May 19, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day in 1643, during the Thirty Years’ War, the French Army—led by Louis II de Bourbon—defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Rocroi, ending Spain’s military ascendancy in Europe.
QotD: "Recent instability in supply chains and energy markets stemming from the situation in the Middle East has further underscored the need for close cooperation between our two countries," South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said in a joint press statement referring to his country’s relationship with Japan.
US/IRAN/MIL – Iran says peace proposal includes reparations for war damage, US troop withdrawal.
Tehran's latest peace proposal to the United States involves ending hostilities on all fronts including Lebanon, the exit of U.S. forces from areas close to Iran, and reparations for destruction caused by the U.S.-Israeli war, state media reported on Tuesday.
In Tehran's first comments on the proposal, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran also sought the lifting of sanctions, the release of frozen funds and an end to the U.S. marine blockade on the country, according to IRNA news agency.
The terms as described in the Iranian reports appeared little changed from Iran's previous offer, which U.S. President Donald Trump rejected last week as "garbage".
Speaking to reporters later on Monday, he said the United States would be satisfied if it could reach an agreement with Iran that prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
"There seems to be a very good chance that they can work something out. If we can do that without bombing the hell out of them, I would be very happy," Trump told reporters.
RUS/CHINA/UKR/MIL – Russians covertly trained by China return to fight in Ukraine, sources say.
China's armed forces secretly trained about 200 Russian military personnel in China late last year and some have since returned to fight in Ukraine, according to three European intelligence agencies and documents seen by Reuters.
While China and Russia have held a number of joint military exercises since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Beijing has repeatedly stated that it is neutral in the conflict and presents itself as a peace mediator.
The covert training sessions, which predominantly focused on the use of drones, were outlined in a dual-language Russian-Chinese agreement signed by senior Russian and Chinese officers in Beijing on July 2, 2025.
The agreement, reviewed by Reuters, said about 200 Russian troops would be trained at military facilities in locations including Beijing and the eastern city of Nanjing. The sources said around this number subsequently trained in China.
The agreement also said hundreds of Chinese troops would undergo training at military facilities in Russia.
By training Russian military personnel at an operational and tactical level who then participate in Ukraine, China is far more directly involved in the war on the European continent than previously known, one intelligence official said.
The Russian and Chinese defence ministries did not respond to requests for comment on the details outlined in this article.
"On the Ukraine crisis, China has consistently maintained an objective and impartial stance and worked to promote peace talks, this is consistent and clear and is witnessed by the international community," China's foreign ministry said in a statement to Reuters. "Relevant parties should not deliberately stoke confrontation or shift blame."
RUS/BELARUS/NUKES – Belarus dismisses concerns as it launches joint drills with Russia.
Military units in Belarus have begun joint training exercises with Russia on nuclear weapons combat, the Belarusian Ministry of Defence has announced.
The ministry said on Monday that the exercise was a planned event and not directed at any specific third party, according to a statement quoted by the Interfax news agency,
The purpose of the exercise is to test readiness and carry out combat missions from unprepared areas throughout the country, the statement added.
The announcement was met with concern from Ukraine and its NATO allies. Kyiv has repeatedly accused Moscow of planning to launch a new attack from Belarus, either on its territory or one of its NATO allies, such as neighbouring Baltic states.
“By turning Belarus into its nuclear staging ground near NATO borders, the Kremlin is de facto legitimising the proliferation of nuclear weapons worldwide and setting a dangerous precedent for other authoritarian regimes,” a Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement said.
UKR/ESTONIA/NATO – NATO jet shoots down what’s believe to be a Ukrainian drone over Estonia.
https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-drone-downed-estonia-russia-war-c098579e65a2a76e1610329d57cf4b0a
A Romanian F-16 jet deployed with NATO air policing forces in the Baltics shot down what is believed to have been a Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia on Tuesday, authorities said.
Ukraine apologized for the “unintended incident,” and Russia warned of retaliation if Ukrainian drones are launched from Baltic countries.
Given the trajectory of the drone, “we decided that we need to take it down,” Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said.
“Most probably, today we can say that it was (a) drone which was, let’s say, meant to hit some Russian targets,” he told The Associated Press.
It was the latest in a string of incidents in recent months in which Ukrainian drones aimed at Russia have crossed or come down in NATO territory, with Western officials blaming what they say is likely Russian electronic jamming of the weapons.
Those incidents have come as Kyiv has steadily ramped up its drone raids, focusing on energy facilities and arms factories deep inside Russia as its domestic technology and scale of production improve.
On Sunday, authorities in Russia said that one of the largest Ukrainian drone strikes on the country killed at least four people, including three near Moscow, and wounded a dozen others.
SWEDEN/FRANCE – Sweden orders 4 frigates from French company Naval Group.
https://www.dw.com/en/sweden-orders-4-frigates-from-french-company-naval-group/a-77208762
The Swedish government on Tuesday announced a deal to purchase four new frigates for its navy from France's Naval Group.
The Nordic country, neutral throughout the Cold War, applied for NATO membership in May 2022 alongside Finland, soon after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It joined the alliance in March 2024 and is seeking to rapidly improve its defense readiness and expand its military.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the military had completed an analysis of three rival bids in search of the one best placed to meet its needs.
"Based on that analysis, the government has now decided that Sweden will purchase four new frigates in a very large international defense-industrial deal," Kristersson told a press conference.
"It is a tripling of Sweden's air defense capability compared with today," the prime minister said.
GAZA/BOARD OF PEACE – Trump’s Gaza board reports funding ‘gap’, urges quicker disbursement.
The gap between funding pledges and disbursement for Donald Trump's Gaza rebuilding plan must be closed urgently, the U.S. president's "Board of Peace" has said in a report, identifying a potential cash crunch in a plan estimated to cost $70 billion.
Trump set up the Board of Peace to oversee his ambitious plan to end Israel's war in Gaza and rebuild the shattered territory. Trump has said it would also tackle other conflicts.
The U.N. Security Council has recognised the board, though many major powers have not joined Washington's main Middle Eastern allies and some middling and smaller states in signing up.
Reuters reported in April that the board had only received a small fraction of the $17 billion pledged by members for Gaza, preventing the president from moving ahead with his plan.
The board denied that report, saying in a statement it was an "execution-focused organisation that calls capital as needed" and that there "are no funding constraints." The money is meant to pay for reconstruction and fund the activities of a new U.S.-backed transitional Gaza government.
PERU/ELECTIONS – Keiko Fujimori leans on father’s legacy as crime fears shape Peru runoff.
Heading to her fourth straight Peruvian presidential runoff, Keiko Fujimori is betting that voter fears over spiraling crime will revive support for a brand of leadership closely associated with her father, who dominated the country's politics in the 1990s.
In previous elections, Keiko had distanced herself from the late Alberto Fujimori, who was jailed for human rights abuses and remains one of Peru's most divisive political figures.
But the 50-year-old conservative has increasingly recast her campaign to embrace his legacy, pledging uncompromising security measures, tough anti-terrorism laws, and an expanded role for the military.
Before casting her first-round ballot on April 12, Fujimori visited her father's grave. She has likened today's criminal gangs to the left-wing Maoist insurgents he defeated during his two terms in office from 1990 to 2000, and she has vowed to use Peru's intelligence services and special forces to fight a "frontal war" on crime and extortion.
"There is a deep collective memory of Fujimorismo," said Luis Galarreta, Keiko Fujimori's running mate and one of her closest allies, in an interview with Reuters. "What was done in the 1990s — the rescue of Peru — still matters."
Alberto Fujimori is credited by his supporters for stabilizing the economy and defeating Shining Path guerrillas during the 1990s, but his critics say he was authoritarian and he was convicted in 2009 of ordering a massacre. He served 16 years in prison before his death in 2024.
CONGO/HEALTH – Congo reports sharp rise in Ebola cases as WHO worries about outbreak’s scale and speed.
The World Health Organization director-general openly worried Tuesday over the “scale and speed” of an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola in eastern Congo, where authorities reported a sharp increase in suspected deaths — to at least 131 — and more than 500 suspected cases.
The virus spread undetected for weeks after the first known death as authorities tested for a more common type of Ebola and came up negative, health experts and aid workers said. The Bundibugyo virus has no approved medicines or vaccines.
Congo’s health minister, Samuel Roger Kamba, said that investigations were underway to determine whether the deaths and 513 suspected cases were “actually linked to the disease.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he is “deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic,” adding that the U.N. health agency will convene its emergency committee later Tuesday. He pointed to the emergence of cases in urban areas, the deaths of healthcare workers and significant population movement.
ROK/JAPAN/ENERGY – South Korea, Japan agree to boost energy cooperation.
https://www.dw.com/en/south-korea-japan-agree-to-boost-energy-cooperation/a-77209237
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi held a fourth meeting in about six months on Tuesday, with both leaders pledging to continue deepening bilateral ties.
The two countries have long had a turbulent relationship over issues related to Japan's 35-year colonization of the Korean Peninsula before the end of World War II, but ties have recently been on the mend.
Both Lee and Takaichi are relatively new to their jobs, having taken office last year.
Following the talks in Andong, Lee's hometown, the two leaders said they would step up coordination to stabilize energy supply lines and expand cooperation with other Asian partners.
"Recent instability in supply chains and energy markets stemming from the situation in the Middle East has further underscored the need for close cooperation between our two countries," Lee said in a joint press statement.
Takaichi said they also launched a bilateral initiative that aims to strengthen the resilience of the energy supply.
She said that included enlarging reserves in the Indo-Pacific region and "assessing energy, security through measures such as mutual swap transactions for crude oil, petroleum products and LNG."
CHINA/MOTHER NATURE – At least 21 killed as heavy rains drench southern, central China.
Torrential rain continued across southern and central China on Tuesday with at least 21 people killed in widespread flooding that also closed schools and businesses, and disrupted transport and power supplies, authorities said.
China's weather agency said areas of Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan faced a high risk of rain-related disasters, including landslides, flash floods and severe urban flooding and waterlogging.
Authorities said they have allocated 150 million yuan ($22.04 million) for disaster relief and launched emergency responses in several affected areas.
Many residents in Jingzhou, a city in central Hubei, were knee-deep in water and able to catch fish swimming in the streets, according to images posted on Chinese video platform Douyin. Some cars were nearly completely submerged on roads surrounded by residential and commercial buildings.
SPAIN/COURTS – Spanish ex-PM Zapatero investigated over airline bailout.
https://www.dw.com/en/spanish-ex-pm-zapatero-investigated-over-airline-bailout/a-77211823
Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, an ally of current Socialist Premier Pedro Sanchez, is being investigated for alleged influence peddling and related crimes, the country's top criminal court said on Tuesday.
Zapatero has thus become the first Spanish prime minister — current or former — to be formally investigated by the judiciary since Spain's return to democracy following the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.
The announcement comes as Sanchez himself is under pressure amid an investigation into alleged kickbacks involving key members of his inner circle, as well as probes focusing on his wife and his brother.
The investigation is part of so-called Plus Ultra case, which centers around the state bailout of the domestic airline Plus Ultra through the state holding company SEPI during the coronavirus pandemic.
The €53 million ($62 million) bailout, which came in 2021 and thus years after Zapatero had left office in 2011, was sourced from COVID-19 recovery funds.
Zapatero is seen by critics as having possibly facilitated the aid, since he is known to have maintained business ties in Venezuela, where some of Plus Ultra's shareholders are based.
He has been summoned to testify before a judge on June 2.