AP News in Brief at 9:04 p.m. EDT

Officers shot and killed the suspect at the synagogue in Manchester, police said, though authorities took some time to confirm he was dead because he was wearing a vest that made it appear as if he had explosives. Police later said he did not have a bomb.

The Metropolitan Police force in London, which leads the nation's counter-terrorism policing operations, declared the rampage a terrorist attack.

Authorities said the man believed responsible was a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent named Jihad Al-Shamie, who entered the U.K. as a young child and became a citizen in 2006. An initial check of records showed he was not part of a U.K. counter-terror program that tries to identify people at risk for being radicalized.

Police also said three people were arrested on suspicion of acts of terrorism. They are two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s.

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

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the United States is now in an "armed conflict” with them, according to a Trump administration memo obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, following recent U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean.

The memo appears to represent an extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers, with Trump effectively declaring that trafficking of drugs into the United States amounts to armed conflict requiring the use of military force — a new rationale for past and future actions.

“The President determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations,” the memo says. Trump directed the Pentagon to “conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict.”

“The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organizations,” the memo says.

Besides signaling a potential new moment in Trump's stated “America First” agenda that favors non-intervention overseas, the declaration raises stark questions about how far the White House intends to use its war powers and if Congress will exert its authority to approve — or ban — such military actions.

Trump uses government shutdown to dole out firings and political punishment

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors, saying he planned to meet with budget director Russ Vought to talk through “temporary or permanent” spending cuts that could set up a lose-lose dynamic for Democratic lawmakers.

Trump announced the meeting on social media Thursday morning, saying he and Vought would determine "which of the many Democrat Agencies” would be cut — continuing their efforts to slash federal spending by threatening mass firings of workers and suggesting “irreversible” cuts to Democratic priorities. The White House declined to comment on the timing or details of the meeting, despite the importance placed on it by the president.

“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump wrote on his social media account. “They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump has been very direct about his intentions in saying that he believes the Democrats would get the blame if he chooses to fire people or cut spending as part of the shutdown.

“There could be firings and that’s their fault," the president said in an interview with One America News that was released Thursday. "I mean, we could cut projects that they wanted, favorite projects, and they’d be permanently cut.”

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

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli interception 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.

As dozens of boats sailed closer to Gaza on Wednesday afternoon, the Israeli navy warned them to turn back.

“You are entering an active war zone. If you continue and attempt to break the naval blockade, we will stop your vessel,” a member of the Israeli navy told the activists via radio. Then Israeli military personnel stormed the vessels and seized activists, including Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela’s grandson and several European lawmakers.

The Israeli action sparked condemnation from world leaders and human rights groups who say Israel violated international law.

The activists say their nonviolent, civilian mission is lawful. Though they carried only a symbolic amount of aid, including baby formula, food and medical supplies, their goal, they say, is to establish a humanitarian corridor to facilitate the flow of aid into famine-stricken Gaza.

Immigration judge denies Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s bid for asylum, but he has 30 days to appeal

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A U.S. immigration judge has denied a bid for asylum from Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose case has become a proxy for the partisan power struggle over immigration policy.

The judge in Baltimore on Wednesday rejected an application to reopen Abrego Garcia's 2019 asylum case, but that is not the final word. Abrego Garcia has 30 days to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

The Salvadoran national has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the United States illegally as a teenager. In 2019, he was arrested by immigration agents. He requested asylum but was not eligible because he had been in the U.S. for more than a year. But the judge ruled he could not be deported to El Salvador, where he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family.

He was mistakenly deported to El Salvador by President Donald Trump's administration in March and was held in a notorious prison, and his case soon became a rallying point for those who oppose the Republican president’s immigration crackdown. Facing a ruling from the Supreme Court, the administration returned him to the U.S. in June, only to immediately charge him with human smuggling.

Abrego Garcia faces criminal charges in Tennessee, based on a 2022 traffic stop. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is also seeking to deport him to a third country, proposing Uganda first and then Eswatini, a small country in southern Africa where the king still holds absolute power. His attorneys have denounced the criminal charges and the deportation efforts, saying they are an attempt to punish him for standing up to the administration.

Putin praises Trump but warns supplies of US long-range missiles to Ukraine will badly hurt ties

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States that supplies of long-range missiles to Ukraine will seriously damage relations between Moscow and Washington but will not change the situation on the battlefield, where the Russian army is making slow but steady advances.

The potential supply of U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kyiv will signal a “qualitatively new stage of escalation, including in relations between Russia and the U.S.," Putin said at a forum of international foreign policy experts in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The Russian leader noted that even though Tomahawk missiles will inflict damage on Russia if supplied to Ukraine, Russian air defenses will quickly adapt to the new threat. “It will certainly not change the balance of force on the battlefield,” he added, emphasizing that the Russian military is continuously making gains against Ukraine.

Asked about Trump dismissing Russia as a “paper tiger” because of its failure to defeat its smaller neighbor after more than 3 1/2 years of fighting, Putin argued that Russia has faced all the NATO allies backing Kyiv.

“We are fighting against the entire bloc of NATO and we keep moving, keep advancing and feel confident and we are a paper tiger; what NATO itself is?” he said. “A paper tiger? Go and deal with this paper tiger then.”

FDA approves another generic abortion pill, prompting outrage from conservatives

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials have approved another generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, a regulatory formality that quickly triggered pushback from anti-abortion groups and politicians aligned with the Trump administration.

Drugmaker Evita Solutions announced on its website that the Food and Drug Administration signed off on its low-cost form of the pill, which is approved to end pregnancies through 10 weeks.

Students for Life Action, which opposes abortion, in a statement Thursday called the approval “a stain on the Trump presidency and another sign that the deep state at the FDA must go.”

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri also criticized the move in a post on X, stating: “I have lost confidence in the leadership at FDA.”

A spokesperson for the agency said the FDA “has very limited discretion in deciding whether to approve a generic drug," and added that FDA officials do not “endorse any product.”

On eve of sentencing, Combs tells judge he has been 'reborn,' asks for mercy

NEW YORK (AP) — On the eve of his sentencing, Sean “Diddy” Combs wrote a federal judge Thursday proclaiming himself to be a new man after realizing that he was “broken to my core."

Combs, 55, told Judge Arun Subramanian that with his mind clear of drugs and alcohol after a year in jail, he can see how rotten he had become before his September 2024 arrest in a case that led to his conviction on two prostitution-related counts. His sentencing hearing is set to begin Friday morning.

“Over the past year there have been so many times that I wanted to give up. There have been some days I thought I would be better off dead. The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn. Prison will change you or kill you — I choose to live,” he said.

A jury in July acquitted Combs of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges, but he still faces the possibility of years in jail.

Combs’ lawyers say he should go free this month, arguing his year behind bars has been enough of a penalty, while prosecutors want at least 11 years in prison.

Goodall's influence spread far and wide. Those who felt it are pledging to continue her work

In her 91 years, Jane Goodall transformed science and humanity's understanding of our closest living relatives on the planet — chimpanzees and other great apes. Her patient fieldwork and tireless advocacy for conservation inspired generations of future researchers and activists, especially women and young people, around the world.

Her death on Wednesday set off a torrent of tributes for the famed primate researcher, with many people sharing stories of how Goodall and her work inspired their own careers. The tributes also included pledges to honor Goodall’s memory by redoubling efforts to safeguard a planet that sorely needs it.

“Jane Goodall is an icon – because she was the start of so much,” said Catherine Crockford, a primatologist at the CNRS Institute for Cognitive Sciences in France.

She recalled how many years ago Goodall answered a letter from a young aspiring researcher. “I wrote her a letter asking how to become a primatologist. She sent back a handwritten letter and told me it will be hard, but I should try,” Crockford said. “For me, she gave me my career.”

Goodall was one of three pioneering young women studying great apes in the 1960s and 1970s who began to revolutionize the way people understood just what was -- and wasn’t -- unique about our own species. Sometimes called the “Tri-mates,” Goodall, Dian Fossey and Biruté Galdikas spent years documenting the intimate lives of chimpanzees in Tanzania, mountain gorillas in Rwanda, and orangutans in Indonesia, respectively.

Cubs beat Padres 3-1 to win Wild Card Series, advance to NL Division Series against Brewers

CHICAGO (AP) — Pete Crow-Armstrong hit an RBI single off a shaky Yu Darvish, and the Chicago Cubs shut down Fernando Tatis Jr. and the San Diego Padres for a clinching 3-1 victory in Game 3 of their NL Wild Card Series on Thursday.

Backed by a raucous crowd of 40,895 at Wrigley Field, Chicago used its stellar defense to advance in the postseason for the first time since 2017. Michael Busch hit a solo homer, and Jameson Taillon pitched four shutout innings before manager Craig Counsell used five relievers to close it out.

After Brad Keller faltered in the ninth — allowing Jackson Merrill’s leadoff homer and hitting two batters with pitches — Andrew Kittredge earned the save by retiring Jake Cronenworth on a bouncer to third and Freddy Fermin on a flyball to center field.

Next up for Chicago is a matchup with the NL Central champion Brewers in a compelling Division Series, beginning with Game 1 on Saturday in Milwaukee.

Counsell managed the Brewers for nine years before he was hired by the Cubs in November 2023, and he has been lustily booed in Milwaukee ever since he departed.