Add Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to the rising listing of international leaders with whom tech billionaire Elon Musk has picked a combat.

Following the outcomes of Venezuela’s presidential election, by which Maduro and his opponents every claimed victory, the proprietor of X took to the social media platform to accuse the self-proclaimed socialist chief of “main election fraud.”

“Disgrace on Dictator Maduro,” Musk mentioned Monday.

Maduro in flip trashed Musk as “the archenemy of Venezuela’s peace.”

Officers delayed the discharge of detailed vote tallies from Sunday’s election after proclaiming Maduro the winner with 51% of the vote, in contrast with 44% for retired diplomat Edmundo González. The competing claims arrange a high-stakes standoff.

After failing to oust Maduro throughout three rounds of demonstrations since 2014, the opposition put its religion within the poll field. The elections had been among the many most peaceable in current reminiscence, reflecting hopes that Venezuela may keep away from bloodshed and finish 25 years of single-party rule.

Musk additionally retweeted a comment on X by his “good friend” Argentine President Javier Milei. “The numbers introduced a landslide opposition by the victory and the world is ready for the federal government to acknowledge defeat after years of socialism, distress, decadence and dying,” Milei mentioned.

Maduro was swift to reply to Musk’s social media posts, calling the billionaire a risk to Venezuela.

“He’s the illustration of the fascist ideology, anti-natural, anti-society,” Maduro mentioned.

“Elon Musk is determined, management your self,” he warned. “Whoever will get concerned with me dries out.”

This isn’t Musk’s first confrontation with international governments. Earlier this yr, the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” clashed with a Brazilian supreme courtroom justice over free speech, far-right accounts and purported misinformation on X, previously Twitter. Musk purchased Twitter again in 2022, upending lots of the social platform’s insurance policies and shedding nearly all of its workforce.

As for Venezuela’s election, leaders around the globe additionally expressed issues over the outcomes, many calling for transparency within the vote depend.

The Seattle Mariners acquired veteran Justin Turner from the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday, including a confirmed bat with postseason expertise to a lineup ravaged by accidents and ineffectiveness.

Turner joins outfielder Randy Arozarena as new additions to a Mariners group tied for first place with the Houston Astros within the American League West. Turner, 39, is hitting .257/.351/.373 with six dwelling runs and 31 RBIs this season.

“Justin has been one of the productive nook infield bats within the league for over a decade,” Mariners normal supervisor Justin Hollander stated. “Together with his monitor report on the plate and in depth expertise within the postseason, he’s a useful addition to each our lineup and clubhouse.”

The Blue Jays will obtain Double-A outfielder RJ Schreck within the deal.

Turner signed a one-year, $13 million cope with Toronto over the winter in hopes of becoming a member of a playoff contender. The Blue Jays’ struggles have prompted them to commerce 4 gamers over the previous three days, together with right-handed reliever Yimi Garcia, who went to Seattle for outfielder Jonatan Clase.

Seattle’s addition of Arozarena crammed a niche in its outfield, and Turner might spend time at first base — the place rookie Tyler Locklear has performed after the Mariners designated Ty France for project — or designated hitter, an space of battle all season.

Over the previous week, Turner has proven flashes of excellence, hitting .565 and posting three three-hit video games. His playoff pedigree appealed to the Mariners, a younger group with minimal postseason expertise.

Turner performed in 9 consecutive postseasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, together with their 2020 World Sequence victory. In 86 video games, he hit .270/.370/.460 with 13 dwelling runs and 42 RBIs.

PARIS — Rafael Nadal made individuals imagine right here Monday, not due to how he performed, however as a result of he’s Rafa, and he was on the clay at Roland Garros, and there has by no means been a finer marriage of man and materials. If this 6–1, 6–4 loss to Novak Djokovic was the ultimate Olympics singles match of Nadal’s profession, as many have speculated, then he went out the one approach he might: not at his greatest, however along with his greatest. It’s the solely approach he has ever performed.

The primary set was a relentless reminder of why Djokovic stays a menace to win Grand Slams and why Nadal has doubtless gained his final. Djokovic coated the entire court docket; Nadal had one mishit after one other. Afterward, when Nadal was requested in regards to the distinction within the match, he stated “Every thing.” So sure: Nadal struggled. However it was not, from this vantage level, miserable to observe, as a result of Nadal has at all times struggled. That is a part of his attract.

Roger Federer, at his greatest, made tennis look simple; Nadal, at his greatest, reminds us it’s onerous. He didn’t dominate with an superior serve, and although he gained Wimbledon twice, the fast factors on grass have been by no means his specialty. He’s wired for clay. Prolonged baseline rallies that appeared to exhaust all people else energize Nadal. Clay-court tennis rewards the methodical, and so specialists are presupposed to be boring. However Nadal was not a clay-court specialist. He was an artist who did his greatest work with clay. The more durable the tennis, the higher he performed.

Djokovic gained 10 of the match’s first 11 video games, completely outclassing Nadal, after which … after which … how do you even clarify what occurred subsequent? Nadal gained 4 straight video games. He performed some good tennis. Followers who had cheered at each wisp of hope immediately had actual cause for it. If Rafa might simply discover a technique to power a 3rd set, who wouldn’t imagine?

Nadal has gained 14 French Open finals on Courtroom Phillippe-Chatrier, a quantity that staggers irrespective of how usually one repeats it. When Nadal began his profession, just one man had gained 14 Grand Slam occasions: Pete Sampras, who gained precisely that many. Nadal gained 14 at one venue, at a time when his two chief rivals have been among the many three greatest gamers in historical past.

The place was hopping as Nadal served to go up 5–4. This was not only a favored adopted son making an attempt to win a second-round match on the Olympics; it was an icon and his followers holding palms and making an attempt to tug one another ahead.

The environment would have brought on most opponents to topple, however Djokovic merely teetered. Djokovic broke Nadal with a backhand drop shot, then served out the match. The ultimate level was a ruthless ace from the advert court docket: Au revoir, Rafa, or adios—whichever you like.

Afterward, Nadal politely acknowledged the consequences of age however refused to provide into them.

“I used to be not in a position to have sufficient high quality of photographs, sufficient high quality of motion,” Nadal stated. “He was enjoying virtually on a regular basis from comfy positions, and he performed fairly properly. So enjoying towards Novak with out creating injury to him, and with out having the legs of 20 years in the past, it is virtually not possible now.”

It could have been good if Djokovic had the identical sense of the second. As a substitute, after hugging Nadal, Djokovic pretended to play his racquet like a violin.

Like most of Djokovic’s unforced conduct errors, the foundation trigger was not malice. It was obliviousness. To most sports activities followers, pretending to play the violin is a approach of mocking those that are unhappy and emotional. However Djokovic has achieved the violin celebration all summer time for his daughter, who has taken up the instrument.

A extra socially savvy celebrity would have acknowledged that regardless that he gained, the second belonged to Nadal, and all he needed to do was not step on it. Then once more, a extra socially savvy celebrity would have provide you with a distinct celebration within the first place, simply so no one would mistake the message. Absolutely there are methods for Djokovic to attach along with his daughter with out irritating anyone else.

Djokovic isn’t any villain. He’s a relentless competitor and a gracious loser, and he might be charming and even candy. He has a mood, however tennis has seen far worse; Djokovic’s moments of on-court petulance would have earned Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe factors for good habits. 

Djokovic simply has a exceptional tendency to make himself look unhealthy on the most inopportune occasions. He engages with hecklers, or within the case of Casper Ruud’s followers at Wimbledon, individuals Djokovic imagines to be hecklers. He mocks the celebrations of opponents who’re nowhere close to his equal, as he did with Ben Shelton eventually yr’s U.S. Open.

Djokovic grew to become one of the best participant on the planet after most followers had already fallen for Nadal or Federer—or each. So admiration got here later than it ought to have, and his anti-vaccination stance alienated a whole lot of followers. If he resents being one of the best participant ever however the third-favorite of his technology, that’s his proper.

However Djokovic might have achieved himself a favor Monday by trying throughout at Nadal and realizing that shall be him earlier than lengthy. He’s 37. As Nadal stated after the match, talking solely of his personal inevitable retirement: “That is a part of life. Every thing has a starting, the whole lot has an finish.” Mass affection would come Djokovic’s approach if solely he would let it.

“I at all times really feel like [I’m] enjoying at residence after I play right here,” Nadal stated after the match. “It is so particular for me. I can not thank sufficient all of the individuals right here who made me really feel so particular.”

Nadal was requested about if this was the tip, and his reply was predictable, as a result of he has given it many occasions earlier than: He doesn’t know, and the rationale he doesn’t know is as a result of he nonetheless loves tennis. Not simply successful matches. Not simply the trimmings of success. He loves enjoying. He loves the expertise of it. He loves when it’s onerous. And that’s the reason he’s beloved.

CNN
 — 

Olympics commentator Bob Ballard was dropped from Eurosport, the European pay TV firm, on Monday after the veteran sportscaster made sexist feedback concerning the Australian girls’s swim crew.

Following the conclusion of Saturday 4×100 meter freestyle relay, throughout which Crew Australia gained the gold medal, Ballard commented on the crew’s obvious delay in exiting the Paris Aquatic Centre as they celebrated.

“Effectively, the ladies simply ending off. You already know what girls are like, hanging round, doing their make-up,” Ballard stated.

Lizzie Simmonds, the previous Olympian and his Eurosport co-host, instantly rebuffed his feedback.

“Outrageous, Bob,” Simmons stated, as Ballard laughed. “A number of the males are doing that as nicely.”

A spokesperson for Eurosport, which distributes the Olympic broadcast in Europe and shares the identical dad or mum firm as CNN, confirmed Ballard had been dropped over his feedback.

“We will affirm that Bob Ballard has been faraway from our commentary roster with rapid impact,” it stated in a press release Monday.

Ballard, a veteran commentator who has reported on sports activities because the mid-’80s, has coated a number of Olympic video games. He additionally works as a music and information presenter for BBC Native Radio.

In a press release posted Monday on social media, Ballard supplied an apology for his remarks.

“The feedback I made in the course of the Australian freestyle relay victory ceremony on Saturday have brought on some offence. It was by no means my intention to upset or belittle anybody and, if I did, I apologise. I’m an enormous advocate of ladies’s sport,” he wrote.

“I shall miss the Eurosport crew, dearly and want all of them the very best for the remainder of the Olympics,” he added.

As disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s illness (AD) grow to be out there, equipping major care physicians with a extremely correct blood take a look at might considerably cut back diagnostic wait occasions. At present, the affected person diagnostic journey is commonly extended owing to the restricted variety of AD specialists, inflicting concern amongst healthcare suppliers and sufferers alike. Now, a brand new research means that use of high-performing blood assessments in major care might establish potential sufferers with AD a lot earlier, probably lowering wait occasions for specialist care and receipt of remedy.

“We have to triage in major care and ship preferentially those that truly may very well be eligible for remedy, and never those that are simply nervous as a result of their grandmother reported that she has Alzheimer’s,” lead researcher Soeren Mattke, MD, DSc, informed Medscape Medical Information. 

“By combining a quick cognitive take a look at with an correct blood take a look at of Alzheimer’s pathology in major care, we will cut back pointless referrals, and shorten appointment wait occasions,” stated Mattke, director of the Mind Well being Observatory on the College of Southern California in Los Angeles.

The findings had been introduced on July 28 on the Alzheimer’s Affiliation Worldwide Convention (AAIC) 2024.

Projected Wait Occasions 100 Months by 2033

The investigators used a Markov mannequin to estimate wait occasions for sufferers eligible for AD remedy, making an allowance for constrained capability for specialist visits. 

The mannequin included the projected US inhabitants of individuals aged 55 years or older from 2023 to 2032. It assumed that people would bear a quick cognitive evaluation in major care and, if suggestive of early-stage cognitive impairment, be referred to a AD specialist below three eventualities: no blood take a look at, blood take a look at to rule out AD pathology, and blood take a look at to substantiate AD pathology.

In keeping with the mannequin, with out an correct blood take a look at for AD pathology, projected wait occasions to see a specialist are about 12 months in 2024 and can improve to greater than 100 months in 2033, largely owing to a scarcity of specialist appointments. 

In distinction, with the provision of an correct blood take a look at to rule out AD, common wait occasions can be simply 3 months in 2024 and improve to solely about 13 months in 2033, as a result of far fewer sufferers would want to see a specialist. 

Availability of a blood take a look at to rule in AD pathology in major care would have a restricted impact on wait occasions as a result of 50% of sufferers would nonetheless bear confirmatory testing based mostly on professional assumptions, the mannequin suggests. 

Prioritizing Assets 

“Tens of millions of individuals have delicate reminiscence complaints, and if all of them begin coming to neurologists, it might utterly flood the system and create lengthy wait occasions for everyone,” Mattke informed Medscape Medical Information. 

The issue, he stated, is that transient cognitive assessments carried out in major care should not significantly particular for delicate cognitive impairment. 

“They work fairly nicely for manifest superior dementia however for delicate cognitive impairment, which is a really delicate, symptomatic illness, they’re solely about 75% correct. One quarter are false-positives. That is lots of people,” Mattke stated. 

He additionally famous that though earlier blood assessments had been about 75% correct, they’re now about 90% correct, “so we’re attending to a stage the place we will just about say with confidence that that is possible Alzheimer’s,” Mattke stated. 

Commenting on this analysis for Medscape Medical Information, Heather Snyder, PhD, vice chairman of medical and scientific relations on the Alzheimer’s Affiliation, stated it’s clear that blood assessments, “as soon as confirmed, might have a big influence on the wait occasions” for dementia evaluation. 

“After an preliminary blood take a look at, we would have the ability to rule out or rule in people who ought to go to a specialist for additional follow-up and testing. This permits us to actually be certain that we’re prioritizing sources accordingly,” stated Snyder, who was not concerned within the research. 

This challenge was supported by a analysis contract from C2N Diagnostics, LLC to USC. Mattke serves on the board of administrators of Senscio Methods, Inc., and the scientific advisory board of ALZPath and Boston Millennia Companions and has acquired consulting charges from Biogen, C2N, Eisai, Eli Lilly, Novartis and Roche/Genentech. Snyder has no related disclosures.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Greater than 5,000 folks remoted by flooding in northwestern North Korea have been rescued by airlift and different evacuation work after heavy summer time rains prompted a river on the Chinese language border to swell, state media reported Monday.

The official Korean Central Information Company didn’t point out any deaths or how a lot harm the flooding on Saturday prompted.

Summer time floods in North Korea usually trigger critical harm to farmlands because of poor drainage, deforestation and dilapidated infrastructure.

About 10 navy helicopters and navy and authorities boats have been mobilized for the evacuation efforts in Sinuiju metropolis and Uiju city the place flooding had stranded residents. KCNA mentioned that about 4,200 folks have been rescued by airlifts.

KCNA credited chief Kim Jong Un with overseeing the rescue operation on Sunday, seemingly aiming to painting him as an ready chief dealing with a catastrophe and caring concerning the public’s well-being.

Throughout his weekend go to to the flooded area, KCNA quoted Kim calling the rescue works “miraculous” and ordering meals and different requirements to be supplied to the affected folks.

Kim scolded officers for failing to arrange for floods regardless of his orders to stop flood harm, KCNA mentioned, in a doable effort to shift blame whereas North Korea struggles with financial difficulties.

“They, seized with defeatism at fight with nature, don’t confidently end up within the catastrophe prevention work, solely anticipating probability from the sky,” Kim mentioned, based on KCNA.

Kim mentioned the North’s emergency response company and the Ministry of Public Safety didn’t know the precise populations of the flood-hit areas, so the variety of folks rescued was a lot bigger than anticipated.

Staff Japan staged an inconceivable comeback to win males’s gymnastics crew gold Monday (29 July) on the Olympic Video games Paris 2024.

The squad tallied a 259.594 for gold, adopted by the Individuals’s Republic of China, which earned 259.062. The United States took the bronze in compelling trend and a rating of 257.793.

Japan’s final title got here at Rio 2016.

The primary rotation and a half foretold of a fierce battle for gold, as China and Japan practically went score-for-score within the opening routines.

Japan hopes took a success, nevertheless, within the second rotation, with Hashimoto Daiki, reigning world and Olympic all-around champion, slipping off the pommel horse mid-routine. He managed only a 13.100 and put China within the driver’s seat.

Simply 0.734 had separated the 2 nations after the ground train. Hashimoto’s error swung the pendulum massively, giving China a 1.633 lead that appeared prone to carry them to gold.

China went to their closing occasion – the horizontal bar – with a 3.267 lead over Japan, thanks partly to an enormous 16.000 parallel bars rating from Olympic champion Zou Jingyuan.

However, then, catastrophe struck as Su Weide fell twice on two catch-and-release strikes. China was compelled to depend his 11.600 rating.

That put Hashimoto within the sizzling seat. The Olympic champion on the equipment has struggled mightily each in official observe and in Saturday’s qualifying spherical.

Not this time.

As his Japanese teammates appeared on, shoulder-to-shoulder, Hashimoto soared to a 14.566. The aid washing over the 22-year-old, pointed proudly to the Japanese flag on his uniform as he joined his elated teammates.

“I felt the remainder of the crew was all behind me, that they had my again. They pushed me on to the stage,” stated Hashimoto. “I used to be nearly crying earlier than the efficiency.”

Final to go, Zhang Boheng wanted higher than 15.265 for the gold – a large however attainable rating for the 2021 world all-around winner, till a big step on his structure double-double dismount put it out of attain.

As Zhang’s 14.733 flashed on Bercy Enviornment’s scoreboard, Japan’s tears began to circulate particularly for Kaya Kazuma for whom their slender Tokyo 2020 defeat was a motivator.

“Within the Tokyo [Olympics], we received the silver, with 0.103 [difference]. I used to be not completely happy,” he stated. “However we practised each day for 3 years. There was numerous success, fails, however we [pushed through] and practised repeatedly. “