January , Switzerland, where a
fire kills 41 people and injures 116 others on January 1 , which resulted in the capture of the
Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and
first lady Cilia Flores on January 3 on January 16 due to allegations of fraud over the
general election, won by incumbent President
Yoweri Museveni Pedro Sánchez and government officials inspecting the
Adamuz rail disaster site during an official visit •
January 1 •
Bulgaria adopts the
euro, becoming the 21st member state of the
eurozone. •
Cyprus begins its role as President of the
Council of the European Union. • 41 people are killed and 116 injured in
a fire at a bar in
Crans-Montana, Switzerland. •
January 2 –
Equatorial Guinea moves its capital from
Malabo to
Ciudad de la Paz. •
January 3 – The
United States launches
several airstrikes on multiple locations across northern
Venezuela, capturing
Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and
first lady Cilia Flores. •
January 5 –
Delcy Rodríguez is formally sworn in as the acting
president of Venezuela after the capture of
Nicolás Maduro. •
January 6 • The
2025 Jubilee ends. •
Fighting between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish armed group
Syrian Democratic Forces begins. •
January 7 – The United States seizes two
shadow fleet tankers, including one under a
Russian flag, in the
United States oil blockade during Operation Southern Spear. •
January 8 –
Thongloun Sisoulith is re-elected as the
General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party at the
12th Central Committee's first meeting. •
January 8–
9 –
Iran retaliates against nationwide
protests, with
tens of thousands reportedly killed on the 8th and 9th alone, and many thousands more detained amid a severe government crackdown. •
January 9 –
2025–2026 Southern Yemen campaign: The
Southern Transitional Council announces its dissolution following territorial losses, including its capital
Aden. •
January 11 – The
2026 Beninese parliamentary election is held. •
January 14 –
Operation Arctic Endurance is launched by
Denmark, with multiple European countries sending troops to
Greenland in response to
US President Donald Trump's
threats of invasion or annexation of the island. •
January 15 –
2026 Ugandan general election: Incumbent President
Yoweri Museveni wins reelection amidst
protests over allegations of election fraud, leading to deaths of dozens of protestors and the abduction of main opposition candidate
Bobi Wine. •
January 18 – 46 people are killed and 291 injured after
two trains derail in
Adamuz, southern Spain. •
January 19–
23 – The
56th World Economic Forum is held in
Davos, Switzerland. •
January 20 – The
Syrian transitional government captures most of the
territory held by the
Syrian Democratic Forces following an
offensive and subsequent ceasefire. •
January 22 • The United States officially leaves the
World Health Organization. •
France seizes one
shadow fleet tanker, under a
Russian flag, in the
Mediterranean. •
January 23 •
Tô Lâm is re-elected as the
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam at the
14th National Congress. •
Iliana Iotova becomes the first female
President of Bulgaria after the resignation of
Rumen Radev. •
January 24 – At least 70 people are killed and 10 others missing after
major landslides in
West Java, Indonesia. •
January 25 –
2025–26 Myanmar general election: In an election widely considered as neither free nor fair, the pro-military
Union Solidarity and Development Party wins a supermajority of seats in the
Pyithu Hluttaw and the
Amyotha Hluttaw. •
January 26 – The body of
Ran Gvili, the last remaining Israeli hostage in the Gaza Strip, is recovered by the
IDF from northern Gaza, thus ending the
Gaza war hostage crisis. •
January 27 – The
India–European Union Free Trade Agreement is signed after nearly two decades of negotiations, eliminating tariffs on a broad range of products and services between the two regions. •
January 28 •
Sarah Mullally becomes the first female
primate of the
Church of England and
Archbishop of Canterbury. •
Successive mine collapses at the
Rubaya coltan mine in eastern
Democratic Republic of the Congo kill more than 600 people. •
Storm Kristin causes a catastrophic impact in Portugal and Spain with €6 billion in damage in the central region of Portugal, 15 deaths and 2,000 injuries. •
January 29 •
Ethiopian civil conflict:
Clashes erupt in the
Tigray region in
Ethiopia between
Tigrayan fighters and
Federal Forces. •
Insurgency in Balochistan:
Fighting between the
Balochistan Liberation Army and the
Pakistani armed forces in several districts of
Balochistan, Pakistan, leaves at least 225 people dead. •
January 30 – Three million pages related to the
Epstein files are released to the public, mentioning
many high-profile public figures worldwide.
February held in
Milan and
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, on February 6 on the banks of the
Paraibuna River in
Juiz de Fora,
Minas Gerais, Brazil ,
Ali Khamenei in the Iranian Embassy in
Baku, Azerbaijan following his
assassination on February 28 •
February 1 –
2026 Costa Rican general election:
Laura Fernández Delgado is elected
president of Costa Rica, and
her party additionally wins a majority in the
Legislative Assembly. •
February 3 –
Boko Haram attacks two villages in
Kwara State, Nigeria, killing at least 162 people. •
February 5 – The
New START treaty
limiting strategic nuclear weapons between the
United States and
Russia expires. •
February 6–
22 – The
2026 Winter Olympics are held in
Milan and
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. •
February 6 – At least 31 people are killed and another 100 are injured in
a suicide bombing at the Khadija Tul Kubra
Mosque in
Islamabad, Pakistan. •
February 7 • The
2026 Men's T20 World Cup held in
India and
Sri Lanka begins. • The
Transitional Presidential Council of
Haiti is dissolved, transferring executive power to acting prime minister
Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. •
February 8 •
2026 Japanese general election: Incumbent Prime Minister
Sanae Takaichi wins a
landslide victory, securing a
supermajority in the
House of Representatives. •
2026 Thai general election and
constitutional referendum: Incumbent Prime Minister
Anutin Charnvirakul wins a plurality in the
House of Representatives, and the referendum to begin drafting a new
constitution passes. •
2026 Portuguese presidential election:
Socialist candidate
António José Seguro is elected
President of Portugal in the second round, beating
Chega leader
André Ventura. •
February 10 – At least nine people, including the perpetrator, are killed, and 27 are injured in a
mass shooting at
Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and at a residence in
Tumbler Ridge,
British Columbia, Canada. •
February 11 –
2026 Barbadian general election: Incumbent Prime Minister
Mia Mottley wins every seat in the
House of Assembly in a landslide victory. •
February 12 –
2026 Bangladeshi general election and
constitutional referendum: In this election since the
July Uprising, the
BNP led by
Tarique Rahman wins a supermajority in the
Jatiya Sangsad, and the referendum on the
July Charter passes. •
February 13–
15 – The
62nd Munich Security Conference is held. •
February 17 –
President of Peru José Jerí is
censured by the
Congress of Peru, removing him from office. He is succeeded by
José María Balcázar. •
February 16–
21 – The
AI Impact Summit takes place in
New Delhi, India. •
February 22 •
Kim Jong Un is re-elected as the
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea at the
9th National Congress. • The
2026 Laotian parliamentary election is held. •
2026 Jalisco operation: A military operation in
Tapalpa,
Jalisco, Mexico, kills 62 people including
Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader
El Mencho. •
February 23 –
2025–2026 Dutch cabinet formation:
Rob Jetten is sworn in as
Prime Minister of the Netherlands, heading a
minority government. •
February 26 –
2026 Afghanistan–Pakistan war: The government of
Pakistan declares "open war" against the
Taliban in
Afghanistan. •
February 27 –
2026 Zona da Mata floods: Floods and landslides in the
Zona da Mata region of
Minas Gerais, Brazil leave at least 70 people dead and thousands of others displaced. •
February 28 –
2026 Iran war: Israel and the United States launch attacks on Iran,
killing many high-profile officials, including Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei. Iran launches retaliatory strikes against Israel, as well as against US military bases in the
Persian Gulf, and
closes the Strait of Hormuz by attacking vessels that try to pass.
March becomes the
Supreme Leader of Iran on March 8, following his predecessor and father
Ali Khamenei's
assassination •
March 1 –
Abiemnom massacre: At least 169 people are killed and 50 injured when armed youth from
Unity State attack
Abiemnom County in
South Sudan. •
March 2 –
2026 Lebanon war:
Hezbollah begins launching strikes against Israel in retaliation for the assassination of
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. •
March 4 –
2026 Iran war: The United States
sinks the Iranian warship
IRIS Dena in the
Indian Ocean with a torpedo, resulting in 140 sailors missing. •
March 5 –
2026 Nepalese general election: The
Rastriya Swatantra Party led by
Balen Shah wins a landslide victory. •
March 5–
17 – The
2026 World Baseball Classic is held in
Japan and the
United States. •
March 6–
15 – The
2026 Winter Paralympics are held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. •
March 6–
7 –
2026 Kenya floods: At least 66 people are killed after floods across
Kenya. •
March 8 •
2026 Iranian supreme leader election:
Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of
Ali Khamenei, is selected as the third
Supreme Leader of Iran. •
India beats
New Zealand in the
2026 Men's T20 World Cup final and secures its third title. •
March 13 •
2026 Iran war: The
United States Air Force conducts a large bombing
raid on Kharg Island, a key oil export hub off the
Persian Gulf coast of Iran. •
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel confirms that Cuba is in talks with the
Trump administration to find solutions to the
oil blockade in the country. •
March 15 •
2026 Kazakh constitutional referendum: The new Constitution of Kazakhstan is accepted with 90% in favor. •
2026 North Korean parliamentary election:
General Secretary Kim Jong Un's
Workers' Party wins a landslide majority in the
Supreme People's Assembly. •
2026 Vietnamese legislative election: The
Communist Party led by General Secretary
Tô Lâm wins almost all the seats in the National Assembly. •
2026 Republic of the Congo presidential election: Incumbent President
Denis Sassou Nguesso wins reelection in a landslide victory. •
March 16 –
2026 Kabul hospital airstrike: At least 400 people are killed and more than 250 injured in Pakistani airstrikes on a hospital in
Kabul, Afghanistan. •
March 17 –
2026 Iran war:
Ali Larijani, the
Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, is
assassinated by an Israeli airstrike. •
March 2022 The
2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships are held at
Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena Toruń in
Toruń,
BiT City,
Kuyavian–Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. •
March 22 –
2026 Slovenian parliamentary election: Incumbent Prime Minister
Robert Golob wins a plurality of seats in the
National Assembly. •
March 22–
23 –
2026 Italian constitutional referendum: With a higher-than-expected turnout, voters reject a government-backed constitutional reform that would have separated the career paths of judges and prosecutors and split the
High Council of the Judiciary into two bodies. •
March 23 – A Lockheed C-130 of the
Colombian Aerospace Force crashes near
Puerto Leguízamo, Colombia, killing 70 people. •
March 24 •
OpenAI announces that their flagship
Sora app and API are shutting down. The app is officially shut down on April 26, and the API's termination is scheduled for September 24. •
2026 Danish general election: Incumbent Prime Minister
Mette Frederiksen's coalition loses its majority in the
Folketing. •
2026 Iran war: Iran's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs addresses in a letter to the
United Nations that ships not tied to either the
United States or
Israel can pass through the
Strait of Hormuz.
April photo taken on April 6 during Artemis II's lunar flyby in Beirut •
April 1 –
NASA launches the
Artemis II lunar flyby mission, marking the first crewed flight beyond
low Earth orbit since
Apollo 17 in 1972. •
April 6 – The crew of Artemis II breaks the record for the furthest humans have ever been from Earth, reaching a maximum distance of 252,756 miles (406,771 km) as they travel around the
far side of the Moon. •
April 7 •
2026 Vietnamese presidential election: The
National Assembly of Vietnam elects General Secretary
Tô Lâm as the new
president of Vietnam, replacing
Lương Cường. •
2026 Iran war: Following an ultimatum from Trump regarding the
Strait of Hormuz, the United States and Iran agree on a
two-week ceasefire. •
April 8 –
Israel launches a series of
airstrikes across Lebanon, targeting
Hezbollah infrastructure. More than 300 people are killed and over 1,100 injured. •
April 10 •
2026 Djiboutian presidential election: Incumbent President
Ismaïl Omar Guelleh is re-elected for a sixth term in a landslide. • The crew of Artemis II successfully returns to Earth, splashing down safely in the
Pacific Ocean near
San Diego,
California, United States. The four crew members are extracted from the capsule and taken by helicopter to the
USS John P. Murtha. •
April 11 –
2026 Iraqi presidential election: The Iraqi Parliament elects
Nizar Amidi of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) as the new President of Iraq, winning by a landslide with 227 votes in the second round. •
April 12 •
2026 Hungarian parliamentary election: Incumbent Prime Minister
Viktor Orbán loses re-election in a landslide to
Péter Magyar's
Tisza Party, ending 16 years of
Fidesz–KDNP rule. •
2026 Beninese presidential election: Independent candidate
Romuald Wadagni wins in a landslide, getting over 94% of the vote. •
April 13 –
2026 Iran war: A
blockade of Iranian ports by the United States takes effect, with President Trump warning that any Iranian vessels attempting to challenge it will be "immediately eliminated". Maritime authorities advise ships in the region to expect increased military activity and possible interception procedures. •
April 16 –
2026 Lebanon war: A
US-brokered
10-day ceasefire takes effect between
Israel and
Lebanon, following ambassador-level talks in the
White House. •
April 19 –
2026 Bulgarian parliamentary election: The
Progressive Bulgaria coalition, led by former President
Rumen Radev, wins a landslide victory, securing 44% of the vote and an outright majority of seats. •
April 21 –
2026 Iran war: US President Trump announces a further extension of the
ceasefire until an Iranian proposal is submitted and conversations are concluded at the request of
Pakistan. •
April 25 –
2026 Mali offensives: The
Azawad Liberation Front and
JNIM launch several large-scale attacks, targetting major cities across
Mali, capturing
Kidal and parts of
Gao,
Mopti, and
Sevare.
May •
May 1 – The
United Arab Emirates leaves
OPEC, ending six decades of membership and removing one of the organisation's largest oil producers. •
May 2 – The
World Health Organization reports a cluster of severe respiratory illness aboard the Dutch-flagged cruise ship
MV Hondius, later linked to a
hantavirus outbreak. By May 6, European health authorities report seven cases, including three deaths, prompting an international public health response. ==Predicted and scheduled events==