From front-page news to powerful moments you may have missed, this gallery showcases today’s top photos chosen by Associated Press photo editors.
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Vietnamese troops march during a parade celebrating the 80th anniversary of independence in Hanoi, Vietnam Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)
Icelandic horses graze on a meadow at a stud farm in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Voters line up at a polling station during general elections in Georgetown, Guyana, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A tourist visits the ruins of Santo Domingo church, built in the 17th century after the city was relocated from its first colonial settlement, which had been destroyed by pirates, in "Casco Viejo," the historic district of Panama City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Laborers drink tea, sitting under tin shade panels to shelter themselves from the rain during roadwork, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Director Benny Safdie, from left, Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson arrive at the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
A model wears a creation by Brazilian brand Artemisi on a runway at the Moscow Fashion Week in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
A Baghdad Ballet Academy student prepares to perform "Alice in Wonderland" at Al-Rashid Theater in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Friends and relatives mourn over the coffin of slain hostage Idan Shtivi, whose body was recovered in an Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, during his funeral in Kfar Maas, Israel, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An athlete practices jumping across a body of water during a Fierljeppen competition in Kockengen, Netherlands, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
A farmer works in his paddy field on the outskirts of Guwahati, India, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
An injured person is carried to a military helicopter that landed to evacuate injured victims of an earthquake that killed many people and destroyed villages in eastern Afghanistan, in Mazar Dara, Kunar province, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Wahidullah Kakar)
School students listen to their teachers during a lesson, in the basement of a municipal building during the first day in school in Bobryk, Sumy region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. The Bobryk school was forced to move to the basement due to endless alarms. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Schoolgirls and cadets dance as they attend a rehearsal of a ceremony on the first day at school at a cadet lyceum in Kyiv, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
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Vietnamese troops march during a parade celebrating the 80th anniversary of independence in Hanoi, Vietnam Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)
Icelandic horses graze on a meadow at a stud farm in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Voters line up at a polling station during general elections in Georgetown, Guyana, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A tourist visits the ruins of Santo Domingo church, built in the 17th century after the city was relocated from its first colonial settlement, which had been destroyed by pirates, in "Casco Viejo," the historic district of Panama City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Laborers drink tea, sitting under tin shade panels to shelter themselves from the rain during roadwork, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Director Benny Safdie, from left, Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson arrive at the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
A model wears a creation by Brazilian brand Artemisi on a runway at the Moscow Fashion Week in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
A Baghdad Ballet Academy student prepares to perform "Alice in Wonderland" at Al-Rashid Theater in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Friends and relatives mourn over the coffin of slain hostage Idan Shtivi, whose body was recovered in an Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, during his funeral in Kfar Maas, Israel, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An athlete practices jumping across a body of water during a Fierljeppen competition in Kockengen, Netherlands, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
A farmer works in his paddy field on the outskirts of Guwahati, India, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
An injured person is carried to a military helicopter that landed to evacuate injured victims of an earthquake that killed many people and destroyed villages in eastern Afghanistan, in Mazar Dara, Kunar province, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Wahidullah Kakar)
School students listen to their teachers during a lesson, in the basement of a municipal building during the first day in school in Bobryk, Sumy region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. The Bobryk school was forced to move to the basement due to endless alarms. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Schoolgirls and cadets dance as they attend a rehearsal of a ceremony on the first day at school at a cadet lyceum in Kyiv, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media that the U.S. Coast Guard had boarded the Motor Tanker Veronica early Thursday. She said the ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”
Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, it was partially filled with crude.
The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Galileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for moving cargoes of illicit Russian oil.
As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”
However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear that they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)