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  • ‘Proud moment’: Drue Nicholas competes on his home course at the U.S. Amateur Championship

    ‘Proud moment’: Drue Nicholas competes on his home course at the U.S. Amateur Championship

    As Drue Nicholas approached the tee box of hole No. 1 at Merion Golf Club early Monday morning, he felt jittery.

    “[I was] just shaky,” Nicholas said. “It’s like I had a lot of caffeine, but I didn’t have any caffeine.”

    The Egg Harbor Township native took the first drive of the U.S. Amateur Championship at his home club, marking the return of the nation’s premier amateur tournament to Merion for the first time since 2005.

    Nicholas overcame some early-round nerves to shoot a 71, leaving him tied for 46th at 1-over in the 312-player field Monday afternoon, with many of them still on the course.

    Nicholas was a four-time all-Coastal Athletic Association golfer at Drexel before graduating in 2025. He won the Philadelphia Open in July and qualified for the U.S. Amateur with a two-under round during U.S. Amateur Final Qualifying at Llanerch Country Club in Haverford Township.

    That qualification opened the door for the Merion member to compete at his home course in his second U.S. Amateur. He finished stroke play 9-over par in the 2025 tournament at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

    Nicholas became a member at Merion in April and estimated he’s played the course 20 times since joining.

    He had some trouble through the front nine, with bogeys on Nos. 1 and 6 and a double bogey on hole No. 5, but back-to-back birdies on Nos. 11 and 12, plus an early birdie on No. 3, kept him in contention to make the 64-player match play bracket on Wednesday.

    “The back five here are obviously very difficult, but I think I plotted my way around them pretty well,” Nicholas said. “I was thinking they’re hard, but if you hit it in the fairway, there are opportunities. Once I got through the first six holes — granted, I was 3-over and a little disappointed — but I knew I could do something on the back stretch.”

    Nicholas had a sizable crowd cheering him on Monday that included family, friends, former Drexel teammates, and Merion members.

    After he tapped in a putt on the 18th green to finish his round, he took a moment to pose for a photo with the group that had come out to support him.

    Caleb Taylor, Nicholas’ former teammate and roommate at Drexel, said seeing Nicholas compete on this course was a “proud moment.”

    “Everybody that loves golf knows Drue,” Taylor said. “He really embraces the golf culture of Philadelphia. As a former Drexel teammate of his, we’re proud as teammates and alumni. He represents Drexel really well. He represents amazingly. He’s a great guy.”

    Nicholas will spend Tuesday fighting to make the match play cut at Philadelphia Country Club, which is cohosting the qualifying stroke play with Merion. He’s much less familiar with the course at Philadelphia Country Club, but playing a round away from his home course may relieve some pressure.

    While the cut line for match play will be set after Tuesday’s rounds, Nicholas is hoping he could make it with a 1-under round at Philadelphia Country Club on Tuesday.

    “If I miss out shooting even, I can sleep at night,” Nicholas said.

    Philly roundup

    Joshua Ryan missed out on the Philadelphia Open championship in a playoff with Nicholas, but the Norristown native got off to a hot start at Philadelphia Country Club on Monday.

    Ryan shot a 67 with six birdies and sat two strokes back of the lead. Ryan, a former golfer at Liberty University, will try to shield his place in the match play bracket at Merion on Tuesday.

    “It’s going to be a different test tomorrow,” Ryan said. “You could very easily shoot a high number over there. I’m just going to keep playing. It’s nice to have a little bit of a cushion, but we’ll see where the field sits at the end of the day and just keep playing good golf.”

    Downingtown’s Nicholas Gross finished his round at Merion 3-over, and Newtown Square’s Hunter Stetson was 6-over at Philadelphia Country Club.

    Charlie Barrickman, 18, of West Chester, tees off on the sixth hole during the U.S. Amateur Championship at Merion Golf Club.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    Some players, including three locals, were delayed by a thunderstorm that led to play being suspended at 5:02 p.m. Players were able to return to the course shortly before 6 p.m.

    At Merion, Charlie Barrickman (West Chester) and Michael Lugiano (Jackson Township) both finished the day at 1-over.

    Patrick Isztwan (Huntingdon Valley) shot 8-over in his opening round at Philadelphia Country Club.

  • Phillies put reliever Caleb Kilian on injured list with left oblique strain

    Phillies put reliever Caleb Kilian on injured list with left oblique strain

    ST. LOUIS — The overburdened Phillies bullpen has been dealt another blow.

    Right-handed reliever Caleb Kilian was placed on the 15-day injured list with a left oblique strain, the Phillies announced ahead of Monday’s series opener against the Cardinals.

    Kilian felt a grab in his left side during his second-to-last pitch in the 12th inning of Sunday’s home win over Toronto. Interim manager Don Mattingly said afterward it “didn’t look good,” and Kilian remained back in Philadelphia to get imaging, which revealed a moderate strain.

    “Disappointing for us, disappointing for him, I believe too,” Mattingly told reporters. “Guys don’t want to get hurt not being there, but we got to move on and next guy up type thing, and we’ll go from there.”

    The Phillies’ bullpen has been extremely taxed in the last week. The club is in the midst of a stretch of 14 consecutive games before a day off Friday, and played three extra-inning games during its just-completed homestand. Kilian suffered his injury while making his fourth appearance since arriving in Philadelphia on Aug. 4.

    To fill Kilian’s spot, the Phillies recalled right-hander Chase Shugart. He had previously been optioned to triple-A Lehigh Valley on Sunday to open a spot for Alan Rangel as emergency relief depth. Since Shugart is replacing a player on the injured list, he does not have to stay in the minor leagues for the typical 15-day minimum.

    “We didn’t really want to send [Shugart] out in the first place,” Mattingly said. “We like what he does for us, and just give us an opportunity to bring him back.”

    Shugart has a 4.93 ERA in 38⅓ innings this season. He pitched the 10th and 11th innings on Saturday and took the loss against Toronto after giving up a two-run homer to Nathan Lukes.

    Harper ‘sore’, back at DH

    Bryce Harper was back at designated hitter Monday against the Cardinals, and Kyle Schwarber started at first for the second time in the last three games.

    Mattingly said that Harper has been dealing with “general soreness,” which the Phillies are trying to manage. He fouled a ball off his knee sometime before the All-Star break, which the Phillies have been managing.

    “That’s kind of been there, but we figured him getting out [in right field] was going to kind of push some things,” Mattingly said. “Stay on top of it. Him and I talked. Making sure that we’re not going to run him into the ground.”

    Alec Bohm was out of the lineup against Cardinals right-hander Hunter Dobbins to allow Schwarber to move to first base. But Mattingly said that he’d rather not have Schwarber mix in at first too much, adding that he was still “absolutely” committed to Bohm as his first baseman.

    Mattingly acknowledged the play on Saturday against Toronto when Bohm’s indecision prevented him from getting an out on a ground ball hit to him, but said that there were several other plays that Bohm has made “look easy” at first.

    “I think he’s been really good over there,” Mattingly said. “His wingspan is so big, and it’s just a great target for guys. It think you see Trea [Turner has] just kind of picked up since he’s been over there. [Bryson] Stott’s been good. I like Bohm over there a lot. I think he does a great job.”

    Extra bases

    Turner was out of the lineup on Monday for a day off, with Edmundo Sosa starting at shortstop. … Catcher J.T. Realmuto also had a day off, with Garrett Stubbs behind the plate for starter Andrew Painter. Mattingly said he wanted to pair Realmuto with Cristopher Sánchez on Tuesday and Zack Wheeler on Wednesday, and also wanted to give Realmuto a break from the heat in St. Louis. … Sánchez (15-4, 2.65 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday opposite Cardinals righty Andre Pallante (12-6, 3.63).

  • Zuckerberg spokesperson says his yacht did not hear call for maritime assist

    Zuckerberg spokesperson says his yacht did not hear call for maritime assist

    A yacht owned by Mark Zuckerberg didn’t respond immediately to a call for help from a small skiff that ran out of fuel off the coast of Alaska, but a maritime law expert said Monday the crew may not have been obligated to after the Coast Guard determined the boat wasn’t in distress.

    A spokesperson for the Meta CEO also said the crew didn’t immediately hear the radio call for help and by the time it did, another nearby ship had already rendered assistance.

    The Aug. 3 incident gained attention in recent days after a passenger on the cruise ship posted on social media that the captain had said Zuckerberg’s yacht “refused” to respond.

    The U.S. Coast Guard said the 21-foot Hewescraft vessel first hailed it for assistance at approximately 9:32 p.m., using a radio frequency all boats are expected to monitor. About 25 minutes later, the Coast Guard determined the vessel was not in distress and issued an assistance request. The skiff was able to make it safely to Farragut Bay after the Wilderness Legacy cruise ship towed it there and helped it refuel.

    When another ship is in distress, everyone in the area is obligated to respond as long as doing so doesn’t put their own ship at risk. But maritime law expert Ian Ralby said this situation appears different, and the crew of Zuckerberg’s yacht wouldn’t face that legal obligation.

    “It’s the difference between calling AAA and 911. You need an ambulance on site, that’s a distress call. You need somebody to give you a jump or to tow your car, you call AAA,” said Ralby, who is president of Auxilium Worldwide. It is a big difference in terms of the emergency type, he said. “Both concerning, both needing assistance, but the legal obligations to respond are very different.”

    Zuckerberg and his family were not on the 387-foot Launchpad yacht when this happened, according to his spokesperson.

    “As the Coast Guard noted, the boat was not in distress, and by the time the crew reviewed the Coast Guard contact on a different radio channel from the one they were operating on, the assist was already underway. We’re grateful all parties are safe,” Zuckerberg’s spokesperson Brian Baker said.

    The Alaska Beacon first reported on what happened after Michael Love, who said he was a passenger on the Wilderness Legacy cruise ship, posted on Bluesky on Aug. 5.

    “Our boat rescued a stranded vessel last night and apparently we did that after the Coast Guard radioed Mark Zuckerberg’s yacht — which was closer — and they repeatedly refused to respond. (There was near unanimous booing when the captain announced this),” he said.

    The Coast Guard said in a statement that they determined within half an hour of when the skiff radioed in that the small ship wasn’t in distress. A marine assistance request was broadcast on their behalf, and the Wilderness Legacy responded, reaching the 21-foot vessel about an hour later.

    It’s a little unusual that the Launchpad crew missed the call for help because it is common practice for ships to always be monitoring channel 16 on their radios and keep it as the default frequency. That’s where this call for help was transmitted, but it is also where the Coast Guard would broadcast warnings about any hazards in the area, whether that’s a brewing storm or anything else.

    “The situation was resolved without any harm to life,” said Ralby. ”It does not seem that there was any immediate issue in terms of threat to life of mariners or concerns for the marine environment, which are the two main things that lead to that urgent distress call where all mariners no matter who they are are legally obligated to try and respond.”

  • The Pub in Pennsauken is going up for sale

    The Pub in Pennsauken is going up for sale

    The Pub, the landmark Pennsauken restaurant known for its open-hearth steaks, twin salad bars, and medieval banquet-hall atmosphere, is going on the market.

    The Gelman family, which has owned the establishment for 26 of its 75 years, said it plans to begin soliciting buyers Tuesday for the restaurant, business, and property at 7600 Kaighn Ave. on the old Airport Circle.

    There is no asking price, and the family is not using a real estate broker. Prospective buyers will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement before receiving financial and other information.

    The Pub, as seen in 2024, is largely a time capsule of ye olde steakhouse dining.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    “We haven’t listed it with anybody, and we’re not going to list it with anybody,” said David Gelman, whose father, Marc, bought the restaurant in 2000. “This is something we’ve been talking about doing for a little while. I think now is the best time.”

    The offering does not mean that the Pub is closing, Gelman said. The restaurant began its annual summer break Aug. 3 and is still scheduled to reopen Sept. 18.

    “It’s just time,” Gelman said of the decision to sell. “I don’t think there’s one thing in general, but it’s time for a new steward, if you will, of the business or the property.”

    The Pub in September 2024 after its reopening following a summer of renovations. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    That distinction — business or property — could be significant. The offering is aimed both at someone interested in continuing the Pub and developers who might see other possibilities for the large tract near Routes 38, 70, 73, and 130 and the Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman Bridges.

    “Restaurants are not what they were for many years,” Gelman said. “There may be a developer who has a grand plan or something like that. There are a lot of different opportunities out there.”

    Real estate solicitation for the Pub in Pennsauken.Courtesy of the Pub

    An advertisement seen by The Inquirer describes approximately 6.3 acres with a roughly 17,000-square-foot building and says the real estate, restaurant business, and contents are included. It lists an email address for contact.

    The Pub can seat about 1,200 people in dining rooms dominated by a cavernous space resembling a medieval banquet hall, festooned with war flags, swords, and assorted taxidermy beneath wooden beams. Six open hearths are used to broil steaks.

    On a typical Saturday, 700 to 1,000 customers cycle through, and the restaurant may roast 10 to 15 of its best-selling prime ribs, each weighing 12 to 15 pounds. About 120 employees work there on a peak night.

    The Pub opened in 1951 at what was then Airport Circle, at Route 130 and Kaighn Avenue, and was rebuilt in the early 1960s after a fire. Marc Gelman, David Gelman’s father, bought it in 2000 after previous co-owner Gary Perez retired.

    David Gelman said owning it has meant maintaining a restaurant whose appeal is tied as much to memories and tradition as to its steaks.

    “It’s been great,” he said. “Keeping the traditions alive, really. A lot of good memories for us and for families in general. It brings them back to their childhood.”

    The timing of the sale announcement could cause confusion because the Pub is currently dark, but Gelman emphasized that the sale announcement and summertime closure were unrelated.

    The restaurant began taking extended summer breaks in 2024, when it closed from July 1 and reopened Sept. 20 after nearly $250,000 in repairs, including roof work, new kitchen equipment, painting, and carpeting. Last year, it closed from June 30 through Sept. 18 for plumbing, air-conditioning, kitchen, and carpeting improvements.

    Steaks sizzle on one of six open hearths at the Pub in 2024.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    Gelman has said the shutdowns make sense because summer traditionally is slow. It gives employees time off and allowing work to be done without disrupting customers. This year’s break began Aug. 3, later than the previous years’ breaks.

    Gelman said his family was planning to reopen in September. If a buyer struck a deal before then, he said, the family would consider the buyer’s wishes, but he called completing a transaction within 30 days highly unlikely.

    The offering comes two years after 7600 Kaighn Ave. surfaced in commercial real estate marketing by Binswanger. The materials contemplated an industrial redevelopment, prompting speculation about the Pub’s future. At the time, Gelman said the Pub was not for sale or lease and Binswager representatives did not return messages seeking comment.

    On Monday, Gelman said his family had never authorized Binswanger to market the property and added that the family did not know how the offering had originated.

    This time, there is no ambiguity about the Gelmans’ intentions. Gelman said the family sees little reason to hire a broker when it can reach prospective buyers directly and provide information to those with serious interest and financial wherewithal.

    “There’s really no need to have it listed when social media nowadays and everything else is just as good, if not better,” he said.

    The family also owns Library II in Voorhees, Gelman said, but it is not part of the offering.

    As for what ultimately becomes of the Pub, Gelman said he would prefer to see the restaurant survive under new ownership, even as the family entertains other possibilities for the land.

    “It’s a landmark,” he said. “Hopefully it doesn’t go anywhere.”

  • Measles cases in Pennsylvania top 200 as experts worry about back-to-school spread

    Measles cases in Pennsylvania top 200 as experts worry about back-to-school spread

    Before this year, many physicians at Lancaster General Hospital had only read about measles in textbooks.

    But now, as they treat pneumonia and brain swelling in patients infected with measles during Pennsylvania’s worst outbreak in three decades, they’re rapidly becoming experts on a disease once considered eradicated in the United States.

    “It feels surreal,” said physician Jeffrey Martin, the chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Lancaster General Heath, which is affiliated with Penn Medicine. “You’re treating something you probably never saw before.”

    Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak continues to spread across the state, with 18 counties affected as of Monday and 232 cases reported this year, including more than two dozen in the Philadelphia region. Thirty-eight people have been hospitalized. In the last week alone, state health officials recorded 57 cases.

    At the center of the outbreak, Lancaster County has reported 133 measles cases this year — 125 of them since April. At Lancaster General, physicians are treating mostly adults, including pregnant women.

    About 35% of the state’s cases this year have been diagnosed in children, who are among the most vulnerable to serious complications. And many experts fear the risk of infection will rise when schools open beginning at the end of August.

    Lancaster County has among the lowest vaccination rates in the state, with just 87.6% of kindergartners and 83.3% of 7th graders vaccinated against measles, well below the 95% immunization threshold required to prevent community spread of a disease so contagious that up to 90% of unvaccinated people exposed will become ill.

    “I don’t want to be alarmist, but I don’t think we should be minimizing the risk,” said Lancaster County Commissioner Alice Yoder, a nurse who formerly worked as a Lancaster General administrator. “There will be a large number of children coming together every day, and measles is just extraordinarily contagious.”

    Back-to-school this year is “a very scary time,” she said.

    Cases outside Lancaster

    The outbreak increasingly poses a threat outside Lancaster, with several counties in central Pennsylvania reporting their first cases last week.

    Suburban Philadelphia’s Chester County, which borders Lancaster County to the east, has seen 22 cases of measles so far this year. And local cases are higher than reported, officials there say, adding that some residents with measles have refused to cooperate with the health department’s efforts to trace their contacts.

    Lancaster officials, too, say the outbreak has spread more widely than case counts indicate. “Every case we have, we know there’s another 10 or 20 behind it,” Yoder said.

    Pennsylvania health secretary Debra Bogen speaks to the media at a press conference on the state’s measles response earlier this summer in Lancaster.Dana Munro

    New infections may also be coming from other places. Lehigh County reported its first two cases in two siblings last week, according to St. Luke’s University Health Network.

    The children, whose parents had opted against vaccinating them, had recently traveled internationally, St. Luke’s pediatrics chair Jennifer Janco said.

    St. Luke’s doctors first saw the children on video to avoid exposing other patients at a clinic and worked with state health department staff to test them for measles at home.

    “We don’t want someone with measles in a doctor’s office or urgent care waiting room,” Janco said.

    Eventually, one of the children was hospitalized at another area health system after becoming dehydrated, Janco said. “They became weak and sick to the point of dehydration — they couldn’t take enough fluids by mouth,” she said.

    Like Yoder, she is concerned about the threat to Pennsylvania children with the school year about to start.

    “The risk is real. This isn’t measles halfway across the country,” Janco said. “And measles doesn’t care about county lines.”

    ‘Do it for your neighbor’

    State officials for months have recommended accelerating the schedule for routine childhood measles vaccinations, giving infants their first measles, mumps, and rubella shot as early as six months.

    State health officials say their staff have administered more than 2,000 doses of the MMR vaccine this year, with more than 1,300 provided in June and July alone.

    At Lancaster General, Martin says he’s seen increased interest in vaccination from some parents who had previously refused MMR shots for their children.

    “There does seem to be a message that resonates here, and that is, if not for yourself, do it for your neighbor. Get the immunization to protect the most vulnerable,” he said.

    Still, he said, many county residents who are not connected to healthcare settings “vaguely hear there’s something going on with measles, but don’t fully understand we’re in an outbreak status.”

    And information about the measles from county government officials has been scarce.

    Yoder, a Democrat, said she has been unable to convince her fellow county commissioners, both Republicans, to publish more information about the outbreak and the importance of vaccination on the county website.

    Josh Parsons, one of the Republican commissioners, did not return a call for comment on the outbreak.

    Lancaster County Commissioner Alice Yoder has proposed forming a local health department to combat a growing measles outbreak in the area.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

    And the county health advisory council, which makes non-binding health recommendations for the county, did not discuss the outbreak at its meeting last month, said Martin, who serves on the council.

    State officials handling the outbreak have done “a fantastic job,” Martin said, but he believes stronger local health leadership could help combat the outbreak with a better understanding of the “complexity and diversity” of the county and its attitudes toward public health.

    Yoder says the county must do more to reach out to residents about the outbreak and has been advocating for Lancaster County to form a local health department.

    “The local government is typically a trusted place for people to go to. It would be so important and beneficial for us to come out stronger about the importance of vaccination,” Yoder said.

  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she’s freezing her eggs

    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she’s freezing her eggs

    Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) made a public video announcement over the weekend about a private matter: The congresswoman is freezing her eggs.

    Ocasio-Cortez, 36, posted a series of videos on social media in which she said this is a decision she made to “feel more in control of my life.” She said she had been weighing the decision and saving up for the pricey fertility procedure, which often isn’t covered by insurance, for a long time.

    The congresswoman said she was going public with her decision against the backdrop of steps by the Trump administration to curtail abortion access and some forms of reproductive care across the country. It also comes amid speculation that she could seek higher office. She said that she was making the egg-freezing decision in a “privileged position” and said that, unlike men, women applying for jobs or running for office face intense scrutiny about when, or if, they will have children.

    “I think it’s important for us as leaders to have these conversations and share these processes, especially for working women across the country, and normalize them,” Ocasio-Cortez said on ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos on Sunday morning.

    Egg freezing is an increasingly popular procedure in which a woman’s eggs are extracted from her body, frozen, and then stored. Those eggs can later be fertilized. The fertilized eggs then grow, and when the embryos are ready, they are transferred into the uterus in the hope that the woman becomes pregnant, according to UCLA Health.

    Women opt to have the procedure for many reasons, including to preserve their eggs and reproductive ability if they are undergoing chemotherapy or other medical treatments that could affect their fertility.

    But many healthy women who are not ready to have children during their biologically prime reproductive years also use the process.

    A 2025 UCLA study found that between 2014 and 2021, there was a sharp increase in the number of planned elective egg-freezing cycles. In that period, women began freezing their eggs at younger ages, with the average age dropping from 36 years in 2014 to 34.9 in 2021.

    The study also landed on the surprising finding that only a small number of women — 5.7% who froze their eggs between 2014 and 2016 — returned to use their eggs in the next five to seven years.

    In her videos, Ocasio-Cortez showed viewers the array of medications she is required to self-administer for the process.

    The medication process typically lasts 10 to 12 days, with women injecting themselves with two or three hormone medications every day, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. During that time, women will have frequent bloodwork and four to six pelvic ultrasounds.

    Once the eggs have matured, a medical professional will retrieve them in a 20-to-30-minute ultrasound-guided surgical procedure during which the patient is under anesthesia.

    Ocasio-Cortez filmed herself injecting hormones into her abdomen, jokingly telling her viewers: “Don’t be weird about this. Even though I know all of you will be.”

    When it was done, she said it “wasn’t so bad.”

  • U.S. Soccer finally puts its foot down on the Gianni Infantino FIFA scandal, demands ‘meaningful change’

    U.S. Soccer finally puts its foot down on the Gianni Infantino FIFA scandal, demands ‘meaningful change’

    As the scandal around FIFA president Gianni Infantino continues to upend the soccer world, the U.S. Soccer Federation has finally offered the kind of strong words that fans have been waiting for.

    In a joint statement Monday with Canada Soccer and regional entities in Central America and the Caribbean, U.S. Soccer said they all “stand together, along with our colleagues around the world, in calling for meaningful change that strengthens FIFA’s governance, transparency and accountability.”

    It wasn’t a direct call for Infantino’s head, but it was as close as one could come politely. And it came on the heels of another fiery statement from Concacaf early Monday morning, this time offered jointly with the Asian and European confederations.

    “When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned,” the statement said.

    Concacaf president Victor Montagliani (second from left) with Asian soccer leader Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa (center) and FIFA president Gianni Infantino (right) at the FIFA Congress in Vancouver in April.Verity Griffin

    While Infantino again was not named directly, the words were clearly aimed at him. One source with knowledge of the matter framed the statement in the political terms of an invitation to resign peacefully before things get any hotter.

    The statement was notably signed not just by the confederations, but with the names of all three bodies’ presidents and general secretaries. That will sting Infantino’s pride, as the three regional presidents are also FIFA vice presidents: Concacaf’s Victor Montagliani of Canada, Asia’s Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain, and Europe’s Aleksander Čeferin of Slovenia.

    They took further aim at Infantino’s desire to privatize the World Cup by creating a company within FIFA — a non-profit — and selling shares to investors including Josh Kushner, the brother of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared.

    FIFA has said it is no longer considering the plan, but critics aren’t satisfied yet.

    UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin (left) with Gianni Infantino at a game in 2024.Matthias Schrader

    “It did not acknowledge that the proposal itself was inherently wrong,” Monday’s statement said. “There remains no recognition that attempting to sell an interest in the FIFA World Cup was a profound failure of judgment — not just a procedural misstep, but a fundamental breach of trust with the very institutions FIFA exists to serve.”

    The statement also pointed at Infantino’s crisis meeting at FIFA’s satellite office in Rabat, Morocco, last Wednesday — instead of the real headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland — and how no members of FIFA’s official governing council were invited to attend.

    Instead, there were just a few members of FIFA’s “Management Committee,” an entity few people even knew existed before now. Some of those members who did not attend included chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, who a few days before then slammed Infantino in a statement by saying the president “deceived” FIFA staff, “and if that means I lose my job, then so be it.”

    FIFA’s chief football officer, former U.S. women’s national team coach Jill Ellis, also was not at that meeting. Nor was another coaching legend who’s now a FIFA executive, Arsène Wenger, who had said it was “absolutely necessary” to ditch the privatization idea.

    Jill Ellis (top row, center) in Gianni Infantino’s suite at the U.S.-Belgium World Cup game with other big names including longtime U.S. star Alex Morgan (top left) and U.S. Soccer president Cindy Cone (bottom left).Nick Didlick

    But while much of the world has turned against Infantino, it’s far from unanimous. The South American and African confederations have given him strong backing.

    There also is not unanimity within Concacaf. Mexico’s federation publicly backed Infantino on Friday, which raised a lot of eyebrows.

    Still, the signers of Monday’s statement cover the entire rest of Concacaf: the U.S., Canada, the 31 members of the Caribbean Football Union, and the seven in the Central American Football Union.

    A source with knowledge of the matter said Mexico is allowed to have its own opinion, but currently stands alone within the region.

    There are still lots of questions about the whole situation, and a long way to go for everything to play out. For now, though, it’s safe to say two issues stand above the rest.

    The first is whether, if Infantino doesn’t resign, someone will run against him for the presidency next year. Montagliani has been floated as a candidate, but he hasn’t yet said if he’s going to do it. A candidate must have five nominations from FIFA member nations, and the deadline is Nov. 18.

    Coincidentally, that’s five days before the long-planned FIFA Congress to confirm the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica as hosts of the 2031 women’s World Cup. It will be interesting to see how that goes, especially if Montagliani is in the race.

    The second question could require an answer soonest. UEFA is still threatening to boycott all FIFA competitions. It said last Thursday that “assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again,” and those haven’t come.

    Mexican soccer federation president Mikel Arriola (left) with his counterparts from Jamaica, Costa Rica, and the U.S. at last year’s announcement of their joint bid to host the 2031 women’s World Cup.Ron Blum

    That puts next month’s under-20 World Cup in Poland in the spotlight. Right now, Concacaf is not threatening to join the boycott threat. But since the tournament will take place in Europe, fans will naturally wonder if Poland will refuse not only to play in it, but to host it.

    None of the sources The Inquirer has spoken with have wished that on the players, but there’s a widespread understanding that it might have to happen in order to keep hitting Infantino hard.

    There have also been questions behind the scenes about whether Concacaf, UEFA, and the AFC could organize something among themselves, but the discussions have been very preliminary.

  • Trump nominates loyalist to office that would oversee Reflecting Pool review

    Trump nominates loyalist to office that would oversee Reflecting Pool review

    President Donald Trump nominated Project 2025 author and former political appointee Dennis Kirk to lead the Interior Department’s inspector general office, raising concerns about the independence of the watchdog that has been asked to review the troubled Reflecting Pool renovation.

    Kirk, who was nominated Friday, previously had been working within the office of the inspector general of the intelligence community while serving as an adviser to then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard as of last year. At the time, lawmakers and watchdog advocates raised concerns that his dual roles blurred the lines between Gabbard and the office investigating the use of the Signal messaging app to discuss a pending U.S. military strike.

    The Interior Department’s inspector general’s office recently has been receiving inquiries from Democrats to investigate the troubled Reflecting Pool renovation. Democrats also have sought investigations into senior administration officials’ potential conflicts of interest. One of those officials, Interior Associate Deputy Secretary Karen Budd-Falen, acknowledged in a video that she was involved in changes to grazing policies that benefited ranching businesses such as her family’s, The Washington Post previously reported.

    Rep. Jared Huffman (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, called Kirk a “fake and fraudulent watchdog” and a “political puppet” who shouldn’t be in the office overseeing ethics and corruption investigations that involve senior administration officials. “It’s no surprise the White House suddenly wants its own man inside the one place that Trump’s cronies still have reason to fear,” Huffman said in a statement.

    A spokesperson for the inspector general’s office declined to comment on Kirk’s role. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement that “Kirk has consistently demonstrated loyalty to the rule of law during his long career within government.” The Interior Department and Kirk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    Kirk co-wrote a key section about the federal workforce for Project 2025, the blueprint for Trump’s second term. In the first Trump term, Kirk held senior roles at the Office of Personnel Management and was nominated to serve as chairperson of the Merit Systems Protection Board, though he faced steep opposition from unions that said he lacked experience, and his nomination was withdrawn by President Joe Biden.

    Mark Lee Greenblatt, a former Interior Department inspector general who was fired amid Trump’s purge of inspectors general early last year, called on the Senate to reject Kirk’s nomination. Greenblatt, who was nominated by Trump in his first term, said Kirk’s involvement would damage the credibility of the office’s investigations amid controversy related to recordkeeping and chill whistleblowers’ openness to speaking out.

    “This is a particularly fraught moment with respect to the Interior Department in light of the very public allegations that are flying around regarding the Reflecting Pool and the arch,” Greenblatt said in an interview, referring to the monument Trump wants to build near Arlington National Cemetery. “I would think that the White House and President Trump would want an independent review, an independent actor in that position, because otherwise those reports won’t have credibility.”

    The Center for Western Priorities, a conservation advocacy organization, also condemned Kirk’s role and called on Congress to use its subpoena power to compel records after Politico reported that Interior Department staffers had routinely shredded documents and used disappearing Signal messages.

    “Interior’s watchdog was fired, left vacant for 18 months, and is now hosting one of the architects of Project 2025,” said the center’s executive director, Aaron Weiss. “At least five investigation requests from members of Congress are sitting in that office right now, and its integrity has been compromised.”

  • Six killed, more wounded in wave of weekend violence in Philadelphia

    Six killed, more wounded in wave of weekend violence in Philadelphia

    Six people were killed in Philadelphia between Friday morning and Sunday night — five shot and one stabbed — in a wave of violence across the city, according to police.

    At least two others were wounded in the spate of attacks, a jarring stretch of violence in a year that has otherwise been among the least deadly Philadelphia has recorded in decades.

    At a news conference on Monday, District Attorney Larry Krasner acknowledged the weekend’s toll but pointed to the city’s steep drop in killings, arguing that a brutal few days had not erased months of historic progress.

    “We had a bad weekend,” Krasner said. “We’re not having a bad year.”

    As of Monday, Krasner said, there had been 108 homicides so far this year in the city — 29 fewer than at the same time last year.

    Even so, the six deaths amounted to more than 5% of the city’s homicides this year, a striking toll for a single weekend. The victims ranged in age from 26 to 70.

    The bloodshed began shortly after 9 a.m. Friday, when officers responded to a report of a gunman on the 2100 block of North 20th Street in North Philadelphia West and found Savion Young, 31, shot in the chest and arm. He was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital about 20 minutes later, police said.

    That same evening, Felix Serrano, 70, was found shot inside a BMW on the 4300 block of North Seventh Street in Hunting Park, according to police. Investigators believe Serrano’s vehicle may have traveled a short distance after he was shot before his car struck a parked vehicle. He was also pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital.

    The killings resumed before dawn Sunday. At about 3:20 a.m., police who were called to the 800 block of West Oxford Street in Ludlow found Rafi Colón-White, 30, shot in the head inside a Subaru Outback.

    Colón-White was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital. A 34-year-old man who arrived separately at the hospital with gunshot wounds to his legs was in critical condition, police said. That man, whom police have not identified, was also a victim in the shooting, said police spokesperson Cpl. Jasmine Colón-Reilly.

    Sunday evening brought three more killings in as many hours. About 8:20 p.m., a man was fatally stabbed on the 500 block of West Courtland Street in Logan, and pronounced dead at Einstein Medical Center, police said. He has not been publicly identified.

    Less than an hour later, DaJuan Coffee, 26, was shot multiple times on the 2000 block of East Lehigh Avenue in East Kensington and pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital, police said.

    The weekend’s final killing came at about 11:49 p.m. Sunday. Officers sent to the 2800 block of North 24th Street in Strawberry Mansion for a report of a person with a gun found Michelle Wilson, 61, on a porch, shot in the neck and back, police said. She was pronounced dead moments later.

    Wilson’s husband was also on the porch and was shot, but survived, police said. They did not share the man’s condition, but said he was stable.

    Loved ones lingered on the sidewalk in front of the North 24th Street house Monday afternoon, hugging, trying to find comfort in one another amid their grief. They declined to be interviewed.

    A 71-year-old neighbor said the family has lived on the block for decades.

    “They were quiet people,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal. On Sunday afternoon, she said, Wilson’s family had a barbecue, with children and extended family playing on the porch.

    Surveillance video from a business on the block, reviewed by The Inquirer, showed a man wearing a hat and surgical face mask walking down the street when he appeared to take a black handgun from his bag and slip it into his jacket. The video showed him then calmly walk up to the porch and open fire.

    Police have not shared the video with the public, nor identified the man captured in it as a suspect.

    Nearby, on North 20th Street, an array of candles, stuffed teddy bears, and handwritten posters lay Monday across the sidewalk where Young was killed Friday morning.

    Police said Young and his girlfriend were arguing outside the apartment around 9:10 a.m. when the woman’s 16-year-old brother pulled a gun and shot Young multiple times, police said. He died at the hospital.

    The teen is wanted for murder.

    Tributes for Young, also known as Apex, poured across social media over the weekend, and hundreds gathered in North Philadelphia for a balloon release.

    Young had a daughter and large family scattered across the city, friends said. He had just started a clothing brand called Bad English, and neighbors said he was frequently seen lifting weights and working out outside his rowhouse.

    “This was his Planet Fitness,” a man who trained with him said Monday on the block. The man, who declined to give his name for privacy reasons, looked down at the dozens of candles melting into the sidewalk beneath a collection of silver balloons. “He will be truly missed,” he said.

    William Fritze, chief of the district attorney’s office Gun Violence Task Force, declined to provide additional information on the incidents, citing ongoing investigations.

    No arrests have been made in any of the cases, said Colón-Reilly. Police are asking anyone with information to contact the department’s homicide unit at 215-686-3334, or its tip line at 215-686-TIPS.

    Last year marked Philadelphia’s fewest homicides in nearly six decades, with 222 people killed. The last time the city’s homicide numbers fell below that mark was in 1966, when there were 178 murders.

    During Monday’s news conference, called to announce grants awarded to more than 20 anti-violence organizations in the city, Krasner called the weekend’s violence a tragedy that “no one would ever celebrate,” even as he stressed that the city remained far safer than in years past.

    “The facts are clear: Homicides are way down,” he said. “In almost every category, crime is down.”

  • Trump scoffs at Iran’s demand for war reparations and other Mideast developments

    Trump scoffs at Iran’s demand for war reparations and other Mideast developments

    President Donald Trump on Monday scoffed at Iran’s demand for reparations for devastation caused to the country by the U.S. and Israeli bombardment over the past five months — a demand he said Tehran’s negotiators hadn’t raised until now.

    Trump’s social media post Monday came after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei stressed that Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the U.S. meets its conditions.

    Tehran wants the U.S. to end its blockade of Iranian ports, lift economic sanctions, and release Iran’s frozen assets. It also said the U.S. must pay compensation for war damage.

    “It is up to the U.S. side to stop and make amends for its illegal and destructive actions,” Baghaei said.

    Trump responded that he is now demanding “compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts.”

    The U.S. government has blamed Iran-backed militants for the deaths and injuries of hundreds of Americans over several decades. They include a 1983 bombing that killed 241 U.S. military personnel at a Marine compound in Beirut and the deaths of at least 603 U.S. troops in Iraq between 2003 and 2011.

    Trump said he also wants Tehran to compensate the families of Iranian protesters who were killed.

    “I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations,” Trump said in his post.

    The closure of the Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil supplies passed before the war — has kept energy prices as a major focus of U.S. politics ahead of November’s midterm elections.

    Iran’s supreme leader is said to want ‘unity’

    Iran’s president said Monday the country’s supreme leader is calling for “unity and cohesion” as the Islamic Republic faces economic hardships and sanctions stemming from its war with the United States.

    President Masoud Pezeshkian described a nearly seven-hour meeting with Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in an interview with Iranian state television that aired amid apparent tensions among the Islamic Republic’s leaders.

    Pezeshkian told the state-run IRIB that he and Khamenei discussed “people’s livelihoods, the state of the market, employment, people’s housing,” as well as “problems that are now being created as a result of the (U.S.) sanctions.” He didn’t say when or where they met.

    Most important, he said, was Khamenei’s emphasis on unity.

    “All of the enemy’s plans are aimed at creating division,” Pezeshkian said. “What we have to do is prevent divisions from emerging.”

    It is only the second time the Iranian president said he has met with the new supreme leader since Khamenei was appointed in March following a U.S.-Israeli strike that killed his father. Khamenei, believed to have been wounded in the same attack, has not appeared in public since then.

    Iran names former Revolutionary Guard leader to top security post

    Iran on Sunday appointed Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to its new supreme leader, to head its powerful Supreme National Security Council.

    Rezaei commanded Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard from 1981 to 1997, a period that includes Iran’s 1980s war with Iraq. The 71-year-old hard-liner last week threatened American forces with “serious risks and casualties” if the U.S. did not lift its blockade of Iranian ports.

    Rezaei replaces Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who will become a political adviser to Khamenei.

    While Rezaei appears willing to negotiate with the U.S. to “secure Iran’s maximalist aims, including control of the Strait of Hormuz,” he has also been “unwilling to present any Iranian concessions,” wrote the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think-tank.

    Israel declares closed military zone in Taybeh

    Israel’s military said Monday it had declared a Christian-majority town in the occupied West Bank a closed military zone to keep out Israeli settlers and other non-residents.

    The new tactic is designed to keep Israelis out of Taybeh, which has been subject to arson, vandalism, and settlers coming onto private and village property. The army said Palestinian residents and journalists would be allowed unless soldiers determine their presence poses a threat. The army said its troops would detain suspects and disperse gatherings to keep the peace.

    The designation comes after months of the army and police struggling to maintain order throughout the territory, where at least 87 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers or soldiers in 2026, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry.

    Yemen provides death toll on Sunday’s Houthi attack

    Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked a Red Sea port town controlled by government forces on Sunday, killing seven and injuring 30 people. Yemen’s Defense Ministry — which operates under its internationally recognized government — said four military personnel and three civilians were killed.

    Clashes continued Monday near the village of Taiz. The Houthi group said a 13-year-old child was killed by artillery shelling and another child was injured.

    The attack on Mokha is the latest in one of the largest waves of Houthi strikes on Yemeni military positions and areas held by the Saudi-backed government since a 2022 truce. It comes as threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have renewed focus on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait at its southern tip.