AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Venezuelans anxiously await results of presidential election that could end one-party rule

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans waited anxiously for the results of Sunday’s presidential election that could pave the way to an end to 25 years of single party rule, even as some polls remained open more than three hours after a deadline to close.

President Nicolás Maduro, in seeking a third term, faced his toughest challenge yet from the unlikeliest of opponents: Edmundo González, a retired diplomat who was unknown to voters before being tapped in April as a last-minute stand-in for opposition powerhouse Maria Corina Machado.

Opposition leaders were already celebrating, online and outside a few voting centers, what they assured was a landslide victory for González. Their hope was boosted by purported exit polls showing a healthy margin of victory for González. Exit polls are not allowed under Venezuelan law.

“I’m so happy,” said Merling Fernández, a 31-year-old bank employee, as a representative for the opposition campaign walked out of one voting center in a working class neighborhood of Caracas to announce results showing González more than doubled Maduro’s vote count. Dozens standing nearby erupted in an impromptu rendition of the national anthem.

“This is the path toward a new Venezuela,” added Fernández, holding back tears. “We are all tired of this yoke.”

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Israel weighs response to Hezbollah after a rocket from Lebanon kills 12 youths on a soccer field

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Middle East braced for a potential flare-up in violence on Sunday after Israeli authorities said a rocket from Lebanon struck a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teens in what the military called the deadliest attack on civilians since Oct. 7. It raised fears of a broader regional war between Israel and Hezbollah, which in a rare move denied it was responsible.

The White House National Security Council said it was speaking with Israeli and Lebanese counterparts and working on a diplomatic solution to “end all attacks once and for all” in the border area between Israel and Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it struck a number of targets inside Lebanon overnight into Sunday, though their intensity was similar to months of cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Hezbollah said it also carried out strikes. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Saturday’s attack came as Israel and Hamas are negotiating a cease-fire proposal to end the nearly 10-month war in Gaza.

Here is a look at the broader repercussions:

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Harris raised $200 million in first week of White House campaign and signed up 170,000 volunteers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has raised $200 million since she emerged as the likely Democratic presidential nominee last week, an eyepopping haul in her race against the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.

The campaign, which announced its latest fundraising total on Sunday, said the bulk of the donations — 66% — comes from first-time contributors in the 2024 election cycle and were made after President Joe Biden announced his exit from the race and endorsed Harris.

Over 170,000 volunteers have also signed up to help the Harris campaign with phone banking, canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts. Election Day is 100 days away.

“The momentum and energy for Vice President Harris is real — and so are the fundamentals of this race: this election will be very close and decided by a small number of voters in just a few states,” Michael Tyler, the campaign’s communications director, wrote in a memo.

Her campaign said it held some 2,300 organizing events in battleground states this weekend as several high-profile Democrats under consideration to serve as Harris’ running mate stumped for her.

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Crews battle wildfires across the US West and fight to hold containment lines

FOREST RANCH, Calif. (AP) — Wildfires across the western United States and Canada put millions of people under air quality alerts on Sunday as thousands of firefighters battled the flames, including the largest wildfire in California this year.

The so-called Park Fire had scorched an area greater than the size of Los Angeles as of Sunday, darkening the sky with smoke and contributing poor air quality to a large swath of the northwestern U.S. and western Canada. The blaze spanned more than 562 square miles (1,455 square kilometers) of inland Northern California.

Firefighters were helped by cooler temperatures and more humidity on Saturday and made some progress, increasing containment from zero to 12%. The fire has drawn comparisons to the 2018 Camp Fire that tore through the nearby community of Paradise, killing 85 people and torching 11,000 homes.

Paradise and several other Butte County communities were under an evacuation warning Sunday. However, Cal Fire operations section chief Jeremy Pierce had some good news for the area, saying around midday that the Park Fire’s southernmost front, which is closest to Paradise, was “looking really good,” with crews focusing on extinguishing any remaining hot spots and removing other hazards over the next three days. He also said they don’t expect it to move farther into Chico, a city of about 100,000 people just west of Paradise.

First responders initially focused on saving lives and property endangered by the Park Fire, but that has since shifted to confronting the blaze head-on, Jay Tracy, a spokesperson at the Park Fire headquarters, told The Associated Press by phone Sunday.

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Attorney for cartel leader ‘El Mayo’ Zambada says his client was kidnapped and brought to the US

HOUSTON (AP) — The lawyer of a powerful Mexican drug cartel leader who is now in U.S. custody pushed back Sunday against claims that his client was tricked into flying into the country, saying he was “forcibly kidnapped” by the son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada had eluded authorities for decades and had never set foot in prison until a plane carrying him and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of notorious drug kingpin “El Chapo,” landed at an airport in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, near El Paso, Texas, on Thursday. Both men, who face various U.S. drug charges, were arrested and remain jailed.

Frank Perez, Zambada’s attorney, said his client did not end up at the New Mexico airport of his own free will.

“My client neither surrendered nor negotiated any terms with the U.S. government,” Perez said in a statement. “Joaquín Guzmán López forcibly kidnapped my client. He was ambushed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed by six men in military uniforms and Joaquin. His legs were tied, and a black bag was placed over his head.” Perez went on to say that Zambada, 76, was thrown in the back of a pickup truck, forced onto a plane and tied to the seat by Guzmán López.

Known as an astute operator skilled at corrupting officials, Zambada has a reputation for being able to negotiate with everyone, including rivals. He is charged in a number of U.S. cases, including in New York and California. Prosecutors brought a new indictment against him in New York in February, describing him as the “principal leader of the criminal enterprise responsible for importing enormous quantities of narcotics into the United States.”

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Simone Biles shakes off a calf injury to dominate during Olympic gymnastics qualifying

PARIS (AP) — The similarities were striking. Maybe fitting in the birthplace of déjà vu.

Simone Biles sitting off to the side at the Olympics. USA Gymnastics team doctor Marcia Faustin by her side. A look of concern on both their faces.

Three years ago in Tokyo, the scene ended with Biles removing herself from multiple finals to protect her safety — prompting an international discussion about mental health.

Yet Biles is determined to write a different ending to the story in Paris. The 27-year-old American star wasn’t dealing with any sort of block or trauma but something far more common to gymnasts, particularly ones who have been doing this two decades.

Just like in Tokyo, Biles and Faustin briefly disappeared. Unlike Tokyo, Biles returned not in a sweatsuit but with her left leg heavily taped after tweaking her calf during her warmup on floor exercise. She spent the rest of the afternoon walking around with a noticeable limp everywhere except the competition floor.

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A manipulated video shared by Musk mimics Harris’ voice, raising concerns about AI in politics

NEW YORK (AP) — A manipulated video that mimics the voice of Vice President Kamala Harris saying things she did not say is raising concerns about the power of artificial intelligence to mislead with Election Day about three months away.

The video gained attention after tech billionaire Elon Musk shared it on his social media platform X on Friday evening without explicitly noting it was originally released as parody.

The video uses many of the same visuals as a real ad that Harris, the likely Democratic president nominee, released last week launching her campaign. But the video swaps out the voice-over audio with another voice that convincingly impersonates Harris.

“I, Kamala Harris, am your Democrat candidate for president because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility at the debate,” the voice says in the video. It claims Harris is a “diversity hire” because she is a woman and a person of color, and it says she doesn’t know “the first thing about running the country.” The video retains “Harris for President” branding. It also adds in some authentic past clips of Harris.

Mia Ehrenberg, a Harris campaign spokesperson, said in an email to The Associated Press: “We believe the American people want the real freedom, opportunity and security Vice President Harris is offering; not the fake, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”

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Blood tests for Alzheimer’s may be coming to your doctor’s office. Here’s what to know

WASHINGTON (AP) — New blood tests could help doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s disease faster and more accurately, researchers reported Sunday – but some appear to work far better than others.

It’s tricky to tell if memory problems are caused by Alzheimer’s. That requires confirming one of the disease’s hallmark signs — buildup of a sticky protein called beta-amyloid — with a hard-to-get brain scan or uncomfortable spinal tap. Many patients instead are diagnosed based on symptoms and cognitive exams.

Labs have begun offering a variety of tests that can detect certain signs of Alzheimer’s in blood. Scientists are excited by their potential but the tests aren’t widely used yet because there’s little data to guide doctors about which kind to order and when. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t formally approved any of them and there’s little insurance coverage.

“What tests can we trust?” asked Dr. Suzanne Schindler, a neurologist at Washington University in St. Louis who’s part of a research project examining that. While some are very accurate, “other tests are not much better than a flip of a coin.”

More than 6 million people in the United States and millions more around the world have Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia. Its telltale “biomarkers” are brain-clogging amyloid plaques and abnormal tau protein that leads to neuron-killing tangles.

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Mudslide kills 15 people near tourist site in China as rains from tropical storm Gaemi drench region

BEIJING (AP) — Fifteen people were killed after a mudslide hit a homestay house in a tourist area in southeastern China on Sunday as heavy rains from what remained of a tropical storm drenched the region, state media said.

Elsewhere in China, a delivery person on a scooter was killed Saturday after being hit by a falling tree in Shanghai, apparently because of storm-related winds, according to The Paper, a digital news outlet.

The deaths were the first in China that appear linked to Typhoon Gaemi, which weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall on Thursday. Before reaching China, the typhoon intensified monsoon rains in the Philippines, leaving at least 34 dead, and swept across the island of Taiwan, where the death toll has risen to 10, authorities said late Saturday.

The mudslide struck the homestay house after 8 a.m. and trapped 21 people in Yuelin, a village under the jurisdiction of Hengyang city in Hunan province, state broadcaster CCTV said in a series of online reports. About 30 centimeters (12 inches) of rain was recorded in the area over a 24-hour period.

Six injured people were rescued and taken to a hospital for treatment, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The media reports didn’t say whether the injuries were serious.

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‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ smashes R-rated record with $205 million debut, 8th biggest opening ever

Marvel is back on top with “ Deadpool & Wolverine.” The comic-book movie made a staggering $205 million in its first weekend in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. It shattered the opening record for R-rated films previously held by the first “Deadpool” ($132 million) and notched a spot in the top 10 openings of all time.

Including international showings, where it’s racked up an addition $233.3 million from 52 markets, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is looking at a global opening of over $438.3 million.

Fittingly for both characters’ introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Deadpool & Wolverine” played less like earlier X-Men or Deadpool movies and more like an Avengers pic. In the top domestic opening weekends ever, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is seated in 8th place between “The Avengers” ($207.4 million) and “Black Panther” ($202 million), bumping “Avengers: Age of Ultron” ($191.3 million) out of the top 10.

It’s by far biggest opening of the year, unseating Disney’s “ Inside Out 2 ” ($154.2 million) and the most tickets a movie has sold in its debut weekend since “Barbie” ($162 million) stormed theaters last July. Playing in 4,210 locations, “Deadpool & Wolverine” also surpassed 2019’s “The Lion King” ($191.8 million) to become the biggest July opening ever, and is the 34th consecutive MCU movie to debut in first place. And these are numbers previously thought impossible for an R-rated film.

“It’s great news full stop,” said Tony Chambers, who leads theatrical distribution for Disney. “Not only is it great for Disney, not only is it great for Marvel, but it’s great for the industry as a whole. We’ve said it before but success begets success.”

The Associated Press