- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
S. Korea's Supreme Court dismisses doctors' bid to halt reforms
South Korea's highest court rejected on Wednesday a request by medical students and doctors to halt a government plan to train more physicians, while senior medics have joined a months-long strike.
Thousands of trainee doctors stopped working on February 20, protesting against government plans to increase medical school quotas.
The ongoing strike has caused disruptions in hospitals and forced delays or cancellations of key treatments, including chemotherapy.
Last month, the government finalised an admission quota hike of around 1,500 for medical schools for 2025, which it says will tackle shortages of doctors and a rapidly ageing population.
Senior doctors at the country's key medical institution, the Seoul National University Hospital, as well as its branches, began an indefinite walkout on Monday in response to the plan.
A lower court ruled in favour of the government in May, and the Supreme Court upheld that decision and dismissed the doctors' and students' request on Wednesday.
If the reform is "halted in a situation where there is a forecast of a shortage of doctors in the future", it may cause "significant disruption to the increase in medical school quotas, which plays a crucial role in public health", the Supreme Court said.
The court's ruling, however, is unlikely to bring doctors back to work.
Lawyer Lee Byung-cheol, who represents the doctors and students, told AFP that the court's decision was "very unfortunate and regrettable".
He said he will focus on other legal cases that have been initiated by the medical community against the reform.
The government welcomed the decision and urged doctors to accept the changes in medical training and return to their patients.
The reform plan is broadly popular with the public, and proponents of it say doctors are simply trying to safeguard their salaries and social status.
The medical community says the reform, once implemented, will diminish the quality of education and healthcare, and that it should be abandoned entirely.
Patients suffering from severe illnesses have said they are the biggest victims of the situation.
According to a recent survey of 281 cancer patients, 67 percent said they have been denied care by medical facilities, while 51 percent said their treatment has been delayed due to the strike.
"As of yesterday, it has been about 120 days. We are now entering the fifth month of this situation," Kim Sung-ju, the head of the Korean Cancer Patients Rights Council, told AFP.
"We know that this Supreme Court ruling cannot be the driving force to bring the doctors back, and we are in great pain."
M.Thompson--AMWN