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AP Afternoon Wire

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Good afternoon and welcome to your afternoon news update from AP. Today, President Donald Trump says U.S. is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels after ordering strikes in the Caribbean, a deadly attack takes place at an English synagogue on a Jewish holy day, and what international maritime law says about Israel intercepting a Gaza-bound flotilla.

UP FIRST

President Donald Trump walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump says US is in ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels after ordering strikes in the Caribbean

President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict,” according to a Trump administration memo obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, following recent U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean. Read more.

TOP STORIES

Man kills 2 and wounds 4 in car ramming and stabbing at English synagogue on Jewish holy day

An assailant drove a car into people outside a synagogue Thursday in northern England and then began stabbing them, killing two and seriously wounding four in a terrorist attack, police said. The attack took place as people gathered at an Orthodox synagogue on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar. Police said the two people killed were Jewish. Read more.

Israel intercepted a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid in international waters. Can it do that?

The Israeli intervention of a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and hundreds of activists raises questions about what any nation can legally do to enforce a blockade in international waters. The intervention sparked condemnation from world leaders and human rights groups who say Israel violated international law. Israeli authorities say they were merely enforcing a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Read more.

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IN OTHER NEWS

Foreman Vitor Lucas unloads a bucket of wine grapes on a tractor during a night harvest at the Herdade da Fonte Santa vineyard near Vimieiro, Portugal, on Sept. 17. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

Climate: In the cool of a Portugal night, it’s time to pick the grapes
Freed prisoner vanishes: A freed political prisoner refuses to be deported from Belarus and promptly vanishes
Executions: Tennessee court sets execution date for the state’s only woman on death row and 3 male inmates

Washington Post: In Black columnist’s firing, advocates fear decreasing diversity, vital perspectives in news media
Health: It’s time get a flu vaccination. Here’s who needs one and why

Flag football: NFL to launch professional flag football leagues ahead of 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
WATCH: Bear runs through aisles of an Arizona grocery store

TRENDING

Daniel Day-Lewis, left, and Ronan Day-Lewis pose for a portrait on Saturday. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

Daniel Day-Lewis, pulled out of retirement by his son, finds his acting fire still burns

It’s been eight years since Daniel Day-Lewis announced his retirement from acting. But the big-screen absence of the actor many would peg as the greatest one alive ends with “Anemone,” a new film directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis. The two of them wrote it together.