diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 71036b3d7..721d5282a 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+Overview of changes leading to 1.2.6
+Friday, April 8, 2016
+====================================
+
+- Blacklist GDEF table of another set of Times New Roman (Bold) Italic.
+- DirectWrite backend improvements.  Note: DirectWrite backend is
+  exclusively for our internal testing and should NOT be used in any
+  production system whatsoever.
+
+
 Overview of changes leading to 1.2.5
 Monday, April 4, 2016
 ====================================
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e3eb2627d..44621c9a8 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 AC_PREREQ([2.64])
 AC_INIT([HarfBuzz],
-        [1.2.5],
+        [1.2.6],
         [http://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=harfbuzz],
         [harfbuzz],
         [http://harfbuzz.org/])