World news

World news

A day after the U.S. women captured gold in hockey, the U.S. men's team's quest for the same hardware continues Friday at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Team USA will face Slovakia in the semifinals after hanging on to defeat Sweden in overtime on Wednesday. Quinn Hughes, who scored the game-winning quarterfinal goal, called facing Slovakia in the next round "an extremely hard test." The No. 3 seed dominated Germany 6-2 to advance to play the U.S.

Petro said he had invited Rodriguez to meet in the border city of Cucuta to discuss energy cooperation and infrastructure projects. Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez has announced that she and Colombian President Gustavo Petro agreed to hold a bilateral meeting to discuss security issues, as well as economic and energy matters. We continue to promote a relationship of understanding and shared benefits for the wellbeing of our peoples, Rodriguez said in a post shared on Instagram on Wednesday.

An explosion at a fireworks shop in central China's Hubei province has killed at least 12 people, state media reported, marking the second deadly blast linked to fireworks as the country celebrates the Lunar New Year. The explosion tore through the shop in Xiangyang on Wednesday afternoon. Emergency crews extinguished the blaze soon after, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Morocco was confirmed in 2023 as a co-host alongside Spain and Portugal, a decision that animal rights groups say has coincided with an alleged campaign to cull stray dogs in several cities. Activists argue the effort is intended to make urban areas and tourist hotspots appear cleaner and safer ahead of the 2030 tournament, as the country seeks to attract international visitors, fans and media attention.

Through a new land registration drive, Israel is trying to secure through paperwork what warfare alone has failed to deliver. Israel always had a plan to annex more land in the occupied West Bank, and its actions prove it. This week, the Israeli cabinet approved a plan to claim Palestinian lands in the West Bank as state land. The proposal, pushed by far-right Israeli leaders, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defence Minister Israel Katz, emphasises Israeli supremacy over Palestinians.

A fire broke out at a restaurant in Singapore's historic Chinatown district on the second day of Chinese New Year, casting an eerie red glow over streets packed with festive revellers and prompting a swift emergency response. No injuries were reported, but the blaze - which struck during one of the busiest periods of the lunar calendar - has renewed scrutiny of fire preparedness in the city-state's densely packed commercial heritage zones.

The British government has not given permission for the US to use UK military bases to support potential US strikes on Iran, the BBC understands. The US has in the past used RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, and the UK overseas territory of Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, to carry out strikes in the Middle East region. A UK government spokesperson said: "As routine, we do not comment on operational matters."

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who previously raised concerns about the Chagos deal while serving as the Florida senator, issued an emphatic statement giving the agreement his full backing on behalf of the US. Today, the United States welcomed the historic agreement between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Mauritius on the future of the British Indian Ocean territory specifically, the Chagos archipelago.

Managed by the US state department and the US Agency for Global Media, the programme broadly called Internet Freedom funds small groups all over the world, from Iran to China to the Philippines, who built grassroots technologies to evade internet controls imposed by governments. It has dispensed well over $500m (370m) in the past decade, according to an analysis by the Guardian, including $94m in 2024.

I think it's ludicrous to be perfectly honest, he told Guardian Australia, describing the works as an anti-fascist statement and noting the shut down had caused the cancellation of an interstate band's performance.

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The United States is preparing to pull back the nearly 1,000 troops from its military that remain in Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing three US officials. Al Jazeera was not immediately able to independently verify the report on Wednesday. list of 3 itemsend of list Last week, the US military confirmed it was withdrawing from the al-Tanf base, located in southern Syria near borders with Iraq and Jordan.

Today is Thursday, Feb. 19, the 50th day of 2026. There are 315 days left in the year. Today in history: On Feb. 19, 1878, inventor Thomas Edison was issued a patent for the phonograph. Also on this date: In 1473, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland. In 1847, the first rescuers reached members of the Donner Party, who had been snowbound in the Sierra Nevada near the California-Nevada border for nearly four months.