2026

January

February

March

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December

2026 (MMXXVI) is the current year, and is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2026th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 26th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 7th year of the 2020s decade.

The year so far has been associated with escalating armed conflicts in the Americas and the Middle East. In early January, the United States launched a military operation in Venezuela and captured sitting President Nicolás Maduro. The intervention led to a blockade of Venezuelan oil exports, contributing to a crisis in Cuba. In February, Pakistan launched airstrikes against Afghanistan, leading to open conflict between both nations. In Iran, in response to authorities cracking down on protests in Iran, the United States and Israel began a war on February 28 with the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which has resulted in widespread economic grief and retaliatory strikes on Gulf Nations, as well as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Outside of armed conflicts, the continued release of the Epstein files which began the previous year has influenced scrutiny, media coverage, and in some cases arrests in the Western World, most notably the British former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

In science and technology, the dominant headline was NASA's Artemis II lunar flyby mission, the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. Artificial intelligence has also continued to advance, with increasing focus on scaling models, infrastructure, and commercial applications. While some high-profile projects such as OpenAI's Sora are being discontinued, development of generative AI—including text-to-video models—has continued across the industry.

Events

January

La Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, where a fire kills 41 people and injures 116 others on January 1
Map of the US airstrikes on Venezuela, which resulted in the capture of the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores on January 3
Protests take place in Uganda on January 16 due to allegations of fraud over the general election, won by incumbent President Yoweri Museveni

February

Flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, on February 6
Flooding on the banks of the Paraibuna River in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Tribute to the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei in the Iranian Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan following his assassination on February 28

March

April

Earthset photo taken on April 6 during Artemis II's lunar flyby
Péter Magyar won the 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election, defeating Viktor Orbán.

Predicted and scheduled events

Date unknown

Deaths

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