Headlines

• Mexican Authorities Traced Drug Lord ‘El Mencho’ Through Visit From Romantic Partner.
• Investigators tracked a confidante of one of the drug lord’s romantic partners, who accompanied the woman to a cabin for a meeting with him.

Mexico, Feb.24.– Mexican authorities said on Feb. 23 that they were able to trace the most-wanted cartel leader “El Mencho” after following his romantic partner to a secret rendezvous in the state of Jalisco.

El Mencho, whose real name is Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, was the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, also known as CJNG, one of the most powerful drug organizations in the country. In 2024, the U.S. State Department offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to his arrest.

Mexican Defense Secretary Gen. Ricardo Trevilla told reporters that federal forces launched an operation on Feb. 22 to capture El Mencho, with assistance from U.S. intelligence.

• A South Korean court has found ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol guilty of masterminding an insurrection
• The 65-year-old has been sentenced to life in prison over his botched attempt in December 2024 at imposing military rule
• The ruling found that former Defense Minister Kim colluded with Yoon from the early stages of the martial law declaration. Meanwhile, Commissioner General Cho and Seoul Police Chief Kim were found to have been aware of plans to deploy troops and to have been instructed to maintain order during the operation.

Seoul, Feb. 18.– In December 2024, then-South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol made a botched attempt at imposing military rule to reassert his leadership.

That was overturned six hours later, after lawmakers defied armed police and military to gather inside parliament and vote down the decree.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed using a poison developed from a dart frog toxin, the UK and European allies have said.

Two years on from the death of Navalny at a Siberian penal colony, Britain and its allies have blamed the Kremlin following analysis of material samples found on his body. 

Speaking from the Munich Security Conference, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said "only the Russian government had the means, motive and opportunity" to use the poison while Navalny was imprisoned in Russia.

According to Tass news agency Moscow has dismissed the finding as "an information campaign", but Cooper said there is no explanation for the toxin, called epibatidine, being found.

While Cooper announced the findings, a joint statement was issued by the UK, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Cooper met with Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya at the conference this weekend.

• Russian forces’ months of strikes have significantly degraded and damaged the Ukrainian energy grid, which is now facing significant problems even during the moratorium on Russian strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in northern Kharkiv Oblast and the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area. Russian forces advanced in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area and near Pokrovsk and Hulyaipole.
• A US delegation met with lead Russian negotiator and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev in Miami, Florida, today, January 31.

ISW, Jan. 31.– Russian forces’ months of strikes have significantly degraded and damaged the Ukrainian energy grid, which is now facing significant problems even during the moratorium on Russian strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Ukraine’s power grid suffered a significant shutdown of the 400-kilowatt (kW) line between the Romanian and Moldovan power systems and the 750-kW line between western and central Ukraine on the morning of January 31.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal reported on January 31 that the cause of the shutdown was an unspecified technological disruption, not a Russian strike. The Ukrainian Ministry of Finance stated that a cyberattack did not cause the outages. The Moldovan Energy Ministry stated that “serious problems” in the Ukrainian power grid caused the 400-kW line to disconnect, and Ukrainian Energy Research Center Director Oleksandr Kharchenko stated that existing damage to Ukraine’s energy system “complicated” the situation. Shmyhal stated that the shutdowns caused cascading power outages in the Ukrainian power grid, activated protections at Ukrainian substations, and forced operators to unload Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.