Police in Mexico are searching a number of inmates sprung from a prison in Puerto Vallarta during a wave of attacks launched by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) on Sunday.

Puerto Vallarta, a beach resort on Mexico’s Pacific coast, was among the towns where the CJGN blockaded roads and torched cars in retaliation for the killing by security forces of their leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho”.

During the unrest, armed men rammed one of the prison gates with a car, paving the way for 23 prisoners to escape, an official said.

More than 70 people – including 25 National Guard members – were killed in the operation to capture El Mencho and the violence which followed.

Juan Pablo Hernández, security secretary for the state of Jalisco, said that his office was working with other states to capture the fugitives.

Officials have not yet released details of the identities of the prisoners who escaped.

Cartel members torched several vehicles across Puerto Vallarta on Sunday.

Tourists and locals were urged to seek shelter and not venture out and footage they recorded showed black plumes of smoke rising above the popular beach resort.

A number of airlines temporarily halted their flights and at least two major cruise liners said their ships would skip planned stops in Puerto Vallarta.

The Mexican government said on Monday that most of the road blocks erected by cartel members had been cleared.

But El Universal newspaper reports that in the state of Morelia, where drug lord El Mencho was born, armed men continued to spread fear on Monday, torching cars and vandalising shops and public buildings.

El Mencho was Mexico’s most wanted man. Under his leadership, the CJGN became a powerful transnational criminal organisation which spread from its stronghold in the state of Jalisco into many other Mexican states, where it engages in drug production and trafficking.

It often resorts to extreme violence and has been behind a number of high-profile attacks on the security forces and government officials.

The Trump administration had described El Mencho as a “top target for the Mexican and United States government as one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into our homeland” and had offered a $15m (£11.1m) reward for information leading to his capture.

The drug lord was captured by Mexican security forces in the town of Tapalpa, in Jalisco state, on Sunday.

Mexico’s defence minister said they were able to locate him by following one of his “romantic partners”.

He died shortly after being captured due to injuries in the firefight which broke out between his security guards and Mexico’s special forces sent to arrest him.

On February 24, 2026, NBC Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie announced that her family is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of her missing 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie. 

Nancy Guthrie was last seen on the evening of January 31, 2026, after being dropped off at her home in the Catalina Foothills near Tucson, Arizona.

She was reported missing the next day when she failed to attend a virtual church service.Authorities believe she was taken against her will in the middle of the night on February 1.

Doorbell camera footage recovered by the FBI shows a masked, armed individual tampering with the device at her home around 1:47 a.m..

Nancy is considered a vulnerable adult; she has a pacemaker, difficulty walking, and requires daily medication for a heart condition.

The new $1 million family reward is separate from the FBI’s $100,000 reward, bringing the total possible payout to roughly $1.2 million when combined with other local tip-line offers. 

In a tearful Instagram video, Savannah Guthrie stated the family “still believes in a miracle” but acknowledged the possibility that her mother may have already passed away.

Along with the reward, the Guthrie family is donating $500,000 to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to support other families facing similar tragedies.

Several “sophisticated” ransom letters demanding cryptocurrency have been sent to media outlets, though their authenticity remains under investigation.

By Anthony Solly

Ghana’s government has removed the name of a coup leader, who helped overthrow founding father Kwame Nkrumah exactly 60 years ago, from the country’s main airport.

Kotoka International Airport will now be known as Accra International Airport, its original name. But the move has not been without controversy.

Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka was among a group of officers who deposed Nkrumah in 1966. He himself was killed at the airport the following year during a failed counter-coup attempt.

The military government then renamed it in 1969 in his honour, portraying him as a “liberator” from what they saw as Nkrumah’s authoritarian rule. But some argued his name contradicts Ghana’s democratic values.

The transport ministry said the government “considered it appropriate” to restore the earlier name. Critics of the move, including Kotoka’s family, said it erased his legacy and service.

Transport Minister Joseph Bukari Nikpe has been quoted in local media as saying that the change was aimed at projecting a neutral national image and reflecting the name of the capital city, Accra.

But some have questioned the cost and asked why issues like unemployment and living conditions are not more of a priority for the government.

In arguing for the move, some civil society groups said that honouring Kotoka fundamentally contradicted the country’s democratic values and glorified an unconstitutional change of government.

This view has gained traction under current President John Mahama, who returned to power after the December 2024 election, and the debate has intensified over the past month.

Among those who have opposed the name change is parliament’s minority leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who called it a betrayal of the Volta Region, Kotoka’s home.

He argued that the name was one of the few national honours recognising the eastern region.

The discussions have spilled over to social media, with Ghanaians divided over the legal, social and political implications of changing the airport’s name.

But in its statement on Monday, the transport ministry called on the public and international partners to support and co-operate with the relevant authorities to ensure what it described as a “smooth and seamless transition”.

The authorities have assured the public that the name change will not affect airport operations, safety standards or international travel.

In the build up to the 1966 coup, Nkrumah had faced criticism that he was becoming increasingly oppressive.

Historians have debated the role the West, particularly the US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), played in unseating Ghana’s first president.

As well as leading Ghana to independence in 1957, Nkrumah was seen as a visionary in the pan-African liberation movement.

After his overthrow, Ghanaians lived through several coups up until the return of multiparty democracy in 1992.

Since then there has been a series of closely fought elections and peaceful transfers of power.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has thanked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for helping to secure the return of 17 South Africans allegedly tricked into joining the Russia-Ukraine war.

Last November, the South African government said it had received distress calls from the group of men who had joined mercenary forces in the conflict.

The men believed they were going to Russia for bodyguard training but instead ended up on the front line of the war in Ukraine.

Ramaphosa’s office confirmed that four of them had returned last Friday, 11 others would be “on their way home soon” and another two at a later stage. An investigation into their recruitment was ongoing, it added.

Working as a mercenary or fighting on behalf of another government is illegal in South Africa, unless the government authorises it.

Relatives of the men told the BBC that when they had arrived in Russia, they were given contracts to sign but as they were written in Russian they did not understand it was to fight as mercenaries against Ukrainian forces.

Ramaphosa said the South African government, working closely with Russian officials, had secured the men’s return home – with most expected back soon.

“Two remain in Russia with one in a hospital in Moscow, while the other one is being processed before finalising his travel arrangements,” his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said in a statement on Tuesday.

Ramaphosa had spoken to Putin about the situation on 10 February, he explained.

“President Ramaphosa has expressed his heartfelt gratitude to President Vladimir Putin who responded positively to his call to support the process of returning the men home,” Magwenya said.

South Africa’s embassy in Moscow would continue monitoring the lone citizen still in hospital until he was able to travel home, he added.

The daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, has been named as the alleged recruiter in the scheme, an allegation she denies.

Zuma-Sambudla, who was forced to resign as an MP over the scandal in late November, said in an affidavit that she thought the men – some of whom are her relatives – were going to Russia for “lawful” training.

“I would not, under any circumstances, knowingly expose my own family or any other person to harm,” she added.

The former MP filed her statement with police after her half-sister, Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube, accused her of tricking South Africans to join the war and laid a criminal complaint against her in November.

In a separate case, police arrested five people in December – including a radio presenter with South Africa’s public broadcaster – on a charge related to the alleged recruitment of men for the Russian military.

The five were released on bail – and the trial has yet to start.

On February 24, 2026, torrential rains in southeastern Brazil caused severe flooding and landslides, leaving at least 20 people dead and dozens more missing. 

The hardest-hit municipality, where 16 deaths were recorded. Mayor Margarida Salomao declared a state of emergency, noting it is the city’s rainiest February on record.

Located about two hours from Juiz de Fora, this city reported four additional fatalities.More than 400 people have been forced to flee their homes in the state of Minas Gerais due to the violent downpours that began on February 23.

The extreme weather caused rivers to overflow their banks, triggered at least 20 major landslides, and led to the collapse of multiple buildings. 

Local authorities have declared a state of public calamity to fast-track federal and state aid.Specialized teams and firefighters are using heavy machinery and rubber boats to search for survivors in mud-buried areas and inundated streets.

Classes in all municipal schools have been suspended until further notice.

BY Anthony Solly