2018

2018 was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. It featured ongoing geopolitical tensions, pivotal elections, notable scientific advances, and several large-scale natural disasters, with events spanning politics, sports, technology, and international diplomacy shaping the year.

In international affairs, the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) in May, reimposing sanctions. A historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took place in Singapore in June. In November, United States midterm elections reshaped Congress, with Democrats winning the House and Republicans retaining the Senate.

Major sporting events included the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang (February) and the FIFA World Cup in Russia (June–July), won by France. The year also saw the enforcement of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May.

Natural disasters affected several regions: a powerful earthquake and tsunami struck Sulawesi, Indonesia, in September 2018; the Camp Fire in California in November became the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state's history, destroying the town of Paradise; severe floods and landslides affected Kerala, India, in August.

Science and technology included NASA's InSight lander touching down on Mars in November 2018 to study the planet's interior. The GDPR began enforcement in May, affecting data privacy rules across the European Union. The year ended with the United States federal government shutdown, which began December 22, 2018 and extended into January 2019.