2018 saw a thawing in relations between the two Koreas, women in Ireland being granted legal access to abortion and those in Saudi Arabia, the right to drive. Meanwhile in India, homosexuality was decriminalised.Some things did not change, such as the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, gun regulations in the United States and unrest in Syria and Afghanistan. And European countries remain at loggerheads on how to deal with refugees arriving on their shores.Wildfires in Greece, Sweden and California, and other natural disasters were further reminders that not enough is being done to take care of our environment.Trade wars and sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump on China and Iran threatened to cement a growing international divide, while the rise of far-right parties across the world and the United Kingdom's failure to agree on a gracious exit from EU remain a cause for concern for many.Leaked data via social media and cyber and chemical warfare also made world headlines, and the freedom of journalists to report has also fallen squarely in the firing line – both in countries at war and in some that would call themselves democractic.The case of Washington Post correspondent, Jamal Khashoggi, brutally murdered in the Saudi consulate, has so far not led to any serious investigation.