Portal:Current events/2021 February 26

February 26, 2021 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2019–2021 Persian Gulf crisis
- Iran–Israel proxy conflict
  - An explosion hits Israeli-owned cargo ship MV Helios Ray in the Gulf of Oman, no injuries are reported among its 28 crew members. Israeli media reports, citing unnamed Israeli government officials, that Iran was likely behind the blast. (Bloomberg)
Zamfara kidnapping
- At least 317 girls are kidnapped by armed bandits raiding a secondary school hostel in the Nigerian state of Zamfara. (Al Jazeera)
2019–2021 Iraqi protests
- Security forces opens fire against a crowd of demonstrators during anti-government protests in Iraq, killing 3 people and wounding 47 others. Two other protestors were also killed in the past days during the renewed anti-government protests. (Al Jazeera)
War in Donbass
- Ukraine reports 10 ceasefire violations in the Luhansk region. (Unian)
Batwa–Luba clashes
- An NGO vice-president met with 70 members of the Twa and Bantu in Nyunzu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, to ensure lasting peace in Nyunzu Territory. (Radio Okapi)
Ituri conflict
- Claude Ibalanky, the coordinator of the National Monitoring Mechanism of the Addis Ababa Agreement (MNS) at a workshop organized by the MNS and the MONUSCO in Kinshasa, revealed that there are string-pullers in Kinshasa taking advantage of the instability in eastern Congo. (Radio Okapi)
Allied Democratic Forces insurgency
- The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) kill three civilians in an ambush on the Beni-Kasindi road. Congolese and MONUSCO troops positioned nearby then clashed with the ADF forcing them to retreat. (Radio Okapi)

Business and economy

Aftermath of the GameStop short squeeze
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission temporarily halts the trading of 15 stocks, most of which were penny stocks, out of concern that online users were coordinating to artificially raise their value. (Bloomberg)
A Rossiya Airlines Boeing 777-300ER cargo plane is forced to make an emergency landing at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, after engine sensor problems. These engine problems cause Boeing stock to drop 5.6%. (Fox Business)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
    - Hong Kong begins administering its first vaccines to the general public with Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine. (CNA)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - Indian government announces that people can choose their COVID-19 vaccination centres when the vaccination campaign expands next week. (Zee News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
    - Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin issues a new regulation that authorises mutual assistance vaccine programme so the private companies can buy state-approved vaccines to vaccinate their staff. (Tempo.co)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
    - South Korea launches a mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19 using the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine, with the first shot administered to some 200 nursing homes across the country. (Nikkei Asia)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam
    - Vietnam approves the emergency use of American-made Moderna and Russia's Sputnik V vaccines. (dpa International)
- COVID-19 pandemic in North America
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Nebraska
      - Nebraska reports their first case of the Lineage B.1.1.7 variant in a woman in her 20s from Douglas County. (Lincoln Journal Star)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
    - Health Canada authorizes the use of Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine and a related vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India, which have been considered as separated vaccine. (CTV News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium
    - Belgium puts easing of major COVID-19-related restrictions on hold for another week following the rise of COVID-19 infections, due in part the spread of Lineage B.1.1.7 variant. (ABC News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Finland
    - Authorities in Greater Helsinki orders the closure of public and private facilities, such as gyms, indoor sports venues, saunas, playgrounds and swimming pools for two weeks beginning March 1 as part of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. (Yle)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia
    - Slovenia reports their first case of the 501.V2 variant first detected in South Africa in person from the area of Maribor in the north-east of the country who has recently travelled from Africa. (STA)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
    - Spanish health ministry announces that people under 55s who have already infected COVID-19 will be given just a single dose of the vaccine, six months after infection. (The Local Spain)
- COVID-19 pandemic in South America
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina
    - Argentina's Health Minister Carla Vizzotti tests positive for COVID-19. (El Día)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
    - The Brazilian federal capital Brasília enters a 24-hour lockdown for all non-essential services amid a surge in COVID-19 cases that has pushed the city's intensive care units to near full capacity with more than 80% of the beds occupied. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Ivory Coast
  - Ivory Coast becomes the second country to receive coronavirus vaccines via the COVAX initiative, with 500,000 doses of Oxford–AstraZeneca's vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India arriving in the country. (Africanews)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Papua New Guinea
  - Papua New Guinea reports a record 89 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 1,228. (France 24)

International relations

2021 Myanmar coup d'état
- Myanmar's Ambassador to the United Nations Kyaw Moe Tun defects while addressing the UN in New York, and calls for the international community to take the "strongest possible action" to remove the military junta from power. (France 24)

Law and crime

Begum v Home Secretary
- The UK Supreme Court rules that ISIL supporter Shamima Begum is forbidden from returning to the United Kingdom to appeal the revocation of her citizenship. This overturns the decision by the Court of Appeal, citing four errors in their ruling. (CNN)
Arnel Joseph, a powerful Haitian gang leader, is shot dead by police a day after escaping from prison during a riot, which resulted in the death of eight people. Forty more prisoners who escaped are captured, while others are still on the run. (Al Jazeera)
The Biden administration releases a previously classified intelligence report on the assassination of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, confirming that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman had approved of the assassination. (New York Times)