PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Armed with their tongs and sausages, thousands of determined — and hungry — South Africans gathered on a national holiday Thursday to attempt to break the world record for the biggest cookout.
The record to beat for most people grilling simultaneously was 2,220, set in Japan's Ishigaki City in 2023.
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Participants help themselves to food during an attempt to break a world record for the most people cooking simultaneously at a barbecue at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)
Guinness World Records adjudicator Paulina Sapinska, right, monitors an attempt to break a world record for the most people cooking simultaneously at a barbecue at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)
Participants cook during an attempt to break a world record for the most people cooking simultaneously at a barbecue at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)
Participants attempt to break a world record for the most people cooking simultaneously at a barbecue at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)
Participants grill meat during an attempt to break a world record for the most people cooking simultaneously at a barbecue at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)
The South African hopefuls, who were denied in a failed attempt last year, poured into a sports stadium in the capital, Pretoria, to take up their positions around 500 grilling stations. Organizers said they expected around 3,000 participants.
The strict rules, according to a Guinness World Records adjudicator who watched over the attempt, were: Everyone needs to be barbecuing simultaneously for a minimum of five minutes to be counted.
“And if anyone leaves, they do get disqualified,” said the adjudicator, Paulina Sapinska, who wore a blue blazer and tie and held an official-looking clipboard as she monitored the mass sausage and burger grilling.
Cooking meat outside on a wood, charcoal or gas fire is a beloved South African pastime, just as it is in the United States, Australia and elsewhere.
It's called a “braai” in South Africa, and one of the favorite meats is a fat, curled up sausage known as boerewors — which translates as farmer's sausage. But there were also burgers, steaks and chops to grill for the record attempt.
The mass cookout came on Heritage Day, a national holiday where people in multiracial and multicultural South Africa are encouraged to show off and celebrate their own specific heritage. The holiday has become known informally as “Braai Day” because the love of the cookout is shared by people across the country and it's how many South Africans celebrate it.
Participant Alex Coetzee said he also took part in the 2025 record attempt, when South Africa fell short because too many people left their grilling stations.
"It’s gonna be better (this time)," said Coetzee, who wore a shirt emblazoned with the colors of the South African flag. "We’re actually gonna break the world record now. South Africans have the record and that’s the most important part.”
But was this year's attempt well done, or did it go up in smoke?
Sapinska, the Guinness World Records adjudicator, kept the country on a knife edge by saying she and other officials were reviewing the evidence and that the final word on if there was a new world cookout champion might only come on Friday.
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
Participants help themselves to food during an attempt to break a world record for the most people cooking simultaneously at a barbecue at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)
Guinness World Records adjudicator Paulina Sapinska, right, monitors an attempt to break a world record for the most people cooking simultaneously at a barbecue at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)
Participants cook during an attempt to break a world record for the most people cooking simultaneously at a barbecue at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)
Participants attempt to break a world record for the most people cooking simultaneously at a barbecue at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)
Participants grill meat during an attempt to break a world record for the most people cooking simultaneously at a barbecue at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)
Israel's increasingly isolated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took center stage at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, defending his decision to attack Iran as an easy one.
Hamas said it was ready to move forward on a Gaza peace agreement, while a top European Union official said only a small amount of the funds needed to rebuild the Gaza Strip has been collected.
Here is a look at the latest news from the Middle East. More coverage of the U.N. General Assembly is available here.
Allegations of Israeli genocide in Gaza are “the biggest lie of the century,” Netanyahu told world leaders in a defiant speech before the U.N. General Assembly.
Netanyahu's appearance in the hall was met with a mix of cheers, boos and mass walkouts. Scores of delegates trooped out and a majority of seats sat empty as he spoke.
“If there are any other moral cowards who have not yet left the hall, please do so now,” Netanyahu said.
His voice rising in emphasis, Netanyahu said attacking Iran “was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make” and denounced as “moral cowards” delegates who walked out of the hall.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was forced to address the U.N. in a prerecorded video after the United States again denied him a visa to attend the General Assembly.
The 90-year-old leader’s popularity at home and relevance abroad have both waned. But in his remarks, Abbas made clear he did not intend to quietly accept being sidelined.
“We will not leave our homeland. We will not accept displacement. And we will not allow anyone to decide our future on our behalf,” Abbas said.
Though world leaders have repeatedly invoked the plight of Palestinians in speeches throughout the week, Abbas urged the international community to take more tangible action against Israel.
It was the second straight year Abbas was denied a visa.
A Hamas spokesman said the group is ready to move forward with the next steps of a peace agreement, after Trump’s Board of Peace unveiled a six-month, $2.45-billion plan for Gaza's reconstruction.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem expressed the Palestinian militant group’s “full readiness to implement the Board of Peace’s roadmap” but made no mention of any disarmament plans.
Israel has said it will not allow reconstruction until Hamas disarms.
Last year, Hamas agreed to a plan that includes disarmament but has since traded accusations with Israel of ceasefire violations and has accused Israel of violating the agreement by continuing to occupy much of Gaza.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed attacks on a “sensitive target” in the Saudi capital of Riyadh and on Aramco oil company facilities in the Saudi port city of Yanbu, but did not provide evidence of those claims.
Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a statement that cruise and ballistic missiles and drones were used, but did not specify when. It was the second claim of an attack against the Saudi capital in days.
The rebels also said they fired dozens of missiles and drones on the southwestern Saudi province of Jazan. Saree said that they were in response to the “unjust siege and the launching of aggressive airstrikes” from Saudi territory.
The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the claims.
The Saudi government and Aramco did not immediately respond to requests for comments. A Saudi military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, had said earlier that six ballistic missiles targeting Saudi Arabia ’s Red Sea port of Yanbu and southwestern city of Taif had been intercepted.
At the U.N., Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said he wasn’t worried about a Houthi takeover of parts of Yemen, and that the government is “very capable of defending the territory it controls.”
The U.N. pleaded for the fast delivery of humanitarian aid in Yemen as fighting between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government forces intensifies an already dire humanitarian situation.
U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said people fleeing violence need access to food, shelter and healthcare. Ground fighting, artillery and aerial strikes have killed and wounded at least 125 civilians since the beginning of August. Türk also called for the release of 73 U.N. staffers detained by the Houthis in the past few years.
UN agency for Palestinian refugees raises tens of millions of dollars including from France, Germany, Spain and Belgium
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said over 50 countries attended a closed ministerial meeting on the agency, known as UNRWA, on the sidelines of the U.N.’s annual gathering of world leaders on Thursday which he welcomed.
“We continue to emphasize that UNRWA is indispensable, irreplaceable against the horrific humanitarian reality that continues to exist in Gaza,” he told a press conference afterward.
Israel has banned UNRWA from operating in its territory and the United States has cut all funding.
UNRWA’s acting commissioner-general Christian Saunders said the agency received about 30 million euros Thursday, according to an unconfirmed tally, bringing its deficit down to near $60 million.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Demonstrators gather to protest ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Madison Swart)
Chairs for Palestinian delegates are unoccupied as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A photo of the late Qasem Soleimani is displayed as chairs for delegates from Iran are unoccupied while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa) ADDS ID
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Palestinians walk amid war-damaged buildings in Gaza City, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Likud party New Year event in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
