AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EST

Machado last appeared in public 11 months ago. Nobel Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken told public broadcaster NRK the Venezuelan opposition leader was not in the Norwegian capital on the day of the ceremony and her daughter will accept the prize on Machado’s behalf.

“We confirm that she will not attend the Nobel ceremony, but we are optimistic about her presence on the rest of the day’s agenda,” said Machado's spokesperson, Claudia Macero. She did not give information on Machado's current location.

Prominent Latin American figures planned to attend Wednesday's ceremony in a signal of solidarity with Machado, including Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, Panama's President José Raúl Mulino and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.

Machado has been living in hiding and has not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.

Ukraine can hold elections within months if security is ensured, Zelenskyy says

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials were expected to hand their latest peace proposals to United States negotiators Wednesday, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who also said Ukraine would be ready for elections within three months if partners can guarantee a safe vote during wartime and if its electoral law can be altered.

Zelenskyy was responding to comments by U.S. President Donald Trump in which he questioned Ukraine’s democracy and suggested the Ukrainian leader was using the war as an excuse not to hold an election.

Zelenskyy told reporters late Tuesday that he is “ready” for an election but would need help from the U.S. and possibly Europe to ensure security for a vote to happen. He suggested that Ukraine could be ready to hold balloting in 60 to 90 days if that proviso is met.

“To hold elections, two issues must be addressed: primarily, security — how to conduct them, how to do it under strikes, under missile attacks; and a question regarding our military — how they would vote,” Zelenskyy said.

“And the second issue is the legislative framework required to ensure the legitimacy of elections,” he said.

Renewed Thailand-Cambodia border fighting displaces hundreds of thousands

SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating Wednesday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters.

Associated Press reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire Wednesday.

About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and around 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, Thai military spokesperson Rear Adm. Surasant Kongsiri said Wednesday.

Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and hundreds of schools closed, the defense ministry said.

Thailand’s military announced that casualties this week include five soldiers killed and dozens wounded. Cambodia said seven civilians died and 20 others were wounded, though it did not update those figures on Wednesday.

Trump's speech on combating inflation turns to grievances about immigrants from 'filthy' countries

MOUNT POCONO, Pa. (AP) — On the road in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, President Donald Trump tried to emphasize his focus on combating inflation, yet the issue that has damaged his popularity couldn't quite command his full attention.

The president told the crowd gathered at a casino and resort in Mount Pocono that inflation was no longer a problem and that Democrats had used the term “affordability” as a “hoax” to hurt his reputation. But his remarks weaved wildly to include grievances he first raised behind closed doors in his first term in 2018 — and later denied saying — asking why the U.S. doesn't have more immigrants from Scandinavia.

“Why is it we only take people from s—-hole countries, right?” Trump said onstage. "Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few?”

Trump said he objected to taking immigrants from “hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries." He added for emphasis that those places “are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.”

Tuesday’s gathering in the swing state — and in a competitive House district — was an official White House event, yet it seemed more like one of his signature campaign rallies that his chief of staff said he would hold regularly ahead of next year’s midterms. But instead of being in an arena that could draw several thousand attendees, it was held in a conference center ballroom at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, a small town of about 3,000 residents.

Opponents of Trump-backed redistricting in Missouri submit a petition to force a public vote

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Opponents of Missouri's new congressional map submitted thousands of petition signatures Tuesday calling for a statewide vote on a redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump as part of his quest to hold on to a slim Republican majority in next year's elections.

Organizers of the petition drive said they turned in more than 300,000 signatures to the secretary of state's office — well over the roughly 110,000 needed to suspend the new U.S. House districts from taking effect until a referendum election can be held next year.

The signatures still need to be verified by election authorities and Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who could declare the referendum petition unconstitutional. A legal fight appears likely.

A referendum could create a significant obstacle for Republicans, who hope the new districts could help them win a currently Democratic-held seat in the Kansas City area.

Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issued a statement saying the new House districts took effect Tuesday and will remain in place unless Hoskins determines the referendum petition is constitutional and contains sufficient signatures. Petition sponsors said the new districts were immediately suspended when they submitted signatures, which is how the secretary of state's office handled things during Missouri's most recent referendum petition in 2017.

19 killed in building collapse in Morocco's third-largest city

FEZ, Morocco (AP) — Two four-story buildings collapsed overnight in the Moroccan city of Fez, killing 19 people in the second fatal collapse there this year, authorities said on Wednesday.

Morocco's state news agency reported the two residential buildings housed eight families. Sixteen people were injured in the collapse and sent for treatment at a nearby hospital. Authorities said the neighborhood had been evacuated and search and rescue efforts were ongoing.

It was unclear what caused the collapse or how many people were unaccounted for on Wednesday morning.

Fez is Morocco’s third-largest city and one of the hosts of this month’s Africa Cup of Nations and the 2030 FIFA World Cup. It is best known for its walled city packed with medieval souks and tanneries. But beyond tourism, it’s also one of the country’s poorest urban centers, where aging infrastructure is common in many neighborhoods.

Another collapse in May killed 10 people and injured seven in a building that had already been slated for evacuation, according to Moroccan outlet Le360.

Hegseth tells congressional leaders he is weighing release of boat strike video

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told congressional leaders Tuesday that he was still weighing whether to release the full video of an attack on an alleged drug boat that killed two survivors, even as he faced intensifying demands from Congress for disclosure.

Hegseth provided a classified briefing for congressional leaders alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe at the Capitol. Inside the secure room, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer asked the defense secretary whether he would allow every member of Congress to view the video of the attack from September.

Schumer said Hegseth's response was: “We have to study it.”

Lawmakers are demanding a full accounting from the Department of Defense on the military campaign and the particular attack that killed two people who were clinging to the wreckage of an initial strike. Legal experts say that action may have violated the laws governing the use of deadly military force. The situation has awakened the Republican-controlled Congress to its oversight role after months of frustration about the trickle of information from the Pentagon.

Schumer described the briefing as “very unsatisfying” and added that “Democrats and Republicans had a right to see it, wanted to see it, and should see it.”

Democrat wins Miami mayor’s race for the first time in nearly 30 years

MIAMI (AP) — Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayor’s race on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump to end her party’s nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Higgins, 61, will be the first woman to lead the city of Miami. She spoke frequently in the Hispanic-majority city about Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying she has heard of many people in Miami who were worried about family members being detained. She campaigned as a proud Democrat despite the race being officially nonpartisan and beat Trump-backed candidate Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, who said he called Higgins to congratulate her.

“We are facing rhetoric from elected officials that is so dehumanizing and cruel, especially against immigrant populations,” Higgins told The Associated Press after her victory speech. “The residents of Miami were ready to be done with that.”

With nearly all votes counted Tuesday, Higgins led the Republican by about 19 percentage points.

The local race is not predictive of what may happen at the polls next year. But it drew attention from the two major national political parties and their leaders. The victory provides Democrats with some momentum heading into a high-stakes midterm election when the GOP is looking to keep its grip in Florida, including in a Hispanic-majority district in Miami-Dade County. The area has shifted increasingly rightward politically in recent years, and the city may become the home of Trump’s presidential library.

Paramount says China's Tencent withdrew from its Warner Bros bid to avert national security issues

BANGKOK (AP) — Paramount Skydance says the Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent Holdings withdrew from its bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery to avert a possible national security review.

Paramount's revised filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of its takeover bid said the Chinese company had dropped its $1 billion financing commitment out of concern, since it would be a “non-U.S. equity financing source,” that its bid might be subject to a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS. That was even though approval by CFIUS or by the Federal Communications Commission was not a condition of the bid.

The SEC filing, dated Monday, said that foreign sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, which are providing $24 billion for Paramount’s bid, had agreed to give up a right to participate in Warner Bros’ management to avoid the additional scrutiny.

On Monday, Paramount launched a hostile $77.9 billion takeover offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, competing with rival bidder Netflix to buy the company behind HBO, CNN and a famed movie studio.

Big deals that involve foreign companies are sometimes subject to national security reviews by CFIUS, a U.S. government group chaired by the Treasury Secretary that studies mergers for national-security reasons. It has the power to force companies to change ownership structures or divest completely from the U.S.

Luigi Mangione’s notes to self: 'Pluck eyebrows,' 'Keep momentum, FBI slower overnight'

NEW YORK (AP) — Pluck eyebrows. Buy less conspicuous shoes. Take a bus or a train west toward Cincinnati and St. Louis. Move around late at night. Stay away from surveillance cameras.

A to-do list and travel plans found during Luigi Mangione’s arrest and revealed in court this week shed new light on the steps he may have taken — or planned to take — to avoid capture after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killing last year.

“Keep momentum, FBI slower overnight,” said one note. “Change hat, shoes, pluck eyebrows,” said another.

The notes, including a hand-drawn map and tactics for surviving on the lam, were shown on Monday at a pretrial hearing as Mangione’s bid to prevent prosecutors from using evidence seized during his Dec. 9, 2024, arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Excerpts of body-worn camera footage of the arrest, previously unseen by the press or the public, were released on Tuesday.