Major World Events Happening During 2018

A lot happened in the world in 2018 – a year of many firsts. From the historic thawing of the Korean standoff, Donald Trump’s political ups and downs, killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, to the royal wedding, here are some major events that happened in 2018:

Saudi Women Allowed To drive Saudi women took the wheel with gusto this year, steering their way through the busy city streets minutes after the age-old ban on women drivers was lifted in the country on 24 June. This came as a culmination of years of campaigning by activists and feminists against the driving ban. While the ban itself has been lifted, the Kingdom is, nevertheless, prosecuting those who campaigned for its end. Samar Almogren, a talk show host and writer, had said: “I always knew this day would come. But it came fast. Sudden. I feel free like a bird.” US Misile attack In Syria

Facing his biggest foreign policy crisis since taking office, US President Donald Trump took the toughest direct US action yet in Syria's six-year civil war, with the military launching cruise missile strikes against a Syrian airbase controlled by President Bashar al-Assad's forces. The attack, which left nine people dead, including four children, saw 59 Tomahawk missiles launched from US Navy warships in the Mediterranean Sea. “America stands for justice. Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behaviour have failed. It is in the vital national security interest of the US to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” Trump said in a statement after the attack. Quakes in Indonesia

Earlier this year, a series of powerful quakes hit Lombok, Indonesia, killing more than 550 people on the holiday island and neighbouring Sumbawa. The death toll in Indonesia's quake-Tsunami disaster nearly doubled to the initial hit, leaving more than 800 dead. Ill-equipped rescuers struggled to reach scores of trapped victims, as health officials resorted to mass burials and desperate residents looted shops for food and water. Indonesia is one of the world's most disaster-prone nations. It lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide and many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. Bill Cosby Arrested

With his Hollywood career and good-guy image in ruins, an 81-year-old Bill Cosby was sentenced, on 25 September, to three to 10 years behind bars for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman, becoming the first celebrity of the #MeToo era to be sent to prison. The punishment all but completed the dizzying, late-in-life fall for the comedian, former TV star and breaker of racial barriers. Prosecutors had asked a US court to sentence Cosby to 5-10 years for sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, saying he had shown "no remorse" for his actions. Trump Meets Kim

After months of speculation and U-turns, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had a ‘successful’ one-on-one talk at Singapore’s Sentosa island on 12 June. Trump summed up the summit saying that the two countries have an “excellent relationship”, as Kim committed to ‘complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula’ in a joint ‘comprehensive document’ signed between the two countries. Earlier in the year, Trump had boasted that his nuclear button was "much bigger" and "more powerful" than the North Korean leader's. Harry Marries Meghan

Britain's Prince Harry and American actor Meghan Markle were pronounced husband and wife on 19 May by the Archbishop of Canterbury in a glittering union that brought a measure of modern Hollywood glamour into the 1,000-year-old monarchy. The newlyweds are now known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, putting them in the senior ranks of British royalty. The world's media was gripped by the occasion, and television channels beamed the ceremony across the world. To some Britons, the wedding of a senior member of the royal family to a divorcee whose mother is African-American and father is white embodied a modern Britain where race or background are no bar to even the most elite and traditional of institutions. California Wildfire

A massive wildfire that killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of homes wreaked havoc in Northern California this year. The fire was fully contained after burning for more than two weeks on 25 November. The nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century killed at least 85 people, and 249 are on a list of those unaccounted for. The fire began on 8 November, in the parched Sierra Nevada foothills and quickly spread across 240 square miles (620 square kilometers), destroying most of Paradise in a day.