Portal:Current events/2026 February 20

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Middle Eastern crisis
  • Hezbollah–Israel conflict
    • At least 12 people are killed and 33 others are injured in multiple Israeli strikes targeting members of Hezbollah and Hamas across Lebanon. One Hezbollah leader has been reported deceased. (Al Jazeera) (IMEMC) (AFP via Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• Russo-Ukrainian War
  • Crimea attacks
    • One person is killed and several buildings are damaged in Ukrainian drone strikes in Sevastopol, Crimea. (Reuters)
• Operation Southern Spear
  • United States strikes on alleged drug traffickers during Operation Southern Spear
    • Three people are killed in a strike by the United States Southern Command on an alleged drug trafficking vessel in an area of the eastern Pacific Ocean. (Al Jazeera)
• Nigerian bandit conflict
  • At least 50 people are killed and women and children are abducted in overnight attacks by gunmen on a village in Bukkuyum LGA, Zamfara State, Nigeria. (Reuters) (Xinhua)

Arts and culture

• The Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain, reaches its designed height of 172.5 metres (566 feet) after beginning construction in 1882, ahead of the completion of the main building expected later in 2026. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

• Seven people are killed, including a pregnant woman, two children are injured and 3,000 are displaced in three landslides in the provinces of Davao Oriental and Davao de Oro, Philippines. (CTV News) (Philippine Daily Inquirer) (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• Seven Chinese tourists are killed after their van sinks into a frozen-over section of Lake Baikal on Olkhon Island, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. One person was able to escape the vehicle and reach the surface. An investigation into criminal negligence and safety violations is opened. (The Moscow Times) (Reuters)
• Seven people are killed and two others are injured in a collision between a van and a truck in Valsad district, Gujarat, India. (Hindustan Times)
• Five people are killed, another is injured and power outages are reported during a major snowstorm in Linz and Tyrol, Austria. (AFP via Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Health and environment

• The French agriculture ministry authorizes the culling of around 200 wolves, raising the annual removal limit to 21% of the estimated population of over 1,000 animals, with a possible increase to 23%, citing rising livestock losses as wolf numbers expand into agricultural areas and regions near major cities. (Reuters)
• The Galápagos National Park releases 158 captive-bred juvenile giant tortoises onto Floreana Island in the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador, marking the species' return more than 180 years after its local extinction in the 1840s. (BBC News)

International relations

• 2026 Iran–United States crisis
  • Norway relocates some of its approximately 60 military personnel stationed in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East back to Norway and other regional locations, citing security concerns amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States. (Reuters)
• Chile–China relations, Chile–United States relations, China–United States trade war
  • The United States revokes the visas of three Chilean officials, including telecommunications minister Juan Carlos Muñoz, after Chile agreed to build a submarine cable with China. (Bloomberg)

Law and crime

• 2020–2021 Thai protests
  • A Thai court sentences activist lawyer Arnon Nampa, who has been detained since 2023, to an additional two years and eight months in prison for violating the country's lèse-majesté law over remarks made at a 2020 rally. (Reuters)
• Tariffs in the second Trump administration
  • The United States Supreme Court rules in Learning Resources v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not grant the President the power to impose trade tariffs. (CNN)
  • U.S. president Donald Trump signs executive orders aimed at implementing tariffs using Section 122 and Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• The Florida Legislature, in the United States, passes a measure to formally rename Palm Beach International Airport in Palm Beach County, Florida, as the "President Donald J. Trump International Airport". (The Guardian) (Bloomberg) (The Telegraph)

• Clashes in Tirana breakout between Riot Police and opposition party protesters demanding Edi Rama's resignation due to allegations of Belinda Balluku's corruption on the anniversary of Enver Hoxha's statue toppling. (Tirana Times) (Reuters)

Sports

• 2026 Winter Olympics
  • Norway breaks the record for most gold medals at a single Winter Olympics event after skier Johannes Dale-Skjevdal won the country's 17th gold medal in Milan–Cortina, surpassing their own record of 16 gold medals. (The Independent)