Current events: 2026-02-20

Wikipedia Current Events · 2026-02-20T19:23:07-0500

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 dead. (Al Jazeera) (IMEMC) (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)
Nigerian bandit conflict
- At least 50 people are killed and women and children are abducted in overnight armed attacks by gunmen on a village in Zamfara State, Nigeria. (Reuters)

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 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 managed 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)

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)

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)

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, Learning Resources v. Trump
- The United States Supreme Court rules that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not grant the President the power to impose trade tariffs. (CNN)
- Donald Trump invokes immediate, sweeping ten-percent tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 in response to the Supreme Court striking down the previous tariffs. (Al Jazeera)

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)