Global News Podcast - A special report from Mexico on the deadly drugs trade

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

We hear from a Mexican city in Sinaloa state where one of the big drug cartels is locked in its own civil war. Our correspondent Quentin Sommerville visited the state capital, Culiacán, where he witnessed scenes of brutal violence that have brought pain and terror to residents. Also: Cuba says its coastguard has killed four people on board a US-registered speedboat, in an exchange of fire off the Cuban coast. It said those on the boat were Cubans, living in the US, with a history of violent activity - and "terrorist" intentions. The American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, called the shootout "highly unusual" and said the US would conduct its own investigation into the incident and not rely on the Cuban version of events. A British clinical trial on more than 500 people across 15 countries found that a new tablet to treat HIV - which combines two current treatments - is highly effective at keeping the virus suppressed. A BBC Eye investigation has revealed that Nepal’s top police officer gave the order allowing the use of live fire during last year’s deadly crackdown on Gen Z protests - one of the worst in the country's history. And the robot that conducted Denmark's National Symphony Orchestra. We have the verdict on its performance. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. The interview. The best conversations coming out of the BBC. One of the greatest tennis players in history, Martina Navratilova. People shaping our world from all over the world. Music icon, Stevie Wonder. From global leaders.

The Brazilian president, Luisinacio Lula de Silva. The president of Poland, Carol Novrotsky. The US President Donald Trump. To cultural icons. Two-time Oscar winning actor, Anthony Hopkins. The interview from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is not the future we were promised. Like, how about that for a tagline for the show? From the BBC, this is the interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world.

This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work and your politics, your everyday life. and all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Will Chalk and this edition is being recorded in the early hours of Thursday the 26th of February. Coming up, we've got a special report from a Mexican city, which has been turned into a war zone by drug cartel violence. Cuba says it's killed four people traveling in an American-registered speedboat

and a new daily single tablet that could help long-term survivors of HIV. Also in this podcast, the BBC investigates last year's deadly crackdown on Nepal's Gen Z protests. And what would your last words be? It is an opportunity to shape your legacy the way you want to, as opposed to just being defined by the obituaries. We hear from the creator of a Netflix series where celebrities record messages to be played after they die. We're starting with a special report from Mexico

following the death this week of one of the country's most wanted drug lords, known as El Mentiono. He was killed on Sunday in an operation to arrest him and his death has led to violence across the country. We've had standoffs between the drug gangs and the Mexican army. businesses have been torched and roads blockaded, with the government coming under increasing pressure from Donald Trump to do more to control the cartels.

There are also the constant battles within the drug gangs themselves for control. Our correspondent, Quentin Somerville, recently returned from the state of Sinaloa and its capital, Kulia Khan, which is dominated by the drug wars. A warning, his report features graphic descriptions of violence from the start. We're just tearing through central Kulia. I'm driving at speed. And we're heading towards the scene of a shooting.

Just arrived at the scene. We're actually inside the cordon now. It's a garage. A relative has just arrived. One murder, six shots in all body. So Hector, As paramedics, there's nothing you can do. You mainly see bodies, the dead.

Yeah, it's hard, hard job, hard job. It was in fact one person that was killed, the owner of the garage, was found dead in his office. I can see a photograph of him now, covered in a blanket, just this feet showing. And somewhat awfully typical for these men

that, as paramedics, there's no help that they can provide, really, because they're dealing with executions, style killings and murders and it's only dead bodies time after time. It's just before 8 in the morning. Here in central Kulia can just outside one of the main shopping malls and another body on the pavement. This one is very grisly.

It's a man who's been tortured. There's a message tape to his body. It seems to have photographs and some writing. But clearly a message has been sent. It gives you an idea of the... extent, the brutality, the viciousness of the infighting within the Sinaloa cartel at the moment. Meeting with the cartels is difficult at the best of times, but now even more so because they're right in the crosshairs of the United States and President Trump. He's

labelled them terrorist groups. He says their product, fentanyl and other drugs are a weapon of mass destruction. And he's promised that as well as bombing the cartels at sea, he's going to tackle them on land. So they're feeling under threat like never before. I'm about to go and meet with a group. I'm going to have to leave my phone behind. These men are vicious criminals fighting for an illegal drugs business worth billions. They've gone to war after the son of one of their leaders, they've created another. This power struggle is a fight to the death, and they show little remorse. They insisted we disguise their voices. The civil war in the cartels. is created a bloodbath in Kulia can.

Women are being killed. Kids are being killed. Do you feel guilty about that? Yes, a lot of times innocent people die. Children die. There is a lot of death of innocent people. A lot of people will keep dying because the cartel is still fighting and it's going to keep getting worse.

This war will continue. Nothing will come down until there is only one faction left. There's a small protest taking place outside the main cathedral on this beautiful sunny day in Kulia Khan. Lots of relatives of the victims of the cartel violence are here. They're wearing white. Some are carrying pictures of their loved ones. They're all sexes, ages.

It gives you a sense of how all-encompassing the violence is here. The chant here is they took them away alive, we want them back alive it's seven hours since the peace march and the sun is setting here in Kuleyakan and they almost made it through the day without a killing but

just in front of me is a young man who's just been gunned down he's 16 years old who's on his bike he's wearing blue jeans and he's got a light blue t-shirt on he's still tangled up on his bike he's lying dead there on the pavement the family are here

They're on the other side of the police state, but I could hear those screams in whales from here. It seems that the kid was shot 10 or 12 times. The cartel is strong in this neighbourhood and uses young men as spotters. Its spies are ever-present, and no one was willing to answer our questions. You can follow me.

In a cartel-owned basement, we meet a fentanyl smuggler. He is six kilos of the powder in tightly pressed. bundles, each worth at least $20,000. What we have here is fentanyl. This product is ready to be sent to the United States and pressed into pills. The drug that he's holding and the battle to control it has cost the lives of tens of thousands here and in the United States. He doesn't take any responsibility.

There is no shame for what he does. Even though President Donald Trump refers to us as terrorists, I would just remind him that as long as there are consumers, we're going to keep doing this. But that doesn't necessarily make us terrorists. No one forced them to start using this stuff. Even though the government has intensified their search, when it comes to production, we've never stopped. Sometimes we do scale back because the government gets too close.

So we lay low for a few days. But once that problem passes, we either continue or move to other areas. I'm with a group of women, Madras and Lucha, mothers fighting back. They're here, we're about half an hour outside of Kulia Khan in the grounds of a half-built church. They're looking for lost sons, lost brothers who are victims of cartel violence. Now the women are heading into

some rough ground and fields beyond. They have shovels, they have pickaxes, they have machetes. The woman leading the search here today is Rinalda, De Rudo. Her son disappeared back in 2019 and she won't stop searching for him. I wake up every day and I ask God, tell me why I'm here. And what gives me strength is realizing that,

but no one else is going to look for them. I realize it because no one is moving to search for the disappeared in Sinaloa. And a mother will always look for her child. No matter if it's to the ends of the earth, she will look. We responded to two people injured. They're asking for help at the incident. Paramedics Julio and Hector have been called to another cartel shooting, but this one is different.

We've been following. these paramedics for a week. We've been to multiple callouts with them. This is the first time they've arrived at the scene and the person has still been alive. Decapitating the Sinaloa cartels' leadership may yet destroy it, but for now, there is only violence.

That was Quentin Somerville reporting from Mexico. Well, we're going to stay in the region for the next story, because relations between Cuba and the US were already frosty to see. say the least. Now, Cuba says it's killed four people who were travelling in an American registered speedbow off the Cuban coast. The Interior Ministry said it was determined to protect Cuban territorial waters. Our North America reporter Simi Jolla Oshow told my colleague Anne Soy,

what more we know. All the information we know and have received has come from the Cuban government. They said that their border guard troops detected a boat in inside Cuban territorial waters. When they approached the boat for identification, those on board opened fire injuring one of their commanders. And so they fired back, killing four people, and injuring six others who were then evacuated for medical treatment. They've released more details to say that all those in board were Cubans living in the US. Some of them had a known history of criminal and violent activity. They have since detained some of them. And when questioned, those detained said that they were trying to infiltrate the island and unleash terrorism.

This is very unusual, isn't it? Well, it's not irregular for Cuban Coast Guard vessels to intercept foreign or US flagged boats like this one was. This was registered to the US state of Florida. Sometimes they may suspect that the people on board are smuggling items or picking up migrants or people attempting to reach the island or leave the island illegally. But yes, we haven't received any recent reports of guards opening fire on people on board and people on board being killed. The U.S. Secretary of State, Marker Rubio, said that the U.S. is going to investigate to find out what happened and will respond accordingly. I suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that. It's not something that happens every day. It's something, frankly, that hasn't happened with Cuba in a very long time. But we're going to find out. We're not going to base our conclusions on what they've told us. Well, given that the U.S. Secretary of State is even commenting on this, what does this mean for the relations between the two countries? This is a very sensitive time for an incident like this to happen.

The relations between the US and Cuba has been very volatile. President Trump has focused on a sort of maximum economic pressure approach to Cuba. He's blocked all Venezuelan oil shipments to the country, which has worsened Cuba's deepening fuel crisis, affecting its hospitals and its food supplies. Even the Cuban government in its statement about this boat incident alluded to these tensions. Simi Jolla Oshow there speaking to Anne. Now we try and bring you as much good news as possible here on the Global News podcast, so how's this? A medical breakthrough that could help long-term survivors of HIV.

Some of those living with the virus take up to 11 pills a day, often at morning and night. But this could now be replaced by a single daily tablet, a British clinical trial on more than 500 people across 15 countries, found that a new tablet, which combines two current treatments, is highly effective at keeping the virus suppressed. Professor Chloe Orkin is the lead researcher. For most people living with HIV, it's very simple. They take a single tablet every day or two monthly injectables. But there's a group of people who have not been able to benefit from medical advances, allowing them to take a single pill a day.

And these are typically people who were diagnosed very early on in the HIV epidemic when we were learning how to treat HIV, and we gave inadequate pills and that led to the development of resistance to different types of HIV drugs. So the result of this is that these individuals, unlike everybody else, have to take lots of pills and in many cases twice a day still for their HIV. So effectively time has stood still for these individuals, but also some people who were born with HIV have been living with HIV for a long time and have resistance so they also can't take the newer medications. And one of the big concerns about them being on these complex regimens is that they have drug interactions with other

commonly prescribed medications. So this is a very new combination with a new class of drug, which is giving them the opportunity to take a single tablet. Professor Chloe Orkin from London's Queen Mary University. You might have been watching famous last words on Netflix. It was originally Danish but has now gone international. It involves an interview of a prominent person, recorded privately and stored away an only broadcast when they die. The last section of the recording is the person speaking to camera on their own, leaving a message that no one else hears until it gets a posthumous airing. Last year, the program aired an interview with the British anthropologist Jane Goodall after her death. Here she is speaking to host Brad Fulchuk.

This is a moment right now as people are watching this, where maybe the biggest story in the world is that you've passed away. I think a lot of people will be talking about who you were. So who would you say you were? I would say I was somebody sent to this world to try to give people hope in dark times, because without hope, we fall into apathy and do nothing.

And in the dark times that we are living in now, Now, if people don't have hope, we're doomed. Well, there is now a new episode. It's Eric Dane, star of the US medical drama Grey's Anatomy, who died last week from motor neurone disease. He addressed his daughters at the very end of his interview. Fight, girls, and hold your heads high. Billy and Georgia, you are my heart.

You are my everything. Good night. I love you. Those are my last words. Mickle Bonderson is the producer who took the Danish concept to Netflix. He's been talking to Evan Davis about the inspiration behind the series. What makes the show so different is that in the actual space, it's only the interviewer, Brad, and the guest. Nobody else is in the space.

All the cameras are robotic. And actually, the guest doesn't meet anyone else, apart from makeup and sound. And at the beginning of the interview, when the guest sits down, Brad makes it very clear that this interview is only to be aired once the person has passed. So they're in essence speaking to the audiences from the grave. So it gives them permission to reflect on life in a very different way and also frankly say whatever they want to say. Do you think you get a very different look at someone's life if they know that this is only going to be aired after they pass? Absolutely. It changes the entire dynamic of the interview format. Because if I were to ask you, Evan, who were you? Not who are you, but who were you? That question in themselves really changes everything.

I think it would really change the way you view it, although a lot of this, you know, would depend on my trust of you and a Brad and the team. The confidence I'm bestowing in you by giving you my really personal last words that those are going to not somehow drift out into. the public domain before I die. That is true. But we obviously have an incredibly airtight system to prevent any of that happening. And the other thing I think that's important I've been told us to think about is that the star of the show is the interviewee. It is an opportunity to shape your legacy the way you want to, as opposed to just being defined by the obituaries and their general public. And I think if we look at the impact that Eric's last words has had, that is a big part of the legacy he leaves behind. And what a beautiful and courageous way to leave this

world. This is an exercise anyone can do, isn't it? I mean, anyone can make a video now. And indeed, people should perhaps be encouraged to make videos of themselves for those they leave behind. If that was to happen, I think it would be an incredible thing to do. If we can get into that mindset of that people who hear this. And of course, post-remonists hear this, but also really leave behind sort of the lessons that we take with us. I think it would be an incredible thing to do. Danish producer Mickle Bonderson. Still to come on this podcast,

one of the most complex robots ever built takes on a new challenge, an orchestra. Yes, it's actually very strange because you're not met with a face. You're just met by this blue strip around a face-like figure. And why you might have more in common with one-eyed cyclopses than you think. The interview. The best conversations coming out of the BBC.

One of the greatest tennis players in history. Martina Navratilova. People shaping our world from all over the world. Music icon Stevie Wonder. From global leaders. The Brazilian president, Luisinacio Lula de Silva. The president of Poland, Carol Novrotsky. US President Donald Trump.

To cultural icons. Two-time Oscar winning. actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, the interview from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. I've spent the last three decades trying to better understand money across the border room, the newsroom and the trading floor. That's longer than most podcast hosts have been alive. But even though I've got questions. Join me, Maren's Upset Web, every week for my show Maren Talks Money from Bloomberg Podcasts, where I have in-depth conversations with fund managers, strategists and experts about her markets really work.

only for a separate episode where I answer listener questions and how to make those markets work for you. Follow Merrin Talk's Money on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. This is the Global News podcast. The United States is going to wind down health assistance to Zimbabwe after negotiations overfunding collapsed. The US Embassy in Zimbabwe said Washington and offered $367 million over five years

to support Zimbabwe's priority health programs. They include HIV treatment and prevention as well as tuberculosis and malaria. But the Zimbabwean authorities rejected it, saying Washington was demanding too much sensitive health data in return. In effect, they said they were being asked to provide the raw materials for scientific discovery without assurance they'd be able to access the products that came from it. Rashida Ferrand is a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She's lived in Zimbabwe for the past 20 years, her research focuses on HIV in children and young adults. She thinks the impact will be severe.

It's a rock science to see that this will create a lot of uncertainty and anxiety for people who work within HIV programs and for patients for accessing care. And it puts the country in a really untenable situation to be in a way held hostage through this health colonialism. So why exactly did the government in Harari pull out of the deal? Our correspondent there is Shinganioka. Zimbabwe essentially is saying that the US's demands are an unequal exchange, that they're lopsided, that Zimbabwe is being asked to share sensitive data in terms of its biological resources, biological samples related to disease control over an extended period of time without any real guarantee that Zimbabwe would benefit from any kind of research in

terms of vaccines and treatments. And the concern that they expressed was that the samples would be used in the US for research and have potentially commercial value for the US, but then there's no guarantee that if in future there is some kind of an epidemic that Zimbabwe or any African country would be able to have access to the results of that research. Zimbabwe has made significant progress over the last 20 or so years, largely due to the assistance that it's received from the US. They are effectively supplying medication to about 1.2 million people. They've spent about $2 billion in the health sector over the last 20 years. And the criticism that the U.S. ambassador gave as a response to Zimbabwe deciding to terminate the talks,

is that they also wanted the Zimbabwean government to step up in terms of funding its own health programs. And so that's the concern that doctors now have is will Zimbabwe be able to fill that gap. Shingai Nyoka in Harari. A BBCI investigation has revealed Nepal's top police officer gave the order allowing the use of live fire during last year's deadly crackdown on Gen Z protests, one of the worst in the country's history. 19 people were shot dead on September the 8th. The public outrage over the killings and the unrest that followed led to the resignation of the Prime Minister. Sabina Shrester reports. Camera footage shows a group of girls on the side of the road in their school uniform.

They're shouting, Gen Z, here we come. It's the morning of September 8th, 2025, what soon would be known as one of the deadliest days of protest in Nepal's history. All began months earlier on social media. The global Nipo baby trend came to Nepal. This trend, says 26-year-old Gen Z activist, Rakhabam, exposed the luxurious lifestyle of politicians' children. It soared the difference between the lifestyles of the politicians and their families and normal people.

Our generation was exasperated by the behavior of leaders who have been here forever. Discontent on social media, grew. The government banned Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Instagram, X, LinkedIn and WhatsApp, young people quickly found other ways to communicate. Using the Discord app, they planned an anti-corruption protest. At 9 a.m. in Central Kathmandu, tens of thousands poured into the street. This footage shows teenage boys in matching blue t-shirts, emblazoned with a school d'urgle chanting for the Prime Minister to resign.

She's on the back of a pickup truck with a microphone in her hand. She tells crowds of schoolchildren and young people to raise their voices in peace. By nightfall, 19 people will have been shot dead in Kathmandu, including 17-year-old Sri Amjolagan. Gangakaki is his mother. He told us about the protest the day before. I told him not to go. He said, I'll be in my uniform.

As we are minors, nobody will do anything to. But how did a peaceful Gen Z protest end in bloodshed? The BBC forensically examined more than 4,000 videos and photos, along with exclusive testimonies, to piece together what happened that day. According to internal police documents seen by the BBC, permission to use live ammunition was granted at 1240 on police radio. These were the exact words used, voiced by an actor. Curfew already in place. No further need to obtain. permission, deploy a necessary force. The man who gave this order was Chandrakha Pha-Khapung, Nepal's Inspector General of Police.

He has denied responsibility. Nepal police told the BBC that the order had already been cleared by a government security committee. Less than two hours later, after at least four people are shot dead, Shrium can be seen in the crowd. A group of protesters ahead of him pelt the police with stones. But Shriam turns away from the violence. unarmed, he holds his hand in the air and then he's shot in the back of the head.

Over the next 48 hours, Parliament, along with hundreds of other buildings, are set alight. 13,000 inmates break free from prison. Three police officers and at least 50 more Nepalis are dead. Then the Prime Minister resides. Shriam's mother again. For them, it was just a student who died.

For us, the world we knew has followed. an official inquiry into the violence is yet to report its findings. No one has been held accountable for these deaths. Sabina Shrester. Now hear the words one-eyed cyclops, and you're probably thinking horror or sci-fi film, not important human ancestor. But a new study suggests our eyes evolved from these creatures,

and we share these roots with all other vertebrates. The BBC science presenter Marni Chesterton, has been looking over the research. You need three things for an eye. You need some molecule that detects light. You need some sort of cup shape that allows you to sense direction of light and ideally you'd like a lens like we've got.

When this all started, what we descended from, or rather the origin of the eye, was very primitive. It didn't have the lens. This new work proposes that there was something 560 million years ago. And so if you go back then,

there's a blob and it's at the bottom of the ocean and it's buried in the sand and so it's got one eye on the top of its head because that's the bit that's not buried in the sand so it's the best place to put it then it has descendants its descendants can swim and then suddenly if you're swimming around actually it's more useful to have your eyes on either side so the eye on the top kind of slips down the sides over evolution and and that's a better design what this new work is saying is that our didn't evolve from primitive pairs of eyes, they actually, a more complex version came down from that one ancestral eye.

Marnie Chesterton. Now, if you're a fan of classical music, you'll know that a conductor does a lot more than just keep an orchestra in time. Their gestures and facial expressions also help shape the dynamics, phrasing and emotions of the piece. So not that easy for a robot to replicate, you might think. Well, it's something that's been put to the test,

Denmark's National Symphony Orchestra as part of a series of concerts exploring the boundaries between human and machine. This report from Alice Adley. Picture the scene in a Copenhagen concert hall. A silver humanoid form moves its robotic arms rhythmically up and down and the musicians follow it until it abruptly brings them down

and the music stops. At a rehearsal before Wednesday evening's performance, members of the orchestra praised its capacity to keep the rhythm absolutely precise, but said it lacked other qualities. Here's violinist, Christina Astrand. Yes, it's actually very strange because you're not met with a face.

You're just met by this blue strip around a face-like figure. It's got a small red butterfly on. That makes it a little human, but we tend to get information from facial expressions and arms that make phrases and so on, and that's not present here, but I can't stop smiling at it. It's so funny. According to the Danish Technological Institute, the new Maestro is among the most advanced types of robots available.

They say they've just taken possession of it, so wanted to do something truly spectacular with the robot to see what else it can be used for in the future. Alice Adelae. And that is all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at Global. podcast at BBC.co.com. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod. We have a sister podcast, the Global Story, which goes in-depth and beyond the headlines. That's also

available wherever you get your podcasts. This edition of the Global News podcast was mixed by Sydney Dundon. The editor is Karen Martin and I'm Will Chalk. Until next time, goodbye. The interview. The best conversation. coming out of the BBC. One of the greatest tennis players in history. Martina Navratilova. People shaping our world from all over the world. Music icon Stevie Wonder.

From global leaders. The Brazilian president, Luisinacio Lula de Silva. The president of Poland, Carol Novrotsky. U.S. President Donald Trump. To cultural icons. Two-time Oscar winning actor, Sir Anthony Hopkins. The interview from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts.