Journalism of Courage
Express Rewind: A look back at major events that shaped 2018
1 / 27US President Donald Trump shook hand with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as the world witnessed the unprecedented meeting between the heads of the states of United States and North Korea, something that neither sides chose to do ever since the latter's inception in 1948. (AP Photo)
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2 / 27In a significant development, Saudi Arabia did away with the legal constraints that kept women from driving cars in the kingdom. The move was widely perceived as a leap in the direction of social reform. (Photo: Reuters)
3 / 27Former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan won the General Elections in August and succeeded Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to become the 22nd Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. (AP Photo)
4 / 27In July, a “blood moon” captivated eclipse-watchers in large parts of the world. Not only was it the century’s longest total lunar eclipse, it also happened when Mars was at its closest to Earth, and the Red Planet was also visible near the red Moon. (AP Photo)
5 / 27Canada became the first industrialised nation and the second nation overall to legalise recreational cannabis. (AP Photo)
6 / 27Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin wins election and gets sworn in as Russia’s President for a historic fourth term in May. Putin has been the President of the world's largest country for 18 years and will be in power for another six years. (AP Photo)
7 / 27G7 summit (June): This photograph with a seemingly adamant Donald Trump, surrounded by world leaders including Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, and Shinzo Abe got viral on the internet. The photo became a representational image for a stubborn Trump, unwilling to cooperate with other leaders of the world. (Photo Courtesy: Jesco Denzel)
8 / 27Former US President George HW Bush dies at 94. United States eulogised its leader who led the nation during the the final months of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Gulf War. (AP Photo)
9 / 27Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has been in news throughout the year, primarily, for his country's crisis hit economy, the ugliness of which has often been manifested in violent protests and resulting government clampdown. (Photo: AP)
10 / 27South African President Jacob Zuma resigns from his office after party protests and allegations of graft. (Photo: Reuters)
11 / 27Seven years after the start of the Syrian war, schools reopen in Raqqa. Education has been one of the worst casualties in the war that has sent millions of Syrians looking for refuge in other countries. (Photo: Reuters)
12 / 27The Thai cave rescue which successfully extricated members of a junior football team trapped in Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai Province attracted a lot of media attention in the months of June-July. (Photo: AP)
13 / 27Britain's hide and seek with its exit from the European Union witnessed its Prime Minister Theresa May as being a constant news maker throughout 2018. Recently, she walked out during a parliament session as Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn criticised government's actions. (Photo: Reuters)
14 / 27The American state of California suffered from the aftermath of the most devastating wildfire in its history. After an extended dry season, powerful winds swept flames through Paradise town in Northern California, killing at least 88. (AP Photo)
15 / 27The killing of dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul resonated internationally in a powerful way. In the weeks since he disappeared, his case became a top story and a focal point for outrage. (Photo: Reuters)
16 / 27A 30-day period of martial law came to effect in 10 of Ukraine's 27 regions in December, with President Petro Poroshenko saying it aims to prevent an all-out Russian invasion. (Photo: AP)
17 / 27Political crisis erupted in Maldives after President Abdulla Yameen circumvented the Supreme Court order to release 9 political prisoners and reinstating 12 parliament members. (Photo: AP)
18 / 27In October, China officially opened the world's longest sea bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China, significantly cutting the travel time from between the three territories from three hours to just 30 minutes. The 55-km-long crossing that cost a whopping $20 billion is dubbed as an engineering feat carrying economic and political significance at a time when Beijing is seen tightening its grip over its semi-autonomous territories.
19 / 27In this July 15, 2018 file photo, France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris lifts the trophy after France won 4-2 during the final match between France and Croatia at the 2018 soccer World Cup in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo)
20 / 27A severely malnourished boy rests on a hospital bed in Hajjah, Yemen. Chilling images of malnourished Yemenis have resulted in fears that a catastrophic man-made famine could engulf the country in the coming months. The United Nations warns that the number of Yemenis relying on emergency rations, eight million, could soon rise to 14 million. That’s about half Yemen’s population. (AP Photo)
21 / 27Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez became Cuba’s new President in April as 86-year-old President Raul Castro stepped down, after finishing his second full five-year term. (Photo: AP)
22 / 27Scenes of debris in tsunami-hit Indonesia. Waves rose 20 feet, which surprised some scientists who said they wouldn’t normally associate such high levels of destruction with the kind of earthquake that preceded the tsunami. (Photo: AP) (AP Photo)
23 / 27A constitutional crisis unfolded itself in Sri Lanka as President Maithripala Sirisena appointed former president Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister and dismissed the incumbent PM Ranil Wickremesinghe. (Photo: Reuters)
24 / 27South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wave during a car parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, September 18, 2018. (Photo: Reuters)
25 / 27Communist Party of China proposed to remove the two-term limit for the president and vice-president, virtually enabling Xi Jinping to become China's leader for a lifetime. (Photo: Reuters)
26 / 27Worst street riots seen in Paris since the student protests of May 1968. Mobs of protesters rampaged through exclusive neighbourhoods, fighting off riot police as they trashed posh villas and cafes, set vehicles on fire, and vandalised some of the French capital’s most revered and globally recognised landmarks. (Photo: Reuters)
27 / 27Syrian war grows into its seventh year. The conflict has claimed the lives of at least 5,00,000 people and displaced millions of Syrians, triggering a much larger migrant crisis impacting European nations across the Mediterranean. (Photo: Reuters)
