World Report - February 23: Monday's top stories in 10 minutes

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum says order has been restored after Sunday's drug cartel violence.Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells Le Téléjournal there will be no peace without dialogue. International aid workers, including some from Doctors Without Borders, will be expelled from Gaza by end of week. Millions of people across the US are in the path of a powerful winter bomb cyclone. US President Donald Trump’s push against offshore wind power could benefit Canada. Mark Carney's government launches a national conversation about the physical and mental health of men and boys.Program in Newfoundland and Labrador aims to help people who need safe drug supplies. 

The Alto High Speed Rail Project is on track. Expected travel time from Toronto to Montreal, three hours. Next stop, public consultations in your community. Make your voice heard. Visit altotrain.ca for more information. This is a CBC podcast. This is World Report. Good morning. I'm Marcia Young. Mexican President Claudia Shanebaum says the National Guard has restored

security to the streets of Mexico. Violence spread across the country on Sunday, following the death of a powerful drug lord known as El Mancho. He was killed in a military raid, and his cartel has been retaliating. Mexican officials say 25 members of the National Guard, and eight cartel members have been killed. Thousands of Canadians have been stranded by the chaos. The CBC's Jorge Barrera is in Mexico City,

and Jorge, what else did Shane Baum say in her update? President Seymbaum said all highways and roadways in Mexico had been cleared of all blockades, that everything was flowing back to normal. She also said that she expected all flights to resume operations at the latest by tomorrow. And this followed a turbulent day yesterday on Sunday that was triggered. After Mexican Special Forces launched, they basically a three-day operation to take down Nemizio Osogera Cibantes, known as Almencho, who's the leader of the Halisco New Generation Cartel. He got intelligence that intimate partner of El Mancho was being taken to his location,

about 300 kilometers southeast of Puerto Vallarta, and then they launched his operation on Sunday, and then ended up cornering him in a forested area where he was wounded and later died of his injuries and was taken to Mexico City. What does this all mean for stranded Canadian tourists? Well, as President Seymolm said, all flights will be resuming. There's also been a massive reinforcement of troops in Halisco itself,

which is where Puerto Bayarta is. There was 7,000 troops sent there yesterday, and today we were told that 2,500 more troops would be sent there today to completely take control of the state. So the security situation in Helisco is improving dramatically, and authorities said that they have cleared out everything. I mean, we're talking about 252. blockades across 20 states. All that has ended and everything the government is saying is going to go

back to normal. All right. Thank you so much, Jorge. Thank you. The CBC's Jorge Borreira in Mexico City. Volodymyr-Zalensky says the U.S. must put more pressure on Russia to end its war on Ukraine. The Ukrainian president spoke with Radio Canada's Le Telejournal just ahead of tomorrow's four-year anniversary of the conflict. Zelensky says a diplomatic path to peace is still possible. Our way, how to negotiate, is to speak. That was the proposition from Americans, if they will pressure on Putin to stop this war, and that's it. We don't need, you know, these pretty dialogues. Yes, we are enemies, but we understand that without negotiations, without dialogue, nobody can't stop this war.

The Trump administration wants Ukraine to make territorial concessions to Russia. Zelensky says that amounts to the abandonment of his people. Humanitarian agencies working Gaza are facing a new crisis. Half the pool of international aid workers will be expelled by the end of this week, including from groups like MSF or Doctors Without Borders. As Chris Logomancing reports, Israel says they are refusing to provide the names of local staff. MSF has been working here since 1988. These new restrictions are more than we've ever had to deal with.

Craig Kempsey, a Canadian project coordinator for MSF, sits in the agency's pediatric hospital in DIRALBALA, but he's leaving in a few days ahead of what he describes as an expulsion by Israel. We already do vet our staff to make sure that they're not part of any on group. This additional layer to submit all those names is beyond what is acceptable, especially with 1,700 medical staff that have been killed in this conflict so far. Those numbers are from the Palestinian Health Authority run by Hamas. Local staff will be left to run the hospital, clinics, and MSF's water desalinization plant. The rule changes will impact roughly half of all international humanitarian agencies working in Gaza.

Those workers have been a lifeline for Palestinians and contributed to the global understanding of what's happening. on the ground. Being here as a Canadian, really realize just how privileged we are in Canada and just how completely different lives can be around the world. This communal punishment of the gasm population is just something I don't think I'll ever be able to understand. The new rules introduced late last year were said to enhance Israeli security. CBC requested comment from the agency overseeing the changes, Cogat, but has yet to hear back. Crystal Gamansing, CBC News. Jerusalem. Millions of people across the U.S. are in the path of a powerful storm. This would be something the likes of which we've not seen in years. New York Governor Kathy

Hockel is warning people not to try to outsmart Mother Nature. A low-pressure system is fueling a winter bomb cyclone. It is affecting areas from Virginia to Maine. More than 250,000 customers have lost power. Tens of millions of people are under blizzard warnings. Some areas could get more than 60 centimeters of snow. Parts of Atlantic Canada could also experience this nor'eastern winter storm warnings are in effect across the region. U.S. President Donald Trump's push against wind power is cooling investments along the U.S. Atlantic coast, but one lawmaker says Trump's aversion to offshore wind projects could

actually benefit Canada. International Climate Correspondent Susan Ormiston has been digging into the politics. There are windmills all over the place, and they are. losers. President Trump is at war with wind power, slapping stopwork orders on offshore wind projects along the U.S. Atlantic coast. Money's already spent. The stuff's here. So why are you going to stop it now? Ian Kapoor worked at an offshore hub in Connecticut. The wind companies are fighting back in court and they won injunctions this month to keep building. But Trump's purge has put a chill on future investments, says Chris Oleth, a wind power advocate.

the level of confidence in the market is less than zero. I'm sad to say that I think Canada has a big opportunity because of the stain that the Trump administration has left, our loss will be Canada's gain. Rhode Island Senator Sheldon White House says investors are now looking north. Incredible wind speeds. Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston is pitching an offshore wind megaproject. The interest is through the roof.

Honestly, this is either the best opportunity in the world. or one of the best. There's a lot of eyes on Nova Scotia. Projected costs $40 billion to build another $20 billion for transmission lines. Who's going to pay for that? Yeah, a combination. The industry will pay.

Government's tax credits. We're having encouraging discussions with the federal government. Some of the power, he says, could be exported back to the U.S. We need to know those customers will be there, and they will be there. So it's an opportunity.

The province is considering a call for bids later this year. Susan Ormiston, CBC News, Rhode Island. The Carney government says improving the health of men and boys could save Canada more than $12 billion annually. It says the physical and mental health challenges they face are overlooked too often. Today the government of Canada is launching a national conversation on men and boys' health. And as of next week, everyone is invited to share their input online. Those comments will be used to develop Canada's first men and boys' health strategy. It's due to be released later this year. Harm reduction for drug users can be a controversial topic in Canadian

cities, but in rural communities it is almost non-existent. A new program in Newfoundland and Labrador is working to fill that gap and save lives. And it's free for those in need. The CBC's Julia Israel has more. Sarah Toraville works in harm reduction where she assembles safe use supply boxes. Each box gets syringes, naloxone, and drug test strips. The goal is to make the use of street drugs a little less dangerous. I just really care about making sure that they can be as safe as they can. Stereil needles reduce the risk of people getting HIV and hepatitis C, and naloxone can save someone from overdose. The SafeWorks Access Program in Newfoundland and Labrador mails out supplies for free. The organization known as Swap sends them to pharmacies and offices, but also directly

to people's homes. Jillian Cola teaches at Memorial University and she studies approaches to harm reduction across Canada. To her, this is innovative. And that's actually a model here that I think the rest of the country can learn from because in a lot of parts of the country we're not doing a great job of actually addressing

rural and remote communities and making sure that their needs are met. In 2024, at least 71 people died from overdose in this province while the country saw over 7,000. Kola says now is the top. to scale up services before the crisis gets worse. Other parts of the country have focused on supervised drug consumption sites in bigger cities, but that doesn't help people living in the many small communities of the country.

Swap says mailing out supplies could lower the chance of overdose and lessen the weight on the health care system. Julia Israel, CBC News, St. John's. That is World Report. I'm Marcia Young. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca.ca slash podcasts.