PCG containing oil spill after vessel sinks off Surigao del Sur

Inquirer.net - Nov 12, 2026

BUTUAN CITY— The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has launched containment and cleanup operations for an oil spill triggered by the sinking of a landing craft tank off Carrascal, Surigao del Sur, on Tuesday. In a report, the PCG said Landing Craft Tank (LCT) 8 sank off Carrascal after strong winds and rough sea conditions battered

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Solon urges household solar incentives modeled on Thailand’s program

Nov 12, 2026

Solon urges household solar incentives modeled on Thailand’s program

MANILA, Philippines — Abra Lone District Rep. Joseph “JB” Bernos on Thursday urged the government to roll out residential solar installation subsidies modeled on Thailand’s incentive program. He said that financial support for households is essential to boosting the country’s clean energy transition. Subsidizing solar installations will also ease household reliance on the power grid

Impeach court OKs defense request to cancel trial on Friday

Nov 12, 2026

Impeach court OKs defense request to cancel trial on Friday

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate impeachment court has granted the defense’s move to cancel the scheduled trial on Friday since they no longer have a slated witness to testify that day. Lead defense counsel Sheila Sison made the request after both prosecution and defense agreed to dispense with the latter’s witness testimony on Thursday. READ: Prosecution seeks

Albay town adjusts school hours to cope with Super El Niño 

Nov 12, 2026

Albay town adjusts school hours to cope with Super El Niño 

LEGAZPI CITY — Public elementary and secondary schools in Oas, Albay, will shift to a class schedule that starts at 6 a.m. and ends at noon starting Monday, Nov.16, to protect learners and school personnel from extreme heat associated with Super El Niño. Oas Mayor Jan Kenneth Trinidad issued Executive Order No. 43, Series of

Love spicy instant noodles? Here's what they do to your body

Nov 12, 2026

Love spicy instant noodles? Here's what they do to your body

Click here for more articles by Kormedi.com. Spicy instant noodles may offer a temporary sense of stress relief, but the fiery kick that makes it appealing can also trigger heartburn, abdominal pain and other digestive discomfort, particularly for people with sensitive stomachs. Capsaicin, the compound responsible for the burning sensation in chili peppers, stimulates pain receptors and can prompt the release of endorphins, chemicals involved in the body's response to pain. While this reaction may help explain why some people feel better after eating spicy food, the sensation of relief does not necessarily mean the food is beneficial to their health. The potential health effects have drawn renewed attention following a Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) report examining 12 popular instant noodle products sold in Korea. Why spicy food can upset your stomach Capsaicin activates receptors that detect heat and pain, producing the burning sensation associated with spicy food. The body responds to this stimulation through a series of physiological reactions, including sweating and changes in pain perc

'The old America is gone': OPCON transfer is Korea's answer to changing US, Moon Chung-in says

Nov 12, 2026

'The old America is gone': OPCON transfer is Korea's answer to changing US, Moon Chung-in says

Korea's push to regain wartime operational control (OPCON) of its military is not just an attempt to reclaim military sovereignty, but a necessary response to a fundamental shift in the United States' foreign and security policy, according to Moon Chung-in, a former presidential special adviser. In an interview with The Korea Times on Tuesday, Moon, currently a professor emeritus at Yonsei University, argued that President Lee Jae Myung's pursuit of OPCON transfer comes in line with Washington's growing expectation that Seoul assume primary responsibility for its own defense, rather than the self-reliant defense agenda set by former President Roh Moo-hyun. "The U.S. is changing, but we are still clinging to the old America. The old America is gone," Moon said. He pointed to U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated demands that Korea shoulder a greater share of its defense burden. Under such an arrangement, Korean forces would take the lead in conventional defense against North Korea, while U.S. forces would provide complementary capabilities in areas where Seoul remains relatively weak, i

Lee calls for unity at dinner meeting with DPK leaders

Nov 12, 2026

Lee calls for unity at dinner meeting with DPK leaders

President Lee Jae Myung called for unity between the government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) as he held a dinner meeting with DPK leader Kim Min-seok and floor leader Han Byung-do on Wednesday, his office said. During the dinner at Cheong Wa Dae, Kim asked the government for bold and swift measures to overcome polarization and boost consumption, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a written briefing. In response, Lee stressed the need for the party and the government to "move as one" in order for the people's lives to improve, and asked that the party and the National Assembly extend their active support to get the government's 2027 budget proposal passed, Kang said. Lee also asked his chief of staff, Lim Kwang-hyun, and senior political affairs secretary, Choi In-ho, to closely communicate with the National Assembly at all times. Lim and Choi were among the dinner participants. Though there had been speculation Lee and the party leaders could discuss controversial issues, such as real estate taxes and a special counsel bill on alleged fabricated indictments,

Korea opens final 2026 round of foreign worker permits

Nov 12, 2026

Korea opens final 2026 round of foreign worker permits

Korea will accept its final round of applications this year for foreign worker visas starting Nov. 23, offering 6,699 new permits to help businesses ease persistent labor shortages while introducing incentives for employers who complete human rights and labor law training, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Thursday. The five-day application window, running through Nov. 27, covers nonprofessional employment visas, known as E-9, across five major sectors. Manufacturing accounts for the lion’s share of the quota with 4,510 slots, followed by agriculture and livestock with 954, fisheries with 897, construction with 198 and services with 140. Should employer demand exceed sector caps, officials said they will tap into a flexible reserve pool of 10,000 additional permits. The announcement underscores Korea’s growing reliance on overseas labor to sustain its export-driven factories, farms and fishing fleets amid one of the world’s fastest-aging populations and lowest birthrates. Over the past several years, the government has steadily expanded its Employment Permit System, which

Beloved 1970s comic 'Chorus of Pigeons' named modern cultural treasure

Nov 12, 2026

Beloved 1970s comic 'Chorus of Pigeons' named modern cultural treasure

The original manuscripts of “Chorus of Pigeons,” a beloved 1970s family comic by the late cartoonist Lee Sang-moo, have been designated as preliminary cultural heritage, the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency said Thursday. Finalized by the Korea Heritage Service earlier this week, the designation encompasses 601 hand-drawn manuscript pages and scripts for a television adaptation, all housed at the agency. The state category protects artifacts under 50 years old that are too recent for formal cultural heritage registration yet deemed vital to preserve. Serialized in the children’s magazine "Sonyeon Joongang" from April 1978 to June 1979, the story resonated widely with readers for its portrayal of an ordinary family holding onto hope amid poverty and hardship. Even in an era when comics were largely dismissed as lowbrow entertainment, the series earned rare official acclaim. It won an excellence award from a national ethics committee for books and magazines in 1980 and was named a recommended book by the Ministry of Culture and Public Information the following year. In 1988, broadcaster

Korean researchers shrink augmented reality lenses to fit everyday eyewear

Nov 12, 2026

Korean researchers shrink augmented reality lenses to fit everyday eyewear

Researchers in Korea have developed an ultrathin optical lens system that keeps digital images bright and legible even in direct sunlight, overcoming one of the main engineering hurdles preventing augmented reality glasses from looking and feeling like ordinary eyewear. The joint team from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Samsung Research built a prototype featuring a 1.5-millimeter-thick waveguide—the transparent channel that guides light from a tiny projector into the wearer’s eye—using engineered nanostructures called metasurfaces. The findings were published Thursday in the journal Nature, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. For years, technology giants from Meta and Apple to Google and Samsung have raced to build lightweight smart glasses capable of overlaying turn-by-turn directions, translations and messages onto the real world. However, engineers have struggled with a stubborn trade-off: widening the viewing zone so a user can glance around without losing the image typically causes light to scatter and leak out of the lens, leaving displ

Lee's disapproval rating again outruns approval rating: poll

Nov 12, 2026

Lee's disapproval rating again outruns approval rating: poll

President Lee Jae Myung's disapproval rating rose to 47 percent this week, surpassing his approval rating, a survey showed Thursday. In a survey of 1,001 adults nationwide conducted Monday through Wednesday, positive assessments of Lee's job performance fell 2 percentage points to 44 percent from two weeks earlier, according to the National Barometer Survey (NBS). Negative assessments rose 3 percentage points to 47 percent. Lee's disapproval rating had remained higher than his approval rating for several weeks before the trend reversed in the previous poll. The survey also showed that 51 percent of respondents said Lee should scale back his use of social media to directly communicate with the public on his policy direction, citing concerns that remarks made "without sufficient deliberation" could cause confusion. Another 42 percent supported his use of social media for communication. Support for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea fell 1 percentage point to 35 percent, while that of the main opposition People Power Party remained unchanged at 25 percent. The poll has a margin of error of p

Korea has much to gain from helping refugees, UNHCR official says

Nov 12, 2026

Korea has much to gain from helping refugees, UNHCR official says

Korea has much to gain from supporting refugees, including making a safer and more stable international environment, according to the United Nations' refugee agency representative in Afghanistan. During an interview with The Korea Times during his visit to Seoul, Tuesday, Arafat Jamal, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) representative in Afghanistan, said supporting countries such as Afghanistan is not simply an act of charity, but an investment in a more stable world. "Korea is a responsible member of the international community. And helping a country like Afghanistan is for global public good. I think that we can only gain if countries are more open and more willing to build international solidarity and to look beyond themselves," he said. Jamal expressed deep gratitude to the Korean government and people for their continued support, urging them "to continue to build solidarity with the world." Afghanistan's strategic location, bordering seven countries including China, Pakistan and Iran, makes its stability a matter of wider international concern, the U.N. official said. A

Ruling party lawmaker accused of defamation for calling journalists 'pack of hyenas'

Nov 12, 2026

Ruling party lawmaker accused of defamation for calling journalists 'pack of hyenas'

A police complaint was filed Thursday accusing ruling party Rep. Choi Min-hee of defamation for referring to journalists as "a pack of hyenas." The complaint against Choi of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) was filed with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency a week after the lawmaker made the comment in a KakaoTalk group chat while referring to an image of photo and video journalists covering a general meeting of DPK lawmakers. She also described the journalists as "doing everything to take videos that sow discord." The complainant, Lee Jong-bae, a former Seoul city councilmember affiliated with the main opposition People Power Party, said Choi's comments revealed her perception of the press and exposed a double standard that chants democracy but scorns journalists that cause discomfort. Choi held a press conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday and apologized for her remarks.

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