World

Aug. 17 (UPI) — Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service accused the intelligence services of a Western country of preparing, together with Ukraine, an operation aimed at portraying Moscow as an illegal supplier of weapons to drug cartels and organized crime groups in Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela.

The Russian agency said in a statement that Russian-made weapons captured by Ukrainian forces during the war are being transported to the three Latin American countries to be used as part of the operation.

According to the Foreign Intelligence Service, those responsible are also preparing photographs and videos intended to show Russia supplying weapons to Latin American criminal organizations through intermediaries.

The agency said the materials would be accompanied by forged documents seeking to link representatives of the Russian Armed Forces to the weapons transfers.

“The authors of this provocation naively hope in this way to undermine Russia’s constructive relations with the countries of this region and induce Latin American governments to support the anti-Russian policy pursued by the West,” the intelligence service said.

The statement did not identify the Western country it accused of orchestrating the operation or provide public evidence to support the allegations.

Russian intelligence said the objective would be to damage Moscow’s relations with Latin American countries and bring their governments closer to Western policies toward Russia.

As of Monday, the governments of Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela had not publicly responded to the allegations. Ukraine had also not issued an official response to the new statement.

The accusation comes after Russia previously linked Ukraine to Mexican criminal organizations. In late June, Russian officials accused Kyiv of maintaining ties with Mexican cartels, allegations that the Ukrainian Embassy in Mexico publicly rejected.

The Ukrainian diplomatic mission at the time described the claims as part of a Russian disinformation campaign and denied that Ukraine had ties to Mexican drug trafficking organizations.

In the final part of its Monday statement, the Foreign Intelligence Service framed the accusation within what it described as an information war waged by “Euro-Atlantic elites” against Russia since the start of the conflict in Ukraine.

The Russian agency cited as precedents the April 2022 Bucha massacre, which it described as a “bloody staging,” and the 1939 Gleiwitz incident, a false-flag operation carried out by Nazi Germany before the invasion of Poland.

Aug. 17 (UPI) — Britain’s Reform U.K. party said Monday that it would slash almost $68B from welfare, were it to win power at the next election.

The largest single ticket-items, saving $58.3 billion, would come from halting welfare payments to non-citizens and a shake up of disability and ill-health benefits.

Cutting off nationals of other countries, including those with settled status and resident EU nationals would save $28.5 billion by year five, according to Reform, but would breach the country’s 2019 Brexit deal with Brussels and would therefore require it to be renegotiated.

Foreign nationals would become ineligible for six main benefits from the state including “universal credit,” housing payments, free childcare and unemployment, child and disability checks.

All families whose children were born in Britain would continue to receive payments for each child under 16 [under 20 if in non-higher education or training] and free school meals for those with after-tax household incomes of $10,000 or less.

Danny Kruger, Reform’s work and pensions spokesman, told BBC’s Breakfast program it was fair that people requiring welfare should have it paid by the country of which they are a citizen.

“I’d understand if the Europeans decided to apply the same principle that we are and to deny our nationals access to their welfare system and we will pay for that ourselves.”

Kruger acknowledged that many settled overseas nationals living in Britain would simply apply for — and would likely be granted — British citizenship, insisting that the savings calculated took account of that scenario.

He said the plan had also taken into account that the EU would likely take reciprocal action, halting welfare payments to Britons who had not become citizens of the EU country where they were living.

The other biggest area of savings — $29.8 billion — would come from reforming disability benefits, including scrapping so-called personal independence payments for disabled people and replacing them with another cash benefit available only to those deemed “gravely ill and severely challenged.”

Kruger stressed that Reform accepted some people were unable to ever work, saying that those people would continue to be properly supported and would no longer be required to repeatedly be assessed to see if they were still eligible.

The pro-EU Best For Britain group criticized Reform’s plan, in particular the potential negative impact on relations with the EU.

“Our polling shows that people do want to renegotiate our relationship with Europe, but by moving closer, not by damaging ties with vital allies and punishing our neighbours, colleagues and friends who have settled status here,” said policy executive director Tom Brufatto.

Labour MP Rachael Maskell was critical of the targeting of disability benefits.

“When Pip helps people go to work, play a role in our society and simply live, threatening to remove Pip demonstrates that Reform do not want disabled people to play a full role in our society,” said Maskell who previously led a rebellion by Labour backbenchers against efforts by former Prime Minister Keir Starmer to cut welfare.

In April, the Office for Budget Responsibility said it expected Britain’s welfare bill for 2025-2026 to hit $452.4 billion, equivalent to 10.6% of GDP, and accounting around 24% of all government spending.

However, more than half of all welfare spending goes on pensioners, nearly all of it on the State Pension, an inflation-protected pension which people pay into until they retire and is topped up by the government.

Aug. 17 (UPI) — Iran has accused Qatar of holding three of its pilots for half a year in violation of international law, heightening tensions between the two nations and threatening to expand the war in the Middle East, despite Doha claiming not to have the pilots.

“Qatar’s government has exhausted its opportunity to delay and toy with the fate of three heroic Iranian pilots,” Maj. Gen. Ali Abdullahi, the newly appointed chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, said in a statement Sunday.

“They must be released immediately and unconditionally and returned to the homeland.”

Four Iranian pilots in two SU-24s were shot down over Qatari airspace March 2, as Iran was attacking Al Udeid Air Base in response to joint Israeli-U.S. attacks on Iran days earlier that ignited the ongoing war. A Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson said that a search had been launched for their crews, but it was never stated that they had been found. Iran later announced that one of the four pilots had died in the attack.

On Saturday, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Bagherzadeh, head of the Iranian military’s committee for missing personnel, identified the remaining three pilots in a letter to the International Red Cross that accuses Qatar of violating articles of the Geneva Convention concerning the treatment of prisoners of war, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Bagherzadeh accused Doha of denying the pilots contact with their families and Iranian authorities, citing Articles 70 and 78 of the Third Geneva Convention that states POWs have the right to submit complaints and requests to representatives who visit their place of captivity or to hold discussions and negotiations.

The letter urged the ICRC to address the situation.

“Qatar must know that Iran will not retreat from its proud pilot sons. The path for the presence of the expert team of the Islamic Republic of Iran must be facilitated as soon as possible,” Brig. Gen. Seyed Majid Mousavi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Sunday in a statement.

“Continuing this trend will not be cost-free for Qatar, and any delay or obstruction will place a heavy responsibility on their shoulders.”

Qatar has denied the accusations. Majed Al Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Qatar was not holding any Iranian pilots and had handed over the remains of one Iranian pilot that its search teams had found.

Qatar invited Iranian officials in April to visit Qatar and be briefed on the search-and-rescue operations, “but the Iranian side has yet to respond to the invitation,” he said in a statement Sunday.

Aug. 16 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump‘s Middle East envoy Jared Kushner on Sunday met with Hamas to discuss the U.S.-backed peace plan for Gaza.

Kusher, Trump’s son-in-law, met with a delegation that included new leader Khalil al-Hawayy in Egypt, the BBC reported.

Trump’s Board of Peace last month said it reached a deal for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. However, Israel last week rejected the 15-point plan that also calls for Israel to withdraw its troops from the enclave and for its reconstruction under a new civilian Palestinian government.

Eight Muslim countries on Sunday issued a statement blasting Israel’s rejection of the plan.

According to the BBC, the meeting was said to be the first at this level since a ceasefire agreement for Gaza was reached last year.

Board of Peace envoys Nickolay Mladenov and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair reportedly took part in the meeting, along with representatives of Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey.

Kushner also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Kusher, Mladenov, and Blair were to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, according to Israeli media reports.

Netanyahu has said he wants Hamas fully disarmed to implement the plan.”Israel rejects the Board of Peace’s 15-point document on Gaza,” he said. “The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed.”

Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia said in a joint statement that Israel’s rejection of the plan threatened Trump’s peace efforts.

Great Britain’s women’s flag football team suffered defeat at the World Championships as they missed out on qualifying for the 2028 Olympics.

The two-time defending European champions fought back to take the bronze-medal game to the final play, only for Mexico to clinch a 20-19 win in Dusseldorf, Germany.

That also meant Mexico – the world’s top-ranked team – secured a spot at Los Angeles 2028, when the non-contact version of American football will make its Olympic debut.

GB got off to a poor start as they were intercepted on their first two drives, with the second punished by a touchdown that put Mexico 13-0 up.

An Angelica Tait touchdown saw GB, who are ranked third in the world, get up and running before Mexico struck again to make it 20-6.

Grace Conway almost claimed an interception, which she could have run in for a touchdown, and GB ran out of time on offence as they aimed to cut the score before half-time.

But they closed to within a point through two touchdowns from Emily Kemp – the tournament’s leading scorer – then went for a two-point conversion to take the lead with two minutes left.

Although Kemp caught Jess Allen’s pass at the back of the endzone, her left foot came down just out of bounds, meaning Mexico could run down the clock to seal victory.

“We fell into a bit of a hole,” GB’s head coach Jack Reed told BBC Sport. “The drive at the end of the first half and the drop for the pick-six were unfortunate.

“I knew we’d fight, I knew we weren’t out of it, and we held them scoreless in the second half. But it’s a game of inches and Emily was out by an inch.”

The USA came from behind to beat GB 27-21 in the semi-finals and set up a meeting with Canada in the final.

The USA automatically qualify for LA28 as hosts and will be joined by Canada and Mexico, while GB must wait two years for another chance to qualify.

“I’m super proud of the team,” added Reed. “We showed the world that we can compete with anybody in the world. We played the number one ranked team today and number two yesterday (USA).

“We had an opportunity to win both games, they went down to the very end, so I think we earned the respect of the flag football world and surprised a lot of people.”

GB’s men beat Brazil 33-26 on Sunday to finish 13th overall, while the USA beat Italy 46-26 to secure their sixth straight world title.

Canada claimed a 34-26 overtime win over Mexico in the bronze-medal game to ensure they and Italy punched their ticket to LA28 this weekend.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 14 (UPI) — Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem lashed out at the Lebanese officials Friday for accepting the June 26 U.S.-brokered framework agreement with Israel and failing to secure any gains after seven rounds of negotiations.

He called for an end to “the humiliation” and urging the officials to reverse “the sinful mistake.”

Qassem said in a speech broadcast by Hezbollah-run Al Manar TV that the initial agreement, a conditional and phased process aimed at ending the state of war, amounted to “Israeli dictates” that gave Israel “everything it wants,” while the Lebanese authorities relinquished their sovereignty.

He called for “reversing the sinful, disgraceful and humiliating mistake,” which raises question marks about “what these officials are doing.”

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun decided to engage in direct talks with Israel in what he believed was the only viable path to ending the war, despite Hezbollah’s staunch opposition. Aoun was betting that U.S. President Donald Trump alone could pressure Israel to withdraw its troops and help Lebanon restore its sovereignty.

The war broke out when Hezbollah opened a support front for Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023, and resumed fighting in solidarity with Iran on March 2 this year, triggering a massive Israeli retaliation that significantly degraded the Iran-backed group and caused widespread destruction in southern Lebanon and other parts of the country.

Israel, which reduced some 70 border villages in southern Lebanon to rubble and rendered them uninhabitable while occupying a 6-mile “buffer zone,” insists that it will not withdraw its troops unless Hezbollah is completely disarmed.

The framework agreement, reached by Lebanese and Israeli negotiating teams under pressure from Washington, provides for a phased Israeli withdrawal from occupied parts of southern Lebanon to allow the Lebanese Army to “restore effective sovereign authority,” beginning with its deployment in two initial pilot zones.

The initial accord also addressed plans to disarm Hezbollah, Iran’s main proxy and once its most powerful regional non-state armed actor.

Despite the Lebanese Army’s deployment in the village of Zawtar al-Gharbieh — the first pilot zone in southern Lebanon — Israel continued to carry out strikes, destroy homes and demolish Hezbollah tunnels and military infrastructure.

Qassem pointed out that Israel would not have carried out “all this aggression and genocide without the Americans.”

Addressing Lebanese officials, he asked them to “name a single achievement from the seven rounds of negotiations. Israel got everything it wanted and everything it sought.”

He accused the officials of failing to withdraw from the negotiations with Israel, saying that what is happening “amounts to surrender, which we do not accept.”

Qassem credited Iran for progress, saying that the Iran-U.S. negotiations in Islamabad brought about the return of displaced people to southern Lebanon and a cease-fire that reduced the escalation, rather than the direct negotiations.

He said the war was “an existential war of aggression,” and that his group would “stand firm and defeat the Israeli project” and that those betting on surrender were “betting on a mirage.”

Aug. 15 (UPI) — Hungarian working crews are sinking two barges into the Danube River in an attempt to raise water levels and stave off an energy crisis, the prime minister said on Saturday.

Water levels of the 1,800-mile river have fallen to record lows amid a months-long drought across Europe.

To raise the waters, crews are sinking two 260-foot barges into the Danube River.

Hungary’s only nuclear power plant, Paks, depends on water from the river to cool down its reactors.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar said current water levels on Saturday were 48 inches lower than usual, and could fall a further 4 inches by Monday.

If it falls that low, he added, the power plant would have to shut down one of its last two functioning turbines.

“Water management experts are continuously monitoring the water level, water velocity, and riverbed condition using a measuring vessel and installed measuring devices,” Magyar said in a statement on X.

The plant is responsible for generating half the electricity needed by the country’s 10 million people.

St Jude Championship – round three leaderboard

-13 S Scheffler (US); -11 S Burns (US), Im (Kor); -8 J Knapp (US), T Fleetwood (Eng)

Selected others: -7 B Harman (US); -6 V Hovland (Nor); -5 W Clark (US); -4 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), J Spieth (US); -3 L Aberg (Swe); -2 H Hall (Eng); -1 A Rai (Eng); +6 J Rose (Eng), R McIlroy (NI)

Full leaderboard

World number one Scottie Scheffler will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the St Jude Championship as he chases his first victory since January.

Scheffler, 30, carded a two-under 68 on Saturday to sit at 13 under overall, with his American compatriot Sam Burns at 11 under alongside South Korea’s Im Sung-jae.

Burns produced a superb bogey-free 62 to move into contention in the FedEx Cup play-off opener at TPC Southwind in Memphis.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood, who is the defending FedEx Cup champion, is a further three strokes adrift at eight under with Jake Knapp.

And it ensures an intriguing fourth round, with close friends Scheffler and Burns in the final pairing.

“Strategy is still the same, just go out there and execute,” said Scheffler, who last led an event after 54 holes at the 2025 Open Championship.

“This is a golf course where that’s really all it comes down to. It’s always a little weird just because I want him to have success so much and I think he wants the same for me.

“It will be a competition like normal. It will be fun being out there with your friend but it’s also a bit weird.”

Sweden’s Alex Noren and Norway’s Viktor Hovland are well placed for strong finishes at seven and six under respectively.

However, six-time major winner Rory McIlroy and 2013 US Open champion Justin Rose both faltered badly on the 18th hole to sit well off the pace at six over.

Northern Ireland’s McIlroy carded a double-bogey six after driving into the water off the tee, while Rose fared even worse finding the same hazard twice on his way to a triple-bogey seven.

The top 50 players in the FedEx standings at the end of the weekend will advance into next week’s BMW Championship, with the top 30 after that advancing to the Tour Championship.

Aug. 15 (UPI) — Dozens of migrants were detained in Morocco on Saturday as they attempted to cross into the Spanish territory of Ceuta.

Moroccan officials said they intercepted some 111 people near the town of Fnideq, about 2 miles from the border, BBC reported.

Local police chartered buses to return them to other parts of the country, El Pais reported.

The attempted crossings come weeks after more than 60,000 people crossed the border into Ceuta, overwhelming the small territory.

At least 57 people died during the mass crossing.

Migrants were trying to enter Ceuta after the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that Spain cannot send home migrants inside their territory.

Earlier this week, Spain’s Civil Guard reported the possibility of another attempt by migrants to cross into the North African exclave.

Civil Guard officials said messages began circulating on social media sharing calls for another mass crossing on Aug. 15, Euro News reported.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — About 200 young people representing 34 countries gathered in Seoul on Wednesday to launch an international network supporting peace and reunification on the Korean Peninsula, hours after North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the East Sea.

At the 2026 One Korea Youth Forum, South Koreans, North Korean defectors, ethnic Koreans from the former Soviet Union and young people from overseas formally launched Youth Solidarity for One Korea.

Youth groups including the Korean Dream Crew, the youth group of the Korean Association of Koryo-saram, MuiPansapan and Studec International read the One Korea Youth Declaration, pledging to build an international youth network for peace and reunification based on the Korean ideal of Hongik Ingan, broadly meaning benefiting all humanity, and the values of liberal democracy.

Namsik Yoo, director of youth programs at Alliance for Korea United USA, said young people respond more strongly to hope than cynicism and will organize, create and act when given a vision they can understand, believe in and lead.

Yoo said Korean reunification should not be viewed as something distant or impossible but as “a future young people can imagine and create themselves.”

Young-soon Jung, president of the Korean Association of Koryo-saram, said the division of the Korean Peninsula was not merely a political issue but “a family history that continues today.” She said One Korea could begin when young people from different backgrounds listen to and understand one another’s histories.

During a Peace Innovation Challenge, 20 youth teams proposed projects tied to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. The top award went to a plan to turn the Demilitarized Zone into a national park after reunification and seek UNESCO World Heritage status.

The forum was hosted by Global Peace Foundation Korea, a nonprofit foundation registered with South Korea’s Unification Ministry. It was jointly organized by GPY Korea, Korean Dream Crew, MuiPansapan, the youth group of the Korean Association of Koryo-saram, Alliance for Korea United USA and Studec International, with Global Goals Youth and Loglo participating as partner organizations.

The forum concluded with participants carrying flags from their countries alongside the South Korean flag and declaring, “We Stand for One Korea.”

Sebastian Coe has a simple approach to avoiding political interference in global sport.

“The balance is keeping the politicians on the bus but not letting them anywhere near the steering wheel,” Coe said late Friday at the European championships.

The World Athletics president was responding to a question while speaking to journalists about avoiding political turmoil at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Other topics included track and field’s ban on Russian athletes, private equity in sports and FIFA’s credibility crisis following a controversial overturned red card at the World Cup.

FIFA was criticised after United States President Donald Trump made a phone call to FIFA President Gianni Infantino urging that US forward Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension be overturned. World football’s governing body lifted the suspension. Trump will be nearing the end of his second term when the LA Games take place.

The 69-year-old Coe, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, led the 2012 London Olympics’ bidding and organising committees.

“I ran the London Games. I know it’s really important that you have really good working relationships with government, prime ministers,” said Coe, a former elected member of the British parliament.

“The delivery of the Games is in large part predicated on those relationships – with Treasury, Defence, Homeland Security, in our terms the Home Office.”

But with phone calls to influence a sporting matter, it’s “entirely down to the resilience of a sporting organisation to say, ‘I hear what you say, but thank you and goodnight,’” Coe said, noting the need to keep politicians out of the driver’s seat.

“I think I probably achieved that quite well in London. But not having those relationships is dangerous. Of course, there’s a balance.”

Could failed World Cup private equity look to track and field?

Infantino’s failed plan to sell World Cup profits to private equity investors has landed the FIFA president in a battle to retain his post.

Coe said the idea was “not as unfamiliar territory as people tend to think”.

“For the last decade, private equity or sovereign wealth funds have been investing in sports,” he said.

The ambitions of each member federation, he added, are tied to its ability to raise revenues.

“Private equity is a big play in many sports. There are individual athletics federations at this very moment I know are discussing partnerships with external sources of revenue including private equity,” Coe said. “That’s the way it should be, and that’s what I’ve encouraged our federations to look at.”

Infantino has acknowledged his FIFA proposal lacked transparency, but on Saturday received the backing of the executive director of the White House Task Force for the recently completed World Cup, Andrew Giuliani, who told critics of Infantino, ‘It’s just politics.’

“What you want to absolutely make sure,” Coe said of private investors, “is when that does take place that your sport has the kinds of governances and checks and balance and the type of consultation that allows people to understand the rationale, the ambition and what the execution looks like. That is critical.”

Coe noted that World Athletics has broadcast and sponsorship deals expiring in 2029, so seeking external sources of revenue is “an absolutely critical conversation to have. That debate has been taking place for two or three years, particularly at executive board level.”

Coe to defend World Athletics’ ban on Russian athletes

Coe plans to be on hand at the Court of Arbitration for Sport to defend World Athletics’ ban on Russian athletes.

In July, the International Olympic Committee lifted a suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and advised Olympic sport bodies they no longer need to vet Russian athletes for permission to compete as neutrals.

But World Athletics said it will maintain the ban it imposed shortly after Russian forces invaded Ukraine more than four years ago.

Russian Athletics has asked Switzerland-based CAS to overturn the sanctions.

“I will be in the Court of Arbitration (for Sport) defending our position,” said Coe, who lost a bid last year to become IOC president.

“We will continue to do what we think is in the best interest of our sport,” he added. “The primacy of an international federation to determine what eligibility looks like in the sport is the base of the pyramid.

“When we have been to the court before on previous occasions, that concept has been upheld. This is not about politics or passports. This is about the integrity of competition. That is the position we will be defending.”

PUERTO Rico is known for salsa, pina coladas and street parties.

But following Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny’s performance at the Super Bowl half-time show this year, interest in the Caribbean island — which is a US territory — has surged.

And on my first visit, it didn’t take me long to realise what all the fuss was about.

Landing in capital San Juan, I made a beeline for Bad Bunny’s favourite neighbourhood, Santurce, a hip and arty spot littered with bright and enormous murals — the biggest of which stretches ten storeys high.

In the day, the streets here are peaceful, with quiet cafes spilling on to the pavement and a well-known elderly man selling flowers to passers-by.

Don’t let that fool you, though.

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The scene completely changes come Friday and Saturday nights, when locals cram into the many bars and party on the streets to live music.

It’s a great spot for a boogie and for those who love to let their hair down.

But if, like me, you’re not much of a party animal, you might prefer the region of Ciales, around 40 miles to the west, which offers sweeping, unspoilt countryside.

Instead of late nights stomping until sunrise, this area is all about early mornings and waterfall hikes.

You’ll never struggle to find a decent coffee to fuel those dawn starts, either.

After all, Puerto Rico is famous for producing some of the best in the world.

You’ll be able to pick up a brew anywhere, with makeshift stalls perched on the side of the road and halfway up mountains.

I even found one suspended from a treehouse. Called FinCafe, it serves its brews with a twist.

How does a ginger and cinnamon flat white sound?

FinCafe also offers tours of its plantation across the road. Book with Sofrito Tours (sofritotourspr.com).

Heading even further west, out of the countryside and towards the coastline, I stumbled upon some of the most beautiful seaside spots, including Crash Boat Beach.

Once a military site (hence the name) this shore is now a gorgeous stretch of white sand bordering clear blue seas.

Be prepared to jump off the fishing pier if you visit. It’s a cherished tradition here.

If you are keen to have a go at surfing then make your way to Jobos Beach, a few miles along the coast from Crash Boat.

Those who are new to the sport can book a private or group lesson with local group MOKU (mokusurfshop.com).

The staff are incredibly patient.

They even pushed my board against the might of the ocean to try and help me catch a wave.

You’ll find that all the exertion will build up quite an appetite — and lunch at the surrounding coastal restaurants is the best way to refuel.

I became very partial to a Medalla Light beer or an Ocean Lab Mambo, which has a hint of passion fruit and is delightfully fresh after a day of swallowing salty seawater.

Beers can be paired with local snacks such as fried fish, crab fritters and plantain chips.

You can bet your bottom dollar that it will be some of the freshest grub you have tried, too.

Much of the food in Puerto Rico is sourced from the island.

Pa’l Monte, in the small town of Rincon, is the place to head for proper hearty meals.

Try traditional mofongo, which is fried and then mashed plantain, topped with prawns, meat or veggies.

If you are more of a cheese fan then Vaca Negra is where to head. You can even have a go at making your own cheese (see vacanegra.com).

After busy days of surfing, exploring and gobbling back delicious food, the comfy beds at El Oasis, a retreat in the hilltops of Aguada, offered great respite.

With nothing but the call of the coqui tree frogs to disturb the peace, this spot felt like living in pure paradise.

And I can’t help but feel a little jealous that Bad Bunny gets to call this home.

Andrew Giuliani, son of ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, tells critics of FIFA’s Gianni Infantino ‘it’s just politics’.

Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and executive director of the White House Task Force for the recently completed World Cup, has voiced his support for embattled FIFA President Gianni Infantino, calling his critics jealous.

Infantino has faced ⁠widespread criticism over his plan to sell a stake in the World Cup to private investors. He quashed the idea in late July amid the outrage, but the plan has nonetheless cost him support for his re-election bid next year.

Among those who have voiced their displeasure with Infantino or announced their refusal to back his re-election are UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), plus ‌the football federations of England, Wales, the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand.

Giuliani said politics and pettiness are the true reasons behind the outcry.

“It’s politics. I’ve seen this before,” Giuliani told The Athletic. “I’ve seen it before when they’ve targeted President Trump from a political perspective. I’ve seen it before when they’ve targeted other people.

“People are jealous when people are very ⁠high achievers – and what Gianni Infantino has done for FIFA ⁠is he’s taken them to a whole new level that probably they didn’t think was possible.”

Infantino’s plan was to sell approximately 20% of a proposed new entity, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), focused on ⁠the commercial and operational facets of the World Cup and other FIFA tournaments.

Among the investors in FFE was to ⁠be Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared ⁠Kushner and part of the group that recently agreed to buy the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Look, we are all human beings, and I think it’s one of those things where sport has become ‌monetised and commercialised,” Giuliani added.

“I would just say that you have got to look at Gianni’s full body of work and to also realise that he’s always ‌trying ‌to improve his organisation, and I think that’s the thing … I would look at the body of work and say this is the guy I would want leading.”

Aug. 14 (UPI) — British Prime Minister Andy Burnham imposed a temporary ban on the sale of disposable barbecues and deployed military personnel on Friday in a battle against widespread wildfires across the country.

Speaking from the hard-hit West Midlands of England, Burnham said the measures were made necessary by continuing waves of hot weather and extreme drought.

“We cannot accept this as the new normal,” he said in a video address while recounting how fires the region “have destroyed homes, forced people to evacuate and left firefighters injured while protecting others.”

Much of England and Wales remains in a deep drought and is facing another period of extreme heat a day after the Met Office reported temperatures reaching 100.6 degrees in London for the fifth-hottest day on record in the nation’s history, the British leader noted.

“Farmers are watching crops fail and firefighters have faced hundreds of wildfires in a matter of weeks,” he said. “This is what climate change looks like here and now.”

The prime minister said the barbeque ban, emergency funding for fire and rescue services and deploying military support were decided during a meeting of COBRA, the government’s emergency response committee, earlier this week.

But, he added, “we also have to tackle the causes of climate change and make Britain more resilient to the extreme weather we’re already experiencing. We shouldn’t just accept this as inevitable and I don’t.”

The British government has already announced plans to support the development of nine new water reservoirs and improve resilience to future droughts, floods and extreme weather, as well as a investment of nearly $135 million million “to strengthen the country’s response to wildfires and extreme weather.”

Thursday’s extreme temperatures meant Britain this year has already seen the most number of days reaching or exceeding 97 degrees (four days) and 98 degrees (three days), as well as equaling 2022 for seeing two days of 100 degrees.

As the weekend began, forecasters predicted a gradual cooling from north to south across the country but with much-needed rainfall remaining scarce.

“A front moving south eastwards across the U.K. on Monday and Tuesday could bring northern areas some rain but amounts of rain in the south will be small at most and the majority will fall over Northern Ireland and Scotland,” Steven Keates of the Met Office said in a release.

“The next meaningful rain forecast for these very dry areas could be towards the end of next week as an area of low pressure influences our weather from the southwest.”

WASHINGTON — A person has been arrested in connection with vandalism at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., U.S. Atty. for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced Friday.

Pirro announced on X that her office was filing two felony charges against Melissa L. Farris. Pirro said the felony charges are “Depredation Against Property of the United States and Destruction of Veterans’ Memorials.” The offenses carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison.

On Thursday, the words “Clean hands dirty $” were found painted on the monument and bubbles filled a fountain.

“Vandalizing our World War II Memorial is a despicable attack on a sacred monument honoring the Americans who fought and died for our freedom. Those Americans include my father and grandfather,” Pirro wrote.

A woman identified on her Facebook page as Melissa Lovewell posted a video Thursday in which she is seen taking cans of spray paint from her bag and then painting the monument.

“I will wait here to be arrested for spraying our veterans’ fountain,” she says. “It was me, I’m doing it, it’s on camera.”

In a video posted Friday, the woman, who in a separate post said she had been in Washington for three weeks, said she was turning herself in.

The arrest warrant filed in the case indicated that witnesses took pictures of the vandalism occurring, which were circulated among U.S. Park Police officers.

One officer recognized the suspect as someone they arrested Aug. 10 “for unlawfully camping on federal property” just blocks away. She livestreamed that arrest, the warrant said.

The suspect was identified by her Kentucky driver’s license as Melissa L. Farris, of Elizabethtown, Ky.

Farris was expected to be arraigned Friday. The public defender’s office said she was not yet listed in the system and had not been assigned an attorney.

The incident sparked harsh rebukes from Pirro and President Trump and comes after the president blamed damage to the nearby Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on vandals, without providing evidence. That case prompted charges against multiple people, which were dropped when Pirro said evidence showed the damage came from botched repairs after Trump’s renovation at the site.

“Our beautiful World War II Memorial was just hit by Spray Painting Vandals,” Trump said on Friday on his Truth Social site. “First the Reflecting Pool, now this.”

The Interior Department said that the U.S. Park Police were on the scene following the Thursday vandalism and an investigation was ongoing. “The public should know we will find the person responsible for this disgusting act,” the department said.

The Friends of the National World War II Memorial, a nonprofit organization that helps maintain the site, said: “There are many places in our country for expression, debate, and disagreement. A national memorial honoring those who served and those who never returned home should never be used as a canvas for vandalism.”

The Veterans of Foreign Wars called the vandalism “an act of profound disrespect, a slap in the face to the veterans who served and sacrificed and to the families who carried that burden at home.”

A former Olympian was charged in late July with deliberately damaging the Reflecting Pool, but the Justice Department later moved to dismiss that case, saying evidence prosecutors had received refuted the idea that vandals were to blame.

Trump sharply criticized Pirro’s assessment that damage to the Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction and not the work of vandals, as he claimed.

The case dismissal was an embarrassing setback for a Justice Department that had previously echoed Trump’s claims and billed the prosecution as accountability for damage at a Washington landmark, a pet project of Trump. Pirro’s decision to drop the case was also a rare moment during Trump’s second term of an aide or political appointee openly defying him.

Fields writes for the Associated Press.

St Jude Championship – round two leaderboard

-11 S Scheffler (US); -8 Im (Kor), V Hovland (Nor); -7 L Aberg (Swe); -6 Nico Echavarria (Col), T Fleetwood (Eng), J Spieth (US), B Harman (US)

Selected others: -3 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), J Thomas (US); -2 A Rai (Eng); E H Hall (Eng); +1 S Lowry (Ire); +3 J Rose (Eng); +4 R McIlroy (NI), J Smith (Eng); +5 A Fitzpatrick (Eng)

Full leaderboard

Scottie Scheffler equalled the course record with a nine-under-par 61 as he opened up a three-stroke lead at the end of the second round of the St Jude Championship in Memphis.

The world number one, who already led the FedEx Cup standings heading into the first of three play-off events, birdied the first five holes at TPC Southwind.

The American proceeded to knock in a further six birdies, with bogeys on the eighth and 12th holes the only blemishes on his scorecard as he recorded his fourth career round of 61 or better on the PGA Tour.

“Really just a dream start. Probably one of the best starts I’ve had on tour, to be honest with you. I couldn’t tell you a time where I’ve been lower early in the round,” said Scheffler.

“My swing has felt really good in the past couple weeks, especially playing at home. It was nice to get out there and get things rolling early in the round and was able to keep the momentum going and shoot myself a nice round.”

South Korea’s Im Sung-jae is tied for second with Norway’s Viktor Hovland at eight under overall, with Ludvig Aberg a shot further back.

Reigning FedEx Cup champion Tommy Fleetwood is the highest placed British player and in a quartet that also includes Jordan Spieth at six under.

Matt Fitzpatrick and fellow Englishman Aaron Rai, who collected his first major at the US PGA Championship in May, are at three under and two under respectively, with Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy at four over.

With there being no 36-hole cut at any FedEx play-off event, six-time major winner McIlroy will hope to fare better over the weekend.

One player who will be absent though is Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, who withdrew prior to the start of play on Friday with a knee injury.

MacIntyre, who had limped to a 12-over 82 during the first round on Thursday, currently sits at 31st on the FedEx Cup points list.

The top 50 will head into next week’s BMW Championship.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — Long-sought artworks by Henri Mattise, Paul Cezanne and Pierre-August Renoir worth millions of dollars and stolen in two separate cases have been recovered in Italy and Brazil, police said.

In the Italian city of Parma, authorities announced Friday that searches authorized by the local prosecutor’s office had turned up the three paintings stolen in March.

These include Still Life with Cherries, a pencil-and-watercolor on white paper by the post-impressionist artist Paul Cezanne with an estimated value of $6.9 million, Les Poisson (The Fish), an oil-on-canvas by the impressionist artist Renoir valued at $3.5 million, and Odalisque on the Terrace, a color aquatint on paper by the modernist Matisse with worth an estimated $23,000.

No arrests were reported in connection with the recoveries but the investigations were ongoing, the Carabinieri of Parma province said.

The works were stolen on March 23 from the Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum in Traversetolo, Italy.

Meanwhile, police in Sao Paulo announced Friday that they recovered eight Matisse artworks taken from the Mário de Andrade Library in Sao Bernardo do Campo, which were stolen in December.

Authorities told reporters the engravings were found in a home in the city, where they were being kept by a 44-year-old suspect who was allegedly guarding the pieces for the perpetrator of the crime.

Five other artworks by Candido Portinari, stolen in the same robbery, have not been located and are now thought to have been sold, police said.

The stolen Matisse engravings were part of a joint exhibition with São Paulo Museum of Modern Art titled “From Book to Museum.”

Aug. 14 (UPI) — Reform U.K. leader Nigel Farage was re-elected to parliament on Friday, five weeks after he resigned his seat specifically in order to ask voters to back him amid a probe by parliamentary standards authorities into a $6.8 million gift he received before the 2024 general election.

With a turnout of 44.4%, Farage won the Clacton byelection with a 12,784 vote majority — winning about 1,000 votes more than when he won the seat the first time around in the July 2024 general election — but Thursday’s vote was boycotted by all main political parties who dismissed it as a political stunt by Farage to distract from the investigation.

As a result, the election was contested by an array of more than 35 parties including Reform rival Reclaim, independents and several novelty candidates including Count Binface, who came second with 9,455 votes, and three from the Monster Raving Loony Party that included Nick the Incredible Flying Brick, Howling Laud Hope and Baron von Thunderclap.

“The result in Clacton speaks for itself,” Farage wrote on X.

Farage didn’t attend the count or declaration of the result at Clacton Leisure Center early Friday with a party spokesman citing “a credible threat against him.”

Speaking at a victory party nearby Farage said the county police had advised him to stay away.

“I’m sad to say that after 33 years of being a candidate in active politics, I’ve been advised tonight by Essex Police that there is an organized campaign to disrupt and degrade the result. I’m damned if I’m going to stand on a stage having won a resounding victory, a ringing endorsement of all that I’ve tried to fight for and you’ve tried to fight for and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies,” said Farage.

The BBC said Essex Police had told it the force had not warned any candidate not to attend.

Runner-up Count Binface, whose real name is Jonathan Harvey, told reporters he had sought and received assurances from Essex Police that there was no threat to the election events and it was 100% safe to proceed as normal.

“Let’s all meet for part 2 of the Clacton byelection, coming soon to a leisure centre near you,” said Harvey, referencing the possibility of doing it all again in a few months if the House of Commons votes to suspend Farage in the event he is found in breach of parliamentary rules.

A suspension of 10 or more parliamentary business days would automatically trigger a recall petition that requires the signatures of at least 10% of registered voters in the Clacton constituency to remove Farage and trigger another byelection.

Neither the sanction from the parliamentary standards commission, censure from his fellow MP’s or a recall would make him ineligible to try to win the seat back.

Farage is being investigated for allegedly failing to inform parliamentary authorities about a $6.8 million gift from Christopher Harborne, a British cypto billionaire based in Thailand.

Farage denies the allegations and says he has followed all the rules, arguing he was not required to declare the money because it was before he decided to run for parliament and it was a personal contribution to pay for his private security.

He is also under scrutiny, although not by the parliamentary standards commission, over his ties to convicted U.S. fraudster George Cottrell, with Reform acknowledging Farage accepted security, staff and accommodation from Cottrell in the run up to the 2024 election.

The developments come three weeks after London’s Met Police launched an investigation into payments to Reform U.K. allegedly from George Cottrell’s mother, Fiona Cottrell, that are alleged to have been routed via a company owned by the party’s deputy leader.

Oceania have offered support to Gianni Infantino, but New Zealand have gone against their own confederation in FIFA row.

New Zealand has become the latest nation to withdraw its support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s re-election bid over his aborted commercial rights stake sale plan, while Oceania’s confederation cautiously backed the ⁠governing body’s leadership.

Infantino has faced open revolt after three confederations – Europe’s UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF (North and Central America and Caribbean) – called for a review of his leadership and attacked his conduct over the plan to bring private investment into FIFA competitions.

Infantino will seek re-election for a fourth term in ⁠charge of the global governing body at the FIFA Congress next year, with the African and South American confederations declaring their continued support.

New Zealand, the only Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) nation to qualify for this year’s World Cup, said on Friday it had withdrawn support for Infantino and that the review of the stake sale proposal should be independent due to a loss of confidence and trust in FIFA’s leadership.

“We’ve called for an independent review specifically because what we don’t ‌want to see is a sort of in-house quick washover of this,” New Zealand Football (NZF) Chief Executive Andrew Pragnell told the Reuters news agency.

“An independent review is something else that has been called for by other confederations that will help restore some of the trust.”

The OFC said in a statement that it welcomed FIFA’s decision to withdraw the proposal and that football in the Oceania region had grown under the current FIFA leadership.

“OFC recognises the progress achieved over the last decade in advancing football development in Oceania under FIFA’s leadership and encourages FIFA to use the review as an opportunity to identify and implement any changes that may be necessary,” it added.

What allies does Infantino have?

Swiss Infantino had proposed carving off ⁠the commercial rights to the World Cup and selling 20 percent to private investors to raise about $4.2bn before ⁠a U-turn following the furore.

The proposal came with a $20m grant for member associations for the next funding cycle, an amount that could have been doubled if they signed the deal.

Following a crisis meeting in Morocco last week, FIFA apologised to its 211 member associations for mistakes in the handling of the proposal and said its leadership had ⁠full support for Infantino.

Despite the opposition of the three confederations, which represent 136 of the 211 member associations who will vote in the FIFA presidential election in March, Infantino still has plenty of allies in the game.

Six ⁠heads of Arab national football associations, including Qatar and 2030 World Cup cohost Morocco, firmly ⁠backed him on Thursday, saying they appreciated his “sustained efforts to advance football globally”.

The Confederation of African Football’s executive committee also unanimously confirmed its support for Infantino, though, there is no guarantee of a bloc vote from all 54 members.

Pragnell said an independent review into the scrapped FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal needed to shed light on decision-making and oversight at FIFA.

It should ‌also identify who was involved in the plan for Thrive Capital, a firm with close familial links to US President Donald Trump, to play a leading role in the venture.

“I think the scope needs to be considered really carefully, but what’s most important is that all confederations should agree ‌on ‌the scope, and it needs to get under way with urgency,” Pragnell told Reuters.

AFC member Australia has also called for an independent review alongside the Asian bloc, without publicly expressing a position on Infantino’s leadership.

“Based on what we’ve seen, including [Australia’s] commitment to the AFC statement, we’re strongly aligned,” Pragnell said.

Aug. 13 (UPI) — A section of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. was vandalized Thursday, with red graffiti and mountains of soapy bubbles.

The bubbles were in and around the fountain at the memorial, which is on the National Mall. The graffiti spelled out “Clean hands diary $,” and red and green paint was thrown on some granite stonework.

“The vandalism that occurred is an utter disgrace and will not be tolerated,” the Department of the Interior said in a statement. “Our U.S. Park Police are on the scene and the investigation is ongoing. The public should know we will find the person responsible for this disgusting act.”

The nonprofit Friends of the National World War II Memorial, which is dedicated to preserving the memorial, said it was “deeply disturbed” by the incident.

“Whatever the intent, defacing a place dedicated to the service and sacrifice of the World War II generation is unacceptable,” the organization said in a statement. “A national memorial honoring those who served and those who never returned home should never be used as a canvas for vandalism.”

The memorial draws around 5 million visitors each year.

The site underwent a nearly $4 million renovation, which was completed in May. It was closed for several months while aging infrastructure was updated and other repairs were made. The upgrades included new lighting in the fountain and the replacement of in-ground pillar lighting.

Aug. 13 (UPI) — The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate 15 homes in the West Bank village of Qusra in a move to clear Israeli illegal outposts in the area.

The military rescinded the order to evacuate after it became public in the media. The settlers have been in the Palestinian homes since Sunday. It was not immediately made clear why the military needed to remove the Palestinians to get the settlers out of the area.

Some Palestinians were able to return to their homes, but one of the two families told The Times of Israel that they still can’t get to their house.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee called the Israeli settlers “terrorists” and said the military went to the area because of his request.

“Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting. No excuse for such thuggish behavior,” Huckabee posted on X.

The military said troops were in Qusra since Thursday morning and are there “to protect the residents and maintain security in the area.”

A similar operation on Wednesday failed.

Residents said the military destroyed all the structures erected by settlers. But Palestinian residents said they’re still too afraid to leave their homes.

Qusay Abu Ridi, a trapped Palestinian, told the BBC that his house had been attacked again overnight and that a few settlers were still hiding from the military.

His brother, who owns the property, is a Palestinian-American businessman who complained to the U.S. embassy.

The siege in Qusra started Sunday when settlers blocked the road to the Palestinian families’ gates and cut off their electricity and water, the BBC reported. The first Israeli soldiers to arrive prayed with the settlers’ families. The Israeli military said they would face discipline for that later.

The Abu Ridi and Hassan families made appeals for help on social media.

The attacks happened in multiple Palestinian towns and villages, including Qusra, where a mosque was burned in late July. Footage from the scene showed graffiti left on the Al-Rahma Mosque in Hebrew reading “Benayahu’s revenge” and other messages.

The settlers have said their goal is to remove Palestinians from the area.

According to the United Nations, 76 Palestinians, including 18 children, have been killed in the West Bank this year by Israeli forces or settlers. Three Israelis have been killed.

Since January 2023, 127 Palestinian communities in the West Bank have been fully or partially displaced, affecting more than 6,390 Palestinians, the U.N. said.