It’s been a whirlwind of a year, hasn’t it? A lot has happened in 2018, some brought sorrow — like the floods in Kerala, the wildfires in Greece, the earthquake in Papua New Guinea, the Lionair crash, the shootings in the U.S. and more. However, there has been time to rejoice too — like the Winter Games, resuming voting in Iraq, the football World Cup, COP24 environmental summit in Katowice, Poland, where key decisions were taken and more. Here are snapshots of some happy moments.
Royal wedding
You can’t talk about the year without mentioning a story that sounds like it came straight out of a fairytale — where a commoner married Prince Charming. Sounds too good to be true right? But it did happen. On May 19, Meghan Markle walked down the aisle to marry Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex (and currently sixth in the line of succession to the British throne) which led her to become the Duchess of Sussex. What makes this story even more special is that Meghan is the first woman of colour to be married into the Royal family.
When nations meet
Two presidents meeting seems like a normal thing, right? Well it isn’t when the two nations leaders are meeting for the first time in history. On June 12, history was made when President Donald Trump of the U.S and North Korean Leader, Kim Jong-un met in Singapore. Both countries have been enemies and no leaders of either nations have ever met previously — or even spoken on the telephone! After the meeting, the leaders signed a document, promising a new relationship between the nations.
Blockbuster hits
What was your favourite new movie of the year? This year has been one for superheroes with “The Avengers: Infinty War”, “The Incredibles 2” and “Spiderman - Into Spider Verse”. But, there’s also been “Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindlewald” and “Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom”. But, the most talked-about movie of the year was, “Black Panther”, which not only did well in terms of making money but was considered a success for it’s nod to stronger female characters and for its diversity in casting. It was also the first film shown at a cinema in 35 years in Saudi Arabia since being reopened.
Hot and cold
In January, the hottest desert in the world experienced something very rare. The town of Ain Sefra, Algeria, on the edge of the Sahara desert, was hit by snow. It happened for the third time in 40 years. So you can imagine everyone’s surprise when the unimaginable happened. Up to 16 inches of snow fell on the Sahara Desert, which melted away in 90 minutes and the temperatures dropped to almost -1°C. Strange eh?
Flying high and fast
Creating history on February 19, Avani Chaturvedi became the first Indian woman to fly the MiG-21 Bison, solo — a feat that has helped shatter gender stereotypes in a male-dominated profession. Almost two-and-a-half years ago, in June 2016, Chaturvedi, along with Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh, made history by becoming India’s first female fighter pilots. It was a great and proud moment for women.
Recap of 2018:
- Word of the Year : According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the most searched word online this year was ‘Justice’. Other popular words of the year include ‘Epiphany’, ‘Respect’ and ‘Excelsior’.
- Most searched : Google said that in 2018 the most searched terms included the word ‘good’. From ‘good news’ to ‘how to be a good role model’ and so on.
