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US women’s ice hockey team declines Trump’s State of the Union invitation

US women’s ice hockey team declines Trump’s State of the Union invitation

Olympics gold medal-winning team has politely turned down a request from President Donald Trump to attend his address in the capital. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 2 mins info Published On 24 Feb 202624 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share The women’s ice hockey team of the United States has declined an invitation to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, US media reported, after he joked he would be “impeached” if he did not ask them to attend. NBC cited a statement from the women’s team on Monday, saying players would be “unable to participate” in the State of the Union address. Recommended Stories list of 2 itemsend of list “We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal-winning US Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement,” the statement said. “Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate.” Both Republicans and Democrats traditionally bring guests to watch the president’s annual address to Congress, and Trump invited the US men’s ice hockey team after they won Olympic gold on Sunday. Team USA’s women’s team won gold for the first time since 2018 when they beat the Canadians 2-1 on Thursday. In a video shared online, Trump can be heard on speakerphone in a call with the men’s team, inviting them to the address before saying, “We’re gonna have to bring the women’s team, you do know that”, to which the players laugh. “I do believe I would probably be impeached, OK?” the president added. It is not clear if the men’s team have formally accepted Trump’s invitation, but they can be heard cheering and saying, “We’re in.” The AFP news agency has contacted the team for comment. Security fencing surrounds the US Capitol in advance of the US president’s State of the Union address, in Washington, DC [Kylie Cooper/Reuters] Adblock test (Why?)

With ‘El Mencho’ killed, what’s next for Mexico and the Jalisco cartel?

With ‘El Mencho’ killed, what’s next for Mexico and the Jalisco cartel?

The killing of Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, or CJNG), has triggered a wave of violence across several Mexican states, including Jalisco. Cervantes, better known as “El Mencho”, was killed in an operation by Mexico’s army on Sunday. Recommended Stories list of 2 itemsend of list But what is the Jalisco cartel, and what happens next after the killing of one of the most powerful drug lords in the country? What happened in Mexico on Sunday? Shortly after news of El Mencho‘s killing spread, suspected cartel members launched coordinated reprisals across multiple states. Attackers torched convenience stores and petrol stations, dragged trucks onto major highways and erected flaming roadblocks, known locally as narcobloqueos, paralysing cities and cutting off key routes. “Panic spread among many people,” Miguel Alfonso Meza, director of Defensorx, a Mexican civil organisation dedicated to strategic litigation and the defence of human rights, told Al Jazeera. “I heard from several relatives who had panic attacks; they were calling in tears, desperate, because they didn’t know what was going to happen,” he added. The violence appeared intended to project strength and demonstrate the cartel’s reach following the loss of its leader. In Jalisco alone, more than 25 National Guard members were killed. “That makes it one of the bloodiest days, with some of the greatest losses for the federal government,” Meza said. “It is also the first time we’ve seen coordinated attacks across more than 20 states at once. Advertisement “I call it a terrorist attack,” he added, “in the sense that groups are labelled ‘terrorist’ when they use violence to instil fear in the population. And that is exactly what we experienced.” What is the Jalisco New Generation Cartel? The Jalisco cartel is one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organisations. Founded in about 2009-2010, the group emerged from the remnants of the Milenio cartel and quickly grew into a dominant force in the country’s drug trade. It built a reputation for ruthlessness and violence unlike any since the fall of the old Zetas cartel. Los Zetas were one of Mexico’s most feared criminal groups, founded by former elite soldiers who deserted and brought military tactics into organised crime. They became notorious for using extreme brutality and for expanding beyond drug trafficking into kidnapping, extortion and fuel theft.  What does the cartel do? The United States Department of State has described the cartel as one of Mexico’s most powerful drug trafficking organisations, with significant cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine distribution networks, and in recent years a major role in fentanyl trafficking into the US. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid linked to thousands of deaths in the US. Beyond drug trafficking, the group profits from extortion, migrant smuggling, and oil and mineral theft. It operates across much of Mexico and has built international trafficking routes stretching through Latin America to the US and parts of Asia. The cartel has also been linked to a series of high-profile attacks against security forces and public officials. In 2015, gunmen shot down a Mexican military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade during an operation to capture its leader. In June 2020, the group attempted to assassinate then public security secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch in Mexico City. He survived. Two bodyguards and a civilian were killed. How does it operate? Analysts say the cartel’s growth has been driven as much by strategy as by brutality. “The CJNG has normalised the worst horrors of the Mexican drug wars, bodies hanging from lampposts, decapitated heads on the side of the road,” Chris Dalby, senior analyst at Dyami Security Intelligence, told Al Jazeera. But he argues the violence is not random. It is deliberate and performative, designed to dominate rivals quickly and discourage resistance. “That was an aberration a generation ago. The CJNG made it almost daily news. And that’s because of the way El Mencho trained his cartel. Advertisement “He trained them almost like Genghis Khan in their approach to conquest,” Dalby said, referring to the feared Mongol warrior. “They would wipe out opposition and use that as a warning: If you oppose us, this is what will happen to you.” That approach helped the cartel grow quickly across multiple states, but it also meant constant confrontation. Much of its influence rests on mobility, intimidation and strategic alliances rather than deeply rooted territorial control. Smoke billows from burning vehicles in Puerto Vallarta amid a wave of violence, with torched vehicles and gunmen blocking highways in more than half a dozen states [Reuters] What is next for Mexico after the killing of ‘El Mencho’? The death of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera is one of the most significant blows to a Mexican criminal organisation. While experts note the CJNG may now be in a “weaker position”, many warn that “decapitating” the cartel without dismantling its resources is a mistake. Critics argue that instead of long-term “financial strangulation”, the government has returned to a strategy that previously failed during the presidency of Felipe Calderon (2006-2012). Under Calderon, a hardline military offensive targeted cartel leaders in an effort to dismantle organised crime. But while several senior drug kingpins were captured or killed, the crackdown led to violent fragmentation. Hundreds of thousands were killed or disappeared in the years that followed, yet criminal groups ultimately adapted and continued to expand. When the current governing party, Morena, came to power in 2018 under former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, it promised a different approach. Obrador’s slogan, “abrazos, no balazos” (“hugs, not bullets”), signalled a move away from high-profile kingpin takedowns towards social programmes and addressing root causes of violence. Former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador [FILE: Quetzalli Nicte-Ha/Reuters] Critics now question whether that strategy has eroded amid sustained US pressure on President Claudia Sheinbaum to curb drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl, with Washington repeatedly urging tougher action against major cartels. In Sunday’s operation, the Mexican government stated it was carried out by Mexican special forces with intelligence support from the US.

Schools shut, troops on streets: Mexico on alert after ‘El Mencho’ killing

Schools shut, troops on streets: Mexico on alert after ‘El Mencho’ killing

Authorities deploy 10,000 soldiers nationwide to quell violence following the drug lord’s killing in a military operation. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 3 mins info Published On 24 Feb 202624 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Mexico remains on high alert after a wave of reprisal attacks triggered by the killing of its most wanted drug cartel leader, even as President Claudia Sheinbaum claimed the country is at peace and life is returning to normal. Some 10,000 soldiers have been deployed across 20 of Mexico’s 32 states to maintain order following the killing of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera in a military operation about 130km (80 miles) from Guadalajara city on Sunday. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Guadalajara is the capital of western Mexico’s Jalisco state – the stronghold of Oseguera’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) – where at least 2,000 soldiers have been sent. Schools in Guadalajara and several other Mexican cities were closed on Monday. However, public transport partially resumed, though buses carried few passengers, as people witnessed a slow return to normalcy. Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said on Monday that at least 74 people were killed, including 25 National Guard officers, in the operation that killed the cartel boss and the subsequent violence over the killing of the 59-year-old drug kingpin, one of the most wanted men in Mexico and the United States. Burned-out vehicles are seen on the boardwalk in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico [Arturo Montero/EPA] “El Mencho” was considered the last of the drug lords who acted in the brutal mould of the now-imprisoned Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, of the rival Sinaloa Cartel. He was a founding member of CJNG, which was formed in 2009 and has grown into one of Mexico’s most violent crime organisations. Advertisement Following his killing, suspected CJNG members set fire to cars in several states and blocked numerous roads. They also attacked banks, petrol stations and shops. Al Jazeera’s John Holman, reporting from Mexico City, said there was an eerie quiet in the country following El Mencho’s killing. “Many businesses are closed, and the trucks that the CJNG cartel dragged across roads to stop Mexican security forces and create chaos have been moved out of the way,” Holman said. Meanwhile, President Sheinbaum said on Monday that peace had returned to the country. “Mexico is calm. We woke up without any roadblocks, and all activity has been restored,” she said. The White House confirmed that the US provided intelligence support to the operation to capture the cartel leader and applauded Mexico’s army for taking down a man who was one of the most wanted criminals in both countries. Sheinbaum stressed that only Mexican forces were involved in the operation. “There was no participation in the operation by US forces. What we have is a lot of exchange of information provided by the US government, but the entire operation, from its planning stage, is the responsibility of [Mexico’s] federal forces,” the president said. Experts now warn that the “absence of a direct succession” within CJNG could lead to a power vacuum and violent fights to fill it. Adblock test (Why?)