Puerto Rico stops for 13 minutes to applaud history and bask in Bad Bunny's glow

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Super Bowl lasted all of 13 minutes for many Puerto Ricans in San Juan and beyond.

People turned their backs to TV screens as food, music and chatter filled the first half of the game until a hush fell across the island. The halftime show was starting.

This was Puerto Rico’s moment, a spotlight on a collective son who quit bagging groceries a decade ago and became the world’s most streamed artist on Spotify last year. Since then, Bad Bunny has used his platform to applaud immigrants, sing about Puerto Rico’s identity and turmoil and denounce U.S. immigration policies.

“He appeared at the right moment in the history of Latin America,” said Marielys Rojas, 39, who is originally from Venezuela but has lived the last 22 years in Puerto Rico.

She was among the hundreds who gathered by a grassy knoll near a beach in Puerto Rico’s capital to watch the halftime show on a huge screen as waves crashed behind them and the sounds of coquís, an endemic frog, filled the salty air.

Amarilys Reyes, 55, arrived at the seaside watch party with her 22-year-old daughter.

She had never watched a Super Bowl and didn’t know who was playing, but it didn’t matter. Like many others, she was only there for Bad Bunny.

“It’s the biggest show of his life,” Reyes said.

Energy, nerves and excitement had been building across Puerto Rico ever since the NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced that Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio would headline the Super Bowl XL Halftime Show.

Watch parties were quickly organized across the U.S. mainland and the island. Some dubbed it “Super Bori Sunday,” a shortened nod to “Boricua,” which refers to someone with Puerto Rican ancestry, while others referred to it “The Benito Bowl: Morcilla, Sancocho, Mofongo, Reggaetón and a little bit of Football.”

One woman wrote on social media that she would watch the halftime show with her 87-year-old mother in Puerto Rico so they could dance together, while another person posted that they had prepared a PowerPoint presentation for their American friends dubbed “Bad Bunny 101.”

Creativity flowed as Feb. 8 approached: One bar in Puerto Rico posted a promo featuring the quarterbacks from the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots sitting on the iconic white plastic lawn chairs that grace the cover of Bad Bunny’s newest album.

Even the Teletubbies got in on the excitement, shaking their colorful rumps to Bad Bunny ’s “Baile Inolvidable” a day before the show.

Wonder Woman also lent her support, with Lynda Carter noting on social media that she was a “huge fan” of Bad Bunny, whom she noted was an American citizen: “Make no mistake.”

But criticism of the first all-Spanish NFL halftime show spiked as the first half ended.

Jake Paul, a YouTuber-turned-boxer who has property in Puerto Rico and has posted about life on the island, wrote on X: “Turn off this halftime. A fake American citizen performing who publicly hates America. I cannot support that.”

Puerto Ricans quickly responded.

“Don’t you live where he’s from?” wrote one person while many others noted that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

Luke Lavanway, a 35-year-old who lives in New York but was vacationing in Puerto Rico to escape the ongoing cold snap, said he had no problem with a halftime show in Spanish.

“That’s part of us,” he said. “That’s what makes us great, and we should just enjoy it.”

The crowd that had gathered for the halftime show began streaming out of the watch party as soon as the second half started, smiling as they reflected on what they had just witnessed.

“I thought it was phenomenal that Bad Bunny brought all Latinos together in one place and represented them all equally,” said Carlos Ayala, 36, of San Juan. “It’s an important moment for Latino culture.”

He also thought it fantastic that Ricky Martin sang Bad Bunny’s, “Lo que le pasó a Hawaii,” which laments gentrification in Puerto Rico, a worsening issue for many on an island with a more than 40% poverty rate.

“Transmitting that message is extremely important in these times,” he said, adding that he also appreciated the light posts and exploding transformers featured during the show, a nod to Puerto Rico’s chronic outages “so the world can see what we live through.”

Among those beaming after the show was Juliana Santiago, 35, who said her heart swelled with pride on Sunday night.

She said Bad Bunny proved that “you can accomplish things, that the American dream truly is real.”

Bad Bunny performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Fans in San Juan, Puerto Rico, watch Bad Bunny's performance on television during the halftime show of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)

Fans in San Juan, Puerto Rico, watch Bad Bunny's performance on television during the halftime show of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)

Fans in San Juan, Puerto Rico, watch Bad Bunny's performance on television during the halftime show of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)

Fans in San Juan, Puerto Rico, watch Bad Bunny's performance on television during the halftime show of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)

Gulf countries reported new attacks Sunday morning, a day after Iran called for the evacuation of three major ports in the United Arab Emirates, threatening for the first time a neighboring country’s non-U.S. assets.

Tehran accused the United States of using “ports, docks and hideouts” in the UAE to launch strikes on Kharg Island, home to the main terminal handling Iran’s oil exports, without providing evidence, as the war showed no signs of ending.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he hoped allies would send warships to secure the vital Strait of ​Hormuz.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes have deepened Lebanon's humanitarian crisis, with more than 800 people killed and over 850,000 displaced.

Here is the latest:

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s comments about the reopening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz came in an interview with the London-based Al-Araby al-Jadeed published Sunday.

“The Strait of Hormuz is not generally closed, but only to the U.S. and its allies, and we will continue this policy as long as the attacks continue,” he was quoted as saying.

The world’s largest aluminum smelter outside China said Sunday it would gradually shut down nearly one-fifth of its production capacity as exports remain blocked through the Strait of Hormuz.

Aluminium Bahrain, or Alba, promised a “controlled and safe shutdown strategy.”

Smelters run at high temperatures and take time to shut down or restart without endangering equipment or damage the containers that hold molten metals.

The company told buyers last week it couldn’t meet its obligations. The timeline of a phased partial shutdown means global aluminum supplies could remain tight even if transit through the Strait of Hormuz quickly returns to normal, keeping upward pressure on prices for products such as construction materials and cars.

Aluminum and oil make up a big part of Bahrain’s economy and limits on production and export threaten to deepen woes in the Persian Gulf Island nation being hit with Iranian airstrikes.

There was no immediate word on damage or casualties.

It was one of the multiple barrages targeting Israel Sunday. It damaged an apartment building in the central Israeli ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak.

The country’s Magen David Adom rescue services said that one man was injured by glass shrapnel. Photos and video showed a blackened hole in place of the apartment’s windows.

Magen David Adom also said paramedics were treating another man in the nearby city of Ramat Gan who sustained blast injuries. It comes after an earlier barrage hit 23 sites in the Tel Aviv area and injured two people.

Collapsed concrete, exposed rebar and sheets of plastic spilled onto the streets of southern Beirut Sunday morning. Smoke rose into the air and small fires burned.

That was the scene in the city’s suburb of Haret Hreik, after a night of continued Israeli airstrikes.

In just 10 days, more than 800,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by war, just over a year since the last conflict uprooted over a million Lebanese from their homes. Israeli strikes have killed 826 people, including 106 children and 65 women, since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, according to the Health Ministry.

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday escalated his appeal for peace by directly addressing the leaders who launched the war.

“On behalf of the Christians of the Middle East and all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict,” Leo said. “Cease fire so that avenues for dialogue may be reopened. Violence can never lead to the justice, stability, and peace that the people are waiting for.”

While Leo didn’t mention the United States or Israel by name, he mentioned the bombings that targeted a school — an apparent reference to the missile strike on an elementary school in Iran in the opening days of the war that killed over 165 people, many of them children.

The Vatican has highlighted the carnage of the Minab strike, running a photo of the mass grave for the victims on the front page of its official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, under the headline “The Face of War.” U.S. officials have said outdated intelligence likely led to the United States launching the strike, and that an investigation is ongoing.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said it should be the responsibility of the countries involved to “find ways of ending the hostilities that now have great impact around the world.”

Speaking alongside the leaders of Canada and the other Nordic nations on Sunday, Støre said “it seems to us that the plan for how it will develop is pretty unclear.” He added: “That’s the danger with initiating wars, that they rarely follow a script.”

He said that “we are concerned to see that there is still an escalation.”

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it “takes note” of Trump’s comments. It said that South Korea and the U.S. “will closely coordinate and carefully review” the situation.

The ministry said South Korea closely monitors developments in the Middle East and explores various options to secure safe energy supply routes and protect South Korean nationals.

The Korea International Trade Association says it gets around 70% of its crude oil and 20% of its LNG from the Middle East.

Asked whether Britain is considering sending minesweepers or mine-hunting drones to the strategic waterway to help shipping return to normal, U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told Sky News: “We are talking to our allies.”

“We are intensively looking with our allies at what can be done, because it’s so important that we get the strait reopened,” he said.

Miliband told the BBC on Sunday that “any options that can help to get the strait reopened are being looked at.” He added: “We don’t want a nuclear Iran but ending this conflict is the best and surest way to get the strait reopened.”

Expectations are high that U.S. President Donald Trump could ask Japan to send warships to the Persian Gulf when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meets him on Thursday at the White House.

Public opinion in Japan is divided about getting involved. Foreign Ministry sources told Japanese public broadcaster NHK that Japan makes its own decisions and won’t dispatch ships just because Trump asked. Defense Ministry sources told NHK that deploying Japan’s Self-Defense Forces would be difficult, involving the assessment of the legality of U.S. and Israeli actions. NHK did not identify the sources.

The sites include museums and bazaars, historic government buildings and mosques, Iran’s Cultural Heritage Ministry said Sunday.

Among the damaged sites are the ornate Qajar-era Golestan Palace in Tehran and the Shah Abbas Mosque and the 17th-century Chehel Sotoun palace in Isfahan.

The damage isn’t limited to Tehran and Isfahan. The ministry said sites in Kurdistan, Lorestan and Kermanshah were also affected.

Israel’s rescue service Magen David Adom said two men were lightly wounded in central Israel from an Iranian missile attack.

Video released by the service showed a large hole in a city street and shrapnel damage to an apartment building.

The Israeli rescue service United Hatzalah said it was aware of 23 damaged sites.

Israeli police said authorities were inspecting the scenes. Magen David Adom, another rescue service, posted pictures of a car partially set on fire after the barrage.

Iran’s top diplomat says his country is ready to consider any proposal that includes “a complete end” to the U.S.-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic, according to an interview with an Arab daily.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was quoted as saying by the London-based Al-Araby al-Jadeed that mediations by Iran’s neighbors were underway to de-escalate and present “ideas to end the war.” He gave no indication on whether progress has been made.

Araghchi also insisted that Iran’s attacks on its Arab neighbors were limited to U.S. bases and assets. He said Tehran is ready to establish a joint committee with its neighbors to investigate such attacks.

A tanker was seen loading oil Sunday on Iran’s Kharg Island, two days after the U.S. struck military facilities there.

The vessel-tracking platform TankerTrackers said seven more tankers are seen at the anchorage. Five had already loaded fuel oil, while two are waiting to load, according to satellite imagery. It wasn’t immediately clear who the tankers belong to.

Bahrain said Sunday its air defenses have intercepted 125 missiles and 211 drones since the Iran war began.

The small island nation — home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet — has been among the most affected by Iranian strikes, which have hit ports, a hotel, a refinery and a water desalination plant. Similar in size to Singapore and less than one-third the size of Rhode Island, it relies on U.S.-made air defense systems. At least one person has been killed in the attacks.

The International Organization for Migration said Sunday that deteriorating conditions in Iranian cities were “driving increasingly complex mobility patterns.” It says the destruction of homes and facilities that provide basic services are pushing many Iranians to northern provinces, where they think they could be safer.

The U.N. agency said people have been displaced to more than 20 provinces and that shelters were facing strain throughout Iran. Iranians are also fleeing to neighboring states, the agency said, including nearly 32,000 to Afghanistan and nearly 4,000 to Pakistan, even though airports and most border crossings — especially to Iraq — are closed.

Iran’s Health Ministry says U.S. and Israeli strikes have killed 223 women and 202 children since the start of the war on Feb. 28, according to Mizan, the official Iranian judiciary news agency.

The Iranian Red Crescent has said that more than 1,300 people have been killed.

A U.S.-Israeli attack early Sunday morning targeted an impoverished residential neighborhood in the southern city of Shiraz, Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA said.

The strike, which occurred southeast of the city, destroyed several housing units belonging to workers and people supported by the state welfare organization, the report said. It said a number of homes were destroyed and several people were injured. There were no reports of fatalities.

There was no immediate comment from Israel or the U.S. On Friday, Israel said it targeted a missile facility in Shiraz. It also has gone after what it says are checkpoints erected by Iran’s paramilitary Basij force.

Neutral Switzerland says it refused permission for two overflights by U.S. reconnaissance planes “in the context of the war in Iran.”

The government said late Saturday that Switzerland’s neutrality law forbids overflights by parties to a conflict that have a military purpose in connection with that conflict. But it does allow humanitarian and medical transit, as well as flights unconnected with the conflict.

Switzerland said it did give clearance for two U.S. transport aircraft to fly over the country on Sunday and for a newly serviced plane to transit on Tuesday.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard vowed Sunday to hunt down Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

“If the criminal Zionist prime minister is still alive, we will continue to pursue and kill him with full force,” the IRGC said in a statement.

The Israeli military says Iran has launched a new barrage of missiles toward Israel.

It says sirens are alerting residents in areas under attack and air defenses have been activated.

“This reflects a confused policy that missed the point, lost its direction, and lacked wisdom,” Anwar Gargash, adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, wrote on social media late Saturday.

Gargash was referring to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s comments in which he accused the U.S. of using the UAE as a base for its attacks on Iran's Kharg Island.

Sirens sounded in Bahrain ahead of an assault on Sunday, while the United Arab Emirates reported a missile attack, urging residents to shelter in safe locations.

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said its systems intercepted and destroyed 10 drones over the capital, Riyadh, and the kingdom’s eastern region.

Iran’s joint military command accused in a statement Sunday "the enemy” of using copycat Iranian drones to attack neighboring countries and pin the blame on Tehran, state media reported.

Tehran usually uses “the enemy” as a reference to the United States and Israel.

The statement said copies of Iran's Shahed-136 drone, known as LUCAS, were used to hit “irrelevant targets in the regional states," including attacks on Turkey, Iraq and Kuwait. No evidence was provided.

The military command also said Iran openly shares its targets, which it describes as U.S. and Israeli interests, and urged trust and cooperation from regional countries.

A bulldozer clears debris from the rubble of buildings destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Debris litters the street as smoke rises from buildings damaged in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Policemen stand guard next to the banners showing portraits of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Enqelab-e-Eslami, or Islamic Revolution, square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A woman displays a poster of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as she waves her country's flag during a campaign in support of the government at the Enqelab-e-Eslami, or Islamic Revolution, square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Israeli security forces inspect damage at the site of an Iranian missile strike in Holon, central Israel, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Two men ride their motorbike past a billboard of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A man chants slogan while the body of Gen. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Defense Council and a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader who was killed in a strike, is being buried at the courtyard of the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Rescue workers inspect an apartment damaged in an Israeli airstrike as thick smoke fills the building in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)

Fire and plumes of smoke rise from an oil facility in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)