Drought and extreme heat are drying up rivers and farmland across Europe, with record-low water levels disrupting agriculture, shipping and even nuclear power plants that rely on rivers for cooling.
Published On 28 Aug 202628 Aug 2026
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WASHINGTON — The only remaining U.S. aircraft carrier patrolling the Pacific departed Asia through Singapore last week en route to the Middle East, marking the latest step in a steady drawdown of American military assets across the region.
An armada of naval forces, alongside a constellation of air-defense and missile capabilities, has been removed from a theater the Trump administration said just last year would be the battleground of the coming century.
And now, President Trump’s surprise decision this week to curtail military exercises with South Korea has further fueled anxiety across Asia, where Washington’s closest allies fear violent consequences from a vacuum of American power.
Trump said his decision to withdraw U.S. participation from the annual military drills was de-escalatory, claiming they would needlessly provoke North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Un, with whom he has recently been in touch.
But he also blamed Seoul for its decision to not take part in his war with Iran.
“I said, ‘Would you like to give us a little hand?’ ” Trump told reporters. “He said, ‘No thanks,’ and I said, ‘Wait a minute — we have 39,000 soldiers over there, guarding you from Kim Jong Un, your next-door neighbor, and you’re not going to help us.’ ”
“That’s strange,” Trump added. “We can’t go around and protect all of these countries, especially when they’re not there to help us.”
South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, responded to Trump’s last-minute decision to pull back from the drills with a degree of alarm.
“From now on, we must prepare measures with even the worst-case scenario in mind,” Lee said, “on the premise that the Middle East situation may be prolonged.”
It was the latest jolt to South Korea’s confidence in an alliance that has formed a cornerstone of Washington’s defense strategy in Asia since the end of World War II.
The Pentagon has kept its THAAD missile-defense batteries on the Korean peninsula. But in March, it moved some of the system’s radars and forward-positioned interceptors toward the Middle East, as the Iran war strained U.S. missile-defense stocks. Analysts estimate the conflict has consumed more than 40% of the Pentagon’s THAAD interceptor inventory.
The diversion was accompanied by the redeployment of dozens of combat and dry-cargo ships, mine countermeasure vessels, and guided-missile destroyers out of the region, ahead of the departure of the strike group centered on the nuclear-powered USS George Washington, which is now on its way to the Middle East.
Other U.S. allies in the region reacted swiftly to Trump’s pullback from the Korean exercises.
The Australian government said it remained “deeply concerned” with North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, while Japan’s defense minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, warned of historic stakes.
“As Japan faces the most severe and complicated security environment in the post-war era, the cooperation among Japan, the United States and South Korea is critical to the peace and stability of the region,” Koizumi said in a statement.
And Beijing has been quick to capitalize on the vacuum.
China’s Foreign Ministry mocked that the United States “has become addicted to quitting groups and scrapping treaties,” while its military began installing permanent infrastructure in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone within days of the George Washington’s departure.
“The current international landscape has once again proven that only by ensuring the effective operation of the multilateral system can we prevent the spread of the law of the jungle,” said Mao Ning, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, “and keep the international order from being dominated by the logic that ‘might makes right and force represents justice.’”
Speaking with journalists in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said that his communication with Kim was “making things safer” in the region.
He did not offer details on their conversations.
“Kim Jong Un has always treated me with great respect,” Trump said, confirming that the North Korean leader had replied to his overtures.
“I understand him,” Trump added. “He understands me.”
There is growing anxiety among residents after nine Ebola virus patients escaped from a treatment centre in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after a fire outbreak. Authorities and the local population are deeply concerned that these individuals could spread the Ebola disease to other provinces.
On June 30, nine patients suddenly vanished from the health facility after a group of hostile locals set the Nia-Nia Ebola treatment centre on fire. Among the missing patients are two confirmed cases of Ebola infection and seven suspected cases.
According to Joseph Pemanakue, the chief medical officer of the Nia-Nia treatment centre, the patients have still not been found several hours after fleeing the health facility.
“The burnt-down centre was housing two confirmed positive cases of Ebola as well as seven suspected cases. The nine patients fled from the structure and remain to be tracked down, causing fear of an increased propagation of the epidemic within the community,” Joseph said.
The attack on the treatment facility happened after some members of the community refused to surrender the body of a suspected Ebola patient to the medical team. This confrontation escalated quickly, resulting in the destruction of the treatment centre and the loss of a significant stock of medicine and medical equipment.
The local authorities consider the incident to have seriously compromised the efforts to contain the epidemic in Ituri province.
“Some opinion leaders manipulate the population by affirming that Ebola is a business, whereas the disease actually exists. In PK 51, we have recorded ten deaths. A corpse tested positive was removed from a coffin and transported by the population, an action which increases the risk of spreading the disease. The health facility responsible for taking charge of patients, which was created after several efforts, was unfortunately destroyed,” said Alexis Mungaki, a chief of the Ngayo tribal group.
The incident occurred amid heightened tensions between specific communities and the Ebola treatment teams. Health officials are concerned that the escape of confirmed and suspected patients may trigger new transmission chains, as Ituri province continues to be the focal point of the 17th Ebola outbreak in the DRC.
Nine Ebola patients have escaped from a treatment center in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, following a fire instigated by locals hostile to the medical team.
This incident has heightened concerns among the authorities and locals over the potential spread of Ebola to other regions, as these patients – two confirmed and seven suspected cases – have yet to be located.
The attack on the facility, which also resulted in considerable losses of medical supplies, was escalated by community members refusing to cooperate with health officials. Local leaders express that misinformation, suggesting Ebola as a business ploy rather than a real disease, exacerbates the issue and hinders containment efforts.
With Ituri province central to the ongoing Ebola outbreak, the incident threatens to worsen the epidemic’s impact.