“The talks have not broken down, but they have not really yielded any results.” Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid explains what happened—and what didn’t—at the third round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.
Published On 18 Feb 202618 Feb 2026
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The second day of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia ended after just two hours.
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La Mirada finally got its breakthrough win in the Southern Section Open Division basketball playoffs on Friday night, going on the road to defeat St. John Bosco 56-53.
The Matadores (23-7) wanted to be in the Open Division playoffs last season and went 1-3, failing to make the state playoffs. They lost to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame on Wednesday, in a pool-play opener, ending their 14-game winning streak, then came back to inflict a rare home defeat on St. John Bosco in a pool play game. St. John Bosco had a chance to tie the score at the end but a three-point attempt failed.
Jordyn Houston led La Mirada with 22 points. St. John Bosco faces Notre Dame on Tuesday. La Mirada is in good position to claim second place in the pool and advance to the quarterfinals.
Harvard-Westlake 67, Damien 62: Joe Sterling finished with 22 points to help the Wolverines get back into the win column in an Open Division pool play game.
Corona Centennial 74, Etiwanda 48: The Huskies rolled to a win in their Open Division opener.
Crespi 82, Corona del Mar 70: The Celts faced a large, enthusiastic road crowd and won their first Open Division game. Isaiah Barnes scored 24 points and Jasiah Williams 23. Maxwell Scott scored 35 points for Corona del Mar.
JSerra 75, Loyola 46: Jaden Bailes scored 22 points in the Division 1 playoff victory.
Mater Dei 85, Westlake 59: It was another dominating win for the Monarchs in Division 2.
Rolling Hills Prep 63, Orange Lutheran 52: Josahn Webster, the son of King/Drew coach Lloyd Webster, contributed 23 points for Rolling Hills Prep.
Shalhevet 42, Palm Springs 41: Sam Jacobsen had the game-winning basket for Shalhevet in a Division 4-A game.
Venice 58, Sun Valley Poly 40: The Gondoliers advanced in the City Section Division I playoffs.
BUENOS AIRES — Argentina and the United States said they reached an expansive trade deal Thursday, boosting President Javier Milei as he moves to open up the South American nation’s notoriously protectionist economy and reflecting the close alliance between the radical libertarian and President Trump.
Argentina’s foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, posted a selfie on social media showing him and several diplomats beaming after emerging from a meeting in Washington where he said they’d signed the pact.
“Congratulations to our team and thanks to the U.S. Trade Representative’s team for building this great agreement together,” Quirno wrote. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative also confirmed the deal.
The countries announced a framework for the agreement in November, saying Argentina would ease restrictions on a range of American imports, including cattle, dairy products, medicines, chemicals, machinery, medical devices and vehicles. Those were key concessions for Argentina, where local industries long protected by steep tariffs have expressed concern about their ability to compete with American manufacturers.
The U.S., for its part, would remove reciprocal tariffs on imports of “certain unavailable natural resources” and ingredients for pharmaceutical goods from Argentina, according to the framework.
At the time, the White House reached similar frameworks with Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador — part of what it described as an effort to improve the ability of American firms to sell industrial and agricultural products in Latin American countries and bring down food prices for U.S. consumers.
Officials did not immediately offer details about the final version of the U.S.-Argentina deal signed Thursday.
The agreement marks the latest development in the close alliance between Trump and Milei, who has reshaped Argentine foreign policy to align with the U.S., earned Trump’s praise for stabilizing his nation’s crisis-prone economy and traveled to the U.S. more than a dozen times in the last two years. Milei is scheduled to appear at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate next week to speak at a gala.
Trump supported Milei’s fiscal program last year with a $20-billion credit line that succeeded in calming markets and boosting Milei’s prospects in a crucial midterm election in October. The U.S. Treasury also directly purchased U.S. dollar-denominated Argentine bonds that ratings agencies were classifying as “junk” at the time and snapped up the volatile local currency that Argentines were dumping in droves.
The extraordinary intervention drew backlash from across the U.S. political spectrum.
Trump’s MAGA base questioned the need to bail out a far-flung country that’s not only of little importance to the U.S. but also directly competes with its exports of corn, wheat, meat and oil.
Democratic lawmakers expressed outrage that Trump was staking taxpayer money on a political gift to an ideological soulmate.
That criticism has continued, with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, on Thursday appealing to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to end the $20-billion lifeline.
In a letter, she wrote that even though the Treasury promised its credit line for Argentina “was for an acute, short-term, and urgent purpose, it appears … to have left open the possibility of continued use.”
Debre writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.