US back on track with Honduras win

AFP

The United States reignited their World Cup qualifying campaign on Wednesday with a 3-0 victory over Honduras.

Goals from Weston McKennie, Walker Zimmerman and Christian Pulisic secured all three points for the USA at a frozen Allianz Field in St.Paul, Minnesota.

The victory leaves the USA with 21 points from 11 games, one behind CONCACAF qualifying leaders Canada, who were playing in El Salvador later Wednesday after defeating the USA on Sunday.

With three games remaining, the US look well-positioned to grab one of the three automatic World Cup qualifying berths available for teams from Central America, North America and the Caribbean.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

The team finishing in fourth place faces a play-off against the winner of the Oceania qualifying tournament.

Elsewhere Wednesday, Costa Rica kept their qualifying hopes alive with a 1-0 away win over Jamaica in Kingston.

The victory leaves Costa Rica in fifth with 16 points, just behind Panama (17 points) who were playing Mexico later.

In St.Paul, temperatures at kick-off were around 3 degrees Fahrenheit (-16 Celsius), prompting the USA and Honduras players to wrap up in gloves, balaclavas and thermal jerseys.

USA goalkeeper Matt Turner was ordered to remove a thermal handwarmer strapped to his waist by Jamaican referee Oshane Nation shortly after kick-off.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

It was not long before the USA warmed their fans however with the hosts taking the lead after just eight minutes.

Kellyn Acosta’s free-kick from the right was met with a well-timed header from Juventus’s McKennie, who glanced home at the near post for 1-0.

Another Acosta set-piece set up the second US goal on 37 minutes. This time the Los Angeles FC midfielder curled in a teasing free-kick from the left flank that caused havoc in the Honduras defence.

The ball fell kindly for US skipper Zimmerman, who shrugged off his marker and bundled in a low finish.

Chelsea forward Pulisic, who had been left on the bench by US coach Gregg Berhalter, added the third on 68 minutes two minutes after coming on as a substitute.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

Timothy Weah’s corner was helped on by Zimmerman and Pulisic rammed home a low finish for 3-0.

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.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

Sin categoría

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.”

Sin categoría

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.