Mexico

Mexico footballer Alan Pulido has appeared in public for the first time since he was rescued from kidnappers.

The 25-year-old appeared outside state police offices with one of his hands bandaged, alongside Tamaulipas governor Egidio Torre Cantu.

"The most important thing is that he is here. He is with us," Torre Cantu said.

Pulido was kidnapped by an armed group outside his his hometown of Ciudad Victoria as he left a party.

The Tamaulipas security coordination group for Mexico's security forces said in a statement early Monday that the rescue occurred shortly before midnight.

The statement said Pulido was being medically assessed.

Mexican authorities have released a photo on their Twitter account saying the footballer Alan Pulido was "rescued safe and sound".

The 25-year-old was kidnapped on Sunday by an armed gang after leaving a friend's party in the city of Ciudad Victoria.

Pulido appeared with one of his hands bandaged, alongside Tamaulipas governor Egidio Torre Cantu.

Footballer Alan Pulido has been rescued after being kidnapped, according to Mexican authorities.

The Tamaulipas security co-ordination group for Mexico's security forces said in a statement that the rescue happened shortly before midnight on Sunday night.

The statement adds that the footballer is being medically assessed.

Pulido, 25, a forward for Greek team Olympiacos, disappeared from his hometown on Saturday night after being "intercepted by armed people".

A "special operation" is currently underway in Mexico to find kidnapped footballer Alan Pulido, officials confirmed.

Pulido, 25, a forward for Greek team Olympiacos, disappeared from his hometown of Ciudad Victoria on Saturday night after reportedly being "intercepted by armed people after leaving a party", according to the local state prosecutor.

Ciudad Victoria is a town in Mexico's northern state of Tamaulipas which sits on the border with the U.S. state of Texas.

Mexican football star Alan Pulido has been kidnapped in northern Mexico, according to reports quoting local officials.

Pulido appears to have been kidnapped close to his hometown of Ciudad Victoria - in the northern state of Tamaulipas - on Sunday after leaving a party.

A relative of Pulido's also told Milenio TV that teh footballer had been kidnapped.

Pulido, 25, is a forward for Greek team Olympiacos.

Mexico's Foreign Ministry has approved the extradition of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States, after receiving guarantees the death penalty would not be sought against him.

"El Chapo" was the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel and one of the world's most wanted drug lords, after he escaped from the maximum-security Altiplano jail in July 2015.

He was captured in January and faces charges in the US federal courts in Texas and California.

It is unclear at this stage when he will be extradited.

A judge in Mexico has approved an extradition request from the US for notorious drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.

The extradition must still be approved by the country's foreign ministry within the next 20 days, and the defense can appeal, but the judge ruled that the legal requirements laid out in the extradition treaty between the two countries had been met.

At the weekend 'El Chapo' was reportedly moved from a prison outside Mexico City to one in Ciudad Juarez near the US border.

'El Chapo' was recaptured in January after six months on the run following an audacious prison escape.

The blast also injured at least 45 people and sent a cloud of noxious chemicals into the sky.

Local emergency officials said hundreds of people had been evacuated from the site in the Gulf state of Veracruz.

Television footage showed an initial burst of flames followed by a tower of thick smoke.

The cause of the blast is unclear, but Pemex warned local residents to keep their distance from the site due to what it described as a dissipating cloud of toxic fumes.

A company official said local oil exports were not affected.

Hundreds of people have been evacuated following a blast at a Pemex oil facility in the southern port city of Coatzacoalcos in Mexico.

Three people have been reported injured.

The state-owned petroleum company said the blast will not have an impact on oil exports.