Feb. 18, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day in 1861, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as provisional president of the Confederate States of America.
QotD: "We strongly condemn unilateral Israeli decisions and measures aimed at expanding Israel's unlawful presence in the West Bank. Such decisions are contrary to Israel's obligations under international law and must be immediately reversed,” read a joint UN statement signed by 85 member states.
UKR/RUS/MIL – ‘Difficult’ Ukraine peace talks end after Zelensky says Russia stalling.
Peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Geneva ended on Wednesday after only two hours, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy describing them as "difficult" and accusing Russia of deliberately delaying progress toward a deal to end the four-year-old war.
The two days of U.S.-mediated peace talks in Switzerland took place as U.S. President Donald Trump has twice in recent days suggested it was up to Ukraine and Zelenskiy to ensure the talks were successful.
"We can see that progress has been made, but for now, positions differ because the negotiations were difficult," Zelenskiy told reporters in a WhatsApp chat shortly after talks concluded.
Rustem Umerov, the head of Kyiv's negotiating team, said separately that the second day had been "intensive and substantive". Both sides were working toward decisions that can be sent to their presidents, he said.
Russia's chief negotiator, former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky, told reporters that further negotiations would be held soon, without specifying a date. Earlier on Wednesday, Zelenskiy had accused Russia of "trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached the final stage".
Ukrainian officials have routinely accused Moscow - which has carried out a winter bombing campaign against Ukraine's energy system and pursued its battlefield offensive - of negotiating in bad faith.
UKR/POL/MIL – Former army chief seen as Zelensky’s top rival reveals to AP a rift between them.
https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-war-zaluzhnyi-zelenskyy-raid-5ff9e5e2054e0b17c10daf58d7eab63e
Ever since he was ousted as the head of Ukraine’s army in 2024 and appointed as the country’s ambassador to Britain, Valerii Zaluzhnyi has widely been seen as the top political rival to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zaluzhnyi, 52, refuses to discuss his political ambitions, saying he doesn’t want to risk harming national unity during a war with Russia that is approaching its fourth anniversary. Yet in a sign of his possible desire to run for the presidency – after the war is over – Zaluzhnyi spoke publicly for the first time about a deep rift between himself and Zelenskyy in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
Tensions emerged soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and tempers often flared between the two men over how best to defend the country, Zaluzhnyi said. The strained relationship reached a boiling point later that year, when dozens of agents from Ukraine’s domestic intelligence service raided Zaluzhnyi’s office, he told the AP.
Zaluzhnyi alleges that the previously unreported incident was an act of intimidation. It risked exposing their rivalry at a time when national unity was paramount.
Even years later, the revelation threatens to polarize public opinion in Ukraine at a critical moment in the war. Russian forces are making slow, steady gains across Ukraine’s eastern front, and both sides are clinging to incompatible demands as the U.S. presses them to reach a peace deal.
ISRAEL/WEST BANK/UN – More than 80 UN member states condemn Israel’s plan to expand in West Bank.
The UN missions for 85 member states issued a joint statement Tuesday condemning Israel's encroaching control of the West Bank, which critics say amounts to de facto annexation of the Palestinian territory.
"We strongly condemn unilateral Israeli decisions and measures aimed at expanding Israel's unlawful presence in the West Bank," the statement reads. "Such decisions are contrary to Israel's obligations under international law and must be immediately reversed."
"We underline in this regard our strong opposition to any form of annexation."
Last week, Israel's security cabinet approved a series of measures backed by far-right ministers to tighten control over areas of the West Bank administered by the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo accords, in place since the 1990s.
On Sunday, Israel's government also approved a process to register land in the West Bank as "state property" in a move that drew further international condemnation.
VATICAN/PEACE BOARD – Vatican declines participation in Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’.
https://www.dw.com/en/vatican-declines-participation-in-trumps-board-of-peace/a-76017187
The Vatican said on Tuesday it would not take part in US President Donald Trump's so-called Board of Peace despite an invitation issued in January to Pope Leo XIV to join the board.
The Holy See "will not participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other states," said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the top Vatican diplomat.
The "Board of Peace" was initially meant to supervise Gaza's temporary governance following the latest conflict there, but Trump has since said that the body, with him as chair, would be expanded to deal with global conflicts.
While announcing that the Vatican would not participate, Parolin stressed that the United Nations was the body currently entrusted to deal with world crises.
"For us, there are ... some critical issues that should be resolved, let's say," he said.
"That is, at the international level, it is above all the UN that manages these crisis situations," he said. "This is one of the, one of the points on which we have insisted."
US/CUBA/RUS/COLD WAR FRIENDS AND ENEMIES – Russia hosts Cuban foreign minister and urges US not to blockage Cuba.
The Cuban foreign minister visited Moscow on Wednesday as the island faces blackouts and severe fuel shortages worsened by a U.S oil embargo.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and was set to meet later in the day with President Vladimir Putin.
Lavrov urged the U.S. to refrain from blockading Cuba, which has struggled to import oil for its power plants and refineries after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened any nation that sold oil to Cuba with tariffs.
“Together with most members of the global community, we are calling on the U.S. to show common sense, take a responsible approach and refrain from its plans of sea blockade,” Lavrov said during the talks with Rodriguez.
He promised that Moscow will “continue supporting Cuba and its people in protecting the country’s sovereignty and security.”
PERU/POL/CORRUPTION – Peru ousts interim president Jeri amid corruption probe weeks before elections.
Peru’s Congress on Tuesday voted to remove interim President Jose Jeri from office as he faces corruption allegations, triggering a fresh wave of political instability just weeks before the nation’s April presidential and congressional elections.
Jeri is under a preliminary investigation into corruption and influence peddling, stemming from a series of undisclosed meetings with two Chinese executives.
With 75 votes in favour, 24 against and 3 abstentions, Peru’s legislature voted to remove Jeri from the position he had assumed on October 10 when predecessor Dina Boluarte was dismissed as a crime wave gripped the country.
Jeri’s removal from office is the latest chapter in a prolonged political crisis in a country that has seen seven presidents since 2016, and is about to hold a general election amid widespread public outcry over the surge in violent crime.
IRAN/US/NUKES – Iran foreign minister says progress made in nuclear talks with US in Geneva.
Iran and the United States reached an understanding on Tuesday on main "guiding principles" in talks aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, but that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.
Oil futures fell and the benchmark Brent crude contract tumbled more than 1% after Araqchi's comments, which helped ease fears of conflict in the region, where the U.S. has deployed naval forces to press Iran for concessions.
"Different ideas have been presented, these ideas have been seriously discussed, ultimately we've been able to reach a general agreement on some guiding principles," Araqchi told Iranian media after the talks concluded in Geneva.
A U.S. official said Iran would make detailed proposals in the next two weeks to close gaps in the nuclear talks.
"Progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss," said the official, who declined to be identified.
GABON/SOCIAL MEDIA – Gabon suspends social media, citing threats to security and stability.
Gabon has suspended some social media platforms, citing concerns that posts could undermine social cohesion and threaten the stability of institutions and national security, the Central African country's media regulator said in a statement.
The High Authority for Communication ordered the immediate suspension "until further notice," without specifying which platforms were affected.
Digital platforms and activists are violating Gabonese law by spreading "inappropriate, defamatory, hateful and abusive" content online, the HAC said late Tuesday.
Reuters could not determine whether a specific post or series of posts had triggered the decision. A government spokesperson could not immediately be reached.
The suspension "amounts to paralysing a significant part of the country's economic and social activity in a context already marked by unemployment and the cost of living," said civil society member Nicaise Moulombi.
"Social networks are no longer mere tools for entertainment, they have become instruments of work, citizen expression, commerce, innovation, and even democratic mobilization," Moulombi said.
JAPAN/TRADE – Japan’s exports surge 17% in January, on strong shipments to China and other Asian markets.
https://apnews.com/article/japan-trade-tariffs-china-trump-4c819c831792bf452b0a612128273860
Japan’s exports surged nearly 17% in January from a year earlier, lifted by seasonal factors and strong demand in China and other Asian markets.
Imports slipped 2.5% from the same month a year earlier to 10.3 trillion yen ($67 billion), while exports climbed 16.8% to 9.19 trillion yen ($59.8 billion), the Finance Ministry reported Wednesday.
That left a deficit of 1.15 trillion yen ($7.5 billion), less than half the trade deficit recorded a year earlier.
Analysts noted that a key reason for the big jump early in the year was because the Lunar New Year occurs later than usual, falling on February 17.
Japan’s economy depends heavily on exports and dramatic increases in tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump have taken a toll.
The economy expanded at an anemic 0.2% annual pace in the last quarter, with growth for 2025 at just 1.1% as weaker exports offset a modest increase in private consumption.
Exports to the U.S. fell 0.5% in January, the latest data showed, while imports from the U.S. rose 3%. Exports to the U.S. of vehicles, which account for about a third of the total, fell nearly 10%.
MIL/EUROPE – The Phantom stealth fighter that exposes Europe’s deep divisions over defense.
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/european-military-fcas-stealth-fighter-1c593a75?mod=world_lead_pos1
It was billed as the answer to high-tech U.S. stealth fighters. Instead, an ambitious pan-European project has become a case study into some of what has gone wrong with the region’s defense push.
The French, German and Spanish Future Combat Air System project was meant to build a next-generation aircraft to catch up with the latest U.S., Chinese and Russian models. Now the venture has devolved into bickering between defense companies Airbus and Dassault Aviation—and between Berlin and Paris—over who gets to lead its development, with all sides now questioning its future.
The unraveling collaboration is a symptom of one of Europe’s biggest problems when it comes to defense: While European countries’ spending on the military collectively dwarfs Russia’s and has overtaken China’s, the whole is somewhat less than the sum of its parts. With capitals often giving priority to contracts with national companies, Europe’s armed forces suffer from overlaps and incompatibilities, high prices due to low economies of scale, and a fragmented industry.
One solution has been for several countries to join forces in developing new systems. They have teamed up to build tanks, frigates and missiles. There is also a separate British, Italian and Japanese stealth fighter that could be delivered within 10 years.
“It’s more than essential to have more joint collaboration, it’s a matter of efficient spending of tax money and the credibility of European defense versus the threats that we face,” said Jean-Paul Alary, the CEO of KNDS, which was created through the merger of French and German defense giants.