‘Greater calm’ after violence erupted over killing of drug lord ‘El Mencho,’ Mexico’s president says
A view of the site where Mexican Army troops killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as ‘El Mencho,’ leader of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (Jalisco New Generation), during a federal operation in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico on February 22, 2026. (Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — President Claudia Sheinbaum said there is a “greater calm” in Mexico on Monday, a day after violence ignited in the country following the killing of the drug lord known as “El Mencho.”
Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was killed in an operation led by Mexican authorities on Sunday in Jalisco, Mexican officials said.
Widespread cartel-organized violence erupted following his death, with vehicles set on fire, hundreds of road blockages and attacks on gas stations and businesses, according to Mexican authorities.
“Today there is greater calm,” Sheinbaum said during a press briefing Monday. “The public can rest assured that peace, security, and normalcy are being safeguarded across the country.”
Sheinbaum said that as of Monday morning, there are no longer any blockades and “normal activity has largely been restored.”
Oseguera Cervantes was one of the most wanted criminals in both Mexico and the United States. He was one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into the U.S., and last year President Donald Trump designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, the White House said.
When Mexican forces moved in to arrest him on Sunday, “El Mencho’s security detail opened fire,” Mexico’s Secretary of National Defense Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said Monday.
El Mencho “fled the location, leaving behind a group heavily armed,” Trevilla said. “The attack by organized crime members was extremely violent.”
Mexican special forces members continued to pursue El Mencho and eventually were able to injure him and two of the bodyguards with him, according to Trevilla.
El Mencho and the two bodyguards died during the helicopter evacuation flight that was heading towards a medical facility in Jalisco, Trevilla added.
Ultimately, 25 members of the Mexican National Guard and 30 cartel members were killed in Jalisco, Mexican officials said. Four cartel members were also killed in Michoacan, officials said.
Among those killed was a “principal confidant” of El Mencho in Jalisco who was “coordinating road blockades, vehicle burnings, and attacks on military and government facilities,” Trevilla said.
Seventy cartel members have been detained across seven states, Mexican officials said Monday.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico on Monday continued to urge Americans in locations throughout Mexico to shelter in place due to “ongoing security operations and related road blockages and criminal activity.”
“While no airports have been closed, roadblocks have impacted airline operations, with most domestic and international flights cancelled in both Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta,” the U.S. Embassy said in a security alert. “All ride shares are suspended in Puerto Vallarta. Some businesses have suspended operations.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset hold a press conference on February 16, 2026 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The Ukrainian prime minister has called for a fixed date for his country’s accession to the European Union, saying Ukraine will “do everything to be technically ready for accession by 2027.” (Photo by Diego Fedele/Getty Images)
LONDON — After talks in Geneva on Tuesday between the U.S. and Iran over the latter’s nuclear energy program and trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Iranian officials expressed optimism for a deal while US-Russia-Ukraine discussions are expected to resume on Wednesday.
Following the talks with Iran, a U.S. official said that “progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss.”
The U.S. official said that the Iranians said they will “come back in the next two weeks with detailed proposals to address some of the open gaps in our positions.”
But U.S. Vice President JD Vance in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday said the Iranians aren’t acknowledging some “red lines” that U.S. President Donald Trump has set.
“In some ways it went well, they agreed to meet afterwards, but in other ways it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.” Vance said. “So, we’re going to keep on working it. But of course, the president reserves the ability to say when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end. We hope we don’t get to that point, but if we do, that will be the president’s call.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said a “window of opportunity,” has opened with this second round of negotiations. Araqchi made the comments while giving a speech to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament after Tuesday’s talks.
“We are hopeful that negotiation will lead to a sustainable and negotiated solution which can serve the interests of relevant parties and the broader region. At the same time, as demonstrated during the aggression of 13 June 2025, Iran remains fully prepared to defend itself against any threat or act of aggression,” Araqchi said in English.
Araqchi also noted the “conduct” of the U.S. “has seriously undermined the credibility of the negotiating process,” referring to the US withdrawal from the JCPOA during the first Trump administration.
“The unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action], in clear violation of an internationally endorsed agreement, dealt a profound blow to trust and stability of multilateral obligations,” Araqchi added.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law — also led American negotiators in Geneva in high-stakes talks on Tuesday regarding Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which lasted about six hours, Russian state media TASS reported.
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov said the talks focused on “practical issues,” and “the mechanics of possible solutions,” in a post on Telegram Tuesday evening.
Both Russia and Ukraine confirmed talks will continue Wednesday.
The talks on Ukraine are in a trilateral format, which include American, Ukrainian and Russian representatives. They are the third installment of the trilateral format following two rounds of negotiations in the United Arab Emirates.
Those previous trilateral talks were described as constructive by participants but appeared to have failed to achieve a breakthrough on key contentious points, such as the fate of Ukraine’s partially occupied eastern Donbas region, the future of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and proposed Western security guarantees for Kyiv.
Asked what he expected ahead of the talks with Russia and Ukraine, Trump on Monday put the onus on Ukraine to “come to the table fast,” appearing to suggest that the U.S. and Russia “are in a position” to make a deal.
“Well they’re big talks. It’s going to be very easy,” Trump said. “Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you. We are in a position; we want them to come.”
Before the trilateral talks began Tuesday, Russia again heavily attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight with at least 396 drones and 29 missiles of various types, the Ukrainian Air Force said Tuesday morning.
“It was a combined strike, deliberately calculated to cause as much damage as possible to our energy sector,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X.
In a statement after talks ended on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said negotiators must raise the continuing Russian strikes, especially with the Americans, who proposed that Ukraine and Russia refrain from attacks.
“Ukraine is ready. We do not need war. And we always act symmetrically — we are defending our state and our independence. Likewise, we are ready to move quickly toward a just agreement to end the war,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said he was waiting on the Ukrainian delegation to report back to him.
Twelve regions of Ukraine were targeted in the Russian strikes and at least nine people, including children, were injured, the Ukrainian president said.
Among the targets was the southern port city of Odesa and the wider region, where “tens of thousands of people are without heat and water supply after the drone strike,” according to Zelenskyy.
Poland’s Armed Forces Operational Command said NATO aircraft were scrambled and air defenses put on alert as a response to the Russian strikes. “No violations of the Republic of Poland’s airspace by objects that could pose a threat were recorded,” the command said on X.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down at least 151 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Trump “indirectly” involved in Iran talks
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday that he would be “indirectly” involved in Tuesday’s talks with Iran.
“They’ll be very important,” Trump told reporters of the talks. “We’ll see what can happen. Specifically, Iran is a very tough negotiator.”
Trump has said the U.S. wants Iran to end all nuclear enrichment as part of any deal, while American officials have also indicated that the U.S. wants constraints on Tehran’s ballistic missile program and its support of regional proxies.
All three demands have long been U.S. goals, but such proposals have been repeatedly rebuffed by Iranian leaders.
The talks have been preceded by a U.S. military buildup in the Middle East, with officials in Tehran warning that Iranian forces will retaliate against U.S. and Israeli targets if Iran is attacked.
The latest round of talks also come in the aftermath of a major anti-regime uprising in Iran, in which protests — initially sparked by the deteriorating economic conditions inside the country — spread nationwide. Trump offered his support to the demonstrators, telling them to “keep protesting,” saying, “help is on its way.”
Security forces violently suppressed the demonstrations, killing at least 7,000 people according to data published by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty, Lalee Ibssa, Joseph Simonetti, Fidel Pavlenko, Natalia Popova and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
Healthcare workers receive training on administering the Ebola vaccine in a study carried out with the support of the World Health Organization as part of the fight against the Ebola virus in Kampala, Uganda on February 14, 2025. (Photo by Nicholas Kajoba/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement on Sunday that a “small number of Americans” are directly affected by an Ebola outbreak occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The CDC is working with other U.S. agencies to coordinate the safe withdrawal of the Americans,” the CDC said in its statement. The agency did not confirm the number of people affected, the type of exposure or whether any individuals had experienced symptoms.
“We don’t discuss or comment on individual dispositions,” Dr. Satish Pillai, the CDC’s incident manager for Ebola, said during a press briefing on Sunday. “It is a highly dynamic situation, and at this point, what I would say is, we continue to assess, we will continue to keep you posted as we learn more.”
On Saturday, the World Health Organization said in a statement that the ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda constituted a “public health emergency of international concern.”
As of Sunday, the CDC said there were 10 confirmed Ebola cases and 336 suspected cases in the DRC. There had been 88 suspected deaths in the DRC, as well as two confirmed cases and one confirmed death in Uganda from people who had traveled to the DRC.
The CDC said that the risk to the American public remains low. Ebola virus spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person and does not spread through casual contact or air.
“CDC has extensive experience and expertise in responding to Ebola outbreaks,” CDC acting Director Jay Bhattacharya said on a call with reporters on Friday. “It is a large outbreak, and we were just informed yesterday about it.”
He added, “We’re absolutely committed to making sure that they can get resources as they need. We have helped with other Ebola outbreaks in the past … We have lots of hard-earned lessons. The key thing here is to know that we are absolutely involved.”
It is the DRC’s 17th outbreak of Ebola since the disease emerged in the 1970s, according to the WHO.
This strain of Ebola is caused by Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no therapeutics or vaccines, the WHO said.
The WHO has declared international public health emergencies over previous Ebola outbreaks as well as COVID-19 and mpox.
Iraqi Shiite militia groups organize a military parade as part of the ‘World Quds Day’ events in Baghdad, Iraq, March 28, 2025. (Anadolu via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. officials have issued a new warning to Americans still in Iraq, advising them to leave the country immediately as Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may “intend to conduct attacks” in central Baghdad.
“U.S. citizens should leave Iraq now,” said the alert issued on Thursday by the United States Embassy and Consulate in Iraq, which has previously issued warnings for Americans to leave the country due to security risks.
The new alert comes as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has entered its second month.
The security alert also came just days after an American journalist, Shelly Kittleson, was kidnapped in broad daylight on a busy street in Baghdad, allegedly by an Iran-linked militia group.
“Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may intend to conduct attacks in central Baghdad in the next 24-48 hours,” the U.S. Embassy’s alert said.
The embassy’s statement added that Iran and Iran-aligned terrorist militias have already conducted “widespread attacks against U.S. citizens and targets associated with the United States throughout Iraq, including the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.”
The alert cautioned Americans to be aware that militia groups “may claim to be associated with the Iraqi government.”
“Terrorists may carry identification denoting their status as Iraqi government employees,” according to the alert.
In addition to U.S. citizens, terrorist militias might also target businesses, universities, diplomatic facilities, energy infrastructure, hotels, airports and “other locations perceived to be associated with the United States,” according to the alert.
While telling U.S. citizens to leave the country immediately, U.S. officials also said the only escape routes out of Iraq are overland to Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey because the airspace is closed, preventing commercial airlines from flying out of Iraq.
“Local ground transportation options are functioning. Americans should depart now via one of these overland routes,” according to the alert.
For the time being, the U.S. Mission in Iraq remains open. But the alert advised Americans not to go there.
“Do not attempt to come to the Embassy in Baghdad or the Consulate General in Erbil in light of significant security risks,” the alert said.
The search for Kittleson, 49, a freelance journalist originally from Wisconsin, continued on Thursday, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior.
“We have no answer or explanation,” the interior ministry said in a statement on Thursday about Kittleson’s abduction.
In a security camera recording verified by ABC News and confirmed by Iraq’s interior ministry to show the moment Kittleson was kidnapped on Tuesday, the journalist is seen standing on a sidewalk as a silver car approaches before she is pushed towards the car, which then quickly speeds away.
One suspect alleged to be involved in the kidnapping was arrested when one of the cars fleeing the scene crashed and overturned, according to Iraq’s interior ministry. Kittleson had been forced into another car that got away.
Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for global public affairs for the State Department, said in a statement on Wednesday that the suspect has ties to the Iranian-aligned militia group Kataib Hezbollah.
