2018

## Events

### January

* January 13 – The killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud in a fake encounter staged by the police officer Rao Anwar in Karachi, Pakistan sparked countrywide protests against extrajudicial killings. The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (Pashtun Protection Movement), led by Manzoor Pashteen, launched a campaign to seek justice for Mehsud.
* January 20 – Turkey, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announces the beginning of a military offensive to capture a portion of northern Syria from Kurdish forces, amidst the ongoing Kurdish–Turkish conflict.
* January 20–22 – The United States government enters a federal government shutdown as a result of a dispute over Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
* January 24 – Scientists in China report in the journal *Cell* the creation of the first monkey clones using somatic cell nuclear transfer, named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua.
* January 31 – A total lunar eclipse takes place. The Moon appears as supermoon, with perigee being on January 30. It is also the first blue moon eclipse since 1983. It was also referred to as the super blue blood moon.

### February

* February 6 – SpaceX successfully conducts its maiden flight of its most powerful rocket to date, the Falcon Heavy, from LC39A at John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
* February 9–25 – The 2018 Winter Olympics are held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
* February 10 – Kay Goldsworthy becomes the first female archbishop in the Anglican Communion on her installation in the Anglican Diocese of Perth, Western Australia.
* February 11 – Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crashes shortly after take-off from Moscow, killing all 71 people on board.
* February 14
	+ Jacob Zuma resigns as President of South Africa after nine years in power.
	+ A school shooting occurs at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, United States, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others.
* February 18 – Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 3704 crashes in the Zagros Mountains, *en route* from Tehran to Yasuj. All 65 passengers and crew members perish.

### March

* March 4 – Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, are poisoned by the Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, England. UK counter-terrorism police investigate amid speculation the Kremlin was behind the incident.
* March 6 – 2018 Russian Air Force Antonov An-26 crash: An Antonov An-26 transport aircraft operated by the Russian Air Force crashes on approach to Khmeimim air base in Syria, killing all 39 people on board. All of them were servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces, including Major-General Vladimir Yeremeyev.
* March 9–18 – The 2018 Winter Paralympics are held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
* March 9 – President of the United States Donald Trump accepts an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a meeting in May to discuss the denuclearisation of North Korea.
* March 11 – China's government approves a constitutional change that removes term limits for its leaders, granting Xi Jinping the status of "President for Life". Xi is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (paramount leader).
* March 12 – Flight BS211 crashes and bursts into flames at Tribhuvan International Airport, Nepal, killing 51 of the 71 people aboard. The 20 surviving passengers were seriously injured from the impact and the fire.
* March 14 – In response to gun violence in the United States, and particularly triggered by the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, thousands of high school students across the country participate in an organized protest they called the National School Walkout.
* March 18 – In the Russian presidential election, Vladimir Putin is elected for a fourth term.
* March 19 – The world's last male northern white rhinoceros dies in Kenya, making the subspecies functionally extinct.
* March 23 – An Islamic terrorist attack in Carcassonne and Trèbes, France, kills five people, including the perpetrator.
* March 24 – In over 900 cities internationally, people participate in demonstrations against gun violence and mass shootings, calling for stronger gun control in the "March for Our Lives".
* March 25
	+ Qantas launches direct non-stop Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights between Perth Airport and Heathrow Airport, making it the first commercially non-stop service between Australia and the United Kingdom.
	+ At least 64 people die in a fire at a shopping and entertainment complex in the Russian city of Kemerovo.
* March 26 – More than 100 Russian diplomats are expelled by more than 20 countries in the wake of the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.
* March 28
	+ North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un meets Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping, leaving the country for the first time since assuming office in 2011.
	+ At least 78 people die in a fire in the police headquarters of Valencia, Venezuela.

### April

* April 4–15 – The 2018 Commonwealth Games are held in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
* April 5 – Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is given an arrest warrant after a vote by the Supreme Court voted 6–5 in favor of denying his *habeas corpus*, due to corruption and other scandals.
* April 6 – A semi-truck collides with a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos ice hockey junior team in Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 16 and injuring 13 people.
* April 8 – Syrian Civil War: At least 70 people are reported to have died and hundreds suffering injuries after a sarin chemical attack in Douma, the last rebel-held town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta.
* April 11 – 257 people are killed after an Ilyushin Il-76 belonging to the Algerian Air Force crashes near Algiers.
* April 14 – Syrian Civil War: The United States, the United Kingdom and France order the bombing of Syrian military bases in response to the sarin attack allegedly by the Bashar al-Assad regime on civilians in Ghouta.
* April 18
	+ In Nicaragua, protests begin against announced reforms of Social Security which would decrease retirement pension benefits. An estimated number of 34 protesters are killed by police.
	+ Cinemas open in Saudi Arabia for the first time since 1983 with the American film *Black Panther* chosen as the first to be screened.
	+ NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is launched.
* April 19
	+ Miguel Díaz-Canel is sworn in as President of Cuba, marking the first time since 1959 that Cuba has had a president other than Fidel or Raúl Castro.
	+ Swaziland changes its English name, officially becoming the Kingdom of Eswatini.
* April 23 – A vehicle-ramming attack kills 10 people and injures 16 others in Toronto, Canada. A 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, is arrested.
* April 27 – Kim Jong-un crosses into South Korea to meet with President Moon Jae-in, becoming the first North Korean leader to cross the Demilitarized Zone since its creation in 1953.
* April 30 – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuses Iran of not holding up its end of the Iran nuclear deal after presenting a cache of over 100,000 documents detailing the extent of Iran's nuclear program. Iran denounces Netanyahu's presentation as "propaganda".

### May

* May 3
	+ The separatist group ETA officially announces its final dissolution after 40 years of conflict and more than 800 deaths in Spain.
	+ The 2018 lower Puna eruption causes destruction of structures and forces thousands of residents of Hawaii to evacuate as lava floods the land.
* May 5 – NASA's unmanned spaceprobe *InSight* is launched. It is expected to land on Mars in November and use a drill to conduct geological science.
* May 8 – U.S. President Donald Trump announces his intention to withdraw the United States from the Iranian nuclear agreement. In a statement, former U.S. President Barack Obama calls the move "a serious mistake".
* May 8–12 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 is held in Lisbon, Portugal, and is won by Israeli entrant Netta Barzilai with the song "Toy".
* May 9 – The opposition-led Pakatan Harapan coalition, led by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, secures a parliamentary majority in the Malaysian Parliament, ending the 61-year rule of the Barisan Nasional coalition since independence in 1957.
* May 16 – The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Muhammad V, pardons Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim who is immediately released.
* May 18 – Cubana de Aviación Flight 972 crashes shortly after take-off near José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba, killing 112 people and leaving only one survivor.
* May 19 – The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is held at St George's Chapel, England, with an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion.
* May 20 – The Venezuelan presidential election, 2018 was held with incumbent President Nicolás Maduro reelected with 67.8% of the vote and the lowest turnout in Venezuela's modern democratic history since the 1958 coup d'état. The elections were denounced as a "sham" by several Latin American countries, the United States, Canada, the Organization of American States and the European Union.
* May 24 – Foreign journalists report that tunnels in the Punggye-ri nuclear test site have been destroyed by the North Korean government in a move to reduce regional tensions.
* May 25
	+ The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect, imposing strict privacy controls for European citizens worldwide.
	+ A constitutional referendum on whether to repeal the ban on abortion in Ireland takes place, with a landslide win of 66.4% to 33.6% for the repeal side.
* May 31 – The U.S. announces that it will extend its tariffs on imported steel (25%) and aluminium (10%) to include the EU, Mexico and Canada, starting at midnight.

### June

* June 3 – At least 109 people are killed and hundreds wounded by the eruption of Volcán de Fuego, Guatemala's deadliest volcano for over a century.
* June 8–9 – The 44th G7 summit is held in Canada. President Trump pushes for the reinstatement of the G8 (to include Russia). He also proposes the elimination of tariffs.
* June 12
	+ The 2018 North Korea–United States summit is held in Singapore. It is the first summit between a United States President and the North Korean leader.
	+ Greece and the Republic of Macedonia reach a deal to end a 27-year naming dispute between both countries, which would result in Macedonia being officially renamed the Republic of North Macedonia.
* June 13 – FIFA awards hosting rights for the 2026 World Cup to a joint bid from Canada, Mexico and the United States.
* June 14 – July 15 – The 2018 FIFA World Cup is held in Russia and is won by France.
* June 16 – Seventeen people die in Caracas, Venezuela following the El Paraíso stampede after a tear gas canister is detonated in a crowded club.
* June 19
	+ The United States announces it will withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
	+ Canada becomes the first major industrialised country to legalise cannabis for recreational use. The Bill which legalises cannabis took effect on October 17.
* June 22 – July 1 – The 2018 Mediterranean Games are held in Tarragona, Spain.
* June 24 – Saudi Arabia allows women to drive.

### July

* July 5
	+ Lithuania becomes the 36th member of the OECD.
	+ The 2018 North American heat wave takes place, killing 33 people in the Canadian province of Quebec.
* July 6
	+ Former Aum Shinrikyo leader Shoko Asahara and six other main members of Aum Shinrikyo, who led the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack, are executed by hanging.
	+ U.S. tariffs on US$ 34 billion of Chinese goods come into effect, as President Trump suggests the final total could reach $550bn. China accuses the U.S. of starting the "largest trade war in economic history" and announces immediate retaliatory tariffs.
* July 9 – Eritrea and Ethiopia officially declare an end to their twenty-year conflict.
* July 10 – Twelve boys and their football coach are successfully rescued from the flooded Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Thailand, following a 17-day ordeal that gained worldwide attention.
* July 11–12 – The 2018 Brussels NATO summit is held in Belgium.
* July 17 – The EU–Japan Economic Partnership Agreement is signed, the world's largest bilateral free trade deal, creating an open trade zone covering nearly one-third of global GDP.
* July 25 – Scientists report the presence of a subglacial lake on Mars, 1.5 km (0.93 mi) below the southern polar ice cap and extending sideways about 20 km (12 mi), the first known body of water on the planet.
* July 26
	+ Heavy wildfires in Greece leave 102 dead and more than a hundred buildings destroyed.
	+ The share price of Facebook drops by almost 20 percent after the company warns investors that user growth has slowed following the data leak scandal. Over $109 billion is wiped from its market value, the largest single day loss in corporate history.
* July 27 – The longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century occurs, and Mars makes its closest approach to Earth since 2003.

### August

* August 1 – The 2018 Kivu Ebola outbreak begins in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It becomes the second-deadliest outbreak of the Ebola virus on November 29, surpassed only by the 2013 West African Ebola virus epidemic.
* August 2 – Apple Inc. becomes the world's first public company to achieve a market capitalization of $1 trillion.
* August 7 – The United States reimposes sanctions on Iran.
* August 10–20 – Heavy rainfall causes severe floods in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the worst flood to hit the state in a century.
* August 12
	+ The five littoral states – Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan – sign the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, ending the 20-year long dispute over the Caspian Sea's legal status.
	+ NASA launches the unmanned *Parker Solar Probe* to study the Sun at close range and the solar wind.
* August 14 – Part of the Morandi Bridge collapses after a violent storm in Genoa, Italy, causing 43 fatalities. Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio and transport minister Danilo Toninelli blame private company Autostrade per l'Italia.
* August 18 – September 2 – The 2018 Asian Games are held in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia.
* August 20 – 15 years old Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg starts to stay out of school in an attempt to give attention to the climate change issue.
* August 23 – Ecuador withdraws from ALBA.
* August 24 – Scott Morrison succeeds Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister of Australia following a Liberal Party leadership ballot. Morrison is sworn in as Prime Minister later that evening.

### September

* September 2 – A fire breaks out in the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, destroying more than 90 percent of its archive of 20 million items.
* September 6 – The Supreme Court of India decriminalises homosexuality.
* September 20 – The MV *Nyerere* capsizes on Lake Victoria, killing at least 228 passengers.
* September 22 – An attack at a military parade kills 30 people (including 5 attackers) and injures 70 more in Ahvaz, Iran.
* September 28 – A magnitude 7.5 earthquake hits Sulawesi, Indonesia, causing a tsunami that kills at least 4,340 people and injures more than 10,679 others.

### October

* October 2 – *Washington Post* journalist Jamal Khashoggi is murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, triggering a diplomatic crisis for Saudi Arabia.
* October 6 – The United States Senate confirms Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the United States Supreme Court by a margin of 50-48, making it the closest successful confirmation vote of a Supreme Court nominee since 1881.
* October 8 – The IPCC releases its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC, warning that "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society" are needed to ensure that global warming is kept below 1.5 °C.
* October 10 – Hurricane Michael makes landfall at Mexico Beach, Florida as a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 160 mph (260 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 919 mb (27.1 inHg). It is the most intense hurricane to hit the mainland United States since Camille in 1969.
* October 16 – Canada legalises the sale and use of cannabis, becoming the second country in the world to do so, after Uruguay in 2013.
* October 17 – A school shooting and bomb attack in Kerch, Crimea, kills 20 people and injures 70 others.
* October 19
	+ At least 59 people are killed and at least 100 injured when a train runs through a crowd at a Hindu festival in Punjab, India.
	+ The unmanned European-Japanese spacecraft *BepiColombo* is launched on a seven-year journey to Mercury.
* October 20
	+ 700,000 people march through central London demanding a second referendum on the final Brexit deal. The event is the second most attended protest of the 21st century in the United Kingdom after the "Stop the War" anti-Iraq War march in 2003.
	+ President Trump announces that the US will "terminate" the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty over alleged Russian violations.
* October 23 – The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, the world's longest sea crossing bridge, is opened by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
* October 27
	+ Michael D. Higgins is officially declared President of Ireland after receiving 822,566 first preference votes.
	+ 11 people are killed during the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pennsylvania, United States.
* October 28 – The far-right Jair Bolsonaro is elected as the next President of Brazil, with 55% of the vote.
* October 29 – Lion Air Flight 610 crashes off the coast of Java, killing all 189 people on board.
* October 30 – NASA's *Kepler* mission ends after the spacecraft runs out of fuel.

### November

* November 1 – NASA's *Dawn* mission concludes after it runs out of hydrazine fuel.
* November 4 – New Caledonia holds an independence referendum, with 56.4% voting against independence versus 43.6% in favour.
* November 8 – The Camp Fire ignites in Butte County, California. It becomes California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire, with 88 deaths and 18,804 buildings destroyed.
* November 11 – Many nations around the world, particularly ones in Europe and the Commonwealth, along with the United States, commemorate the ending of the World War I centenary with Armistice Day, Veterans Day, and Remembrance Day ceremonies, speeches, parades, and memorials.
* November 26 – NASA's *InSight* probe successfully lands on the surface of Mars.
* November 27 – Ukrainian crisis: Ukraine declares martial law after an armed incident in which the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) coast guard fired upon and captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels attempting to pass from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait.
* November 28 – Chinese scientist He Jiankui, at a public conference in Hong Kong, announces that he has altered the DNA of twin human girls born earlier in the month to try to make them resistant to infection with the HIV virus; he also reveals the possible second pregnancy of another gene-modified baby.

### December

* December 1–8 – France experiences its worst civil unrest since the protests of 1968 due to the yellow vests movement. Protests in Paris morph into riots, with hundreds of people injured and thousands arrested; over 100 cars are burned, the Arc de Triomphe is vandalized and numerous other tourist sites are closed, both in the capital and elsewhere in the country.
* December 3 – NASA reports the arrival of the OSIRIS-REx probe at Bennu, the agency's first sample-return mission to an asteroid.
* December 7 – The U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union reports that, by the end of 2018, more than half – a full 51.2 percent – of the world's population are now using the Internet.
* December 15 – At the Katowice Climate Change Conference, nearly 200 nations agree rules on implementing the 2015 Paris agreement.
* December 17 – Scandinavian tourists Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Maren Ueland are murdered by Islamic terrorists in the foothills of Mount Toubkal near to the village of Imlil in Morocco. At least one victim is beheaded with the murders recorded on video and posted on social media. In a previous video the perpetrators pledge allegiance to ISIS.
* December 21 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 22,445 after its worst week since 2008.
* December 22
	+ A tsunami hits the Sunda Strait, Indonesia, killing at least 430 people and injuring nearly 1,500.
	+ The United States government enters a second government shutdown, arising over a dispute over funding for the U.S.–Mexico border wall. The shutdown, which lasted until January 25, 2019, is the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
* December 24 – Burundi moves its capital from Bujumbura to Gitega.
* December 26 – After weeks of losses the Dow Jones Industrial Average posts its largest ever one-day point gain: 1,086 points.
* December 31 – 2018 Magnitogorsk building collapse: An apartment block in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, partially collapses, killing 39 people and injuring 17 more. According to the official investigation the collapse was caused by a gas explosion.