Headlines for February 17, 2026

Reverend Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate, has died at his home in Chicago at the age of 84. He was a member of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s inner circle, marching alongside him for civil rights. He was with Dr. King when he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. Reverend Jackson was the founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago. He was the first African American to greet South African President Nelson Mandela when he came out of jail in 1990. Here’s Reverend Jesse Jackson on Democracy Now! back in 2017 shortly after President Trump first took office. He spoke about expanding the constitutional right to vote.

Rev. Jesse Jackson: “When we got the right to vote in 1965, Blacks couldn’t vote. White women couldn’t serve on juries in the South. Eighteen-year-olds couldn’t vote. You couldn’t vote bilingually. You could not vote bilingually. But we were able to challenge that and get proportional representation and democratize democracy.”

After headlines, we’ll hear more from Reverend Jesse Jackson’s past appearances on Democracy Now!

A second round of indirect talks between the Trump administration and Iranian officials is underway in Geneva, Switzerland. Ahead of the talks, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it’s willing to discuss limits to its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, adding that Iran will not accept zero uranium enrichment. On Monday, Iran’s military staged war games in the Strait of Hormuz, as the U.S. Navy steamed a second aircraft carrier strike group toward the Arabian Sea. U.S. officials said on Friday that Trump is considering an attack on Iran that could last for weeks.

Meanwhile, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who’s been pushing for the U.S. to topple Iran’s government, was in Tel Aviv on Monday, a visit he said was to reassure the Israeli people that there’s no gap between President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran policy.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: “There are two lines in the water right now. One is a diplomatic line, trying to find a way to end this regime diplomatically that will advance our national security interest. The other line is the military option. I think President Trump is looking for which line can catch the biggest fish. The bottom line is, we’re into weeks, not months, in terms of decision-making.”

Ukrainian and Russian officials are also meeting in Geneva today for U.S.-brokered peace talks, just days ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia is demanding that Ukraine give up 20% of the eastern region of Donetsk, which Ukraine refuses to do. Ahead of the talks, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse traveled to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky and vowed to pass a sanctions bill aimed at Russia. Senator Blumenthal also said the U.S. should supply Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles and that the Pentagon should help guarantee Ukraine’s security under any deal to end Russia’s war.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal: “There have to be an ironclad, airtight security guarantees as the linchpin for peace. Ukraine needs and deserves a guarantee from the United States, not just European powers, that it will be actively engaged if Russia again attacks.”

In Gaza, a senior Hamas leader involved in the ceasefire negotiations tells Drop Site News that Hamas will not agree to demands that it unilaterally disarm. Basem Naim also said that Hamas will not submit to Israel’s demand for a total demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. This comes amid reports that President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Be