Media watchdog CMFR writes 30 

Inquirer.net - Sep 19, 2026

MANILA, Philippines — The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), a monitor of the state of the Philippine press in the last 37 years, announced on Friday that it is winding down operations due to funding issues. CMFR said that while it weathered different political environments and challenges since its founding as a nonstock,

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TAGBILARAN CITY—The Bohol provincial government is fast-tracking the procurement of a P5-million cloud-seeding operation as prolonged heat and below-normal water levels threaten thousands of hectares of farmland across the province. Provincial Administrator Asteria Caberte said during the full-council meeting of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) on Thursday that the contract could

Woman under probe for allegedly eavesdropping on singer Cha Eun-woo

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Woman under probe for allegedly eavesdropping on singer Cha Eun-woo

A woman is being investigated on suspicion of eavesdropping on singer-actor Cha Eun-woo by installing a recording device under a cafe table last month, police said Friday. The woman in her 50s was caught by police on Aug. 30 while removing the device from the cafe in Seoul's Yongsan Ward where Cha was meeting with an acquaintance, according to the Yongsan Police Station. She allegedly used the same method twice last month to eavesdrop on Cha's conversations. Police are reportedly determining whether she had any accomplices and how she got hold of the device by conducting a forensic analysis of her phone, among other measures.

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S. Korea, US vow to strengthen cooperation to accelerate wartime OPCON transition in defense talks

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Cheong Wa Dae says Lee's 'no war intervention' remark not a rejection of Trump's Hormuz request

Cheong Wa Dae said Saturday that President Lee Jae Myung's remarks ruling out troop dispatches that could involve the country in a war were not a refusal of U.S. President Donald Trump's request for Seoul to send forces to the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The presidential office clarified the position after the New York Times reported that Lee's comments at a press conference Friday amounted to a rejection of Trump's appeal for Seoul's military cooperation in the Middle East. "Lee did not turn down Trump's request for Korea's cooperation on Middle East-related issues during yesterday's press conference," a presidential official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "The government has been reviewing practical ways to contribute in close communication with the international community, including the United States, in order to protect our citizens and safeguard national interests." Seoul will continue to examine concrete options under its stated principle of not intervening in a war or combat, the official added. On Friday, Lee said during the nationally televised press conference that "

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