A look back at some of the biggest moments of 2018.
GLOBAL NEWS
- 1. In Saudi Arabia women were finally given the right to drive.
- 2. Almost 30 million people tuned in to watch Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s wedding. Meghan Markle also became the first biracial person to ever marry into the British royal family.
- 3. Banksy’s “Girl With Balloon” artwork sold for $1.4M, then immediately self-destructed.
- 4. For the first time since 1958, a North Korean leader crossed into South Korea.
- 5. Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to a ceasefire, bringing peace for the first time in 22 years.
- 6. After three weeks, all 12 boys and their coach from the Thai soccer team were rescued from a flooded cave.
- 7. Venice experienced its worst flooding in 10 years.
- 8. British people flew a giant Trump baby balloon outside parliament to protest his visit to the UK.
- 9. A devastating fire destroyed as much as 90% of the collections at The National Museum of Brazil.
- 10. The 2018 California wildfire was the most destructive wildfire season on record in the state.
CANADA
11. Canada became the second nation in the world to legalize marijuana.
12. Canada passed a law banning the captivity of whales and dolphins.
13. The new $10 bill featuring civil rights activist Viola Desmond finally entered circulation.
14. The federal government announced that it would be shelling out $4.5 billion to buy the existing Trans Mountain pipeline from Kinder Morgan.
15. After nearly 14 months of negotiations, Canada announced a new trilateral trade agreement with the United States and Mexico called the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), which replaced NAFTA.
16. Alek Minassian was arrested after driving a van into pedestrians on a busy sidewalk in Toronto, killing 10 and injuring 14 others.
17. Bruce McArthur was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of seven men.
18. The 2018 Winter Olympics were officially Canada’s most successful Winter Games ever with 29 medals.
19. “Rotating” strikes from Canada Post were ended by government legislation after 5 weeks.
20. On April 6, a bus carrying 29 members and staff of the Humboldt Broncos team collided with a semi-trailer truck on a rural highway, killing 16 and injuring 13 others.
TECHNOLOGY
21. News broke that Cambridge Analytica had gathered the personal data of millions of Facebook members without their consent – the first of many scandals that plagued Facebook this year.
22. Fortnite mania brought in over $1 billion in revenue and, as of November, had 200 million registered players.
23. Thousands of Google employees around the world walked out of their jobs to protest the company’s mishandling of sexual harassment allegations.
24. In May, Netflix briefly surpassed Disney in overall valuation for the first time ever, becoming the world’s most valuable media company.
25. Since its January peak, the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has fallen by about 80 percent, shedding almost $700 billion.
ENTERTAINMENT
26. Jodie Whittaker debuted as the first female Doctor on “Doctor Who.”
27. Marvel icon Stan Lee passed away.
28. Harry Potter turned 20 years old this year.
29. Kevin Hart was forced to step down as host of the Oscars when past homophobic tweets resurfaced.
30. Kim Kardashian helped free Alice Johnson from prison.
31. Bill Cosby was convicted in April on three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault and later sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison.
32. Black Panther’s $202 million opening weekend was the fifth-highest of all time and best ever for a February release. The movie crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide just weeks later.
33. Ariana Grande’s tumultuous year of love and loss.
SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
- 34. Researchers developed a 10-minute cancer test.
35. The first baby was born following a uterus transplant from a deceased person.
36. Scientists discovered 157 new species in Southeast Asia.
37. Scientists developed a plastic-eating enzyme.
38. An orca named Tahlequah carried the body of her dead calf for seventeen days.
39. Global carbon emissions reached an all-time high in 2018.
40. A Chinese scientist shocked the world when he revealed that he had secretly produced the world’s first gene-edited babies.
41. In an alarming study, scientists reported dramatic losses in the numbers of insects worldwide.
42. In November, scientists voted to change the definition of a kilogram, tying it to the Planck constant.
43. The world’s last male northern white rhino died in March.
HUMAN RIGHTS
44. Ireland voted and repealed its abortion ban.
45. India’s Supreme Court decriminalized consensual gay sex.
46. Africa saw a “huge and significant decline” in female genital mutilation.
47. El Salvador freed a woman who had been jailed for giving birth to her rapist’s baby in a toilet.
48. France passed a new law against street harassment.
49. Iceland made it illegal to pay women less than men.
SPACE
50. SpaceX broke records by launching 64 satellites into orbit.
51. SpaceX conducted the highly anticipated test flight of the Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful rocket, carrying a 52. cherry red Tesla roadster to an orbit beyond Mars.
52. Scientists found a “Ghost particle” that traveled 3.7 billion light-years to Earth.
53. Scientists captured the sounds the sun makes for the first time.
54. NASA launched a mission to “touch the sun”, called the Parker Solar Probe. By 2025 the probe will come within 4 million miles of the sun’s surface, the closest any man-made object has been to any star.
POP CULTURE
55. From his bizarre speeches at the White House and TMZ to his Twitter feud with Drake – basically anything Kanye West did this year.
56. Yanny vs. Laurel.
57. The “In My Feelings” challenge.
58. Roseanne Barr’s Racist Tweets and the subsequent cancellation of the “Roseanne” reboot.
59. Kylie Jenner’s birth announcement.
60. Logan Paul’s channels were removed from YouTube’s Google Preferred programme following backlash to his Suicide Forest video.
61. The fashion and entertainment world lost two stars to suicide this year; Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade.
BUSINESS
62. Boeing unveiled a jet capable of completing the world’s longest flight.
63. Toys “R” Us began shutting all of its U.S. locations this year.
64. Elon Musk stepped down from his role as Tesla Inc.’s chairman and paid a $20 million penalty to settle fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
65. Donald Trump ignited a trade war with several countries, including Canada, China and Germany.
66. General Motors announced that it will be shutting production at five facilities in North America and cut up to 14,000 jobs.
67. After a year-long search and interest from hundreds of cities, Amazon announced New York City and Northern Virginia as their new headquarters.
MUSIC
68. Kendrick Lamar won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Music.
69. Beyonce became the first black woman to ever headline Coachella.
70. Childish Gambino released ‘This is America.’
71. Spotify’s most streamed song of 2018 was “God’s Plan” by Drake, racking up over 1.1 billion streams. Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You” was the most viewed music video on YouTube.
72. Music icon Aretha Franklin passed away this year.
SPORTS
73. More than half of the globe’s population aged four and over (3.572 billion) tuned in to watch the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
74. Rafael Nadal won his 11th French Open title.
75. The United States Supreme Court legalized sports gambling.
76. Ronda Rousey made her WWE debut at WrestleMania 34.
77. Larry Nassar was sentenced to 40-125 years for sexually abusing gymnasts under his care. By mid-May, 332 victims had come forward.
78. France became the 2018 World Cup champions.
FASHION
79. Michael Kors bought Versace for $2 billion.
80. Dolce and Gabbana faced a massive public relations disaster in China, leading to the cancellation of their Shanghai runway show.
81. London Fashion Week went fur-free.
82. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Heavenly Bodies” exhibition became the most-visited exhibition in the museum’s history.
83. Hubert de Givenchy passed away aged 91.