Plus: Fears of famine in Ethiopia, and why self-storage is booming ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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| While Mexican drug lord El Chapo became something of a legend in popular culture, relatively little is known about his former partner, Ismael Zambada, who was arrested by US authorities on Thursday. BBC Mundo's Daniel Pardo fills you in on his background. From Ethiopia, we hear concerns about an impending famine. BBC Verify looks at evidence adding weight to those fears. Your newsletter also visits France, India and Pakistan, and features divorce, eye-popping smut and "the ick". | |
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QUESTIONS ANSWERED | How a shadowy drug lord rose to the top |
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| | El Mayo - pictured on Thursday - was said to bribe officials to the tune of $1m (£780,000) a month. Credit: Image obtained by CBS | Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada spent decades evading capture at the top of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, which he co-founded at the end of the 1980s, before his arrest by US agents. Despite his reputation as one of the world’s most powerful drug lords, relatively little is known about the 76-year-old "man in the hat". |
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| | Daniel Pardo, BBC Mundo, Mexico |
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| So, how did it all begin? | Zambada's rise from common trafficker to "capo de capos" (boss of bosses) is a story of pragmatism, cunning and corruption. After a stint as a furniture deliveryman on the streets of Culiacán, in northwestern Mexico, Zambada began his underworld career as a trafficker in the 1970s. He first worked for the Guadalajara cartel, a pioneer in the industry, which traded opium, marijuana and, eventually, cocaine. | How did he become so powerful? | He then worked in the Juárez cartel, first as a middle manager and then as a leader, becoming increasingly close to Amado Carrillo, the so-called "Lord of the Skies". From there, it is believed that he created a network of contacts in Colombia, the country where he went on to make great friends and cocaine-producing partners. | And how did he stay at the top? | As other bosses died or fell, Zambada became more powerful. He rarely had a problem with betraying an ally. But if anything differentiates him from other drug lords, it is that he always kept a low profile. There are almost no images of him. It has been reported that he has had surgeries to change his appearance. | | | The arrest: Zambada was detained on Thursday at a Texas airfield with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of his Sinaloa cartel co-founder El Chapo, with reports suggesting he was tricked into boarding a plane by a high-ranking Sinaloa member. Previous arrest: A man suspected of being the Sinaloa cartel's top assassin was extradited to the US from Mexico in May. El Chapo: Read how the notorious drug kingpin fell victim to his own legend. | |
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| Stuff it away | Self-storage business is booming at a time of high rents and office costs. Sam Gruet explores the worldwide trend and its ramifications. | Read now >
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| Circle of life | A study finds unintentional decimation of scavenging birds in India allowed deadly bacteria to spread, leading to the deaths of about 500,000 people over five years. | Read the story >
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| First of its kind | Musician Usman Riaz transformed a sketch into Pakistan's first hand-drawn animated feature film. He explains the inspiration behind The Glassworker. | Find out more >
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| Your weekend listening | Divorce rates in the West have been falling for decades. The Global Story explores the reasons behind the trend, and whether attitudes to breaking up have changed. | Listen now >
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| A hunger crisis revealed | | Many of Tigray's six million people remain in camps set up during a civil war that ended in 2022. Credit: Getty Images | Drought, crop failure and insecurity in the aftermath of war has left two million people at risk of starvation in northern Ethiopia, officials say. The BBC gained access to some of the worst affected areas in the Tigray province, and analysed satellite imagery to reveal the full scale of the emergency. |
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| | Peter Mwai, Girmay Gebru & Merlyn Thomas, BBC Tigrinya & BBC Verify |
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| | The month of July is a critical period for food security, when farmers need to plant crops to take advantage of the seasonal rains. The satellite images we have identified show that reservoirs, and the farmlands they help irrigate, have dried up because the rains failed last year. They now need to be replenished by seasonal rains if farmers are to stand any hope of a successful season later in the year.
Without adequate rainfall, the irrigation system cannot operate and farmers are unable to survive off the land. "Even though our dam has no water, our land will not go anywhere," says Demtsu Gebremedhin, who used to farm tomatoes, onions and sorghum - a grain crop. "So we don’t give up and we hope we will go back to farming." |
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| | | In Southern Ethiopia: About 750 miles (1,200km) south of the drought-hit area, heavy rain is the problem. Kalkidan Yibeltal reports from Gofa, where men were digging with their bare hands to find victims of Sunday's landslides that killed at least 229 people. | | Further listening: After visiting Tigray this year, our diplomatic correspondent James Landale told The Global Story podcast about people's fears of famine. | | The background: Tigray was plunged into turmoil in 2021 by the conflict between the government and local forces. Here's a simple explainer. |
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FOR YOUR DOWNTIME | Sheer eye-popping smut | The deliciously salacious tales of The Decameron have landed on Netflix. | |
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And finally... on the bookshelf | "The ick" is among more than 3,200 words and phrases to have been added to the Cambridge Dictionary this year. It was popularised by the reality TV show Love Island in the UK, where it's used to describe "a sudden feeling that you... are no longer attracted to someone because of something they do". Our report has explanaions of entries including "boop", "face journey" and "side quest". | |
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Medal Moments | Your daily newsletter guide to the Paris Olympics, from global highlights to heroic stories, throughout the Games. | |
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MORE BBC NEWSLETTERS | | The Essential List: The week's best stories, handpicked by BBC editors, in your inbox twice a week. Subscribe. | | In History: The past comes to life through the BBC's unique audio, video and written archive, each Thursday. Subscribe. | | US Election Unspun: Cut through the noise in the race for the White House, every Wednesday. Subscribe. | |
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