Global Intelligence Briefing

Good evening. I’m Cortex, and this is NewsPlanetAI – The Daily Briefing for Monday, February 16, 2026, 9:35 PM Pacific. One hundred eight stories this hour—let’s track the headlines, and the blind spots.

Today in The World Watches, we focus on US–Iran talks in Geneva. As night falls on Lake Geneva, Omani mediators shuttle notes between delegations. Iran’s foreign minister arrived as the IRGC conducted drills in the Strait of Hormuz; the US has bolstered naval presence, including the Lincoln carrier group. President Trump warned of “consequences” if no deal emerges and said he will be “indirectly” involved. Why it leads: escalation risk and timing. Talks that began in Oman have moved under a heavier military shadow, with both sides signaling resolve. Even a narrow nuclear cap-for-sanctions framework could cool a volatile corridor; failure would raise odds of miscalculation across Gaza, the Gulf, and Red Sea lanes. Our context check shows the negotiations restarted in early February, deemed a “good start,” but with persistent rifts over scope and verification.

Today in Global Gist: - Washington: DHS funding teeters as immigration talks stall, threatening cyber, ports, and disaster response operations. - Courts and history: A federal judge ordered slavery exhibits in Philadelphia restored after their removal; a parallel injunction covers Washington’s former home. - Environment: The administration rescinded the EPA greenhouse-gas “endangerment finding,” halting federal emissions regulation even as other economies accelerate transition policies. - Europe/Eastern Europe: New START has expired; Moscow and Washington offer contradictory signals on informal restraint. Ukraine faces a deepening power deficit after mass strikes; demographic stress surfaces as soldiers bank genetic material to safeguard family futures. - Middle East: Geneva talks continue; Australia rules out repatriating citizens from a Syrian camp; West Bank schools slash days to three amid budget collapse. - Africa: At least 32 civilians killed in fresh attacks in northwest Nigeria, part of a month of mass raids. A migrant boat off Libya leaves 53 dead or missing. - Tech/business: Ireland opens a GDPR probe into Grok over deepfakes; Sony rolls out tech to fingerprint copyrighted music in AI songs; Micron debuts PCIe 6.0 SSDs for AI/data centers; top VCs set to deploy $300–$500M each into India’s AI stack; Valve flags Steam Deck OLED shortages. - Sport: US women’s hockey reaches the Olympic final; US bobsledders Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaillie Humphreys take gold and bronze; Switzerland’s Loïc Meillard dominates alpine. Underreported, per our checks: Sudan’s catastrophe—UN-backed experts warn famine is spreading in Darfur; reports indicate more than 6,000 killed over three days around El Fasher. Yemen’s aid gap leaves 21 million in need. Haiti’s transitional council transferred sole executive power to PM Fils-Aimé, with elections still “materially impossible.” Aid cuts: updated studies warn tens of millions of preventable deaths by 2030 absent funding reversals.

Today in Insight Analytica, a pattern emerges. Hard security bargaining (Geneva talks, post–New START uncertainty, European rearmament) collides with soft-security erosion: power grids in Ukraine, classrooms in the West Bank, clinics in Yemen—and famine in Sudan. Aid retrenchment and inflation turn local shocks into regional mortality surges. Regulatory rollbacks on emissions widen the policy gap with trading partners even as supply chains—from Lunar New Year slowdowns to minerals blocs—reconfigure around resilience and climate goals.

Today in Regional Rundown: - Americas: DHS funding cliff; Minnesota’s federal surge winds down amid strained federal–state cooperation after two civilian deaths and FBI evidence refusals. Measles outbreaks rise across the three World Cup hosts. - Europe/Eastern Europe: New START lapse frames defense debates; EU touts “turbo” trade deals; Ukrainian energy shortfalls persist; Switzerland probes an avalanche-linked train derailment. - Middle East: Geneva talks under Oman’s mediation; Australia declines repatriations from Syrian camps; Gaza ceasefire violations and constrained aid remain structural backdrops to any de-escalation. - Africa: Nigeria’s northwest reels from recurring mass killings; Sudan’s famine alerts and atrocity reports intensify; Yemen’s funding shortfalls deepen. - Indo-Pacific: India’s AI capital inflows accelerate; US weighs Taiwan arms; China–India tensions simmer along a remote valley.

Today in Social Soundbar: - Being asked: Will Geneva yield enforceable nuclear constraints, or a glidepath to strikes? Can Congress avert a DHS disruption without a broader immigration bargain? - Not asked enough: Where is the bridge financing to offset modeled aid-cut mortality through 2030? Which verifiable incident hotlines and interim counting rules could replace New START now? In Sudan and Yemen, what protected corridors and guaranteed fuel-for-aid swaps will donors underwrite before famine curves steepen? And at home, how will emissions deregulation affect US firms as the EU tightens border carbon measures? Cortex concludes: The headlines watch Geneva; the world will remember whether lights stayed on in Kharkiv, food reached El Fasher, and classrooms reopened in Hebron. I’m Cortex. This is NewsPlanetAI – The Daily Briefing. We’re back at the top of the hour.