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Springboks captain Kolisi scores in winning debut for Sharks

AFP/Editor

Springboks captain Siya Kolisi scored a try as he made a winning debut Friday for the Sharks, who trounced fellow South African franchise the Bulls 45-12 in a warm-up match for the Rainbow Cup.

The 29-year-old flanker, who led South Africa to victory over England in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final in Japan, moved to the Sharks last month after 11 years with his only previous team, the Western Stormers.

It took Kolisi only 16 minutes to add his name to the scoresheet as he completed a sweeping cross-field handling movement by evading two tacklers to give the Sharks a 14-point advantage.

That lead had stretched to 19 points after 51 minutes at a sodden Kings Park stadium in Durban when Kolisi was substituted as the Sharks rang the changes to give the bench meaningful game time.

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Although Kolisi has been the national skipper since 2018, when he became the first black Test captain of South Africa, the Sharks will continue to be led by Springboks centre Lukhanyo Am.

The Rainbow Cup kicks off on April 24 and will feature the 12 Pro14 teams from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy plus the Bulls, Sharks, Lions and Stormers from South Africa.

Amid concerns that a third coronavirus wave could hit South Africa soon, none of the European teams will visit the republic.

There will be three rounds of South African derbies and the four franchises then play three matches each in Europe, provided they receive government approval and Covid-19 regulations permit them to travel.

The 16 sides have been divided into two pools and the winners of each will contest the final on June 19 — two weeks before the touring British and Irish Lions are due to play their first match in South Africa.

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FBI Most Wanted Fugitive Arrested in Mexico and Deported to U.S.

Authorities in Mexico announced Thursday that Samuel Ramírez Jr., a U.S. citizen accused of murdering two women and listed among the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, was arrested in the northern state of Sinaloa.

Ramírez Jr., 33, was detained Tuesday in Culiacán just 1 hour and 13 minutes after being added to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Ten Most Wanted list, the agency said in a statement.

The suspect, who was born in California, has already been deported to the U.S. state of Washington, where he faces charges related to the fatal shooting of two women at a bar in Federal Way in May 2023.

A court issued an arrest warrant for Ramírez in November last year, and the FBI initially offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to his capture, later increasing the amount to up to $1 million.

“To protect individuals’ privacy and ensure continued cooperation from the public, the FBI does not confirm the identity of those who provide information,” the agency said in its statement.

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UN experts warn Nicaragua runs vast transnational network to monitor exiled dissidents

Nicaragua maintains an “extensive” transnational network to monitor and intimidate opposition figures living in exile, affecting “hundreds of thousands” of people, the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua warned on Tuesday.

In a statement, the experts said their report “details an extensive transnational architecture of surveillance and intelligence used to monitor, intimidate and attack the hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans living abroad.”

The report, which will be presented on March 16 to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, states that the structure maintained by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo includes the army, the police, migration authorities and diplomatic missions.

According to the statement, “the government has arbitrarily stripped 452 Nicaraguans of their nationality, left thousands more exiled in a situation of de facto statelessness, and prevented many from returning to Nicaragua.”

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Trump: ‘We Think It’s True’ Amid Claims Iran’s Supreme Leader Was Killed

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he believes multiple reports claiming the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during the U.S. and Israeli offensive against the Islamic Republic are likely true, though he stopped short of confirming the news.

“We have a feeling that the information is correct,” he said, according to NBC News. “I don’t want to say anything definitive until I see it, but we think that’s the case. And many of their leaders have disappeared,” he added.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were “many indications” that Khamenei had died in an attack on his residential compound.