Trump orders Pentagon to scale back South Korea military drills

This is the morning edition of the One News Page Global Briefing, for Tuesday, the eighteenth of August, twenty twenty-six. Here is what matters now.

President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to scale back, and substantially reduce, joint military exercises with South Korea, calling the drills "inappropriate and hostile" and citing his "very good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The announcement came hours before the exercises were scheduled to begin on Monday. Trump also faulted South Korea for not helping with the denuclearization of Iran, and he has previously criticized the drills as too expensive and provocative.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the U S Supreme Court has again declined to hear Donald Trump's appeal of the twenty twenty-three jury verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E Jean Carroll, leaving intact a five million dollars civil judgment against him. The court announced the decision in an unsigned order on Monday, without explanation. Trump had already paid Carroll more than five million dollars in damages. He has separately asked the court to overturn a larger twenty twenty-four award in a related case.

Elsewhere in the United States, a tourist from the United States died after being struck by lightning on Mount Etna in Sicily while hiking in a restricted area that had been closed because of recent volcanic activity, Italian firefighters said. The man was reported to be twenty-nine years old; local media gave his age as thirty. He was struck on Sunday evening and was rescued by helicopter, but was later pronounced dead at a hospital in Catania. A day after the fatality, Mount Etna erupted, sending smoke and ash into the sky.

In the Pacific, Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm on Sunday after skirting Hawaii without making landfall, though it continued to punish the Big Island with hurricane-force gusts and torrential rain. The storm's eye passed about thirty miles off the coast, and rainfall totaling nearly three feet was expected on the higher windward slopes. One person died, more than one hundred and thirty thousand households lost power, and at least one hundred homes were damaged or destroyed, according to Hawaii's governor. Tropical storm warnings remained in effect for some islands as the system progressed west.

In entertainment news, actor Hayden Panettiere, known for her roles in the television series "Heroes" and "Nashville" and the film "Remember the Titans," has died at the age of thirty-six. Her father confirmed the death in a statement, and her representative also announced it.

On the U.S.-Mexico border, construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Big Bend National Park has been paused, U S Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said. He said all construction activity in the park would stop while he visits the area this week and assesses the project. The project has drawn bipartisan opposition from critics who say it mars a pristine environmental area in Texas.

In Britain, disabled people in England are to receive twenty-four-hour free bus travel starting in April, a change welcomed by campaign groups. The policy is intended to ease costs for households.

In the Middle East, Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, is pressing for progress on a Gaza ceasefire, meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a day after meeting Hamas officials. The diplomatic mission follows Netanyahu's rejection this month of a U.S.-backed fifteen-point peace plan for Gaza, a rare public break with the Trump administration, and key disagreements remain.

In California, Shasta County is set to hire Tina Peters, a prominent election denier and Trump supporter who was convicted of tampering with voting machines in Colorado and recently released from prison, as an elections consultant. Clint Curtis, the county's top elections official, offered her the job.

In U S courts, a federal jury trial is opening in a lawsuit brought by more than half of U S states that accuses Meta of deliberately designing addictive social-media products that lured young people and caused them harm.

On Capitol Hill, the House Ethics Committee is investigating Representative Jimmy Gomez, a California Democrat, over allegations of sexual misconduct, including inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer. Gomez acknowledged "personal mistakes" outside his marriage but said the conduct was consensual and did not violate House ethics rules.

That was the morning edition of the One News Page Global Briefing. Read the complete briefing and explore its supporting coverage at one news page dot com.