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US, South Korea Cut Drills Short After Trump Criticism

US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters are seen at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek on August 17, 2026. (Yonhap/AFP)
US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters are seen at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek on August 17, 2026. (Yonhap/AFP)
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US, South Korea Cut Drills Short After Trump Criticism

US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters are seen at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek on August 17, 2026. (Yonhap/AFP)
US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters are seen at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek on August 17, 2026. (Yonhap/AFP)

Annual war games between South Korea and the United States will end around a week earlier than planned, both countries said on Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump ordered the "inappropriate and hostile" drills scaled back.

Trump said on Sunday that he had told the Pentagon to curtail the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises -- a day before they started -- citing his "good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Pyongyang's state media criticized the drills on Wednesday as a "most immediate and open threat", without mentioning Trump's order.

Hours later, Seoul's military said the drills would wrap up on Friday, not on August 27 as originally planned.

"We have decided to adjust the UFS exercise period to run from the 17th to the 21st," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The decision was made "at the suggestion of the US side", it added.

The Pentagon said the "substantially reduced" drills would "preserve essential readiness and... (cause) no degradation to US training objectives".

The exercises are designed to prepare for a possible attack by North Korea.

They were understood to consist of two phases: the first, focused on defending against potential North Korean threats, was due to run until Friday; and the second, focused on a counteroffensive, from August 24 to 27.

The second phase is now understood to have been scrapped.

A South Korean military official told AFP that Seoul viewed the decision as "unusual".

Nuclear-armed North Korea has long voiced outrage at the exercises, considering them dress rehearsals for an invasion.

Wednesday's commentary by the state-run Korean Central News Agency said they pose "the most immediate and open threat" to North Korea and "regional security".

It did not mention Trump's order or his desire to resume talks with Kim, with whom he has hinted at being in contact.

Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Pyongyang had deliberately avoided mentioning Trump.

North Korea was "sticking to general principles as if completely unaware of" Trump's comments, he told AFP.

"Showing awareness could suggest a degree of mutual understanding," but feigning ignorance signals that the issue could become a key bargaining point in any future talks with Trump, Hong said.

- 'Much safer' -

In the initial announcement on his Truth Social platform, Trump described the drills as unfriendly towards a country that had been respectful to him.

South Korea's Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told lawmakers on Wednesday that Seoul had not been informed in advance of Trump's plan to downsize them.

"Neither our government nor US government officials knew in advance what President Trump revealed via Truth Social," Cho said.

Trump has insisted that he is making the situation "much safer" through his ties with Kim.

Asked on Monday whether Kim had responded to his requests for a conversation, Trump said: "Yeah, he has."

He said the discussions had been "very positive", but provided no further detail.

"There has been persistent speculation that Washington could seek renewed talks with Pyongyang ahead of the November US midterm elections," Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies, told AFP.

"For Trump, a meeting with... Kim Jong Un could offer a chance to secure a foreign-policy legacy."

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed US officials, that Trump is pushing aides to set up a meeting with Kim as soon as this autumn.

"Reducing exercises could have a positive impact on the possibility of US-North Korea dialogue," Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Womans University, told AFP.

"The suspension of joint exercises has always been a prerequisite for North Korea to engage in dialogue with the US," he added.

Trump and Kim met three times in his first spell in the White House, but they have not held talks during his second term.

The United States stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to bolster the country's defenses, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Trump has repeatedly criticized longstanding US alliances, casting doubt on Washington's commitment to security in East Asia and alarming regional partners.

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World

Police Made 1,314 Arrests in France’s Protests, Says Govt

A pedestrian walks past a broken window, a day after a demonstration in favor of purchasing power, the protection of public services, and fiscal and social justice, in Paris on October 25, 2026 as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together former members of the Yellow Vest movement, labor unions, high school and university students. (AFP)
A pedestrian walks past a broken window, a day after a demonstration in favor of purchasing power, the protection of public services, and fiscal and social justice, in Paris on October 25, 2026 as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together former members of the Yellow Vest movement, labor unions, high school and university students. (AFP)
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Police Made 1,314 Arrests in France’s Protests, Says Govt

A pedestrian walks past a broken window, a day after a demonstration in favor of purchasing power, the protection of public services, and fiscal and social justice, in Paris on October 25, 2026 as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together former members of the Yellow Vest movement, labor unions, high school and university students. (AFP)
A pedestrian walks past a broken window, a day after a demonstration in favor of purchasing power, the protection of public services, and fiscal and social justice, in Paris on October 25, 2026 as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together former members of the Yellow Vest movement, labor unions, high school and university students. (AFP)

Police arrested 1,314 people in weekend protests across France, the interior ministry said Sunday, adding that 53 officers were hurt in clashes.

The arrests occurred as violence broke out on the margins of mass demonstrations in major cities on Saturday over the high cost of living.

It was the second consecutive weekend of unrest in France, which is heading to presidential elections in April and May to choose a successor to Emmanuel Macron, who is reaching his two-term limit.

The interior ministry said police responded to 75 fires during Saturday's protests, adding that 24 shops were looted.

"Several investigations have been opened," it said in a statement, without giving details. It said that the rest of Saturday night, after the clashes had died down, was "calm".

The ministry statement on Sunday did not say how many protesters were hurt.

Late Saturday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez spoke of two serious injuries among protesters: one in Toulouse and one in Clermont-Ferrand.

- Protesters hurt -

The Toulouse prefecture, which reports to the interior ministry, told AFP that a 20-year-old man was seriously hurt with a wound to his hand.

A street medic who tended demonstrators told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the man had "several fingers" blown off his right hand.

The prefecture covering Clermont-Ferrand said a man there also had a hand hurt, but did not suffer the loss of any fingers.

A French regional daily, La Nouvelle Republique, reported that a man in Poitiers was hurt in his left eye, showing a photo of a man holding his face.

The newspaper's photographer told AFP he was a 19-year-old who was wounded during a charge by riot police firing stun grenades and tear gas.

There have been several instances in recent weeks, during student protests in France, of people being maimed by police stun grenades or tear gas grenades.

It was not known if the injuries reported from Saturday were from those police weapons. Officials said investigations had been opened in at least some of the cases.

World

Far-right Leader Le Pen Kicks Off Tilt at French Presidency amid Nationwide Protests

26 September 2026, France, Paris: Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen arrive at Place de la Concorde ahead of Pope Leo XIV's Mass in Paris. Photo: Pierre Teyssot / Agf/AGF via ZUMA Press/dpa
26 September 2026, France, Paris: Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen arrive at Place de la Concorde ahead of Pope Leo XIV's Mass in Paris. Photo: Pierre Teyssot / Agf/AGF via ZUMA Press/dpa
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Far-right Leader Le Pen Kicks Off Tilt at French Presidency amid Nationwide Protests

26 September 2026, France, Paris: Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen arrive at Place de la Concorde ahead of Pope Leo XIV's Mass in Paris. Photo: Pierre Teyssot / Agf/AGF via ZUMA Press/dpa
26 September 2026, France, Paris: Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen arrive at Place de la Concorde ahead of Pope Leo XIV's Mass in Paris. Photo: Pierre Teyssot / Agf/AGF via ZUMA Press/dpa

Marine Le Pen, France's far-right candidate to succeed President Emmanuel Macron in elections in six months, was to give her first campaign speech on Sunday, a day after protests sweeping the country again flared into violence.

Le Pen -- the frontrunner according to surveys -- is seen benefiting from the convulsions France has been going through for weeks, punctuated by mass rallies and violent clashes on Saturday and a week earlier, said AFP.

More than 400,000 people marched in major French cities on Saturday to protest the rising cost of living, with groups of masked youths breaking away to provoke police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon. Police made more than 1,000 arrests.

Officers faced "an extremely elevated level of violence" from black-clad "ultra-left" extremists who had trailed in the demonstrations, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said late Saturday.

A week earlier, on October 17, similar nationwide marches took place, also against rising inflation sent surging by the war in the Middle East. They, too, degenerated into street violence, with public buildings vandalized and hundreds of shops looted.

The mass rallies were fed by four weeks of student protests across France, over classroom conditions and access to university places, which at times also descended into clashes.

Unions and Yellow Vest protesters have vowed to keep up their street marches in the weeks ahead, pointing to a febrile period as the elections draw near.

- Anger at Macron -

Le Pen, who will address 10,000 members of her National Rally (RN) party in the city of Orleans, has accused Macron's centrist government of being soft on violent protesters and lacking authority.

Police were on Sunday filtering traffic going into Orleans, after thousands of counter-protesters opposed to Le Pen and her anti-immigration, nationalist RN marched in the city on Saturday chanting anti-fascist slogans.

Police put their numbers at 13,000, while organizers estimated the turnout at twice that.

If Le Pen wins the two-stage presidential elections in April and May, she has vowed to cut the cost of living through capped household energy bills, reduced taxes and trimming France's contribution to the European Union.

She is also critical of NATO, and of France's support of Ukraine as it battles Russia's invasion.

The RN, which portrays itself as a party of law and order, has also sided strongly with the police in the current unrest.

The head of Le Pen's party, Jordan Bardella, whom she intends to make prime minister if she becomes president, has visited police stations to underline that credential.

French voters, angry over Macron's perceived detachment over his two terms and his recent orders to curb the protests, are turning to more extremist politics, polling shows.

An Ipsos survey published Saturday suggested Le Pen would score 32 to 34 percent of the vote in the first round of the election, with a far-left rival, Jean-Luc Melenchon, getting 17 percent. Centrist candidates from mainstream parties trailed them.

Asked about the protest violence, a majority of the 1,500 people questioned in the survey -- 58 percent -- said they felt anger.

It found 81 percent believed the government was "responsible for this situation", while 79 percent thought radical political groups were, 62 percent blamed the left, and 52 percent blamed the police.

- No money -

Whoever wins the presidency will find limited room to throw money around to placate various clamoring interest groups.

France's public debt and budget deficit have climbed well beyond the ceilings EU member countries are meant to stick to.

Macron's government is trying to get a cost-cutting budget adopted, but faces headwinds from both the sustained protests demanding more spending and the political jockeying by parties eyeing power.

As Macron sees out the final months of his presidency, he has to tread a line between cracking down on street violence and opening dialogue with unions, students and other groups to attempt to restore order.

Although the French president has not invoked a state of emergency, he has ordered bans on non-union demonstrations deemed "illegitimate", and officials under him have imposed bans on protests in city centers and localized curfews in certain zones.

Many protesters on Saturday raged against the measures, describing them as an assault on the French right to protest.

The Yellow Vest movement, which challenged Macron eight years ago with street disruptions, has called for another day of protests next Saturday.

And the powerful CGT union, prominent in the demonstrations, is urging a campaign of strikes starting from November 5.

World

Iran Parliament Speaker Calls for Cutting Gas Consumption by 10 Percent as Winter Nears

Traffic moves past an installation depicting butterflies forming the Iranian national flag in Tehran on October 21, 2026. (AFP)
Traffic moves past an installation depicting butterflies forming the Iranian national flag in Tehran on October 21, 2026. (AFP)
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Iran Parliament Speaker Calls for Cutting Gas Consumption by 10 Percent as Winter Nears

Traffic moves past an installation depicting butterflies forming the Iranian national flag in Tehran on October 21, 2026. (AFP)
Traffic moves past an installation depicting butterflies forming the Iranian national flag in Tehran on October 21, 2026. (AFP)

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday called for a campaign to cut gas consumption by at least 10 percent, with officials anticipating shortages as winter approaches.

While a major producer, Iran has long suffered shortages of natural gas, essential for powering heating systems, which have been exacerbated by war with the United States and Israel that began in February.

During the most intense phase of the fighting, which lasted nearly 40 days, the two countries struck key Iranian infrastructure including natural gas refineries, according to Tehran.

Winter in Iran often sees temperatures drop below freezing, especially in the country's north.

"To get through the approaching winter, a nationwide effort is essential ... to reduce gas consumption by at least 10 percent," said Ghalibaf in a video carried by Iranian media.

"Anyone who saves gas, regardless of the amount, will immediately receive the corresponding proceeds in their bank account, allowing everyone to see the tangible impact of those savings on their household budget."

Earlier in October, First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref said the government anticipated a daily "gas shortfall of 100 million to 250 million cubic meters during the cold season because of the damage caused by the war," according to the official IRNA news agency.

He added that he hoped to restore the supply of around 100 million cubic meters by the start of winter.

An April ceasefire brought an end to the initial phase of intense bombardment, but the two sides have continued to vie for control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas used to travel.

Iran has claimed control over the strait since the outbreak of the war and has regularly targeted vessels that attempt crossings without its authorization.

In response, Washington has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports and in August announced what it called an "economic asphyxiation" campaign on Iran aimed at strangling its already battered economy.