Feb. 19, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day: in 1649, The Second Battle of Guararapes takes place, effectively ending Dutch colonization efforts in Brazil.
QOTD: "Good talks are being had. It's proven to be, over the years, not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran. We have to make a meaningful deal, otherwise bad things happen," Trump told the first meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington.
CANADA/USA/TRADE - Canada, Mexico Meet to Boost Trade Amid USMCA Uncertainty
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-02-19/canada-and-mexico-and-usmca-negotiations
While the future of North America’s USMCA trade deal remains uncertain, with Donald Trump even weighing whether to withdraw the US from the treaty, Canada insists on strengthening its trade relationship with Mexico as part of its diversification strategy — at the risk of further inflaming its tense relations with Washington.
Canada’s minister responsible for US trade, Dominic LeBlanc, led a group of around 370 business delegates to a visit in Mexico City is week to meet with local firms and government officials, the third high-level visit by Canadian policymakers since Prime Minister Mark Carney met with President Claudia Sheinbaum in September.
The goal of the visit, which registered more than 1,900 meetings between companies, was to “strengthen economic ties and diversify trade,” according to LeBlanc, who added that US officials have not expressed concerns about Canada’s trade diversification efforts with other countries.
The visit comes at an opportune moment for Sheinbaum, who is growing concerned that her flagship program to promote investment in the country — touted as the economic antidote to searing US trade tensions — is struggling to get off the ground amid slow economic growth.
ROK/POL - Former South Korean president receives life sentence for imposing martial law in 2024
https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-yoon-suk-yeol-martial-law-verdict-rebellion-5d5f5c3a82590dc805b41b905f5bbca1
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was found guilty of leading an insurrection on Thursday and sentenced to life in prison for his brief imposition of martial law in 2024, a ruling that marks a dramatic culmination of the country’s biggest political crisis in decades.
The conservative leader was ousted from office after he declared martial law and sent troops to surround the National Assembly on Dec. 3, 2024, in a baffling attempt to overcome a legislature controlled by his liberal opponents.
Judge Jee Kui-youn of the Seoul Central District Court said he found Yoon, 65, guilty of rebellion for mobilizing military and police forces in an illegal attempt to seize the Assembly, arrest political opponents and establish unchecked power for an indefinite period.
HUNGARY/RUSSIA/UKRAINE/ENERGY - Hungary considers cutting power, gas exports to Ukraine in Russian oil row
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/hungary-considers-cutting-power-gas-exports-ukraine-russian-oil-row-2026-02-19/
Hungary is considering cutting off power and gas exports to Ukraine unless Kyiv resumes Russian oil shipments to the country via the Druzhba pipeline, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff told a briefing on Thursday.
Hungary and Slovakia, which have the only remaining refineries in the European Union using Russian oil through Druzhba, have been trying to secure supply since flows were halted on January 27 after what Ukraine said was a Russian drone attack that damaged pipeline infrastructure.
The refineries plan to start tapping state oil reserves, with the Slovak government on Wednesday approving a loan of 250,000 tons.
Orban's chief of staff Gergely Gulyas said the Hungarian government had also freed up strategic oil reserves following a request from refiner MOL.
US/WORLD/TRADE - US Notches One of Its Biggest Annual Trade Gaps Since 1960
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-19/us-trade-deficit-widens-capping-one-of-biggest-gaps-since-1960?srnd=homepage-americas
The US trade deficit widened in December, capping a turbulent year of erratic tariff policy.
The goods and services trade gap expanded from the prior month to $70.3 billion, Commerce Department data showed Thursday. The shortfall culminated in a full-year deficit of $901.5 billion, still one of the largest in data back to 1960.
“After all the tariff headlines and swings in the data, the trade deficit barely budged in 2025,” Nationwide Financial Market Economist Oren Klachkin said in a note. “With the peak tariff drag now likely behind us, we expect trade to settle into a more predictable rhythm.”
The trade data were notably volatile in 2025 on a month-to-month basis as US importers reacted to a persistent drumbeat of tariff announcements from President Donald Trump. Gold and pharmaceutical imports were particularly choppy as companies raced to beat higher duties.
The December deficit — which was wider than all but one estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists — reflected a 3.6% increase in the value of imports, including gains in computer accessories and motor vehicles. Exports of goods and services declined 1.7%, largely reflecting fewer outbound shipments of gold.
US/IRAN/MIL - U.S. Gathers the Most Air Power in the Mideast Since the 2003 Iraq Invasion
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-gathers-the-most-air-power-in-the-mideast-since-the-2003-iraq-invasion-98ced89f
The U.S. is sending significant numbers of jet fighters and support aircraft to the Middle East, assembling the greatest amount of air power in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The U.S. is ready to take action against Iran, but President Trump hasn’t decided whether to order strikes or—if he does order them—whether the aim would be to halt Iran’s already-battered nuclear program, wipe out its missile force or try to topple the regime.
Over the past few days, the U.S. has continued to move cutting-edge F-35 and F-22 jet fighters toward the Middle East, according to flight-tracking data and a U.S. official. A second aircraft carrier loaded with attack and electronic-warfare planes is on the way. Command-and-control aircraft, which are vital for orchestrating large air campaigns, are inbound. And critical air defenses have been deployed to the region in recent weeks.
The firepower will give the U.S. the option of carrying out a sustained, weekslong air war against Iran instead of the one-and-done “Midnight Hammer” strike the U.S. carried out in June against three Iranian nuclear sites, U.S. officials said.
Representatives from the U.S. and Iran met in Geneva this week to negotiate a possible deal over Iranian enrichment of uranium. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said there had been “a little bit of progress” in those talks, but added, “We’re still very far apart on some issues.” Iran is expected to offer a more detailed proposal to the U.S. in the next few weeks, Leavitt said.
Trump has received several briefings on his military options should he choose to strike, all of them designed to maximize damage to Iran’s regime and its regional proxies, U.S. officials said.
MORE: Trump says US needs to make meaningful deal with Iran, cites good talks
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-says-us-needs-make-meaningful-deal-with-iran-cites-good-talks-2026-02-19/
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States had to make a meaningful deal with Iran, citing good talks with the Middle Eastern country.
"Good talks are being had. It's proven to be, over the years, not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran. We have to make a meaningful deal, otherwise bad things happen," Trump told the first meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington.
Indirect discussions on Tuesday in Geneva between U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, were aimed at heading off a mounting crisis between the two countries.
The U.S. wants Iran to give up its nuclear program. Tehran has adamantly refused and denies it is trying to develop an atomic weapon.
Iran is expected to submit a written proposal on how to address U.S. concerns during the Geneva talks, a senior U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday.
GERMANY/POL - Poll puts far-right AfD far ahead in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-news-far-right-afd-polls-37-ahead-of-state-vote/live-76030997
A new poll shows the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leading clearly in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, seven months before an election there.
The Forsa survey for the Ostsee-Zeitung put the AfD at 37%, ahead of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) of state premier Manuela Schwesig on 23% and the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) on 13%. The socialist Left Party, which currently governs in coalition with the SPD, was measured at 11%.
The state election is scheduled for September 20.
The business-focused Free Democrats (FDP) on 2% and the Greens on 4% would miss the 5% threshold and drop out of the state parliament, while the populist left BSW was at 5%, right on the edge.
Forsa surveyed 1,003 eligible voters in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern between February 9 and February 16.
Compared with an Infratest dimap poll for NDR published in late January, the AfD gained 2 points while the SPD lost 2, with the CDU unchanged at 13%.
Polling institutes note that surveys reflect opinion at the time of questioning and are not forecasts, with the reported margin of error in the Forsa poll at plus or minus 3 percentage pointS.
While the AfD would emerge as the largest force in the state parliament under the current figures, all major political parties have said they will not work with it.
In the 2021 state election, the SPD won 39.6%, while the AfD took 16.7%, the CDU 13.3%, the Left Party 9.9%, the Greens 6.3%, and the FDP 5.8%.
ITALY/POL - Explainer: What is at stake in Italy's referendum on judicial reform?
https://www.reuters.com/world/what-is-stake-italys-referendum-judicial-reform-2026-02-19/
taly will hold a constitutional referendum on March 22–23 on a government overhaul of the justice system, which is stoking tensions between the judiciary and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's conservative coalition.
WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REFORM?
The proposed changes would separate the careers of judges and public prosecutors, ending the current system in which both roles share a single entry exam, operate within the same career track and may switch roles early in their professional life.
Under the reform, prosecutors and judges would follow two distinct career paths from the start, with no possibility of movement between them.
The plan also calls for splitting the High Council of the Judiciary (CSM) into two independent bodies: one for judges and one for prosecutors. Membership selection rules would change, introducing the use of sortition, or lottery.
In addition, the reform creates a new High Disciplinary Court to oversee misconduct cases.
WHAT IS AT STAKE?
Successive governments have discussed separating judicial careers since the late 1980s, but the debate has always been snarled by fierce partisan politics preventing change.
PERU/POL - José María Balcázar becomes Peru’s eighth president in a decade
https://apnews.com/article/peru-president-congress-interim-election-c6f1e2d6c061ea8ba1cb0f4f467609bc
Peru’s Congress late Wednesday elected legislator José María Balcázar as the country’s eighth president in a decade, replacing another interim leader who was ousted the previous day over corruption allegations just four months into his term.
Balcázar, an 83-year-old former judge representing the leftist Perú Libre party, defeated three other candidates with a majority of the 130-member legislature.
The revolving-door presidency in Peru reflects a political crisis fueled by a lack of legislative majorities for leaders. Lawmakers have frequently used a broad interpretation of a constitutional article regarding “permanent moral incapacity” to remove sitting presidents.
Balcázar, a retired judge with nearly 30 years of experience in the judiciary, was sworn in shortly after the vote by the president of the Congress, Fernando Rospigliosi.