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By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s prime minister pleaded on Sunday with doctors not to take people’s lives hostage, a day before scores of trainee doctors are expected to quit to protest a plan to increase medical school admissions and the number of physicians. Trainee doctors at the country’s five biggest hospitals, all …

South Korea PM asks doctors not to quit over planned medical student increase Read More »

By Panarat Thepgumpanat and Panu Wongcha-um BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand’s billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was released on parole on Sunday after six months in detention, his first day of freedom in his homeland 15 years after fleeing in the wake of his overthrow in a military coup. Thailand’s best-known and most polarising premier, the …

Thai tycoon Thaksin tastes freedom in homeland, 15 years after fleeing Read More »

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s controversial billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was released on parole on Sunday after serving six months in detention. Here is a timeline of his political career. 1998 Thaksin founds the Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party. 2001 Thaksin is elected prime minister, expanding spending on healthcare, rural development and …

Thaksin Shinawatra: Ousted Thai PM’s life in politics Read More »

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi warned the West that it would be making a historical mistake if it sought to decouple from China in the interests of reducing risk. “Whoever tries de-sinicization in the name of de-risking would be making a historical mistake,” Wang said in a speech on Saturday at the …

China foreign minister warns against decoupling at Munich Security Conference Read More »

By Kantaro Komiya TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan successfully launched its new H3 flagship rocket on Saturday, putting its space programme back on track after multiple setbacks including the failure of the rocket’s inaugural flight last year. The launch also marks a second straight win for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) after its lunar lander, SLIM, …

Japan successfully launches next-generation H3 rocket after failure last year Read More »

BANGKOK (Reuters) -Jailed former Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra will be released from hospital detention on Sunday, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said. Billionaire political heavyweight Thaksin, 74, who was Thailand’s prime minister from 2001-2006, has been in detention since August, after making a dramatic homecoming from 15 years in self-exile overseas to avoid prison for a …

Jailed former Thai premier Thaksin to be released on Sunday, PM says Read More »

(Reuters) -British Foreign Minister David Cameron met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, the UK Foreign Office said in a statement. Cameron told his counterpart that China should use its influence on Iran to pressure the Houthi militants over their actions in the Red Sea, the statement on Saturday …

UK’s Cameron raises Red Sea, human rights issues with Chinese counterpart Read More »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee said on Friday he supported funding for U.S.-allied Pacific Island nations as a way to counter the influence of China, and would push to include them in any supplemental security aid bill. “That’s such a critical part of our countering …

Eyeing China, senior US lawmaker vows to back funding for Pacific islands Read More »