Current events: 2025-02-26

[Wikipedia Current Events]

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Somali Civil War
  • African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia
    • The Somalian government and the African Union finalize the troop distribution for the new peacekeeping mission AUSSOM, resolving prior disputes with Ethiopia and later Burundi. The mission will deploy 11,900 personnel, including soldiers, police, and civilian staff. Under the agreement, Uganda will contribute 4,500 troops, followed by Ethiopia with 2,500, Djibouti with 1,520, Kenya with 1,410, and Egypt with 1,091. (VOA)
• Sudanese civil war, 2024 famine in Sudan
  • The United Nations-operated World Food Programme announces it has been forced to temporarily cease the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Zamzam refugee camp in North Darfur, Sudan, due to an escalation in fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in the region. Doctors Without Borders also temporarily ceased operations in the camp last week. (DW)

Arts and culture

• Conservation and restoration of Pompeian frescoes
  • In a historic discovery, archeologists find monumental frescoes at the House of Thiasus in Pompeii, Campania, Italy, providing insight into the Dionysian Mysteries. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• 2025 United States tariffs against the European Union
  • United States President Donald Trump announces impending 25% tariffs on the European Union, which he states will be generally applied to sectors such as the automotive industry. (The Guardian)
• BP announces an agreement with the government of Iraq to develop four oil fields around Kirkuk and increase production, with the value of BP's investment estimated at US$25 billion. (Society of Petroleum Engineers)

Disasters and accidents

• Eighteen people are killed and 31 others are injured when a bus overturns in Prachinburi province, Thailand. (CTV News)

Law and crime

• 2025 Romanian presidential election
  • Călin Georgescu, who received the most votes in the annulled 2024 presidential election, is detained by police and taken for questioning by the general prosecutor's office over allegations of false statements about financing sources, illegal possession of weapons, and forming an organization that is "fascist, racist, or xenophobic". (AP)

Politics and elections

• Censorship in the United States, Gulf of Mexico–America naming dispute
  • The Trump administration bans reporters from the Associated Press, Reuters, Der Tagesspiegel, and HuffPost from the White House over their refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America". (Reuters)
• Constitutional crisis in Somalia
  • Somalia's Federal Parliament fails to meet due to a lack of quorums, with only 137 MPs present, two short of the required amount. The delay raises concerns about a potential no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre's council of ministers. (Hiiraan Online)

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