2016 was a year that we won't soon forget, no matter how hard we try. The year saw so many incidents that defied expectation that by the end no one knew what to expect. The year saw everything from terrorist attacks and natural disaster to celebrity deaths and political shake ups. Lets take a look back at the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year that was 2016.
Headlines
Senseless deaths were the biggest headlines of 2016 with
Terrorist attacks by ISIS from the
Berlin Christmas Market by a rogue truck driver in a similar
attack as that in Nice, France.
Brussels suffered a bomb attack as did New York City's
Chelsea district. But that wasn't all with war still raging the
refugee crisis grew while others struggled in Aleppo.
Police shootings and race relations continued to deteriorate in the US with loses on both sides along with
mass shootings still the norm. There were also the deaths of
supreme court justice Antonin Scalia and former
Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Politics was one of the biggest topics of the year across the globe with the
US Election shocking everyone when Donald Trump won the electoral college.
Turkey faced a political coup that failed within hours but the repercussions have yet to subside.
Corruption in politics was everywhere from China to Russia and even South Korea.
Then there was mother nature,
natural disaster claimed thousands of lives from earthquakes in Italy, Indonesia and New Zealand to hurricanes in the US and Haiti. While the environment may have claimed lives it too was under threat with
climate change taking center stage and under threat from a new administration along with environmentalists fighting the
Dakota Access Pipeline.
Business
On the global front
Brexit became a reality with a vote
that took everyone by surprise. Trumps new path to the presidency impacted the business
world with his wild tweets sending markets in all directions, not to
mention Trumps comments on the
Trans-Pacific Partnership. The
"Fight of $15" also made news with minimum wage taking center stage in the States and lets not forget the
Panama papers scandal that reached every country all the way to the highest echelons.
On the business front we saw
Theranos, once the darling on the stock market, suffer horribly with regulators decimating the company. Drug manufacturers also made news with price hikes from Martin Shkreli to
EpiPen. While the
VW scandal whimpered along as it faced fines along with
Wells Fargo and it's $185 million settlement with federal regulators.
Sports
One of the biggest sporting events took place in the form of the
Summer Olympics in Rio which managed to host a decent enough event and the
Cubs shocked everyone by winning their first World Series. Along with events there were also shocking revelations with stories of
sexual abuse in the world of English soccer along with the
FIFA corruption scandal continuing it's downward trend.
Athletes made headlines and for all the wrong reasons with
Ryan Lochte caught in a lie at the Olympics that spiraled out of control. Then there were the sad losses with the
death of Muhammad Ali and the
Chapecoense plane crash which claimed the lives of the Brazilian soccer team.
Entertainment
Celebrities made headlines in 2016 with celebrity deaths rocking the world as we lost icons across all fields of entertainment. While the list itself is beyond comprehension the following stole headlines from
David Bowie, George Michael, Prince,
Alan Rickman, Gene Wilder, Leonard Cohen to
Carrie Fisher and more. Along with celebrity deaths were
shocking divorces which saw Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie aka Brangelina break up after years together and
Johnny Depp going through a nasty public divorce from Amber Heard.
Outside of the depressing entertainer news the usual awards ceremonies took place with
controversy surrounding the Oscars and it's lack of diversity. The
Golden Globes had their moments while the
Grammy's saw the usual celebs taking top honors.
Technology
In the technology world we saw tech giants like
Apple in court over EU taxes along with battles against the FBI.
Google was in court over anti competitive behaviour but continued to innovate with self driving cars.
Facebook had a shaky year with the law as well and struggled with ads and blockers. The online world also made headlines with
hacking affecting individual websites and all the way up to the US election and political parties being targeted.
On the scientific front we saw
Nobel prizes handed out for cellular cannibalism and more while progress was made in
combating ebola with a new vaccine. Out in space no one could hear the screams of 2016. Various probes made their way among the heavens and
others crashed on planets. But it was the
detection of gravitational waves that set the scientific community on fire.
Style
Fashion Weeks were the only glimmer of hope in 2016 with New York kicking things off each time to much fan fare.
London Fashion Week and
Milan Fashion Week proved to be strong in the middle half while
Paris Fashion Week capped off the seasons in the usual French way.
There was controversy after Donald Trump won the US electoral college with some designers deciding to
boycott Trumps wife, Melania by refusing to dress her. The fashion world also experienced loses in the form of Nasty Girl filing for bankruptcy and the
death of Sonia Rykiel and Bill Cunningham.
