Portal:Current events/2026 February 19
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February 19, 2026 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Sudanese civil war
- Kordofan campaign
- At least three aid workers are killed and four others are injured in a drone attack by the Rapid Support Forces and Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North on an aid convoy in South Kordofan, Sudan. (Al Jazeera)
- Kordofan campaign
Disasters and accidents
- Eighteen people are killed and three others are injured when two trucks collide head-on near Port Said, Egypt. (Egypt Today)
- Sixteen people are killed and several others are injured after a gas explosion which then caused the building to collapse in Karachi, Pakistan. (Al Jazeera)
- Six firefighters are killed and another is injured when a fire engine plunges off a cliff in Xinhua County, Hunan, China. (Xinhua)
- At least four people are killed and 17 others are injured when a truck transporting liquid gas crashes and explodes in Santiago, Chile. (Reuters)
- A person is killed and five others are injured in Pétion-Ville, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, when a high-voltage power line breaks and falls into a public market. (Reuters)
- Five miners are trapped underground and presumed dead in a diamond mine after a mudslide in Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa. (AP) (Reuters)
Law and crime
- 2026 political prisoner release in Venezuela
- Acting Venezuelan president Delcy Rodríguez signs a general amnesty bill into law, enabling the release of hundreds of political prisoners, including former National Assembly vice president Juan Pablo Guanipa. (AFP via Business Recorder) (AP)
- Arrest of Yoon Suk Yeol
- Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol is sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of leading an insurrection when he declared martial law on December 3, 2024. (The Korea Herald) (Reuters)
- Connections of Jeffrey Epstein
- In the United Kingdom, police arrest royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on charges of misconduct in public office related to his links to convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He is later released from police custody. (AP) (BBC News)
Politics and elections
- Andrey Gyurov is sworn in as Prime Minister of Bulgaria. (AP)
- United States president Donald Trump says he has ordered defense secretary Pete Hegseth and other relevant department heads to "begin the process" of releasing classified government files related to extraterrestrial life and UAPs. (AFP via France 24) (The Wall Street Journal)
Science and technology
- Scientists discover a new dinosaur species (Spinosaurus mirabilis) deep in the Sahara Desert. (ABC News)
Sports
- 2026 Winter Olympics
- Ski mountaineer Oriol Cardona wins the men's sprint event and captures Spain's first Winter Olympics gold medal in 54 years. (NBC)