Author: Morgan

Donald Trump has declared that drug cartels operating in the Caribbean are “unlawful combatants” and says the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict”, according to a White House memo obtained by the Associated Press on Thursday.

A US official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly told the AP that Congress was notified about the designation by Pentagon officials on Wednesday.

The story was first reported by the New York Times.

It comes after the US military conducted strikes on three boats in the Caribbean Sea last month that killed 17 people and triggered widespread international outrage, especially in Central and South America.

The administration is required by law to report to Congress the US government’s use of armed forces. The Times reports that the administration’s memo cites that statute and also repeats its past justifications that the strikes were conducted in self-defense and accusing the boats of containing members of a Venezuelan drug gang. But the memo also reportedly goes further and frames the US military’s attacks on the boats to be part of a sustained conflict.

The memo also reportedly states that Trump has deemed cartels engaged in smuggling drugs as “non-state armed groups” whose actions “constitute an armed attack against the United States”.

The Trump administration has been increasing its military presence in the Caribbean in recent months, deploying a number of ships and military personnel to Puerto Rico. It has justified the military action as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the US. But some lawmakers as well as human rights groups have questioned the legality of the attacks.

The notice to Congress is an aggressive escalation in the US government’s attempts to stop the flow of narcotics. The US government’s drug war in recent years has increasingly focused on political targets, and this latest escalation may be seen as an attempt by the administration to further place pressure on the Venezuelan government.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration determined several criminal groups to be “terrorist” organizations. The designation by the administration included a number of Mexican cartels, the MS-13 gang, the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan so-called Cartel de los Soles.

For years, the US government has accused the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro of being involved in drug trafficking. The Trump administration earlier this year accused Maduro of directing the activities of Tren de Aragua, and used it as a justification to expel hundreds of immigrants to a notorious Salvadorian prison under the Alien Enemies Act.

Intelligence assessments have determined there is little proof of Maduro’s links to Tren de Aragua.

Maduro and members of his cabinet and military also stand accused by the US of running the Cartel de los Soles and seeking to traffic cocaine to the US. The infrastructure of the cartel has been disputed, with drug trafficking analysts and experts saying that the Cartel de los Soles is a loose network of lower-ranking military officials without a strict hierarchical structure.

Earlier this year, the US government raised its bounty for Maduro to $50m. There is an active indictment in a Manhattan federal court related to the Cartel de los Soles case. A co-defendant and former top Venezuelan military intelligence chief pleaded guilty earlier this year to narco-terrorism crimes.

The three vessels that were targeted by the US in recent weeks were traversing through the Caribbean. Trump administration officials, without proof, have said the vessels were carrying members of Tren de Aragua with drugs destined for the US.

The administration has been adamant in escalating its fight against fentanyl trafficking into the US. However, fentanyl typically arrives across the southern US border from Mexico.

As the US government shutdown stretched into its second day, Donald Trump on Thursday hailed the funding lapse as an “unprecedented opportunity” to further his campaign of firing federal workers and downsizing departments.

The president announced on social media that he would sit down with Russell Vought, the White House office of management and budget chief and architect of the mass firings and buyouts of federal workers.

“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.”

The government shut down on Wednesday at midnight, after Democrats refused to support a Republican plan to continue funding unless it included a series of healthcare-focused concessions. Vought has threatened to use the shutdown to conduct further layoffs of federal workers, and on Wednesday announced the cancellation of billions of dollars in federal funding for projects tied to Democrats.

About $18bn was frozen for infrastructure projects in and around New York City over “unconstitutional DEI principles”, Vought said, referring to the diversity, equity, and inclusion policies that Trump has sought to stamp out from the federal government. The projects for which money was held include the Second Avenue subway line in Manhattan and the Hudson River tunnel project connecting the city to New Jersey.

The cancellations sparked a furious reaction from Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, both of whom are New Yorkers.

“Donald Trump is once again treating working people as collateral damage in his endless campaign of chaos and revenge,” they said in a joint statement.

Vought also announced that around $8bn in funds for 16 states – all of which are run by Democrats – was put on hold. Vought did not specify the projects, but called it “Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda”.

The Democratic senator Adam Schiff, who represents California, one of the states for which funding was slashed, responded: “Our democracy is badly broken when a president can illegally suspend projects for Blue states in order to punish his political enemies. They continue to break the law, and expect us to go along. Hell no.”

Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator representing Oregon, another state that lost funding, said: “Ripping funding away from only blue states will raise utility bills for EVERYONE. It’s not rocket science. Vought is unfit to serve in this or any administration.”

At the White House on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned that “layoffs are imminent”, but gave no further details. That’s a shift from past shutdowns, when federal workers were furloughed or told to work unpaid, with back pay coming once funding is restored.

Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate appropriations committee, on X replied: “If the president fires a bunch of people, it’s not because of his shutdown–it’s because HE decided to fire them. People aren’t negotiating tools & it’s sick that the president is treating federal workers like pawns.”

Some Republicans signaled they were uncomfortable with using a shutdown as an opportunity to further slash the federal workforce, which has already lost hundreds of thousands of workers through firings and buyouts.

“This is certainly the most moral high ground Republicans have had in a moment like this that I can recall, and I just don’t like squandering that political capital when you have that kind of high ground,” Kevin Cramer, a Republican senator of North Dakota, told CNN, when asked about the layoff threats.

The broader effects of this shutdown remain to be seen. Many national parks have remained open, but with reduced services, as have the Smithsonian museums in Washington DC.

There has been no indication of a breakthrough in the funding dispute in Congress, where both parties have refused to back down from their demands in the day since the shutdown began.

“I quite literally have nothing to negotiate,” Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, said on Thursday. The Republican-controlled chamber has passed a bill to fund the government through 21 November, but it needs at least some Democratic support to clear the 60-vote threshold for advancements in the Senate.

On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of senators was seen huddling on the Senate floor, but it is unclear if that brought the two sides any closer to a deal.

The House remains out of session, with no vote planned in the Senate today due to the Yom Kippur holiday.

Iran is considering releasing hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees across its western borders with Iraq and Turkey. It would be part of what officials describe as a necessarily more offensive and unpredictable strategy in the wake of the bombing of its nuclear sites and the European reimposition of UN sanctions.

The multi-pronged offensive includes expansion of its missile programme, strengthening air defences, suspending cooperation with the UN weapons inspectorate and on 18 October blocking the establishment of a UN committee to oversee the administration of the reimposed sanctions. Officials remain opposed to reopening talks with the US, believing the talks would fail.

The threat to send refugees towards the west as well as the east has echoes of the warning issued by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who threatened to send millions of Syrian refugees towards Europe.

Iran has at times had to accommodate as many as 6 million Afghan refugees, but Amnesty International reports that in 2025 a million Afghan refugees have been sent back to Afghanistan, having fled either due to poverty or Taliban rule. Amnesty claimed the mass expulsions had been scaled up in the wake of Israel’s 12 June attacks on Iran’s leadership and nuclear sites. It estimates 500,000 Afghans have been sent back over the border since June.

Until March 2025, several million Afghans had been permitted to temporarily legalise their stay in Iran by obtaining a “headcount” document. Those granted this document could access limited services, including access to state healthcare, public education, work authorisation, banking access and ability to enter into rental agreements. But the authorities nullified these headcount documents.

The Iranian authorities have given different figures about the number of Afghan refugees in the country, but it is thought a minimum of 2 million are in Iran illegally. The UN high commissioner for refugees has predicted that up to 4 million Afghans may be sent back to Afghanistan this year.

A broader programme of repair and recovery is under way in Iran, including a discussion about the levers it retains to protect itself in the wake of the Israeli-US attacks in June. Iran has recalled its ambassadors from France, Germany and the UK for consultations at the foreign ministry in Tehran about the crisis. Officials are leaning against leaving the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, partly since the substantive steps have already been taken to end co-operation with the UN nuclear weapons inspectorate.

Iranian officials confirm that in discussions with the French at the UN general assembly Iran offered to allow weapons inspectors to visit one bombed nuclear site at Natanz, and also offered to report on its stockpile of highly enriched uranium within 45 days. In return Iran wanted the threat of the return of UN sanctions to be lifted permanently, rather than for three months, the original French-led offer.

Iran claims the US refused to engage with these proposals, part of what Tehran believes has become an increasingly erratic and unprofessional US diplomatic operation run by Steve Witkoff, a man that the Iranians regard as either outside the loop or duplicitous. Witkoff, for instance, was sending the Iranian delegation heading to the UN details of a meeting he was intending to hold with Iran’s diplomats, but he then scrapped the meeting altogether.

In the next probable diplomatic clash with the US, it is expected that on 18 October Russia, which holds the rotating presidency of the security council, will use its power as a permanent member to block the establishment of a UN committee to monitor and oversee the sanctions the EU reimposed last week.

Russia and China have already written to the UN secretary general, António Guterres, to say European countries did not have the right to snap the sanctions back as they did on 28 September, since Europe in their view was no longer a participant in the nuclear deal, and had not exhausted the dispute resolution mechanism.

The impasse makes it likely that some countries will not comply with the enforcement of the UN sanctions. Japan, Canada and Turkey have already started to reimpose the sanctions, but countries in the Russian and Chinese orbit will not do so. The Turkish president, Erdoğan, for instance, issued a presidential decree ordering asset freezes on Iranian individuals and entities linked to Tehran’s nuclear programme and major state banks.

Officials say the most damaging sanctions on Iran are the existing ones imposed by the US, and by comparison the restored UN sanctions dating back from from 2006-10 are relatively narrow, since they do not cover Iran’s oil programme but instead specific asset freezes, arms limits and bans on missile trade.

But Tehran accepts that even the partial return of UN sanctions is having an impact on economic confidence and on the exchange rate. The price of the dollar in Iran’s free market has set a new record.

An immigration judge in Baltimore has denied Kilmar Ábrego García’s bid for asylum on Thursday, but he has 30 days to appeal.

Ábrego’s case has drawn national attention since the 30-year-old was wrongfully deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in March. The Salvadorian national has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years, but he originally immigrated to the US illegally as a teenager.

Following widespread pressure, the Trump administration returned him to the US in June. Upon his return, however, he immediately faced criminal charges related to human smuggling, allegations that his lawyers have rejected.

Ábrego was released from criminal custody in Tennessee on Friday while awaiting trial. But the Trump administration announced new plans to deport him to Uganda and then Eswatini.

Then Ábrego was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) during a scheduled immigration check-in in Baltimore, which was one of the conditions of his release.

Ábrego entered the US without authorization around 2011 as a teenager. According to court documents, he was fleeing gang violence.

Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has launched a massive crackdown on immigrants across the US, including sending federal forces and the national guard to assist US Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in numerous cities, nearly all of them Democrat-run.

The actions have prompted outrage from many groups, including Democrats and civic society groups.

A woman who died after refusing chemotherapy doctors had believed would have given her a strong chance of recovery was “adversely influenced” by her conspiracy theorist mother, a coroner has said.

Paloma Shemirani died aged 23 in July 2024 after refusing conventional treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. On Thursday, the coroner in her inquest said the influence of her parents, Kay and Faramarz Shemirani, “more than minimally” contributed to her death.

“It seems that if Paloma had been supported and encouraged to accept her diagnosis and considered chemotherapy with an open mind she probably would have followed that course,” Catherine Wood told a hearing at Kent and Medway coroner’s court in Maidstone.

She said Kay Shemirani “took a leading role in advising Paloma in respect of and facilitating access to alternative treatments”. And she added: “If approached with an open mind, Paloma would have chosen the chance to survive, and if she had undergone chemotherapy she probably would have survived.”

An NHS doctor told the inquest into Paloma Shemirani’s death she was concerned her mother, Kay, better known as the online influencer Kate Shemirani, influenced her daughter’s refusal of cancer treatment.

Arunodaya Mohan, a consultant haematologist at Maidstone hospital, said she had recommended steroids and a PET (positron emission tomography) scan, and that Paloma had “nodded in agreement”.

At the time of her diagnosis, doctors at Maidstone hospital told Paloma she had an 80% chance of recovery through chemotherapy.

The doctor said she spoke to Kay on the phone, saying she expressed several “concerns” about the proposed treatment. Alison Hewitt, counsel to the inquest at Oakwood House in Maidstone, Kent, asked: “Were there concerns that Ms Shemirani was influencing Paloma?” Dr Mohan replied: “That’s right.” Paloma later declined to have the treatment. And, when Dr Mohan asked why, there did not seem to be a specific reason, the inquest heard.

Asked if she had questioned Paloma on whether her decision was influenced by anyone, Dr Mohan said: “She was very confident that it was her own decision and she was not influenced.”

After graduating from Cambridge, Paloma was working and living in a flat with a housemate and was “estranged” from her mother until her cancer diagnosis.

Paloma went to live with her mother after leaving hospital. Asked if there was a change in Paloma’s attitude after her discharge, Dr Mohan told the court: “Yes, I was quite concerned because at the time of the hospital she had not declined chemotherapy, she was just thinking about it, but after discharge she completely discharged the treatment which I was quite disappointed about.”

Using the name Kate Shemirani, Kay rose to prominence on social media while sharing Covid-19 conspiracy theories. She was struck off as a nurse in 2021, with a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) committee finding that she had spread Covid-19 misinformation that “put the public at a significant risk of harm”.

In written statements submitted to the family division of the high court in spring 2024, Paloma said she had declined chemotherapy partly because of her “background in natural healing”, the inquest heard previously.

The statements were written as part of proceedings initiated by her twin brother, Gabriel, and involving the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS trust, in which he sought an assessment of the appropriateness of her care options. Paloma died before they could conclude.

Paloma wrote: “If I became ill, I’ve always turned to my mum first for advice as she is a trained nurse and qualified nutritionist.” The inquest heard that Paloma told the high court she was “delighted” with the alternative treatment she was pursuing, and was “sure” she would “make a full recovery” if left to continue it.

The inquest heard the forensic psychiatrist Ali Ajaz spent seven sessions with Paloma on the recommendation of her mother, with whom he had a professional relationship. The doctor had appeared on Kay’s podcast as a medical expert three times, and she had referred multiple patients to him.

Gabriel said his mother had “sacrificed” his sister “for her own principles”. He told the inquest at Kent and Medway coroner’s court, in Maidstone: “I blame my mother entirely for my sister’s death”, by “obstructing” his sister from receiving treatment.

“I believe that she sacrificed Paloma’s life for her own principles, I believe that she should be held accountable for Paloma’s death,” he said.

Kay claimed during the inquest proceedings that her daughter’s death had been caused by gross negligence manslaughter from medical staff, claiming she had “deteriorated catastrophically” when paramedics intervened.

She said her daughter had been “well” on the morning she collapsed, telling the court: “She looks healthy and good colour … she was smiling and laughing.”

After the collapse, Kay did not immediately call an ambulance, but called a friend instead, who then called the emergency services while they initiated CPR.

On the 999 call played to the court, Kay was heard shouting: “She’s dying.” Despite this, she told the court “everything went horribly wrong” after the paramedics arrived.

Paloma was taken to Royal Sussex County hospital in Brighton on a ventilator, and brain stem death was declared on the afternoon of 24 July 2024 after a series of nationally advised medical checks.

Reading a prepared witness statement, Kay accused the inquest of “attempting to shift focus” from the “real” cause of Paloma’s death. “Any attempt to place responsibility on me is false – the people who need to be answering are those who failed to confirm diagnosis, administered drugs without her consent which could have damaged her heart.”

Two people have died and three remain in a serious condition after a suspected terrorist attack outside a synagogue by a man shot dead by officers, Greater Manchester police (GMP) have said.

Police shot the suspect after one person was stabbed and a car was driven at members of the public at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

The force said it had “declared Plato” – the national codeword used by police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack” – at 9.37am.

Bomb disposal crews later arrived at the scene and military personnel in fatigues could be seen unloading equipment from the back of a vehicle a short distance from the synagogue.

Keir Starmer was flying back early to the UK from a meeting of European leaders in Denmark in order to chair an emergency Cobra meeting after the incident.

Witnesses were said to have seen a car driving erratically before a man got out and started attacking people with a knife. When it became clear what was happening, members of the congregation are said to have blockaded the doors to the synagogue.

In a statement, GMP said officers were called to the synagogue, on Middleton Road, at 9.31am by a person who said he had witnessed a car being driven towards members of the public and that one man had been stabbed.

The statement said: “Firearms officers were deployed at 9.34am as police continued to receive further reports from members of the public that a security guard had been attacked with a knife. GMP declared Plato and a major incident at 9.37am.

“Shots were fired by Greater Manchester police firearms officers at 9.38am. One man has been shot, believed to be the offender.

“Paramedics arrived at the scene at 9.41 and are tending to members of the public, currently four members of the public with injuries caused by both the vehicle and stab wounds.

“Members of the public are asked to avoid the area while the police continue to deal with the incident.”

The police later confirmed the suspect had been killed.

“In response to today’s major incident in Crumpsall, a loud noise was heard at the scene as specialist resources gained entry to the suspect’s vehicle as a precaution,” the force posted on X.

The body of the suspect remains at the scene as police try to establish whether he was wearing a viable explosive device, it is understood.

Earlier, the force had said it could not yet confirm his death.

“A third person, a man believed to be the offender, was shot by GMP firearms officers and is also believed to be deceased. It cannot currently be confirmed due to safety issues surround suspicious items on his person. The bomb disposal unit has been called and is now at the scene.

“Three other members of the public remain in a serious condition. A large number of people worshipping at the synagogue at the time of the incident were held inside while the immediate area was made safe but have since been evacuated,” it said in a statement.

Video shared on social media appeared to show police officers pointing guns at someone lying on the ground outside the front of the synagogue. Members of the public could be heard shouting to firearms officers that the suspect had a bomb strapped to him.

At least two ambulances were at the scene along with two fire engines and a large number of police vehicles, including several unmarked ones, while a police helicopter flew overhead. Members of the Jewish Community Security Trust (CST) were manning the police cordon.

Map of Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue

Two air ambulances left the scene as distressed relatives and friends of those inside the building gathered at the cordon. A woman whose husband was inside the synagogue said she was “sick” with worry as she had been unable to contact him since the attack.

“We’re just waiting for news,” said the woman, who did not want to be identified. “I’ve not even got dressed yet, I just ran out in my pyjamas.”

Her son, who also did not want to be named, said: “We don’t know anything. There’s rumours of a car ramming, a stabbing and a gunshot. It’s terrifying. We’re distraught.”

A woman, 57, who lives nearby said she had family and friends who attended the synagogue and rushed out as soon as she heard the police helicopter.

“I’m absolutely distraught,” said Olivia Gold. “It’s Jewish new year as well and this is the holiest day in the calendar … It would’ve been very busy, mainly with the men doing the service. It’s a big shul [synagogue].”

A delivery driver called Gareth, who told BBC Radio Manchester he witnessed the incident, said a man was “stabbing the window” and “trying to get into” the synagogue. “We got a bit closer. We seen a guy bleeding out on the floor. He was just basically unconscious on the floor, presumed, obviously, dead,” he said.

The CST described the incident as an “appalling attack on the holiest day of the Jewish year”.

The organisation, which monitors antisemitism in the UK, said: “CST is working with police and the local Jewish community following a serious incident at a synagogue in north Manchester.

“This appears to be an appalling attack on the holiest day of the Jewish year. We thank the GMP officers and synagogue security who responded immediately to deal with the incident.”

Starmer said he was “appalled” at the attack, adding: “The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific.”

He said “additional police assets” would be deployed at synagogues across the country, adding: “We will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe.”

A GMP spokesperson said: “We know today’s horrifying attack, on the Jewish community’s holiest day, will have caused significant shock and fear throughout all of our communities.

“We are grateful to the member of the public whose quick response to what they witnessed allowed our swift action, and as a result the offender was prevented from entering the synagogue.”

A statement from the North West ambulance service said: “We are currently assessing the situation and working with other members of the emergency services. Our priority is to ensure people receive the medical help they need as quickly as possible.”

Greater Manchester’s mayor, Andy Burnham, said the “immediate danger appears to be over”.

It is understood that the north-west counter-terrorism unit and MI5 are part of the investigation.

One source added: “It is everyone’s working assumption that this is terrorism.”

The UK’s terrorism threat level is being reviewed in the aftermath of the attack. The current threat level is substantial, the third highest of five levels.

Canada’s opposition party has asked the government to clarify if the Belfast rap trio Kneecap have been barred from the country, after doubts emerged whether the group was ever officially banned.

The Liberal MP Vince Gasparro, the parliamentary secretary for combating crime, posted a video on social media on 19 September, in which he said Kneecap were “ineligible” to enter Canada.

Gasparro alleged that the band glorified “terrorist organisations,” and that they “amplified political violence and publicly displayed support for terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas”.

The band, comprising members Naoise Ó Cairealláin, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh and JJ Ó Dochartaigh, say they have never supported Hamas or Hezbollah and would not incite violence against any individual. In an online statement addressing the MP, the band said: “Your comments about us are wholly untrue and deeply malicious. We will not accept it.”

Gasparro said he was making the video on “behalf of the government of Canada” and acting on official advice.

But the veracity of the ban was called into question after officials failed to provide any further information – including if there even was a ban – particularly after a British magistrate on Monday threw out a terror-related charge against Ó hAnnaidh.

On Wednesday, the federal Conservative party called on Gasparro to provide clarity over the incident. “He either lied or he has no clue how it works. And I find it hard to believe that he has no clue how it works,” the party’s deputy leader, Melissa Lantsman, told Global News.

Gasparro told reporters on Friday that he had made the video “based on the information that was available”.

In an email, his office said he had no further comment and referred questions to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), which did not respond. The office of public safety referred the Guardian to IRCC.

After Gasparro’s statement the band announced they would take legal action.

Kneecap, who are known for their support of Palestine and anti-authority lyrics, were scheduled to play four shows in Toronto and Vancouver this month.

After the announcement, several sources from the governing federal Liberal party told the Canadian politics newspaper The Hill Times they were concerned about the video and expressed confusion over whether the ban would actually be implemented.

Canada’s office of the privacy commissioner told the Guardian that Canada’s federal privacy laws did not apply to MPs when they were acting in their capacity as parliamentarians. The office said they had had no discussions with Gasparro on the Kneecap ban.

Commenting on Gasparro’s video, the Toronto-based immigration lawyer Aidan Simardone said it constituted a “huge privacy issue.” It also put the band in a position where they may face difficulties in officially appealing against the ban, he said.

“It was everywhere, so I don’t see how an officer at IRCC can now make a fair decision on whether or not to let the band in, given that there’s been this public announcement essentially accusing them of terrorism,” Simardone said.

The lack of clarity meant the band were likely to be “stuck in limbo,” he added.