Global News Podcast - Violence erupts in Mexico after army kills drug lord

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Violence has broken out in several cities across Mexico hours after the military confirmed it had killed one of the country's most feared drug lords - known as El Mencho. The leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel was shot in a dawn raid and died from his injuries. Also: Students in Iran have staged a second day of anti-government protests to honour those killed in last month's deadly crackdown. US secret service agents have shot dead a man who broke into President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate with a shotgun. Greenland and Denmark reply "no thanks" to Donald Trump after he said he was sending an American hospital ship to "take care" of people in Greenland. Ukraine's President Zelensky tells the BBC President Putin has already started what amounts to World War Three - but Kyiv is keeping it contained. The grande finale of the Winter Olympics in Verona. All the latest from the BAFTAs, where the American film, One Battle After Another, has picked up several awards. The bones of St Francis of Assisi have gone on public display to mark 800 years since his death. And an annual folk festival dating back to the 15th century has been taking place in Belgium ... but without its longstanding tradition of drinking tiny live fish from an antique cup. 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. America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London. And this is the global story.

Every weekday will bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. 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, Luis Sinacio 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.

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Andrew Peach and in the early hours of Monday the 23rd of February, these are our main stories. Violence has broken out across Mexico after the leader of one of the country's most feared drugs cartels was killed in a military operation. There's been a second day of protests at Iranian universities with crowds. chanting death to the dictator. And a man who broke into President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate carrying a shotgun and a fuel can has been shot dead. Also in this podcast, Ukraine's president tells BBC news

that Russia has already started World War III. We have different views regarding a third World War. I believe that Putin has already started it. The question is how much territory he will be able to seize and how to stop him. And the Winter Olympics have come to an end at a glittering ceremony in Verona. We start in Mexico where a government military operation has led to the killing of a major drugs kingpin, leader of the feared new generation Calisco cartel.

Namesia Oseguera-Sivantis was known by his nickname El Mentiono, a drug lord so powerful, the US authorities put a $15 million bounty on his head. Since his killing, the response from El Mentiono's cartel has been swift and violent. In as many as eight different Mexican states, the group has set cars alight, built roadblocks and attacked security forces. Plumes of smoke have been filmed rising over several cities and many international flights have been cancelled. Our correspondent in Miami, Luis Fajardo, tell me more about the drugs lord. El Mancho was a very big figure in the crime world, both of Mexico and internationally. Friends and foes of Mexican President Claudio Scheinbaum have acknowledged that it is a very big,

deal for the authorities to have killed him on Sunday. He was the leader of the Calisco New Generation Cartel, which was seen as probably the most powerful, or certainly one of the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico, a person who was compared to other major, major figures in the drug trafficking world, particularly his organization, it was said to have a big role in sending fentanyl to the United States, which has replaced cocaine as the drug of choice for many of these cartels obtaining fabulous amounts of wealth from smuggling drugs to the to the US. El Muncho was 59. He had begun as a police officer. Then he had moved through the ranks of other criminal organizations until he organized the Halisco New Generation cartel and rose to its

top. So certainly a very big deal for Mexican authorities, taking a lot of credit for that today and hoping that this is going to have some kind of an impact, particularly on the relations with the United States, where Donald Trump has been demanding more cooperation from Mexico in fighting these drug trafficking organizations. That's interesting. I was going to ask you why now, and is it about trying to maintain good relations with Donald Trump?

That's what some commentators have been saying, particularly commentators who are critical of Scheinbaum. They say that this action was also possible. I mean, it certainly seems to assign a lot of credit to Mexican authorities, to Mexican law enforcement, who were the main drivers of this operation. But again, critics say that this was also the result of very strong pressure from the U.S. And particularly the underlying threat that the U.S. has been presenting, that they're saying that, or they have been suggesting in many occasions,

that they would take unilateral, even armed action against cartels if they perceived that, Mexican authorities were not cooperating enough. So according to these commentators, this has also helped convince the Scheinbaum administration to move apparently in a much more forceful way than had been the case in other years under other administrations in Mexico. And why are we seeing people all over the country setting cars on fire, building roadblocks, all that kind of thing? Certainly this is also a reflection of the power and the influence that these cartels have.

This is not entirely unprecedented on other occasions when Mexican authorities managed to land big blows on the leadership of the cartels. They very often retaliated with this. They call them narco blocels, narco roadblocks. They cartel operatives move across the country, apparently in more than 10 states in Mexico, different parts of the country, blocking key roads, setting vehicles on fire, creating a sensation of chaos to directly confront the authorities, to say that they are also dealing with a very powerful organization in Mexico, and that they are not going to simply disappear. That's one of the things that has been said, that even though this is a very important achievement by the Mexican law enforcement authorities, nobody is expecting the cartels to disappear anytime soon. They remain extremely powerful. Probably right now, there's already movements within the crime world in Mexico. to see who is going to replace El Mentiono, and they are going to be continuously influential. However, Mexican authorities will insist that this is a demonstration that they can also strike back at these cartels. Luis Fahado from BBC monitoring.

Next to Iran. This sounds there from a second day of anti-government protests by Iranian students at several universities. Shame on you, shame on you, they're chanting. The first rallies to take place on a scale of. like this since January's deadly crackdown by the authorities which saw thousands of people killed. It comes as tension continues to mount between Iran and the US over its nuclear program. The Iranian foreign minister Abasarag Chi has said he believes there's still a chance that dispute could be solved diplomatically based on a win-win game. He told US television he'd probably

meet with President Trump's envoy Steve Whitkoff in Geneva on Thursday. We continue our negotiation. At the same time, we are working on the elements of the and a draft of the text. So I hope that when we get there, we are prepared to talk and negotiate on those drafts. Mr. Arakchi also repeated his insistence that Iran's nuclear enrichment program wasn't up for negotiation. President Trump has given Tehran little more than a week

to strike a deal or face military action. In Iran, the students who gathered at numerous universities over the weekend at the start of a new semester did so to honour those killed last month. I spoke to BBC Persians, Barman Calbasi, and put it to Barman, that anyone going out on the streets of Iran to protest must be pretty brave. And that's putting it mildly. I mean, we are looking at just around 45 days ago where tens of thousands of people were killed or injured, many more arrested. Some of them getting execution sentences, death sentences, awaiting executions. And so the environment that this regime has created is one of instilling as much fear as one can possibly imagine.

And despite it all, we've seen elite universities across the country coming out, enforce students chanting against the supreme leader, even holding up the historic flag of Iran, and demanding the end of this regime directly chanting against the supreme leader repeatedly. These are the scenes that just indicates that nothing this government has done this month and half has really changed a calculus of a population. Okay. Well, I guess that's if the protesters represent the population. The protesters certainly want a change of government. Do you think that the wider Iranian population is in support of that?

Absolutely. I mean, even though there's no opinion polls done, the fact that we saw on January 8th and January 9th millions of people come to streets one can confidently say a vast majority of Iranians want change and they don't want incremental change they want fundamental change

Do we have any sense of how the current Iranian authorities are going to respond to these protests? Well, if passes prologue, we can say that if it gets out of their control especially if it spills out onto the streets of major cities they will once again use violence the way they did on January 8th and 9th. Will they be putting machine guns on the streets, corners that they did on those two bloody nights? Depends, but it also really different in the sense that the world is watching.

The U.S. forces are on the shores of Persian Gulf, and the chances of a military conflict is much higher. So they may be a second thinking among the authorities to me. not maybe resort to that kind of violence right away, but if does get out of hand, they will not hesitate to kill. And what do you make of the offer of some kind of proposal from Iran over the nuclear deal over talks with the US that were promised in the next couple of days? The devil is going to be in the details. We'll have to see if they'll meet sort of the minimum, bare minimum that the Trump administration is asking. And now there's conflicting reports of what what is it that they're asking as far as the nuclear file is concerned, but they have asked for

zero enrichment of uranium, but there has been some reports that they are okay with some nominal, very symbolic, controlled version of enrichment uranium. Will that bridge the gap? That's a big question. But the answer to that question this time will not be taking weeks to arrive. It seems like it's only a matter of days that we will know. Apparently one meeting will be happening again in Geneva. on Thursday, will there be enough of compromise on part of Iranians and some on part of the

Trump administration to avoid a military conflict? We will know the answer to that, not many days after a Thursday meeting. We will get a sense of how realistic that is. Barman Calbasi from BBC Persian with me. US secret service agents have shot dead a man, they say, trying to break into President Trump's Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. Officials said the suspect, who's now been named as Austin Tucker Martin, was carrying a shotgun and a fuel can. The details from Simi Jalawa Show.

Police and federal agents have been combing through the scene at the Maralaga Resort, piecing together exactly what happened in the early hours of the morning when they say a man in his 20s breached the property's security and was confronted by the Secret Service and a local sheriff's deputy. Rick Bradshaw, who's the sheriff of Palm Beach County, gave the statement. He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with them. He put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position. At that point in time, the deputy and the two secret service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat.

The authorities have released a photo of what they say was a shotgun, recovered at the scene, but gave no further details of 21-year-old Austin T. Martin from North Carolina. Reports say his parents alerted authorities that he was missing. missing last night. Now, officials are investigating whether he purchased the shotgun somewhere along his driving route from North Carolina to Florida. The FBI director, Cash Patel, has said the agency will dedicate all necessary resources to investigate the shooting and the man's motive. Simi Jalawa Show reporting. No thanks was the message from Denmark to the United States after

President Trump said the US was sending an American hospital ship to take care of people in the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland. Somewhat indignant, Greenland's Prime Minister pointed out it had a public health system, which is free for citizens, unlike in the US, where going to the doctor costs money. Our reporter Jacob Evans told us it's not clear what prompted President Trump's announcement. President Trump posted this AI-generated image on Truth Social of this large American boat, this floating hospital, sailing off into the horizon. And he tweeted that he's going to send a great big hospital boat to Greenland to take

care of the many people who are sick. And he said that they're not being taken care of. But we didn't really know what this means because there's no public health emergency. There's no real initiation behind this. He's just put that out there and said he's working with Jeff Landry, the governor from Louisiana, who's his envoy to Greenland as well. And this didn't go down very well. First and foremost, Meta Frederikson, the Prime Minister of Denmark, said, no, thank you, we're all right. We've got free and public universal health care for everybody, and everyone's fine. And then the same was said by Yen Svoddick Nielsen, like he just said. He said, who said, thank you, but no thanks.

We've got free healthcare, we've got a very good system, and our people in Greenland are fine. We don't need your interference. This is part of a broader scope Trump's had, trying to acquire Greenland. He's made it very obvious that that's what he wants to do. He didn't rule out taking it by force, but then he's backtracked on that as we found out in January.

And this seems perhaps just a bit of a provocation. I checked the tracking data of the ship, which he allegedly might use, and it's still docked in Mobile Alabama, so it's not on its way there any time soon. It's been a star-studied few hours here in London with the BAFTA Awards ceremony honouring the best in cinema. This is the British equivalent to the Oscars.

It can often be a signpost towards what might happen at the Academy Awards in a few weeks from now. Our entertainment correspondent Colin Patterson sent this report from backstage. And the BAFTA goes to one battle after another. It was an evening when one battle after another picked up one BAFTA after another. Thank you, SENSETA, thank you.

God damn it! Viva la revolution! In the thriller, Leonardo DiCaprio plays a jaded revolutionary, trying to save his daughter from a white supremacist. It won six BAFTAs in total, including Best Film and Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson. The night's biggest shot came in Best Actor. Robert Aramayo from I Swear.

Hull's Robert Arameo rewarded for playing the Scottish Charette's campaigner John Davidson in I Swear, and becoming the first person in BAFTA history to win both Best Actor and the Rising Star Award on the same night. I absolutely can't believe this. I can't believe that I'm looking at people like you,

and I'm in the same category of you. Never mind that I'm still here. After goes to Jesse Buckley. Jesse Buckley was the first ever Irish winner of Best Actress for playing William Shakespeare's wife, Agnes, in Hamnet. As a little girl, I never, in a million years, thought I'd be allowed to make a film. Hamnitz was also named Outstanding British Film

while Manchester's Rumi Musaku was best supporting actress for her role as a hoodoo priestess in the period vampire film sinners. Thank you for this incredible honour, BAFTA, thank you. Next, the Oscars in three weeks time. Our entertainment correspondent, Colin Patterson, at the BAFTAs. Still to cover in this podcast, Pilgrims in Italy get a rare chance to see the bones of St. France,

of Assisi, who died 800 years ago. It's a celebration. It's a wonderful joy to be able to share an experience. It's especially so for me, because I had the experience of meeting, getting to know and seeing the remains of Francis 10 years ago. And the centuries-old Belgian folk tradition that's difficult to swallow for some. America is changing, and so is the world. But what's happening in America, isn't just the cause of global upheaval.

It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London, and this is the global story. Every weekday will bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Novotsky. 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. Has the Manosphere entered a new phase? Step inside the world of looks maxing, mogging and a guy called clavicular,

and discover how the rise of a weird internet language is shaping modern masculinity. This is the Global Story podcast from the BBC, and we've been finding out why men's beauty standards are being shaped by far-right influencers. Listen to the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Foreign Affairs invites you to join its editor, Daniel Kurtz-Faelan, as he talks to influential thinkers and policymakers about the forces shaping the world. The Foreign Affairs Interview, a weekly podcast, helps you dive deeper into the issues covered in the magazine, whether that's the war in Ukraine, competition with China, or how technology is disrupting the way we live. It also gives you a chance to hear directly from our authors, as they explain the history behind today's geopolitics and how current events could shape our future.

Follow the Foreign Affairs interview wherever you listen to podcasts. Vlodymyr Zelensky has told BBC news he believes Russia has already started what amounts to World War III, but Kiev is keeping it contained. Nearly four years after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Zelensky insists it's only a matter of time until his forces retake all the territory currently occupied by the Kremlin. His statement came as Ukrainian units pushed forward, retaking land at the fastest rate since 2023. He's been speaking to our international editor.

to Jeremy Bowen. Some people, I think, including President Trump, say Ukraine cannot win this war. Are they correct? Where are you now? Today you're in Kiev. You're in the capital of our homeland. You are in Ukraine.

I'm grateful for this. Will we lose? Of course not, because we are fighting for Ukraine's independence. You're not saying that victory means getting all the land back, are you? In any case we will achieve that. That is absolutely clear. It's only a matter of time. To do it today would mean losing a huge number of people,

millions of people, because the Russian army is large, and we understand the cost of such steps. We would not have enough people. We would be losing them. And what is land without people? Honestly, nothing. And we also do not have a sufficient amount of weapons. That depends not all.

only on us, but on our partners. As of today, this is not available. But returning to the just borders of 1991 is without a doubt a victory for justice. When Joe Biden was US President, he was worried about Putin's nuclear threats, nuclear sabre rattling, fear of World War III. Does Trump think the same way? We have different views regarding a third World War. I believe that Putin has already started it. The question is how much territory he will be able to cease and how to stop him, not because Russia must not win, but because Russia wants to impose on the world a different way of life

and change the lives people have chosen for themselves. Therefore, I believe and have long believed that Putin has already begun this war and we're preventing it from becoming a broad, full-scale, third world war. Let's talk a little bit about the ceasefire talks which are going on. Let's talk of another round next week. You have said that both the United States and Russia have told you that the way to get a ceasefire by the summer is for you, Ukraine, to give up the 20% of Donetsk that you still have,

those so-called fortress cities. Isn't that a reasonable thing to do? I see this differently. I don't look at that simple as land, or not only as that. I see it is abandoning, weakening our positions, abandoning hundreds of thousands of our people who live there. That is how I see it. And I am sure that this withdrawal would divide our society.

Steve Whitkoff, Trump's negotiator, goes to Moscow, talks to Putin, he comes back, the messages are then relayed to you. It seems to be, a lot of people would say, that he is absorbing Putin's talking points, Russia's narrative, and they are putting it to you and getting you to agree that they're putting you under a lot of pressure. Today I cannot say that for certain. Do you know why?

Because Whitkoff says the opposite. I met with your group more often than with the Russians. That is what he says. Indeed, I have had many meetings with the President Trump, while President Trump has only one meeting with Putin. My opinion, they should stop the Russians, not try to please them, because they will lie anyway.

They care only about themselves and their own interests. Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelensky talking to our international editor, Jeremy Bowen. Now to Italy, where the closing ceremony of the 26 Winter Olympic Games has taken place at the Olympic Arena in Verona. As always, the games were packed with big moments. Norway's cross-country ski champion, Johannes Uslot Klebo, won a record six gold medals

in a single winter games. A feat, the 29-year-old is just a job. beginning to comprehend. I felt like I just kept my calmness and I was just always on to the next one. So I think when I crossed the finish line yesterday, I was really tired and exhausted for sure. So a lot of emotions that are just finally being relieved

after kind of holding them back a little bit for the first five races because you know that you always have the next one. Our correspondent Sarah Mulcarens was at the game. She told us what the highlights had been for her. It's been so many to pick from. We heard there from Clavo. He was really a big force in these games. Another Norwegian, though, born skier.

He brought South America's first Winter Olympics medal. After more than a century, the continent finally got on the podium. That was Lucas Pinero Brath, and he skied to Giant Slalom Gold for Brazil, representing the country of his mother. Two women as well, for me, stuck out their stories of resilience and finding their own way in elite sport. Michaela Schifrin, she really struggled in Beijing. I remember talking to her there.

She was very open and honest about the weight and the pressure of the Olympics and struggling under that. She was able to come back and win gold in the slalom here, as was Alyssa Liu. She is the American figure skater. She's just 20 years old. She grew up in the sport. It dominated her life to a detrimental effect.

At 16, she retired after Beijing four years ago. But she found her way back and she did it on her own terms, dictating her own training, what she would eat, what she would skate. to, and she produced a free skate that was so full of joy to win the gold and just celebrating how you can compete in top-level sport, but you can do it your own way. Staying in Italy, a hilltop town in Umbia is repairing to welcome hundreds of thousands of Christian pilgrims over the next few weeks.

They'll descend on the town to see the remains of St. Francis of Assisi, which are going on public display for the first time since his death 800 years ago. The medieval monk is a significant figure in Christian history and was particularly admired by the late Pope Francis. Pete Ross gave more details to my colleague Alex Ritson. Giovanni de Pietro de Barnedoni, more popularly known as Francis of Assisi, died in the 13th century. Up until now, Alex, the remains of the medieval friar

who's inspired generations of Christians have been held hidden from view at the Basilica of St. Francis in his Umbrian hometown of Assisi. on Saturday his bones which have been held or were held in a reliquary which is a special container used to house holy relics were transferred in procession from the crypt to the lower church

and put at the main altar now while this is the first time they're going on display to the public St Francis's remains have periodically been inspected over the years by Franciscan friars who have done it for sort of conservation purposes I guess to make sure they're all right

Frather Marco Maroni, custodian of the sacred convent, is one of those lucky few who's done just that. And earlier, he expressed his delight at the momentous occasion. It's a celebration. It's a wonderful joy to be able to share an experience. It's especially so for me because I had the experience of meeting, getting to know and seeing the remains of Francis 10 years ago during a reconnaissance that had been carried out. And so the desire born from that to be able to share all of this, he was a significant figure in the church.

Yeah, Alex, I think incredibly significant. He was one of the most venerated figures in Christianity. He was canonised by Pope Gregory the 9th in 1228. He came from a wealthy family, but he renounced his fortune to live a simple life as a friar, receiving what he said was a vocation to rebuild and reform the church. And he's perhaps best known for his message of peace and his attention to the last fortunate to the poor. And as you mentioned earlier, his teaching strongly inspired the late Pope Francis, who was so enamoured with him that he was the first Pope to name himself after the saint. And so now, hundreds of thousands of people expected to descend on this town to see the remains. Yeah, and as you can imagine, that is a real concern for local authorities.

Assisi is actually one of, already one of the world's most popular pilgrimage destinations. So the influx of a potential half a million pilgrims over just one month, you know, through the those cobbled medieval streets is going to be quite a task. And they've already roped in or they've got around 400 volunteers, a small army of volunteers to usher people through the streets to view the bones from a bulletproof glass box. So you don't have much time to do it if you want to get there. Pete Ross reporting. An annual folk festival dating back to the 1400s has been taking place in Belgium. But without its centuries-old tradition of drinking tiny live, fish from an antique cup.

And not everyone's happy about it. David Lewis explains. It's a centuries-old end-of-winter double festival to celebrate the arrival of spring, featuring dressed-up druids, ancient rituals, charity giveaways, and the small matter of the tradition of drinking wine containing live fish. But no more. The UNESCO Heritage recognised Krakalingen and Tenech's brand events took place on Sunday with that tradition filleted.

And why? It's all down to animal welfare regulations introduced last year. The imbibing of the small fish is meant to symbolise new life and drunk out of a 16th century goblet in the Flemish city of Gerardsburgen. The council had been promising an alternative, but local media have not been able to identify what that was. While this year's theme is Gerardsbergin unites, and it seems to have done anything but. Some locals keen on tradition have been holding up signs

saying, I will this, I want fish, to display their dissatisfaction. The fish eating, or now lack thereof, makes up only a small portion of festivities. The parade itself starts in a church with a thousand or so participants, many in traditional dress, dancing, singing and playing music to celebrate and remember two and a half thousand years of the city's history. In the evening, Festival Go is gathered to light a wooden barrel, the Tanakhas brand, and the arrival of warmer weeks. A folk group will then do a stick dance to awaken the earth from its winter sleep

and urge a healthy and plentiful harvest for the months ahead. David Lewis reporting. And that's all from us for now. If you'd like to get in touch, drop us an email, Global Podcast at BBC.co.com. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod. This edition was mixed by Louis Griffin. The editor is Karen Martin.

I'm Andrew Peach. Thank you for listening. And until next time, goodbye. America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London. And this is the global story. Every weekday will bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.