articles in the mainstream press helped mobilised even more community members. On February 2, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an op-ed by Steven Stalinsky, titled Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital, which alleged “Imams and politicians in the Michigan city side with Hamas against Israel and Iran against the US.” The article tarred the entire community as dangerous extremists. On the same day, a New York Times op-ed by Thomas Friedman metaphorically compared Middle Eastern countries and political actors to animals in the jungle, including trap-door spiders and wasps. Whatever these – and other offensive articles and cartoons – aimed to achieve, they inadvertently propelled Arab-American engagements in high-stakes electoral politics. The city of Dearborn, Michigan, singled out by name and smeared in the WSJ article, became ground zero for this effort. The Michigan community reached out to mobilise nationally with other marginalised communities that the White House has often ignored – notably African-Americans, Hispanics, progressive Jews, labourers, women, university students, and others. They joined hands because they share concerns about foreign policy as well as the White House’s domestic priorities and its opportunistic and self-serving citizen engagement. The activists demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the implementation of existing legal restrictions on the unconditional aid and arms the US has provided Israel for decades. They are fed up with being ignored by a White House that takes their votes for granted, as well as by the Democratic Party they have helped boost through voter-registration drives since the mid-1980s. They are also incredibly frustrated with mainstream, often racist, media that misrepresent, demean, and ignore them. I asked Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud this week why his town joins hands with other disgruntled American communities to impact national politics and foreign policy at the highest level. He said: “This is all about trust and respect between officials and citizens. We must end the discrepancy we see today between elected officials and the values of citizens. There are no possible justifications or qualifiers for genocide or killing babies and civilians on such a large scale. None at all.” In our conversation and his public statements, Hammoud spelled out how US foreign policy and media coverage directly impact ordinary citizens. “It’s personal for us, as some of our families have experienced Israeli occupation or wars, or volunteered in refugee camps,” he said. “When foreign policy decisions directly impact the wellbeing of Dearborn residents, it is irresponsible to walk away from difficult policy conversations that can lead to saving the lives of innocent men, women, and children.” Hammoud was clear on his community’s demands: “We want action, not words”. But so far, Arab- and Muslim-Americans have received mostly words. Worried about the “Abandon Biden” campaign, the president’s campaign staff approached local leaders to meet, but they refused. They insisted they wanted to talk with policymakers at the White House. And it worked. Biden quickly sent to Michigan several of his staffers, including Jon Finer, principal deputy national security adviser; Tom Perez, senior adviser to the president and director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs; and Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). But after the meetings, nothing changed yet again. The Arab- and Muslim-American community received more nice words, and no action. So as Biden maintained the flow of arms and money for Israel’s assault on Gaza, community leaders, including US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, decided to raise the stakes. They launched the “Listen to Michigan” campaign that asks “people of conscience” to list themselves as “uncommitted” in the presidential primary on Tuesday, February 27. This signals to Biden and the party that they must listen to citizens’ concerns, and earn their votes, or else risk losing in state and presidential elections. The community leaders and activists dare to do this because they enjoy unprecedented leverage from the size and distribution of Arab- and Muslim-American voters in swing states like Michigan, where elections are tightly contested. Michigan is home to more than 300,000 Arab-Americans. Trump won the state by less than 11,000 votes in 2016, and Biden in 2020 by 154,000 votes, including many cast by Arab-Americans. Biden also won by 10,500 votes in Arizona, which is home to 60,000 Arab Americans, and by 11,800 votes in Georgia, where 57,000 Arab-Americans live. Veteran Arab-American activist James Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute, told me that this burst of action builds on 40 years of community capacity-building across the country. It captures Arab-Americans’ mindset that “is moving from paralysis and despair in the early 1980s to today’s feeling that we can control our destiny.” The other partners in the informal coalition to change US policy add clout. Michigan’s large United Autoworkers Union has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, recalling how it had also opposed apartheid in South Africa. The African Methodist Episcopal Church has also demanded an immediate ceasefire and called the attacks on Gaza “mass genocide”. Progressive groups, such as US Senator Bernie Sanders’s
Palestinian woman buried under rubble calls for help after Israeli attack
NewsFeed A Palestinian woman used her phone to call a rescue team from under the rubble of her collapsed home following an Israeli attack on Gaza City. Published On 25 Feb 202425 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
With lives shattered by war, Ukrainian teens build new dreams
Two years ago, Ukrainian teenagers were busy with friendships, falling in love and trying out new things, just like their peers in other countries. But plans and dreams were quickly shattered by the Russian invasion that began on February 24, 2022, forcing many young people to flee their homes, friends and schools and build a new existence in a strange country. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian teens ended up in neighbouring Poland, some with their families and some without, among the millions of refugees who fled to other European countries. Nearly six million Ukrainians remain displaced outside the country, a World Bank study shows. Two years on, many of them have settled into new lives. But some struggle with anxiety, anger and despair, as well as a sense of limbo as they contemplate the possibility of returning to Ukraine one day if the conflict ends. Transitioning to adulthood can be a tough ride, and the danger and disruption caused by the war have made it harder. Marharyta Chykalova, who turns 17 in March, left her hometown of Kherson in southern Ukraine with her mother in April 2022 after sleeping in a basement for weeks – and fearing for her life – as Russian troops occupied the city. They fled to Moldova, then to Romania before settling in the Polish city of Gdynia. Marharyta started learning Polish, trying hard to fit in at her new Polish school, but the first six months were tough. She says she kept in contact with some of her closest friends at home, but felt lonely nevertheless. To help cope with depression, the soft-spoken student joined theatre classes that allowed her to express her emotions on stage and helped her make new friends. “Some people say that home is not a place where you live, but home is a place where you feel good,” she said. “I feel good on the stage, with people close to me. This is my home.” Around 165,000 Ukrainian teenagers between 13 and 18 years of age are registered as refugees in Poland, according to January data from the Office for Foreigners. Some gather at Blue Trainers, a community space in a shopping mall in Gdansk where they play board games, billiards and table tennis. Most of all, they connect with their Ukrainian and Polish peers. Signing up for sports was a particularly popular way of coping with the shock of the war among youngsters. Andrii Nonka, 15, from Kharkiv, arrived in Poland on his birthday, March 6, 2022, with his mother. His father stayed in Ukraine. Occasionally, he feels a strong desire to go back home to see his friends and father. Joining a boxing club helped him find new friends and now he looks at Poland increasingly as an opportunity to find a good job, possibly in IT. “I think because of the war, I have matured quicker,” Andrii said. “For now, it is hard to tell where my home is. For now, my home is in Ukraine.” Dariia Vynohradova, 17, also from Kharkiv, left her parents behind and says she no longer wants to return. “I don’t want to go back because Kharkiv is destroyed so much, there is nothing to go back to,” she said. “I will go back to visit my parents sometimes, but I want to stay here.” Adblock test (Why?)
Ukraine’s Umerov says delays in Western arms deliveries costing lives
Ukraine’s defence minister says delayed shipments of arms lead to losses of troops and territory. Half of promised Western military support to Ukraine fails to arrive on time, complicating the task of military planners and ultimately costing the lives of soldiers in Russia’s war, the Ukrainian defence minister has said. Speaking at the “Ukraine. Year 2024” forum in Kyiv on Sunday, Rustan Umerov stressed that each delayed aid shipment meant Ukrainian troop losses, and underscored Russia’s superior military might. It has been two years since Russia invaded Ukraine and while commemorations to mark the second anniversary brought expressions of continued support, new bilateral security agreements and new aid commitments from Ukraine’s Western allies, Umerov said that they still needed to deliver on their commitments if Kyiv was to have any chance of holding out against Moscow. “We look to the enemy: Their economy is almost $2 trillion, they use up to 15 percent official and nonofficial budget [funds] for the war, which constitutes over $100bn annually. So basically whenever a commitment doesn’t come on time, we lose people, we lose territory,” he said. In recent weeks, fighting has intensified on parts of the front line. On Sunday, Russian shelling and rocket strikes continued to pummel Ukraine’s south and east, as local Ukrainian officials reported that at least two civilians were killed and eight others were wounded in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces. Moscow and Kyiv also continued to trade nightly drone attacks, with Ukraine’s air defences shooting down 16 of 18 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched overnight by Moscow and a Russian drone on Sunday morning struck an unspecified facility in Ukraine’s western Khmelnytskyi region, the regional military administration reported without giving details. Russian troops also appeared to be pressing on west of Avdiivka, the strategic city whose capture this month handed Moscow a significant victory. Umerov and the Ukrainian military’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskii, toured front-line combat posts earlier Sunday amid a worsening ammunition shortage and dogged Russian attacks in the east. They heard from front-line troops and “thoroughly analysed” the battlefield situation on their visit, Syrskii said in a Telegram update. He did not specify where exactly he and Umerov went but said that “the situation is difficult” for Ukrainian troops and “needs constant control” along many stretches of the front. Europe has admitted it will fall far short of a plan to deliver more than one million artillery shells to Ukraine by March, instead hoping to complete the shipments by the end of the year. Umerov highlighted that such delays put Ukraine at a further disadvantage “in the mathematics of war” against Russia, which the West has said is increasingly building a war economy. Kyiv has also been weakened by the blocking of a vital $60bn US aid package amid political wrangling in the US Congress. US President Joe Biden said the hold-ups directly contributed to Ukraine being forced to withdraw from Avdiivka. On Sunday, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said he was “deeply convinced that the US will not abandon Ukraine in terms of financial, military and armed support”. Meanwhile at the forum in Kyiv, besides highlighting issues in military deliveries, Umerov insisted that Ukrainian forces were doing “everything that’s possible, and also what’s impossible, to secure a breakthrough” this year. The defence minister said that a “strong” military strategy is already in place for the coming months, but did not disclose details. Adblock test (Why?)
Oppenheimer wins big at Screen Actors Guild Awards, boosting Oscar hopes
Christopher Nolan’s historical epic picks up top honour for outstanding cast in advance of next month’s Oscars. Oppenheimer has picked up three prizes, including the top honour, at Hollywood’s Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, boosting the historical epic’s chances of grabbing the Oscar for best picture next month. Christopher Nolan’s portrayal of Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, won the award for best movie cast, historically a strong predictor for the Oscars, at the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles on Saturday. Cillian Murphy, who plays the titular character, won best movie actor, while co-star Robert Downey Jr picked up the best supporting actor trophy for playing his bitter rival. “This is extremely special to me because it comes from you guys,” Murphy said as he accepted his award. The ceremony was the first gala organised by SAG-AFTRA, which represents some 160,000 entertainment industry professionals, since the union held its longest-ever strike last year. The show was also streamed live on Netflix, a first for a Tinseltown ceremony. Kenneth Branagh, who plays Danish physicist Niels Bohr in Oppenheimer, recalled how the film’s cast staged a walkout from the London premiere last July as the strike was about to begin. “We happily went in the direction of solidarity with your good selves,” Branagh said. “So this, this is a full circle moment for us,” he said, to loud applause. Oppenheimer, which has already claimed prizes at the Golden Globes and the British Academy Film Awards, is the strong favourite for best picture going into the Oscars on March 11. The film has been nominated for 13 Oscars in total, including best director, best actor and best supporting actor, ahead of Yorgos Lanthimos’s steampunk fantasy Poor Things with 11 nods. At the past two SAG awards, all five top prizes predicted the eventual Oscar winners. Other winners on Saturday included Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, for which Lily Gladstone picked up the best actress prize, and The Holdovers, which earned Da’Vine Joy Randolph best supporting actress. Barbra Streisand, the winner of two Oscars and 10 Grammy awards, received a lifetime achievement award in recognition of her six-decade-long career in entertainment. Adblock test (Why?)
Two-month old Palestinian boy dies of hunger amid Israel’s war on Gaza
A two-month-old Palestinian boy has died from starvation in northern Gaza, according to media reports, days after the United Nations warned of an “explosion” in child deaths due to Israel’s war on the besieged enclave. The Shehab news agency said Mahmoud Fattouh died at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Friday. Footage, verified by Al Jazeera, shows the emaciated infant gasping for breath in a hospital bed. One of the paramedics who rushed the boy to the hospital says Mahmoud died from acute malnutrition. “We saw a woman carrying her baby, screaming for help. Her pale baby seemed to be taking his last breath,” the paramedic says in the video. “We rushed him to hospital and he was found to be suffering acute malnutrition. Medical staff rushed him into the ICU. The baby has not been fed any milk for days, as baby milk is totally absent in Gaza.” Mahmoud’s death came as the Israeli government – which launched its assault on Gaza following attacks by Hamas fighters in October – continues to ignore global appeals to allow more aid into the besieged enclave. The UN says some 2.3 million people in Gaza are now on the brink of famine. While Israel – which cut off all supplies of food, water and fuel into Gaza at the start of the war – has opened one entry point for humanitarian aid, agencies say stringent Israeli checks and protests by far-right Israeli protesters at the Kerem Shalom crossing have hampered the entry of food trucks. When the trucks do get through to Gaza, aid workers are not able to pick up supplies or distribute them amid a lack of security due to Israel’s targeted killings of Gaza policemen guarding the truck envoys. The situation is particularly desperate in northern Gaza, which has been almost completely cut off from aid since late October. Doctors there have reported a steep rise in malnutrition among children, especially newborns. Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the head of Kamal Adwan Hospital in north Gaza, described the health situation as “beyond catastrophic”. “Signs of weakness and paleness are apparent on newborns because the mother is malnourished,” Abu Safiya says. “Unfortunately many kids have died in the past weeks… if we don’t get the proper aid urgently, we will be losing more and more to malnutrition.” Head of Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza Dr Hussam Abu Safiya says that there is a steep rise in malnutrition cases amongst children, especially newborns ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/7sCwvI7aMM — Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 25, 2024 Despite the dire situation, UN agencies say they have not been able to deliver food to the area. The World Food Programme tried to resume deliveries to northern Gaza last week but announced a suspension two days later, citing Israeli gunfire and a “collapse of civil order”. It said its teams witnessed “unprecedented levels of desperation” in the north with hungry Palestinians mobbing trucks to get food. The agency said it was working to resume deliveries as soon as possible and called for better security for its staff as well as “significantly higher volumes of food” and the opening of crossing points for aid directly into northern Gaza from Israel. The UN has meanwhile warned of a steep rise in malnutrition among children as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza Strip, saying its assessments indicate that 15 percent, or one in six, children under two years of age in northern Gaza were acutely malnourished. “The Gaza Strip is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths, which would compound the already unbearable level of child deaths in Gaza,” said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF’s deputy executive director for humanitarian action, in a statement last week. “We’ve been warning for weeks that the Gaza Strip is on the brink of a nutrition crisis. If the conflict doesn’t end now, children’s nutrition will continue to plummet, leading to preventable deaths or health issues which will affect the children of Gaza for the rest of their lives and have potential intergenerational consequences,” he said. Before the war, only 0.8 percent of children under five in Gaza were considered acutely malnourished, the UN said. “Such a decline in a population’s nutritional status in three months is unprecedented globally.” Adblock test (Why?)