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President Trump orders scaled down joint military exercises with South Korea, CENTCOM commander acknowledges mental health challenges on USS Lincoln, and war on drugs in Latin America could move to ground phase.

1.      , citing their cost and his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump announced the move on his Truth Social hours before the United States and South Korea kicked off Ulchi Freedom Shield, one of the allies’ two major annual exercises.  “Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea,” Trump wrote.  He said the exercises are costly and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” toward North Korea, which he described as being “unthreatening and respectful” during his presidency. “Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!” wrote Trump, who also mentioned ongoing hostilities with Iran in the post. 

2.      after reports that a sailor jumped overboard amid the aircraft carrier’s long Middle East deployment. “Here’s an important fact: Of the U.S. Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers, the Lincoln currently has among the lowest number of cases related to mental health,” Cooper said in a statement posted to X following his visit to the ship on Saturday. “This doesn’t mean that all is perfect. Find any of the nearly 4 million Navy veterans in America today and they will likely tell you that service at sea for long periods isn’t for everyone.” Cooper’s visit and statement follow reports of widespread morale and mental health issues aboard the Lincoln, which has been deployed for more than eight months. The Navy Times reported last week that several sailors had attempted to go overboard, and Stars and Stripes also reported on widespread mental health issues.

3.      , pursuing deals that would put U.S. forces on the ground in allied nations across the region. President Donald Trump’s defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced last week during a visit to Panama that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow the U.S. to carry out joint military operations against criminal groups on their soil, following Ecuador, which launched similar missions with the U.S. in March. Guatemala, however, has denied reaching such an agreement. It will be “like you saw with the strikes on the drug boats,” Hegseth said during a military drill in the jungle in Panama. “Same effect on land. And so we’re working with Ecuador. We’re working with Colombia. We’re working with partners to bring the fight to the (designated terrorist organizations) on land.”

4.      Kyiv has stepped up its attacks on Russia this year, with long-range missiles and swarms of drones targeting military industries and energy facilities. It has also increasingly pummeled giant Wildberries depots, burning billions of dollars’ worth of merchandise belonging to the Russian online retail giant. Those attacks have brought the war home to the Russian public nearly 4½ years into Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine also came under Russian attack, with drone strikes destroying homes and torching Kyiv’s landmark book market. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it had destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones overnight. Some 600 drones were detected headed toward the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, with a third of those destroyed over the Moscow region itself.

5.        in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet on Monday with Israel’s prime minister, who is under pressure after rejecting the new 15-point, U.S.-backed road map. The talks aim to salvage the plan for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory shattered by war. At stake are the lives of some 2 million people in Gaza and reconstruction of the crowded enclave now largely controlled by Israeli forces, more than 10 months since the ceasefire ended major military operations. A meeting between Kushner, fellow envoy Steve Witkoff and Hamas leaders in Egypt last year helped clinch the ceasefire, whose progress until now had been stalled over the key issue of Hamas’ disarmament.