Portal:Current events

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian conflict
  • United States intervention in Syria
    • U.S. officials say the United States Armed Forces will withdraw all remaining troops from Syria, formally ending its 12-year military presence in the country. (The Wall Street Journal)

Disasters and accidents

• A gas explosion at a lead mine in Bashar, Plateau State, Nigeria, kills at least 38 miners working underground and injures 27 others. (AFP via Arab News)

International relations

• China–Poland relations
  • Poland bans all Chinese-made vehicles from entering its military sites, citing data security concerns regarding onboard sensors. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Terrorism in Australia
  • Australia issues a temporary exclusion order barring one citizen held in a Syrian detention camp from returning to the country under counter-terrorism legislation, citing the citizen's possible links to Islamic State members. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• 2026 Japanese general election
  • Sanae Takaichi is re-appointed Prime Minister of Japan by the House of Representatives after winning the legislative election. (AP)
• 2028 Philippine presidential election
  • Philippine vice president Sara Duterte announces her candidacy in the next presidential election. (AFP via France 24) (Reuters)

Science and technology

• Human rights in Gabon
  • Gabon indefinitely suspends access to social media platforms YouTube and TikTok citing concerns they undermine social cohesion and threaten national security. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Eastern Ukraine campaign, Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
    • Three Sloviansk Thermal Power Plant engineers are killed and another is injured in a Russian drone attack on a vehicle in Mykolaivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (RBC-Ukraine)
  • At least six people are injured and buildings and vehicles are damaged in large-scale Russian strikes on Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. (RBC-Ukraine)
• Red Sea crisis
  • The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations says a vessel and a skiff exchanged small-arms fire southwest of Aden, Yemen. (The Jerusalem Post)

Business and economy

• 2026 Cuban crisis
  • Canadian mining firm Sherritt International announces that it will suspend operations in Moa, Holguín, Cuba, after planned fuel deliveries were not fulfilled due to the U.S. blockade affecting oil shipments to the island. (AA)

Disasters and accidents

• At least four people are killed and 29 others are injured in a more than 30-vehicle pileup in Pueblo, Colorado, United States. (WLS-TV) (Times Now)
• At least three servicemen are reportedly killed and several others are injured in an explosion at a military commandant's building in Sertolovo, Leningrad Oblast, Russia. (News.Az) (Al Jazeera)
• Six backcountry skiers are rescued and ten others are reported missing in an avalanche on the Donner Pass northwest of Lake Tahoe in California, United States. (KABC-TV)

International relations

• 2026 United States–Iran crisis
  • Iran partially closes the Strait of Hormuz for several hours due to military exercises and warns the United States to avoid a military escalation. (Euronews) (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Killing of Quentin Deranque
  • French police arrest nine people, including an aide to legislator Raphaël Arnault, in connection with the fatal beating of Quentin Deranque during clashes between far-left and far-right groups in Lyon last week. (AFP and Reuters via Al Jazeera)
• Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
  • An Azerbaijani military court sentences former Republic of Artsakh state minister Ruben Vardanyan, who was arrested in 2023 while leaving the region after Azerbaijan regained control, to 20 years in prison for terrorism, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. (Reuters)
• A man is killed and eight children are injured in a shooting at a park in San Francisco del Rincón, Guanajuato, Mexico. (AFP via Gulf News)
• An 18-year-old is arrested after running towards the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., with a loaded shotgun, multiple rounds of ammunition and a tactical vest. (Reuters) (WJLA-TV)

Politics and elections

• Impeachment of José Jerí
  • The Peruvian Congress removes president José Jerí from office following a scandal over undisclosed meetings with Chinese businessmen. (Reuters)
• Premiership of Tarique Rahman
  • Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Tarique Rahman is sworn in as the 11th prime minister of Bangladesh following the party's victory in the recent election. (The Guardian)

Science and technology

• Solar eclipse of February 17, 2026
  • An annular solar eclipse lasting up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds is visible from Antarctica, for the first time since 2014, the Southern Ocean, and the South Indian Ocean, and partially observed in Africa, Argentina, and Chile. (EclipseWise) (AP) (hub.pl)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Sudanese civil war
  • Kordofan Campaign
    • Twenty-eight people are killed in a drone strike on a crowded market outside Sodari, North Kordofan, Sudan. (AFP via Al Arabiya English)
• Operation Southern Spear
  • United States strikes on alleged drug traffickers during Operation Southern Spear
    • Eleven people are killed after U.S. forces launch strikes on three alleged drug smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. (Sky News)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Two people are killed, including a child, and 12 others are injured in a motorcycle bombing near a police station in Bannu District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (Sky News)
  • Twenty-four people are killed, including 12 attackers and a child, and seven civilians are injured in an attack on a security post in Bajaur District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (AP via CTV News)
• Colombian conflict
  • Colombia's search unit for missing persons identifies and returns the remains of Camilo Torres Restrepo, a Catholic priest and leader of the National Liberation Army who was killed in combat in 1966. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• A Pikachu Illustrator Card, a Pokémon trading card, sells at auction for US$16,492,000, breaking the record for the most expensive collectible card ever sold. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• Seven people are killed, 10 others are trapped and some escape in a fire at a chemical factory in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, India. (NDTV)
• Six people are killed and 46 others are injured when a bus overturns on the BR-153 highway near Marília, São Paulo, Brazil. (Al Jazeera)
• Five people are killed and five others are injured in a fire at a five-story apartment building in Manlleu, Catalonia, Spain. (Sky News)
• At least 42 people are injured, including ten critically, in a fire at an industrial unit in Faridabad, Haryana, India. (Hindustan Times)
• Five people are injured when a passenger train derails near Goppenstein, Ferden, Valais, Switzerland. (BBC News)

Law and crime

• 2026 Pawtucket shooting
  • Three people, including the suspect, are killed, and three others are injured in a mass shooting at an indoor ice rink in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States. (WPRI-TV)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Middle Eastern crisis
  • Gaza war
    • Eleven Palestinians, including several militants, are killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza. (BBC News)
  • Hezbollah–Israel conflict
    • Four people are killed in an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle targeting Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives in Majdal Anjar, Beqaa Governorate, Lebanon, near the Lebanon–Syria border. (Al Arabiya English)
• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian war
    • Widespread power outages are reported by authorities in several oblasts in Russia, including Belgorod and Bryansk, following a large-scale Ukrainian missile and drone attack on Russian power stations. Bryansk Oblast governor Alexander Bogomaz confirms the regional capital Bryansk has lost most of its electricity and heat supply. (The Kyiv Independent) (RBC-Ukraine)
• Somali Civil War
  • Jubaland forces and American troops conducted a four-day operation that killed more than 60 al-Shabaab insurgents in Lower Juba, Jubaland, Somalia. (Hiiraan Online) (Horseed Media)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Three people are killed and several others are injured in a drone strike by the Rapid Support Forces on a hospital in Sennar State, Sudan. (TRT World)

Arts and culture

• 2026 Cuban crisis
  • Cuba's Habanos S.A. suspends the annual Habanos Cigar Festival in Havana amid a sharp decline in tourists and a severe shortage of fuel due to the ongoing U.S. blockade. (Havana Times)

Disasters and accidents

• Eleven people are killed and eight are injured after a bus collided with a trailer in Khairpur district, Pakistan. (Dawn)
• Eight people are killed and two others are injured in an explosion and fire at a fireworks store in Donghai County, Jiangsu, China. (Xinhua)
• Five people are killed and several others are injured when a car jumps a meridian and collides with a bus near Nelamangala in Karnataka, India. (The Hindu)
• Two skiers are killed and another is injured in an avalanche on the Italian side of Mont Blanc. (The Independent)
• One person is killed and 13 others are injured in a fire at a shopping mall in Marib, Marib Governorate, Yemen. (Reuters)

International relations

• Myanmar–Timor-Leste relations, War crimes in the Myanmar civil war
  • Myanmar's military government orders Timor-Leste's chargé d'affaires to leave the country within a week after the Chin Human Rights Organization reported that Timor-Leste initiated a universal jurisdiction case alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity against the junta. (AFP via CNA)
• 62nd Munich Security Conference
  • The Philippines signs military defense cooperation pacts with Estonia and Italy at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. The agreements will particularly expand cooperation in cybersecurity and capacity building for their respective armed forces. (Manila Standard)

Law and crime

• Operation Midas
  • Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau arrest former energy minister German Galushchenko at the state border for his alleged involvement in a ₴4 billion (US$100 million) kickback scheme in the energy sector. (AFP via The Straits Times)

Politics and elections

• Israeli occupation of the West Bank
  • The Cabinet of Israel approves new measures to expand land registration in the occupied West Bank and facilitate land purchases by Israeli settlers. (Reuters)
• 2026 Portuguese presidential election
  • Voting is held in the remaining polling stations and freguesias that had postponed it due to the storm training's impact. (Sul Informação)

Sports

• 2026 NASCAR Cup Series
  • 2026 Daytona 500
    • In stock car racing, 23XI's Tyler Reddick wins the 68th running of the Daytona 500. (The New York Times)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Communal conflicts in Nigeria
  • Gunmen launch simultaneous attacks on three communities in Niger State, Nigeria, killing at least 46 people and kidnapping a number of others. (AFP via The Daily Star)
• Islamist insurgency in Burkina Faso
  • Seven Ghanaian traders are killed when Islamist insurgents attack Titao, Loroum Province, Burkina Faso, with the assailants burning the bodies and a vehicle. (Reuters)
• Mexican drug war
  • Gunmen attack a bar in Puebla, Mexico, killing three people and wounding five others. Authorities confirm the arrest of four criminals related to the attack. (Aristegui Noticias)

Business and economy

• Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund
  • Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund agree to modify conditions for a proposed US$8.2 billion, four-year lending program, easing certain requirements including planned tax increases on entrepreneurs above a higher revenue threshold. (Reuters)

International relations

• Ethiopia–Sudan relations
  • Ethiopia revokes Reuters journalists' accreditation in response to an article on February 10 that alleged the Ethiopian military was supporting the Rapid Support Forces in the Sudanese civil war by running secret training camps for its fighters. (Bloomberg)

Law and crime

• Death and funeral of Alexei Navalny
  • France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom assess that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in prison after being poisoned by epibatidine, a neurotoxin found in South American poison dart frogs. (NBC News)

Sports

• 2026 Winter Olympics
  • Brazilian ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen wins gold at the men's giant slalom, becoming the first Brazilian and first South American athlete to win a medal at a Winter Olympics. (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Operation Southern Spear
  • United States strikes on alleged drug traffickers during Operation Southern Spear
    • The United States Armed Forces says it has conducted an airstrike on a boat suspected of transporting illegal narcotics in the Caribbean Sea, killing three people. (Reuters)
• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian war
    • Two electricians are killed and five other people are injured in a Ukrainian missile strike on energy infrastructure and a residential area in Belgorod, Russia. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Epstein files
  • UAE-based DP World CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem resigns and leaves the company with immediate effect amid controversy over his connection to convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whom he exchanged hundreds of emails with over a decade. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• Seven people are killed in a multiple-vehicle collision in Hoskote, Karnataka, India. (The Hindu)
• Six people are trampled to death by wild elephants near Hazaribagh district, Jharkand, India. (The Hindu)
• Five people are killed after a police vehicle, carrying provincial police and government personnel that was securing the organizers of a national pageant, falls off a cliff in Don Victoriano, Misamis Occidental, Philippines. (GMA News)
• Four people are killed after an Epic E1000 aircraft crashes at Steamboat Springs Airport in Colorado, United States. (Aviation Safety Network)
• Three people are killed and 22 others are injured in a fire at a residential building in Budakeszi, Hungary. (AP)
• Three people, including two British tourists, are killed in an avalanche near Val-d'Isère, France. (BBC News)

Law and crime

• 2022 Raleigh shootings
  • Eighteen-year-old Austin Thompson, the perpetrator of a mass shooting that killed five people in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., in 2022, is sentenced to life imprisonment without parole after pleading guilty to five counts of first-degree murder last month. (WRAL-TV)
• 2025–2026 Iranian protests
  • Iran releases on bail three reformist political figures, including former legislator Ebrahim Asgharzadeh and Union of Islamic Iran People Party secretary-general Azar Mansouri, who were arrested during a recent crackdown on dissent. (Reuters)
• United Kingdom and the Gaza war
  • The High Court of Justice rules that the British government's decision to designate the pro-Palestinian activist group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization is unlawful and disproportionate, while allowing the ban to remain in force pending appeal. The judgment prompts police to suspend further arrests linked to support for the group. (CNN)

Politics and elections

• 2026 Bangladeshi general election
  • The Bangladesh Nationalist Party wins a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections, winning 209 seats in the first election since the July Revolution that toppled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. (Reuters)
• 2026 Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill
  • Angus Taylor replaces Sussan Ley as Leader of the Opposition following a leadership spill in the Liberal Party. Ley subsequently resigns from politics, triggering a by-election in her Farrer seat. (The Guardian)
• 2027 Salvadoran legislative election
  • Milagro Navas, the mayor of La Libertad Este and El Salvador's only opposition-aligned mayor, announces that she will run for re-election in 2027. (El Mundo)

Business and economy

• German economic crisis
  • Lufthansa staff conduct a one-day strike to protest the airline's cost-cutting measures, grounding at least 460 flights and affecting nearly 70,000 passengers. (DW) (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025–26 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • At least 31 people are killed, 36 others are injured, and several are missing as Cyclone Gezani makes landfall in Madagascar. (DW)
• 2026 Sarajevo tram derailment
  • A tram derails in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, killing one person and injuring four. (Sarajevo Times)

Health and environment

• Environmental policy of the second Trump administration
  • United States president Donald Trump revokes the Environmental Protection Agency's 2009 endangerment finding, which classified greenhouse gases as a threat to public health and formed the legal basis for federal climate regulations, and concurrently rescinds vehicle emission standards. (AFP via ABS-CBN)
• Greenhouse gas emissions by China
  • The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air reports that China's carbon dioxide emissions remained flat or declined slightly in 2025 by about 0.3%, marking the first full calendar year in which emissions in China did not rise despite increasing energy demand, largely due to expanded renewable energy capacity. (AFP via France 24)

International relations

• China–Japan relations
  • 2025–2026 China–Japan diplomatic crisis
    • The Japanese fisheries agency seize a Chinese fishing vessel and arrest its captain who failed to stop for inspection within Japan's exclusive economic zone off Nagasaki Prefecture, marking the first such seizure since 2022. (AFP via Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• Dominican Republic–United States relations
  • The United States announces the closure of its Drug Enforcement Administration office in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, citing unspecified corruption concerns within the mission. (AFP via Jamaica Observer)
• Kenya–Somalia relations, Somali Civil War
  • Kenyan president William Ruto announces the reopening of the country's Mandera border post with Somalia in April, ending a 15-year closure imposed in 2011 following attacks attributed to al-Shabaab, after earlier reopening plans were delayed due to renewed violence near the border. (AFP via Daily Sabah)

Law and crime

• Connections of Jeffrey Epstein
  • Former Norwegian prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland is charged with gross corruption over connections with American sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. (BBC News)
• Two people are killed and another is injured in a shooting at a South Carolina State University dormitory building in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. (NBC News)

Politics and elections

• 2026 Bangladeshi general election
  • Bangladeshis vote to elect members of the Jatiya Sangsad. (BBC News)
• 2026 Barbadian general election
  • Projections of early morning results indicate that incumbent Barbadian prime minister Mia Mottley will win a third term in office, with the Barbados Labour Party securing all 30 seats in the House of Assembly for the third election in a row. (Reuters)
• Internet in Portugal
  • Portugal's parliament approves, on first reading, a bill requiring explicit parental consent for children aged 13 to 16 to access social media, mandating age verification through the state's electronic identification system and imposing fines of up to 2 percent of global revenue on companies that fail to comply. (Reuters)

Sports

• 2026 Winter Olympics
  • The International Olympic Committee disqualifies Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych from competing due to his helmet, which has images of Ukrainian athletes killed by Russian Armed Forces. (NPR)