The 2024 Olympian was testing new camera equipment off the coast of Sao Luis on Friday when he heard a woman calling for help, he wrote on Instagram. He swam over to investigate, and with the cameras still running, he caught the dramatic rescue on video.

It was cloudy at around 5:40 p.m. on Friday when he decided to use the newly arrived equipment, despite wind conditions that were “not the best,” he recounted.

“After sailing a few meters, I heard a cry for help” and followed the cry to see a young woman flailing in the open water.

“I quickly approached her with the kite,” he wrote. “I tried to calm her down and asked her to climb on my back. She was quite tired and powerless. I used the equipment to bring her safely to the sand where the lifeguards performed first aid at the seaside, and thanks to God everything went well.”

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A post shared by Bruno Lobo (@brunolobo31)

Lobo started out on a note of gratitude for “the day that God used me as an instrument to save this young woman, all honor and glory to Him” and admonished swimmers to “stay alert about the danger of the sea, rivers and anywhere you don’t know because the current in some places is usually very strong!”

Though lauded as a hero, the 31-year-old orthopedic doctor was humble.

“Thank you for all the messages,” Lobo wrote. “I only did what needed to be done and what was within my reach!”

The video showed him making his way over to the woman, whose head was barely above the water, and steadying himself with his kite and board while she climbed onto his back. He then let the wind pull them both to shore.

The clip ended with a shot of the exhausted swimmer being carried into shallow waters and greeted by her mates and lifeguards, then giving Lobo a quick hug before they all walk away and Lobo heads the other way. The rescued woman expressed her gratitude on his Instagram post.

“Words can’t describe my gratitude!” wrote the woman in a comment, according to the Olympic Games, which also shared the moment. “It was the salvation that God and my guides sent to me. I really could not handle it if I spent five minutes on the high sea, even knowing how to swim and using anti-drowning techniques. I wish you showers of blessings in your life!”

Lobo has had his share of blessings, at least in the athletics department, as a gold medal winner in the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru, a title he defended at the 2023 games in Chile, according to World Sailing, the sport’s governing body. In Paris in 2024 he finished seventh in the Olympic Games’ Men’s Kite Event.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Yotam Vilk says the image of Israeli soldiers killing an unarmed Palestinian teenager in the Gaza Strip is seared in his mind.

An officer in the armored corps, Vilk said the instructions were to shoot any unauthorized person who entered an Israeli-controlled buffer zone in Gaza. He saw at least 12 people killed, he said, but it is the shooting of the teen that he can’t shake.

“He died as part of a bigger story. As part of the policy of staying there and not seeing Palestinians as people,” Vilk, 28, told The Associated Press.

Vilk is among a growing number of Israeli soldiers speaking out against the 15-month conflict and refusing to serve anymore, saying they saw or did things that crossed ethical lines. While the movement is small — some 200 soldiers signed a letter saying they’d stop fighting if the government didn’t secure a ceasefire — soldiers say it’s the tip of the iceberg and they want others to come forward.

Their refusal comes at a time of mounting pressure on Israel and Hamas to wind down the fighting. Ceasefire talks are underway, and both President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump have called for a deal by the Jan. 20 inauguration. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Seven soldiers who’ve refused to continue fighting in Gaza spoke with AP, describing how Palestinians were indiscriminately killed and houses destroyed. Several said they were ordered to burn or demolish homes that posed no threat, and they saw soldiers loot and vandalize residences.

Soldiers are required to steer clear of politics, and they rarely speak out against the army. After Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel quickly united behind the war launched against the group. Divisions here have grown as the war progresses, but most criticism has focused on the mounting number of soldiers killed and the failure to bring home hostages, not actions in Gaza.

International rights groups have accused Israel of war crimes and genocide in Gaza. The International Court of Justice is investigating genocide allegations filed by South Africa. The International Criminal Court is seeking the arrests of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.

Israel adamantly rejects genocide allegations and says it takes extraordinary measures to minimize civilian harm in Gaza. The army says it never intentionally targets civilians, and investigates and punishes cases of suspected wrongdoing. But rights groups have long said the army does a poor job of investigating itself.

The army told AP it condemns the refusal to serve and takes any call for refusal seriously, with each case examined individually. Soldiers can go to jail for refusing to serve, but none who signed the letter has been detained, according to those who organized the signatures.

Soldiers’ reactions in Gaza

When Vilk entered Gaza in November 2023, he said, he thought the initial use of force might bring both sides to the table. But as the war dragged on, he said he saw the value of human life disintegrate.

On the day the Palestinian teenager was killed last August, he said, Israeli troops shouted at him to stop and fired warning shots at his feet, but he kept moving. He said others were also killed walking into the buffer zone — the Netzarim Corridor, a road dividing northern and southern Gaza.

Vilk acknowledged it was hard to determine whether people were armed, but said he believes soldiers acted too quickly.

In the end, he said, Hamas is to blame for some deaths in the buffer zone — he described one Palestinian detained by his unit who said Hamas paid people $25 to walk into the corridor to gauge the army’s reaction.

Some soldiers told AP it took time to digest what they saw in Gaza. Others said they became so enraged they decided they’d stop serving almost immediately.

Yuval Green, a 27-year-old medic, described abandoning his post last January after spending nearly two months in Gaza, unable to live with what he’d seen.

He said soldiers desecrated homes, using black markers meant for medical emergencies to scribble graffiti, and looted homes, looking for prayer beads to collect as souvenirs.

The final straw, he said, was his commander ordering troops to burn down a house, saying he didn’t want Hamas to be able to use it. Green said he sat in a military vehicle, choking on fumes amid the smell of burning plastic. He found the fire vindictive — he said he saw no reason to take more from Palestinians than they’d already lost. He left his unit before their mission was complete.

Green said he understands Israeli anger over Oct. 7 but hopes his act of refusal encourages all sides to break the cycle of violence.

The soldiers’ refusal as an act of protest

Soldiers for the Hostages — the group behind the letter troops signed — is trying to garner momentum, holding an event this month in Tel Aviv and gathering more signatures. A panel of soldiers spoke about what they’d seen in Gaza. Organizers distributed poster-size stickers with a Martin Luther King Jr. quote: “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

Max Kresch, an organizer, said soldiers can use their positions to create change. “We need to use our voice to speak up in the face of injustice, even if that is unpopular,” he said.

But some who fought and lost colleagues call the movement a slap in the face. More than 830 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the war, according to the army.

“They are harming our ability to defend ourselves,” said Gilad Segal, a 42-year-old paratrooper who spent two months in Gaza at the end of 2023. He said everything the army did was necessary, including the flattening of houses used as Hamas hideouts. It’s not a soldier’s place to agree or disagree with the government, he argued.

Ishai Menuchin, spokesperson for Yesh Gvul, a movement for soldiers refusing to serve, said he works with more than 80 soldiers who have refused to fight and that there are hundreds more who feel similarly but remain silent.

Effects on soldiers

Some of the soldiers who spoke to AP said they feel conflicted and regretful, and they’re talking to friends and relatives about what they saw to process it.

Many soldiers suffer from “moral injury,” said Tuly Flint, a trauma therapy specialist who’s counseled hundreds of them during the war. It’s a response when people see or do something that goes against their beliefs, he said, and it can result in a lack of sleep, flashbacks and feelings of unworthiness. Talking about it and trying to spark change can help, Flint said.

One former infantry soldier told AP about his feelings of guilt — he said he saw about 15 buildings burned down unnecessarily during a two-week stint in late 2023. He said that if he could do it all over again, he wouldn’t have fought.

“I didn’t light the match, but I stood guard outside the house. I participated in war crimes,” said the soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity over fears of retaliation. “I’m so sorry for what we’ve done.”

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces are bypassing a key stronghold in eastern Ukraine that they have fought for months to capture and are focusing instead on cutting supply lines to it, a Ukrainian official said Monday.

Russian troops are going around the vital logistics hub of Pokrovsk, where a steadfast Ukrainian defense has kept them at bay, and are taking aim at a highway that leads from there to the central Ukraine city of Dnipro, Maj. Viktor Trehubov, a local Ukrainian army spokesperson, told The Associated Press.

That route is crucial for supplies feeding Ukrainian forces in the entire region. Cutting the highway traffic would also severely weaken Pokrovsk.

“So far, they have not achieved their goal and (Ukrainian forces) are working to ensure that they do not achieve it in the future — just as they have not been successful in other attempts to bypass the city,” Trehubov said in a WhatsApp message.

Ukraine’s army is under severe strain along parts of the approximately 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, especially in the eastern Donetsk region where Pokrovsk is located.

After almost three years of war, Ukrainian units are depleted and are outnumbered by Russian forces. Though its battlefield progress has been slow and costly, momentum in the war is in Russia’s favor and its onslaught has gradually swallowed up towns and villages, especially in Donetsk. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Monday its forces had seized the village of Pishchane.

In his daily video address to the nation late Sunday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said fighting around Pokrovsk was “the most intense” in recent days.

“Now they are acting more cautiously,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is pressing his advantage ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House next week. Trump says he wants to bring a swift end to the war, though he hasn’t publicized details of his plans.

In 2022, Moscow illegally annexed the Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk regions, which make up the economically important Donbas industrial area, together with the southeastern provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. But Russian forces don’t fully control any of them.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

TOKYO (AP) — Japan issued a tsunami advisory on Monday after a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the southwest of the country. The public warnings to stay away from coastal areas were later lifted.

The agency initially gave the magnitude estimate at 6.9, but later revised it down. An official first told reporters the lowered magnitude was 6.7, but the agency then released a statement with the magnitude revised to 6.6.

There were no immediate reports of damage. Residents in some coastal areas were told to evacuate as a precautionary measure.

One man was slightly injured in Kyushu after falling down some stairs, NHK TV reported. Trains stopped running in Miyazaki Station, stranding passengers.

NHK said a tsunami, estimated to be as high as 1 meter (3.2 feet), reached land within 30 minutes of the quake. The waters detected at Miyazaki Port measured 20 centimeters (0.7 feet) high, the reports said.

Tsunami advisories were issued for Miyazaki prefecture, where the quake was centered, in the southwestern island of Kyushu, as well as nearby Kochi prefecture in Shikoku island, shortly after the quake struck at 9:19 p.m. according to the agency. They were all called off shortly before midnight.

The quake, centered at a depth of 36 kilometers (22 miles), shook a wide area in Kyushu, the southwestern main island, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said. The agency initially gave the depth as 30 kilometers (18.6 miles).

NHK TV footage showed moving traffic and well-lit streets, meaning that electric power was still working. No problems were detected at the various monitoring posts for nuclear plants in the area.

Japan is frequently hit by earthquakes due to its location along the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

Experts at the meteorological agency met late Monday to gauge how the latest temblor may be related to the so-called Nankai Trough quakes, but decided not to take any extraordinary measures for the time being. The term refers to a wide region believed to be prone to periodic major quakes.

A Nankai Trough quake off Shikoku in 1946 killed more than 1,300 people. The area was hit by a 7.1 magnitude quake in August last year.

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. and Arab mediators made significant progress overnight toward brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of scores of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but a deal hasn’t been reached yet, officials said Monday.

Four officials acknowledged that progress has been made and said the coming days would be critical for ending more than 15 months of fighting that has destabilized the Middle East. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the talks.

A U.S. official briefed on the negotiations said all sides are “closer than we’ve ever been, but it could still fall apart.” The official declined to predict the timing of a potential agreement because he said it is too uncertain, with multiple moving parts still in play.

Two other officials, including one associated with Hamas, said there were still a number of hurdles. On several occasions over the past year, U.S. leaders have said they were on the verge of reaching a deal, only to have talks stall. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Another person familiar with the talks said there had been a breakthrough overnight and there was a proposed deal on the table. Israeli and Hamas negotiators will take it to their leaders for final approval, the person said.

The person said mediators from Qatar had put renewed pressure on Hamas to accept the agreement, while U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, was pressing the Israelis. Witkoff recently joined the negotiations and has been in the region in recent days.

The person said the mediators had handed the draft deal to each side and the next 24 hours would be pivotal.

An Egyptian official said there had been good progress overnight, but it would likely take a few more days, and the sides were aiming for a deal before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

A Hamas official who spoke anonymously because he wasn’t authorized to brief the media said a number of contentious issues still need to be resolved, including an Israeli commitment to ending the war and details about the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

The Qatari palace said the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, met with Hamas’ delegation in Doha as well as with Witkoff and Brett McGurk, President Joe Biden’s top Middle East adviser. Al Thani also spoke by phone with Biden, who stressed the urgent need for a deal.

Months of negotiations have repeatedly stalled

The Biden administration, along with Egypt and Qatar, has spent more than a year trying to broker an agreement to end the deadliest war ever fought between Israelis and Palestinians and secure the release of scores of hostages captured in Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the conflict.

But the sides have been divided over the details of the planned exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, as well as the nature of the ceasefire itself. Hamas has said it won’t release the remaining captives without an end to the war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the campaign until “total victory” over the group.

Under discussion now is a phased ceasefire. Netanyahu has repeatedly signaled he is committed only to the first phase, a partial hostage release in exchange for a weekslong halt in fighting. The possibility of a lasting ceasefire and other issues would be negotiated after the first phase begins. Hamas has demanded a full withdrawal and complete end to the war, and is hoping this first phase will lead to that outcome.

A deal could weaken Netanyahu’s coalition, which includes two far-right factions that have threatened to leave the government if Israel makes too many concessions. Members of the opposition have promised to give Netanyahu the support he needs to approve a hostage release, but the hardliners’ anger could be a source of instability down the road.

Ten hardline members of Israel’s parliament sent a letter to Netanyahu expressing their opposition to a deal that does not allow Israeli soldiers to maintain a presence in strategic parts of the Gaza Strip, which previously has been a non-starter for Hamas.

Netanyahu is hoping the prospect of a Trump administration — which includes allies of the West Bank settler movement — will persuade his partners to remain in the government.

Biden, who hopes to wrap up a deal before leaving office next week, spoke with Netanyahu about the talks on Sunday.

The head of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency, David Barnea, and McGurk were both in Doha. Barnea’s presence meant high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any agreement are once again involved in the talks.

Palestinians and families of hostages hope for a deal

Just one brief ceasefire has been achieved during the war, and that was in the earliest weeks of fighting.

Families of the roughly 100 hostages still held in Gaza have been pressing Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring their loved ones home.

In Gaza, Palestinians hope for a stop to Israel’s military campaign, which has devastated much of the territory and driven around 90% of its 2.3 million people from their homes. At least 14 Palestinians, including a family of five, were killed in three separate Israeli airstrikes Monday in northern Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Five Israeli soldiers were killed in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza on Monday, raising the number of Israeli soldiers killed in combat in the north over the past week to 15. The large number of fatalities could lead to more support for a ceasefire among the Israeli public.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, whose count doesn’t give a breakdown between fighters and civilians. Hamas-led terrorists killed about 1,200 people and abducted around 250 others in the attack that ignited the war.

In Jerusalem, around 1,000 people blocked the main entrance to the city and demonstrated against a deal, marching with a sign that read “You have no mandate to surrender to Hamas.”

In Tel Aviv, dozens of supporters of the hostages spelled out “HOME!” at the entrance to the city’s main military base.

“We’re not getting any guidance yet from the government of Israel, understanding if it is a deal for all the hostages or is it just a partial deal,” said Ruby Chen, whose son, Israeli-American Itay Chen, was taken hostage from his military base. Israel determined that Chen was likely killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body is still in Gaza.

Ruby Chen said when it seemed that talks were starting to gain momentum 10 days ago, he flew to Qatar with other families to press for a deal to include all of the hostages, including the bodies of those who have died.

Inside Gaza, “we hear that there are negotiations every day, but we see nothing,” said Mazen Hammad, a resident of the southern city of Khan Younis. “When we see it on the ground, then we believe that there is a truce.”

Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut, Aamer Madhani in Washington and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Follow coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Today in history:

On Jan. 13, 2021, President Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House over the violent Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol, becoming the only president to be twice impeached; ten Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump on a charge of “incitement of insurrection.” (Trump would again be acquitted by the Senate in a vote after his term was over.)

Also on this date:

In 1733, James Oglethorpe and some 120 English colonists arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, while en route to settle in present-day Georgia.

In 1794, President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the Union. (The number of stripes was later reduced to the original 13.)

In 1941, a new law went into effect granting Puerto Ricans U.S. birthright citizenship.

In 1979, singer Donny Hathaway died in a fall from a hotel window in New York. He was 34. Hathaway was known for his duets with Roberta Flack and the holiday song “This Christmas.”

In 1982, an Air Florida 737 crashed into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge and fell into the Potomac River while trying to take off during a snowstorm, killing a total of 78 people, including four motorists on the bridge; four passengers and a flight attendant survived.

In 1990, L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the nation’s first elected Black governor as he took the oath of office in Richmond.

In 1992, Japan apologized for forcing tens of thousands of Korean women to serve as sex slaves for its soldiers during World War II, citing newly uncovered documents that showed the Japanese army had a role in abducting the so-called “comfort women.”

Today’s birthdays:

• Golf Hall of Famer Mark O’Meara is 68.
• Actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus is 64.
• Country singer Trace Adkins is 63.
• Actor Patrick Dempsey is 59.
• TV producer-writer Shonda Rhimes is 55.
• Actor Orlando Bloom is 48.
• Actor Liam Hemsworth is 35.
• Actor Natalia Dyer is 30.
• NHL center Connor McDavid is 28.

Today in history:

On Jan. 12, 2010, Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that the Haitian government estimated killed some 300,000 people.

Also on this date:

In 1915, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected, 204-174, a proposed constitutional amendment to give women nationwide the right to vote.

In 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart completed an 18-hour trip from Honolulu to Oakland, California, making her the first person to fly solo across any part of the Pacific Ocean.

In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Sipuel v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma, unanimously ruled that state law schools could not discriminate against applicants on the basis of race.

In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records (originally Tamla Records) in Detroit.

In 1966, “Batman” premiered on ABC, starring Adam West and Burt Ward.

In 1969, the biggest upset in Super Bowl history occurred as the New York Jets of the American Football League defeated the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League 16-7 in Super Bowl III, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

Today’s birthdays:

• Author Haruki Murakami is 76.
• Filmmaker Wayne Wang is 76.
• Football Hall of Famer Drew Pearson is 74.
• Writer Walter Mosley is 73.
• Media personality Howard Stern is 71.
• Filmmaker John Lasseter is 68.
• Broadcast journalist Christiane Amanpour is 67.
• Actor Oliver Platt is 65.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins is 65.
• Entrepreneur Jeff Bezos is 61.
• Musician-filmmaker Rob Zombie is 60.
• Rock singer Zack de la Rocha (Rage Against the Machine) is 55.
• Rapper Raekwon (Wu Tang Clan) is 55.
• Singer Melanie Chisholm (Spice Girls) is 51.
• Hockey Hall of Famer Marián Hossa is 46.
• Actor Issa Rae is 40.
• Singer Zayn Malik is 32.

Today in history:

On Jan. 11, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt leveraged the Antiquities Act of 1906 to proclaim the Grand Canyon as a national monument; it would become a national park in 1919.

Also on this date:

In 1861, Alabama became the fourth state to declare its secession from the Union.

In 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued “Smoking and Health,” a report that concluded that “cigarette smoking contributes substantially to mortality from certain specific diseases and to the overall death rate.”

In 2002, the first al-Qaida prisoners from Afghanistan arrived at the U.S. military’s Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.

In 2010, Mark McGwire admitted to The Associated Press that he’d used steroids and human growth hormone when he broke baseball’s home run record in 1998.

In 2021, House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment against then-President Donald Trump, charging him with “incitement of insurrection” in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Capitol building five days prior.

Today’s birthdays:

• Filmmaker Alfonso Arau is 93.
• Golf Hall of Famer Ben Crenshaw is 73.
• Jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour is 73.
• Olympic swimming gold medalist Tracy Caulkins is 62.
• Filmmaker Malcolm D. Lee is 55.
• Singer Mary J. Blige is 54.
• Actor Amanda Peet is 53.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence has found no evidence linking a foreign power to the mysterious “Havana syndrome” injuries reported by some U.S. diplomats and other government personnel, though two agencies now say it’s possible a foreign adversary may have developed or even deployed a weapon responsible for the injuries.

The conclusion, which echoes early investigations, follows a review conducted by seven intelligence agencies or departments that examined cases of brain injuries and other symptoms reported by American diplomats and other military and government staffers, who have raised questions about the involvement of a foreign adversary.

In the new assessment released by U.S. intelligence on Friday, five of the seven agencies concluded that it is very unlikely that a foreign adversary was behind the injuries.

Two of the agencies, however, reached a different conclusion, determining that there is a possibility that a foreign power may have developed or even used a weapon capable of causing the reported injuries. Such a device would presumably rely on acoustic energy, microwaves or anther kind of directed energy.

Symptoms that include headaches, balance problems and difficulties with thinking and sleep were first reported in Cuba in 2016 — leading to the label “Havana Syndrome” — and later by hundreds of American personnel in multiple countries.

The Biden administration has faced pressure to investigate following the reports from U.S. personnel of significant brain injuries and other symptoms after being targeted by what some have suggested is an effort to harass and injure Americans working overseas. But officials have been unable to find an explanation.

In the new assessment, the two agencies, which officials did not identify, did not find evidence linking any specific episode to technology developed by Russia or another country but based their findings on understandings of foreign weapon development and capability.

One of the agencies found there was a “roughly even chance” that a foreign government used such a weapon or prototype device in a “small, undetermined” number of cases affecting U.S. personnel.

The other agency determined that while it’s possible that a foreign power has developed such a weapon, it’s unlikely that it has been deployed in any of the cases reported to authorities.

“Our focus on these priorities remains unwavering and must continue,” Savett said. “It is vital that the U.S. government continue critical research, investigate credible incidents, and strengthen efforts to provide timely care and long-term clinical follow-up.”

An intelligence official who briefed reporters on the new assessment downplayed the change, noting that the two agencies that held open the possibility that a foreign government was developing or deploying a weapon responsible for the injuries expressed “low confidence” in their findings.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under rules set out by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, noted that other national security agencies were more confident in their determination that foreign governments were not involved and that specific intelligence clues found by some U.S. intelligence cast doubt on any foreign involvement.

“There’s no intelligence linking a foreign actor to any specific event,” the official told reporters.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in Friday for a new term, extending his increasingly repressive rule in the face of renewed protests and rebukes from the United States and others who believe he stole last year’s vote.

Maduro, likening himself to a biblical David fighting Goliath, accused his opponents and their supporters in the U.S. of trying to turn his inauguration into a “world war.” He said his enemies’ failure to block his inauguration to a third six-year term was “a great victory” for Venezuela’s peace and national sovereignty.

“I have not been made president by the government of the United States, nor by the pro-imperialist governments of Latin America,” he said, after being draped with a sash in the red, yellow and blue of Venezuela’s flag. “I come from the people, I am of the people, and my power emanates from history and from the people. And to the people, I owe my whole life, body and soul.”

The backslapping among government insiders in downtown Caracas on Friday contrasted sharply with the hundreds of Venezuelans who took to the streets Thursday to protest Maduro’s power grab.

The protest took place in relative calm but after it ended, aides to the popular former lawmaker María Corina Machado — the driving force behind what’s left of Venezuela’s beleaguered opposition — said she was briefly detained by security forces. Machado, whom the government has barred from running for office, emerged from months of hiding to join the rally against Maduro.

On Friday, she posted a video online in which she described the confusing incident. She said national guardsmen fired shots on her convoy then dragged her off a motorcycle from behind and said they were taking her to prison. She said her motorcycle driver was shot in the leg.

But on the way to the military prison, the guards changed their minds and instead forced her to record a proof-of-life video denying her detention, she said.

Maduro’s supporters accused the opposition faction of spreading fake news to generate an international crisis. It pointed to the 20-second video it released Thursday — in which Machado says she simply dropped her purse as she was being chased — as evidence that she was not detained.

“Today Maduro didn’t put the sash on his chest. He put a shackle on his ankle, which will tighten every day,” Machado said Friday.

Maduro didn’t mention Machado in his inaugural speech.

State TV said 10 heads of state attended. But far more governments around the world have rejected his victory claims, pointing to credible evidence validated by election observers that his previously unknown opponent, Edmundo González, won by a more than two-to-one margin.

To underscore Maduro’s growing isolation, the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and European Union announced a coordinated round of new sanctions Friday on more than 20 officials, accusing them of gutting Venezuela’s democracy. They include the loyalist Supreme Court justices, electoral authorities, the head of Venezuela’s state oil company and cabinet ministers.

The Biden administration, citing Venezuela’s “severe humanitarian emergency,” also extended for 18 months a special permission allowing 600,000 Venezuelan migrants to stay in the U.S. It also upped to $25 million a reward for the arrest of Maduro and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S., and placed a new bounty of $15 million on Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.

Maduro’s 2018 reelection was widely rejected as a sham after authorities banned key opponents from running. And Venezuela’s opposition faction accuse him of outright ballot fraud last year.

Their proof: tally sheets collected from 85% of electronic voting machines that show González won by a landslide. Experts from the United Nations and the Atlanta-based Carter Center, whom Maduro invited to observe the election, said the voting records posted online by the opposition look legitimate.

Nevertheless, electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner hours after polls closed on July 28 but, unlike in previous presidential contests, they did not provide detailed vote counts.

Global condemnation over the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask the country’s high court — which like every other institution in Venezuela is packed with loyalists — to audit the results. As expected, the court reaffirmed Maduro’s victory.

The dispute over the results sparked nationwide protests. The government responded with full force, arresting more than 2,000 demonstrators and encouraging Venezuelans to report anyone they suspect to be a ruling-party adversary. More than 20 people were killed during the unrest. Dozens of foreigners — including as many as 10 Americans — were also rounded up.

Outside Friday’s inauguration ceremony, Maduro’s supporters were overjoyed. One of them was Maricarmen Ruiz, 18, who couldn’t hold back her tears.

“I don’t have words to express my emotion, I’m happy,” she said, expressing relief that González wasn’t “imposed” instead as president.

Among those seen attending Maduro’s inauguration were Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega and Cuba’s Miguel Diaz-Canel. But several Maduro allies stayed home, including Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who cited the recent arrest of another longtime Venezuelan opposition member and a human rights defender as his reason for missing the event.

González, who left for exile in Spain in September, had pledged to defy an arrest order and return to Venezuela by Friday to take the oath of office himself. Doing so seemed impossible after Maduro ordered a 72-hour closure of Venezuela’s air space to commercial traffic and its border with Colombia. Machado, in her message Friday, said in light of Maduro’s “coup” it was not advisable for him to return just now.

On Tuesday, González said his son-in-law had been kidnapped in Caracas by masked gunmen while taking his young children to school. González’s daughter, Mariana González de Tudares, in a statement accused the government of ordering her husband’s disappearance.

“At what point did being related to Edmundo González Urrutia become a crime?” she said.

Goodman reported from Miami. Associated Press writer Jorge Rueda contributed.