31 December 2016

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad News of 2016

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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.