2026

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 crises and 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. The conflict also spilled over into Lebanon. It has been in a ceasefire since April 7, with the Hormuz Strait reopening. Early in April, NASA launched the Artemis II lunar flyby mission as the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "2026", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.