“Today” show host Savannah Guthrie said her family was “desperate” and “begging for help" in the disappearance of her mother. The emotional plea Saturday on her Instagram account came a day after authorities released an early ransom note in the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. A second note that was also released Friday said Guthrie died shortly after she was kidnapped and “is buried in nature now.” Both notes initially were sent to a Tucson television station days after Guthrie's 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie, went missing from her home outside Tucson on Feb. 1. Authorities have not said whether Nancy Guthrie is still alive.

Authorities have released an early ransom note in the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie in hopes that someone will recognize the writing style. A second note that was also released Friday said Guthrie died shortly after she was kidnapped and “is buried in nature now.” Both notes initially were sent to a Tucson television station days after the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie went missing from her home outside Tucson on Feb. 1. Authorities have not said whether Nancy Guthrie is still alive. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said “we believe these distinctive linguistic characteristics may be recognizable to someone who knows or has interacted with the notes’ writer.”

A June 1 trial date has been set for Nicolás Maduro to face drug trafficking charges in New York. The trial date was set on Wednesday during a brief hearing in Manhattan federal court. His lawyer says he plans to contest the charges against his client on sovereign immunity grounds, among others. Defense lawyers have objected to the U.S. military action that snatched Venezuela’s president from power. Maduro was being returned to a Brooklyn jail. Maduro and his wife have pleaded not guilty to charges that they sided with drug dealers in a multidecade scheme to ship large quantities of drugs to the United States.

Former Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was sentenced in a U.S. court to life in prison. At his sentencing on Monday, he called for an end to the brand of brutal violence he used for decades to grow the Sinaloa cartel into the world’s largest drug trafficking organization. Zambada’s punishment was guaranteed by his guilty plea last year to drug trafficking charges that carry a mandatory life sentence. His sentencing was the culmination of the U.S. government’s yearslong fight to bring the long-elusive drug lord to justice. He was arrested in 2024 after he said he was kidnapped in Mexico and flown to Texas.

The Nigerian government has announced the rescue of students abducted by militants in Oyo state in May. Authorities initially reported over 40 people were taken on May 15. A teacher was killed shortly after the abduction. Eight militants were arrested, and an unspecified number were killed during the operation. This incident marked an escalation in Nigeria’s security crisis, as such abductions usually occur in the north. President Bola Tinubu praised the operation, which ended a 50-day standoff. Abductions at schools are common in Nigeria, with militant groups using them to pressure the government and demand ransoms.