2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 1, 2018
Cabinet ministers question authenticity of the court order and said that they have not been able to be in contact with the Supreme Court and they are trying to get direct communication with the justices.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 1, 2018
President Abdulla Yameen fired the Commissioner of Police Ahmed Areef and replaced by Ahmed Saudhee, claiming that Areef was not attending his phone calls. Ahmed Saudhee also fired back by saying that he was trying to follow the court orders and president Yameen did not allow him to do his job.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 1, 2018
The opposition held a peaceful rally 2 a.m midnight to celebrate the court ruling. Maldives Police Service an hour after the rally started used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowd and leaving many affected.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 3, 2018
The opening of People's Majlis was cancelled for security reasons and was being rescheduled as soon as it was possible.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 3, 2018
President Abdulla Yameen fires Acting-Commissioner of Police Ahmed Saudhee, and gave no clear reason why he fired Saudhee. Presidents office staff released a small statement only saying:


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 3, 2018
“By the power bestowed upon the President under Article 54 (b) of the Police Act (Act No: 5/2008), President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has today dismissed Ahmed Saudhee from the post of Deputy Commissioner of Police,”


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 3, 2018
President Abdulla Yameen hold a rally and officially announce his re-election and say he was not expecting the Supreme Court ruling, the state and all relevant authorities have to do a lot of work to see how to implement it.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 3, 2018
Special Operations Police were posted outside the Chief Justice of the Maldives, Abdulla Saeeds house. Upon hearing rumours he was about to be arrested the public gathered and had clashes with Special Operations Police the people who gathered were backed off successfully and Special Operations Police Maldives Police Service released the statement they were not going to be arresting Justice Abdulla Saeed


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 4, 2018
Attorney general alongside acting-police commissioner Abdulla Nawaz and Chief of Defence Force Ahmed Shiyam holds press conference saying they will not obey any order to impeach president Abdulla Yameen.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 4, 2018
Secretary General of the parliament Ahmed Mohamed resigns citing “personal reasons.”


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 4, 2018
Opposition lawmakers submit no-confidence motion against prosecutor general, Aishath Bisham, attorney general, Mohamed Anil, home minister, Azleen Ahmed, and defence minister, Adam Shareef for their refusal to comply with the Supreme Court order.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 5, 2018
Criminal Court orders the immediate release of Faris Maumoon from detention.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 5, 2018
President Abdulla Yameen declares a state of emergency for 15 days, Suspension of 20 constitutional rights, and the Criminal Procedures Act and parts of the Judges Act.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 5, 2018
Maldivian military forces gather around the supreme court and try to break into the court by forcing the gate open.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 5, 2018
Former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and his son-in-law Moamed Nadheem got arrest on charges of trying to overthrow the government


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 6, 2018
After multiple attempts to break into the supreme court special operations climbed up the roof of the high court (same building) and broke the windows of the supreme court and forced justice Ali Hameed and dragged chief justice Abdulla Saeed on the floor out of the supreme court.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 6, 2018
State of emergency amended to suspend more legal rights, including the right to remain silent and be brought before a judge within 24 hours.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Events, February 6, 2018
Ibrahim Siyad Qasim, son of opposition leader Qasim Ibrahim arrested.


2018 Maldives political crisis, Response
Former President Mohamed Nasheed, currently in exile in the UK, called for India to send a military-backed diplomatic mission to compel the release of political detainees, and for the US and UK to freeze the financial transaction of Maldivian government officials. The Indian government stated that they regard the situation as "disturbing". The Times of India reported that the Indian Armed Forces were on standby for "deployment at short notice" on potential operations in Maldives, ranging from the evacuation of nationals to a military intervention akin to that in the 1988 Operation Cactus.


2018 Maldivian Second Division Football Tournament
Statistics of Second Division Football Tournament in the Maldives in the 2018 season.


2018 Maldivian Second Division Football Tournament, Group stage
From each group, the top two teams will be advanced for the Semi-finals.


2018 Maldivian Second Division Football Tournament, Final Ranking
Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-out are counted as draws.


2018 Maldivian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in the Maldives on 23 September 2018. Incumbent president Abdulla Yameen of the Progressive Party of Maldives was seeking re-election for a second five-year term. His only challenger was Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the Maldivian Democratic Party, who was nominated as the joint candidate of a coalition of opposition parties.


2018 Maldivian presidential election
The result was a surprise victory for Solih, who received over 58% of the vote and was elected as the seventh President of the Maldives. He assumed office on 17 November 2018. Solih is the country's third democratically elected president since Mohamed Nasheed's victory over Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the 2008 elections which ended a 30-year incumbency.


2018 Maldivian presidential election
Yameen is the fourth consecutive Maldivian president to have at some point lost a bid for re-election. Namely, Yameen himself came to office by defeating former president Mohamed Nasheed, who was running for a second non-consecutive term in 2013, after having resigned in 2012 during the 2011–12 Maldives political crisis. Nasheed's successor in office, his Vice President Mohammed Waheed Hassan also sought re-election in 2013, but decided not to contest the re-run after the initial election was annulled. Finally, Nasheed had been elected in the 2008 election by defeating long-term incumbent Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.


2018 Maldivian presidential election, Electoral system
The President of the Maldives is elected using the two-round system. However, as there were only two candidates, the 2018 election was a simple one-round majority vote.


2018 Maldivian presidential election, Candidates
Incumbent President Abdulla Yameen ran for re-election. In February 2018 former President Mohamed Nasheed announced that he intended to contest the elections as the Maldivian Democratic Party candidate. However, in June 2018 the party selected Ibrahim Mohamed Solih as its candidate after Nasheed withdrew his candidacy.


2018 Maldivian presidential election, Campaign
President Abdulla Yameen ran on a campaign of economic development and Islamism aimed at "courting religious vote", claiming that the opposition was supported by Christian priests. His government was close to the Chinese government, signing a free trade agreement and obtaining Chinese money for infrastructure projects. The opposition sought to improve relations with India.


2018 Maldivian presidential election, Campaign
A few days before the elections, Yameen promised to build housing for all citizens, as well as scrapping fines for traffic violations and utility bills. Several hundred prisoners were also freed.


2018 Maldivian presidential election, Conduct
Prior to the elections, there were concerns about vote rigging by the government as Yameen had appointed one of his supporters, Ahmed Shareef, as head of the Electoral Commission. International observers were banned from monitoring the elections and foreign media was heavily restricted.


2018 Maldivian presidential election, Conduct
The police raided the Democratic Party's headquarters on the day before the elections, claiming there was an investigation into "distributing money to buy votes". The raid was condemned by the American and British governments. The European Union had said that it would not send election observers because the Maldives had failed to meet the basic conditions for monitoring, and the U.S. had threatened to sanction Maldivian officials if the elections were not free and fair.


2018 Maldivian presidential election, Conduct
President Yameen had previously restricted observers from seeing individual ballots, and had appointed 107 members of the ruling PPM party to administer and count the vote. Some election observers were also denied entry to the country because they were not given a visa, despite being registered with the Electoral Commission. Foreign journalists were also required to have a Maldivian sponsor to participate, and some observers described having their visa applications denied for trivial reasons.


2018 Maldivian presidential election, Conduct
On election day, voting was extended for three hours due to long queues.


2018 Maldivian presidential election, Aftermath
Following the announcement of the results, Yameen challenged the outcome in the Supreme Court in October, claiming that the election had been rigged. He alleged that ballot papers treated to make any votes cast for him vanish and that voters planning on voting for him were given pens with disappearing ink. His appeal was unanimously rejected by the court's judges, who stated that he had failed to prove the claims.


2018 Maldivian presidential election, Geopolitical implications
Maldives is of high geo-strategic importance due to its proximity to Indian Ocean sea lines of communication, Indian Navy base in Lakshadweep Islands and US Navy base in Diego Garcia. Abdulla Yameen was seen by India as being too close to regional rival China. India was particularly alarmed about Chinese Belt and Road Initiative projects in the Maldives and Chinese investments in Maldives were seen by India and the United States as a part of China's 'String of Pearls' strategy. On the other hand, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had made repairing of ties with India as a key election plank. According to The Nikkei, India's Modi administration had "spared no expense supporting local opposition parties by allotting tens of millions of dollars to intelligence agencies".


2018 Maldivian presidential election, Geopolitical implications
The Financial Times declared the victory of Solih as a "diplomatic win" for India. Following the declaration of election results, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to congratulate him on his victory. Solih reaffirmed commitment towards rebuilding ties with India and declared Maldives to be "India's closest ally".


2018 Maldivian presidential election, Geopolitical implications
The Observer Research Foundation noted that following the election results, "China will mount a major effort to protect its strategic investments and ongoing projects in Maldives" and that India will have to "use other tools to ensure that Maldives does not cross strategic red lines like allowing China to build military and security facilities on any island."


2018 Malian Cup
The 2018 Coupe du Mali is the 57th edition of the Coupe du Mali, the knockout football competition of Mali.


2018 Malian Cup, Final
As the league was not played in 2018, the cup winners qualify for the 2018–19 CAF Champions League and the cup runners-up qualify for the 2018–19 CAF Confederation Cup.


2018 Malian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Mali on 29 July 2018. In July 2018, the Constitutional Court approved the nomination of a total of 24 candidates in the election. As no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a runoff was held on 12 August 2018 between the top two candidates, incumbent President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta of the Rally for Mali and Soumaïla Cissé of the Union for the Republic and Democracy. Keïta was subsequently re-elected with 67% of the vote. It was the first time in Malian history that a presidential election was forced into a runoff between incumbent and a challenger.


2018 Malian presidential election, Background
In accordance with the 1992 constitution, presidential elections take place every five years. The previous elections, first scheduled for 13 May 2012, were delayed until 28 July 2013 due to the 2012 coup d'état that overthrew President Amadou Toumani Toure.


2018 Malian presidential election, Background
A peace deal between Tuareg separatists and the government was signed in 2015 following negotiations through a diplomatic channel extended by the Malian government. The creation of the Macina Liberation Front in 2015, led by the preacher Amadou Koufa, has led to increased ethnic tensions and violence in the country.


2018 Malian presidential election, Background
There has been little or no violence in Mali's past elections which have in previous years been conducted with no protests.


2018 Malian presidential election, Electoral system
The President of Mali is elected by absolute majority vote using the two-round system to serve a 5-year term.


2018 Malian presidential election, Pre-election
There was doubt as to the safety of the elections to be held and of the governments' ability to hold them. If held, the French diplomat Jean-Pierre Lacroix has said that "the upcoming presidential elections will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the stabilization of Mali".


2018 Malian presidential election, Pre-election, Voter registration
As of July 24, there were 8,461,000 registered voters set to cast their vote 23,041 polling stations.


2018 Malian presidential election, Pre-election, Voter registration
Of the Malian refugees living in Mbera, Mauritania, 7,000 people registered to vote in the elections.


2018 Malian presidential election, Pre-election, Candidates
There were 17 confirmed candidates and 13 more were pending as of late June. In the end, on July 5, the Constitutional Court approved the nomination of a total of 24 candidates in the election. Some of them include:


2018 Malian presidential election, Pre-election, Protests and violence
On 6 June, thousands gathered in the capital Bamako to protest against Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.


2018 Malian presidential election, Pre-election, Protests and violence
On 25 July, following a robbery at a pharmacy, protesters "burned tyres and torched vehicles" in Timbuktu in response to the deepening insecurity and alleged mistreatment by police. This precipitate a violent clash the following day involving about 100 people.


2018 Malian presidential election, Pre-election, Protests and violence
On 31 July, gunmen attacked a convoy carrying election materials in the Ségou Region. This attack and the following shootout killed four soldiers and eight attackers.


2018 Mallorca Open
The 2018 Mallorca Open was a women's tennis tournament played on grass courts. It was the 3rd edition of the Mallorca Open, and part of the International category of the 2018 WTA Tour. It took place at Santa Ponsa Tennis Club in Mallorca, Spain, from 18 June through 24 June 2018. Tatjana Maria won the singles title.


2018 Mallorca Open, WTA singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received entry using a protected ranking into the main draw:


2018 Mallorca Open, WTA doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2018 Mallorca Open – Doubles
Latisha Chan and Martina Hingis were the defending champions, but Chan chose to compete in Birmingham and Hingis retired from professional tennis at the end of 2017.


2018 Mallorca Open – Doubles
Andreja Klepač and María José Martínez Sánchez won the title, defeating Lucie Šafářová and Barbora Štefková in the final, 6–1, 3–6, [10–3].


2018 Mallorca Open – Singles
Anastasija Sevastova was the defending champion, but lost in the final to Tatjana Maria, 4–6, 5–7. This was Maria's first WTA title.


2018 Malmö FF season
The 2018 season was Malmö FF's 107th in existence, their 83rd season in Allsvenskan and their 18th consecutive season in the league. They competed in Allsvenskan where they finished third, 2017–18 Svenska Cupen where they finished as runners-up, and the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League where they were knocked out in the third qualifying round. Malmö FF also participated in two competitions in which the club continued playing in for the 2019 season, the 2018–19 Svenska Cupen and the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League. The season began with the group stage of Svenska Cupen on 18 February, league play started on 2 April and concluded on 11 November. The season concluded with the last UEFA Europa League group stage match on 13 December.


2018 Malmö FF season
The club's chairman, Håkan Jeppsson, died unexpectedly on 7 December, a week before the last match of the season. Malmö FF won five Swedish championships and participated in two UEFA Champions League group stages, as well as two UEFA Europa League group stages, under his reign. For the first time in the history of the club, Malmö FF managed to qualify for the knock-out stages of the UEFA Europa League. It was also the first time, and third time in total, since the 1986–87 European Cup Winners' Cup that the club qualified for European knock-out matches after the new year. On the domestic stage, Malmö FF ended the season in third place, having had a difficult start to the league season.


2018 Malmö FF season, Players, Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, Allsvenskan
After losing several key players during the off-season, many of whom to free transfers, Malmö FF went into the 2018 season with the expressed strategy of only partially replacing the players who were lost with new signings such as Fouad Bachirou, Arnór Ingvi Traustason and Søren Rieks, and filling the depth of the squad with players from the club's academy.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, Allsvenskan
After an unbeaten pre-season and cup run Malmö FF started their season away to IF Elfsborg on 2 April. Teenage starlet Mattias Svanberg opened the club's season tally less than two minutes into the opener in a game Malmö FF ended up winning 2–1. A week later, MFF played their home opener against AIK, who were widely considered MFF's biggest challenger for the title. Despite conceding a penalty and a red card to Franz Brorsson, MFF were able to secure a point with AIK seemingly unwilling to take initiative in front of the sell-out crowd at Stadion.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, Allsvenskan
Despite encouraging signs early in the season, the AIK match turned out to be the start of a historically bad run for Malmö FF, where they won only two of ten matches between 9 April and 16 May, including an embarrassing 3–0 loss in the final of the Swedish Cup. With the title seemingly out of reach only weeks into the season, Magnus Pehrsson was fired after the 1–0 loss to Trelleborgs FF on 13 May.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, Allsvenskan
With the club currently in eleventh place, Malmö FF CEO Niclas Carlnén expressibly revised the club's Allsvenskan target from winning the title to reaching a spot in the top three. Sporting director and former club captain Daniel Andersson stepped in as caretaker manager for the three games that remained before the World Cup break, but was unable to right the ship as the team took four points from those three games.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, Allsvenskan
On 12 June Uwe Rösler was appointed head coach, while Andersson also announced several signings in an effort to move up the table and make a run for the upcoming Champions League qualifiers. The 2017 Allsvenskan MVP Anders Christiansen was reacquired from Gent, former club captain Guillermo Molins was brought in on a free transfer, former Allsvenskan top scorer Marcus Antonsson moved from Leeds, and Sundsvall's breakthrough player Romain Gall was added to the squad.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, Allsvenskan
The changes proved effective and Malmö FF emerged as a new team for the second half of the season, with nine wins and one draw over the first ten Allsvenskan games after the World Cup break. A hectic schedule saw MFF eventually get into a five-game slump in which they only won one game, but the team was able to bounce back and finish league play with three straight wins to reach third place and secure a qualifying spot for the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, Svenska Cupen, 2017–18
After beating FC Trollhättan in August 2017 to qualify for the group stage, Malmö FF was drawn into a group with Allsvenskan newcomers IF Brommapojkarna and Dalkurd FF and Superettan side Gefle IF. A late Markus Rosenberg penalty saw Malmö FF win their first game against Dalkurd. In the second contest Malmö FF traveled to Gefle for a game that was postponed four hours because of a snow storm, but when eventually played MFF won comfortably by a score of 3-0.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, Svenska Cupen, 2017–18
The result set up a group final between two teams that won their first games, where Malmö FF managed to beat Brommapojkarna 3-1 to qualify for the quarter-final in which they beat rivals IFK Göteborg 1-0. In the semi-final the team traveled to Östersund where a late winner from Arnór Traustason sent Malmö FF to the cup final.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, Svenska Cupen, 2017–18
The location for the cup final was decided by a draw that took place at an Allsvenskan kick-off event, which awarded home field advantage to Djurgårdens IF. While the competition to this point had been played during the Allsvenskan pre-season, the final was scheduled for 10 May.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, Svenska Cupen, 2017–18
During the two months that elapsed between the semi-final and final Malmö FF's Allsvenskan campaign had sent the club into a state of crisis, which reached new heights in the cup final where a lackluster performance handed the club a 3-0 defeat which fueled supporter turmoil in the MFF sections with play temporarily suspended in the final minutes.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, Svenska Cupen, 2018–19
Malmö FF entered the cup in the second round, where they were drawn against Division 1 club Lunds BK. The game was initially scheduled to be played on 23 August, but was postponed because of Malmö FF's Europa League schedule and eventually rescheduled for 22 November.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, UEFA Champions League, Qualifying phase and play-off round
Kickoff times are in UTC+2 unless stated otherwise. After changes to the UEFA Champions League qualifying phase, Malmö FF entered in the first round for the first time in 2018. Malmö FF were seeded in the first round, and were drawn against the winners of a preliminary tournament involving the champions of the four lowest ranked associations. The winners ended up being Kosovan champions FC Drita. Since Drita's home stadium did not live up to the standards set by UEFA, the game was played at Adem Jashari Olympic Stadium in Mitrovica, and Malmö FF came away with a decisive 3-0 victory which was followed by 2-0 at home to advance to the second round.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, UEFA Champions League, Qualifying phase and play-off round
In the second round Malmö FF were once again seeded, but faced a tough draw in Romanian champions CFR Cluj. The first game was played in Cluj-Napoca where Carlos Strandberg scored a crucial away goal in the final minute of the first half which ended up being the only goal of the game. Cluj equalized on aggregate 36 minutes into the return leg in Malmö, but a second half long distance strike from Arnór Traustason sent MFF through to the third round.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, UEFA Champions League, Qualifying phase and play-off round
The draw for the third round took place before the second round was finalized and the winners between Malmö FF and CFR Cluj were unseeded and drawn against the winners between Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad and Hungarian champions MOL Vidi FC. Against all odds Vidi ended up knocking out the Bulgarians and traveled to Malmö for the first game in the third round. Recently re-acquired Anders Christiansen opened the scoring an hour into the contest, but Vidi scored an equalizer ten minutes later after a defensive error that would end up as the decisive away goal when the return leg finished scoreless in Hungary.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, UEFA Europa League, Play-off round
After being knocked out by MOL Vidi FC in the third round of the Champions league qualifiers, Malmö FF entered the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League where they were seeded and drawn against Danish champions FC Midtjylland. After seemingly being in control of play and with a 2-0 lead an hour into the first game at home, MFF lost control the last half hour and ended up having to travel to Denmark with a tough a 2-2 result. In the return leg however, goals from Marcus Antonsson and Markus Rosenberg sent Malmö FF into the Europa League group stages.


2018 Malmö FF season, Competitions, UEFA Europa League, Group stage
Times up to 27 October 2018 (matchdays 1–3) are CEST (UTC+2), thereafter (matchdays 4–6) times are CET (UTC+1).


2018 Malmö FF season, Non-competitive, Pre-season
Malmö FF kicked of its pre-season with two friendlies at Malmö IP before traveling to Bradenton, Florida for pre-season camp. In Florida, MFF played its final matches before the start of Svenska Cupen against two MLS teams. During the group stage of the cup, Malmö FF scheduled additional friendlies to give players who did not feature heavily in the competition pre-season minutes. The games were played on an artificial practice field near Stadion.


2018 Malmö shooting
On 18 June 2018, a shooting (Swedish: trippelmordet i Malmö) occurred in Malmö, Scania, Sweden, killing three men and injuring four others.


2018 Malmö shooting, Background
In the 2010s, the city of Malmö was the town in Sweden with the highest rate of gang shootings per inhabitant. Only Stockholm has a higher number of shootings but is a city with three times the population. In 2017, ten people were shot and killed and in 2018 up until June, there were 30 shootings where 11 people were killed and 12 were injured. The incident has been compared to the 2015 Gothenburg pub shooting.


2018 Malmö shooting, Shooting
Someone shot from a car at people standing in front of an Internet cafe in a drive-by shooting. At 20:30 police had arrived and cordoned off the area and found four wounded. An hour later a fifth wounded arrived at the hospital. At 23:10 in the evening, police reported that an 18-year-old man died at the hospital. Near midnight, police reported that a sixth wounded had arrived at the hospital. After midnight, a second wounded person died at the hospital. Tuesday morning a third person died at the hospital. According to the authorities, there are no indications of a terrorist background. A shotgun was used as the murder weapon, according to Aftonbladet.


2018 Malmö shooting, Shooting, Victims
Several of the victims are known to the police. Three men aged 19, 27, and 29 died of their injuries. Three others were injured, including one injured person leaving the scene in a getaway car. All six knew each other and were part of crime gangs. The survivors confirmed the incident was part of an ongoing crime gang conflict.


2018 Malmö shooting, Shooting, Perpetrator
The same evening, police had identified no suspects. The search for the car continued in the morning. Investigators asked the population for help with the investigation.


2018 Malmö shooting, Investigation
The vehicle, a Saab, was found with fire damage in Arlöv, a settlement on the northern edges of Malmö.


2018 Malmö shooting, Investigation
In October 2018, a 30-year-old man connected to crime gangs in Biskopsgården was arrested in Gothenburg person was arrested on suspicion for attempted murder.


2018 Malmö shooting, Aftermath
The police guarded the hospital where the injured were treated. The police are investigating murder.


2018 Malmö shooting, Aftermath
Minister of Justice Morgan Johansson claimed that the number of shootings were down 25%, but according to local police authorities, it was too early in the year for trends to be concluded.


2018 Maltese Super Cup
The 2018 Maltese Super Cup was the 34th Maltese Super Cup, an annual football match played between the title holders of the Maltese Premier League and the Maltese FA Trophy. It was contested on 13 December 2018 by Valletta – who won a league and FA Trophy double the previous season – and Balzan, who finished runners-up in the league. Played at the Ta' Qali National Stadium, Valletta won the match 2–1.


2018 Maltese Super Cup
This was Balzan's first ever Super Cup final, playing against a Valletta side who won the previous season's league title on the last day following Balzan's defeat. Valletta were looking to winning their third honour for the year, making a return to this cup final after their win in the 2016 final against Sliema Wanderers.


2018 Maluku gubernatorial election
The 2018 Maluku gubernatorial election was held on 27 June 2018 to determine the Governor and Deputy Governor of Maluku. The election took place simultaneously with other regional elections in 2018. Incumbent governor Said Assagaff ran for his second term in office against Commander of the Police Mobile Brigade Corps Murad Ismail. Murad managed to defeat Said, becoming governor on 24 April 2019.


2018 Maluku gubernatorial election, Candidates
Under Indonesia's election regulations, only political parties that have 20% or more of the seats in the Maluku People's Representative Council can nominate candidates. Political parties with less seats can nominate candidates only if they have obtained support from other political parties or through independent channels.


2018 Malé League
The 2018 Malé League will be the eighth season of the Malé League, the top division of Maldivian football under the latest update of the Maldivian football league system. The league was made up of the 8 clubs.


2018 Malé League, Format
All eight teams play against each other in Two Round Format. Team with most total points at the end of the season will be crowned as Malé League champion. Top six teams qualify for the Dhivehi Premier League. Bottom two teams play the Malé League qualification with the runner-up of Second Division.


2018 Malé League, Format
The team with the most points in Malé League qualification after a two-legged group round will play in the next year's Malé League. Bottom two will be relegated to Second Division.


2018 Malé League, Teams
A total of 8 teams will be contesting in the league.


2018 Malé League, Teams, Personnel
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2018 Malé League, Foreign players
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.


2018 Malé League, Season summary, Round One and Two
Note 1: The notion of home and away fixtures in the 2018 Malé League is moot as all games are played at National Football Stadium. As such, for the purpose of this table, the first result chronologically has been deemed that team's "home" game and the second the "away" game.


2018 Malé League, Season summary, Positions by round
The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches.


2018 Malé League, Season summary, Matches, First Round
A total of 28 matches will be played in this round.


2018 Malé League, Season summary, Matches, Second Round
A total of 28 matches will be played in this round.


2018 Malé League, 2019 Malé League qualification
The qualifiers were to be played between 2018 Malé League bottom two teams– United Victory and Club Valencia, and 2018 Second Division runner up JJ Sports Club. Due to unknown reasons, JJ Sports Club withdrew their chance in the qualification phase.


2018 Man Booker Prize
The 2018 Booker Prize for Fiction was awarded at a ceremony on 16 October 2018. The Man Booker dozen of 13 books was announced on the 24th of July, and was narrowed down to a shortlist of six on the 20th of September. The longlist included Sabrina by Nick Drnaso, the first in Booker Prize history to nominate a graphic novel.


2018 Man Booker Prize
Anna Burns was awarded the 2018 Booker Prize for her third novel, Milkman, receiving £50,000; she became the first Northern Irish author to win the prize.


2018 Manchester City Council election
Elections to Manchester City Council were held on 3 May 2018, as part of the 2018 United Kingdom local elections. Although the council is normally elected in thirds, all 96 council seats were up for election due to boundary changes. Labour retained its near-complete dominance of the council. The sole change was that the Liberal Democrats gained a second seat in Didsbury West.


2018 Manchester City Council election, Background and Campaign
From 2014 to 2016, Labour were the only party represented on the council. In 2016, former MP John Leech won a seat in Didsbury West and sat as the only opposition councillor for two years.


2018 Manchester City Council election, Background and Campaign
On 9 April 2018, it was reported that the Labour Party had received formal complaints about Chris Paul, Labour councillor for Withington since 2011. There were social media comments describing women as “cows”, “slobs” and “bitches”, and inciting violence against women. Greater Manchester Police, The Labour Party and Manchester City Council all launched investigations and Paul eventually apologised. Paul was re-elected in Withington ward with a reduced majority beating Lib Dem candidate April Preston.


2018 Manchester City Council election, Background and Campaign
Following reports of a last-minute search for eligibile candidates, the Manchester Conservative Party announced on 10 April, it would be fielding three candidates in all 32 wards within the city.


2018 Manchester City Council election, Council Composition
Prior to the election, the composition of the council was:


2018 Manchester City Council election, Ward Results
Asterisks denote incumbent Councillors seeking re-election. All results are listed below:


2018 Mandaluyong El Tigre season
The 2018 Mandaluyong El Tigre season is the only season of the franchise in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL).


2018 Manila Pavilion Hotel fire
On 18 March 2018, a fire broke out at the Manila Pavilion Hotel in Manila, Philippines. The hotel, located in the Ermita district of Manila, was filled with foreign tourists at the time of the fire who were mostly able to evacuate through the hotel's fire exits. The fire, burning on the lower floors of the hotel, sent smoke upward and trapped some employees and guests as it spread throughout the complex.


2018 Manila Pavilion Hotel fire, Fire
The fire began in the morning hours when many of the guests were awake, enabling evacuation efforts. Fire rescue operations worked to save several dozen guests from the rooftop of the hotel as smoke chased guests upward. Over 300 guests were evacuated from the hotel safely, and firefighters were dually challenged by heavy winds and huge quantities of smoke as they attempted to extinguish the blaze. 19 people were believed trapped on the fifth floor by fire officials, who worked for hours determining a safe way to free them. Employees could be seen fleeing from the building covering their mouths with handkerchiefs to block out the thick smoke as fire burned around the second and lower floors. The fire caused 6 fatalities and sent 23 people to the hospital as it raged for over 9 hours.


2018 Manila Pavilion Hotel fire, Fire
The fire was burning intensely throughout the 2nd and lower floors, creating a challenge for Philippine fire experts to initially identify the origin of the inferno. Firefighters reported that several floors of the hotel were "totally damaged" but the investigation was still incomplete at that time. It was reported that the fire rekindled past 11 am, on 20 March but was soon re-extinguished.


2018 Manila Pavilion Hotel fire, Aftermath
Officials initially stated that 4 people were killed by smoke inhalation. The death toll decreased to three as Manila Doctors Hospital reported one of those believed dead from smoke inhalation was revived in critical condition, but increased to 6 as more victims were found or died. At least 3 fatalities occurred when casino employees, including security, were trapped by smoke in the casino's treasury room, with the final count in the building ending at 5.


2018 Manila Pavilion Hotel fire, Aftermath
The hotel's casino operator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., stated that 3 of their employees had died and two closed-circuit television operators were missing. Director of Manila Disaster Risk and Reduction Management Johnny Yu later gave a figure of 5 fatalities to the press. The director announced the fire's sixth fatality on March 21, an employee of the hotel's casino who had been in critical condition since the fire.


2018 Manila Pavilion Hotel fire, Aftermath
The Philippine National Red Cross (PRC) responded to the fire, and reported that it was raised to a fifth alarm fire at 10:10 am.


2018 Manila Stars season
The 2018 Manila Stars season is the 1st season of the franchise in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL).


2018 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts
The 2018 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the provincial women's curling championship of Manitoba, was held from January 10 to 14 at the Shamrock Centre in Killarney. The winning Jennifer Jones team represented Manitoba at the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Penticton, British Columbia.


2018 Manitoba municipal elections
Municipal elections were held in the Canadian province of Manitoba on October 24, 2018. Mayors, councils and school board trustees were elected.


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Brandon, By-election
A by-election was held in Meadows-Waverly Ward on May 5, 2021 to replace John LoRegio who resigned in March 2021. Sunday Frangi was elected, and is believed to be the first Black Canadian councillor in Mantioba's history. Also of note was that the turnout was just 2.6%.


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Brokenhead
Results for reeve in the Rural Municipality of Brokenhead are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, East St. Paul
Results for mayor in the Rural Municipality of East St. Paul are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Gimli
Results for mayor in the Rural Municipality of Gimli are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Hanover
Results for reeve in the Rural Municipality of Hanover are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, La Broquerie
Results for reeve in the Rural Municipality of La Broquerie are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Macdonald
Results for reeve in the Rural Municipality of Macdonald are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Portage la Prairie (city)
Results for mayor in the city of Portage la Prairie are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Portage la Prairie (RM)
Results for reeve in the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Rhineland
Results for reeve in the Municipality of Rhineland are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Ritchot
Results for mayor in the Rural Municipality of Ritchot are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Rockwood
Results for reeve in the Rural Municipality of Rockwood are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Springfield
Results for reeve in the Rural Municipality of Springfield are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, St. Andrews
Results for mayor in the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Stanley
Results for reeve in the Rural Municipality of Stanley are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, St. Clements
Results for mayor in the Rural Municipality of St. Clements are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Ste. Anne (RM)
Results for reeve in the Rural Municipality of Ste. Anne are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Steinbach
Results for mayor in the city of Steinbach are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Taché
Results for mayor in the Rural Municipality of Taché are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, The Pas
Results for mayor in the town of The Pas are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, West St. Paul
Results for mayor in the Rural Municipality of West St. Paul are as follows:


2018 Manitoba municipal elections, Winkler
Results for mayor in the city of Winkler are as follows:


2018 Manitoulin District municipal elections
Elections were held in the organized municipalities in the Manitoulin District of Ontario on October 22, 2018 in conjunction with municipal elections across the province.


2018 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles season
The 2018 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles season was the 69th in the club's history since their entry into the then New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership in 1947. The team came second last in the regular season and did not qualify for the finals.


2018 Marburg Open
The 2018 Marburg Open was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It was the ninth edition of the tournament which was part of the 2018 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Marburg, Germany between 2 and 8 July 2018.


2018 Marburg Open, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2018 Marburg Open, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following player received entry into the singles main draw as a special exempt:


2018 Marburg Open – Doubles
Máximo González and Fabrício Neis were the defending champions but only Neis chose to defend his title, partnering David Vega Hernández. Neis successfully defended his title.


2018 Marburg Open – Doubles
Neis and Vega Hernández won the title after defeating Henri Laaksonen and Luca Margaroli 4–6, 6–4, [10–8] in the final.


2018 Marburg Open – Singles
Filip Krajinović was the defending champion but chose not to defend his title.


2018 Marburg Open – Singles
Juan Ignacio Londero won the title after defeating Hugo Dellien 3–6, 7–5, 6–4 in the final.


2018 Marikina Shoemasters season
The 2018 Marikina Shoemasters season is the 1st season of the franchise in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL).


2018 Marine Harvest Premiership
The 2018 Marine Harvest Premiership is the 22nd season of the Premier Division, the highest division in Shinty. The season began on 3 March 2018 consisting of 10 teams from across Scotland. The 4th season with Marine Harvest as title sponsors saw the reigning champions Kinlochshiel challenging for their 2nd Premiership title. 2018 Marine Harvest Premiership champions were Newtonmore Camanachd Club.


2018 Marine Harvest Premiership
The 2018 Cup competitions competed will be the Camanachd Cup, Macaulay Cup, MacTavish Cup (North District teams only) and the Glasgow Celtic Society Cup (South District teams only).


2018 Marine Harvest Premiership
Any team winning all 4 major trophies for which they are eligible to take part in will achieve the coveted Shinty Grand Slam.


2018 Marist Red Foxes football team
The 2018 Marist Red Foxes football team represented Marist College in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 27th-year head coach Jim Parady and played their home games at Tenney Stadium at Leonidoff Field. They were members of the Pioneer Football League. They finished the season 5–6, 5–3 in PFL play to finish in a tie for fourth place.


2018 Marist Red Foxes football team, Previous season
The Red Foxes finished the 2017 season 4–7, 3–5 in PFL play to finish in a tie for eighth place.


2018 Marist Red Foxes football team, Preseason, Preseason All-PFL team
The PFL released their preseason all-PFL team on July 30, 2018, with the Red Foxes having four players selected.


2018 Marist Red Foxes football team, Preseason, Preseason coaches poll
The PFL released their preseason coaches poll on July 31, 2018, with the Red Foxes predicted to finish in seventh place.


2018 Marivan border crossing attack
The Marivan border crossing attack was an attack by Kurdistani forces against an Iranian border crossing. It occurred on July  21, 2018, conducted by  PJAK forces. The attack took place near the village of Dari, from the city of Marivan, Kurdistan. Ten Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps soldiers were killed and eight were wounded.


2018 Marivan border crossing attack, Attack
On Saturday, July 21, 2018, at around 2:30 am, a squad of armed PJAK attacked the border guard station of Hamza Sayyid al-Shohada. According to the commander of the Marivan station, the attack occurred in a vulnerable part of the station, leading to the explosion of the station's ammunition dump and killing 10 IRGC soldiers and one soldier from Basij.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix
The 2018 Marrakesh ePrix (formally the 2018 ABB FIA Formula E Marrakesh ePrix) was a Formula E electric car race held at the Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan in the Agdal district of Marrakesh, Morocco on 13 January 2018. It was the third round of the 2017–18 Formula E season and the second Marrakesh ePrix. The 33-lap race was won by Mahindra driver Felix Rosenqvist after starting from third place. Sébastien Buemi finished in second place for e.Dams-Renault and Virgin driver Sam Bird took third.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix
Buemi won the pole position by recording the fastest lap in qualifying and maintained his startline advantage heading into the first corner. He held the lead with Bird and Rosenqvist close behind him for much of the first half of the race until a full course yellow flag was necessitated when André Lotterer stopped on track with a hardware failure on his car. Buemi retained the lead after the field made pit stops to switch into a second car but Rosenqvist pressured and passed him with four laps to go. Rosenqvist led the final four laps to clinch his second consecutive victory of the season and the third of his career.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix
The consequence of the final positions gained Rosenqvist the lead of the Drivers' Championship for the first time in his career with 54 points and Bird was four points behind in second. Jean-Éric Vergne finished in fifth and this meant he fell to third while Nelson Piquet Jr. ran strongly in the race and set the fastest lap, moving him to fourth. Edoardo Mortara rounded out the top five placings. Mahindra increased their Teams' Championship advantage to 18 points over Virgin while Techeetah held third with nine races left in the season.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Background
The Marrakesh ePrix was confirmed as part of Formula E's 2017–18 series schedule in September 2017 by the FIA World Motor Sport Council. It was the third of twelve scheduled single-seater electric car races of the 2017–18 season, and the second Marrakesh ePrix. The race was held on 13 January 2018 at the 12-turn 2.97 km (1.85 mi) anti-clockwise Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan street circuit in the Agdal district of Marrakesh, Morocco. The race stewards for Marrakesh included chairman Paulo Longoni, additional international steward Achim Loth and former Bentley factory driver Andy Soucek.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Background
Coming into the race Virgin driver Sam Bird led the Drivers' Championship with 35 points, two ahead of Jean-Éric Vergne in second and a further six in front of Felix Rosenqvist in third. Edoardo Mortara was the highest-placed rookie driver in fourth with 24 points and Nick Heidfeld was fifth with 15 points. Mahindra led the Teams' Championship with 44 points with Virgin in second with 41 points. Techeetah stood in third position with 33 points and Venturi (30) and Jaguar (27) contended for fourth.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Background
In an attempt to speed up races starting from Marrakesh, the world governing body of motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), elected not to implement a mandatory minimum pit stop time no more and told the teams of the decision. This was due to teams progressively improving their pit stop efficiency which led to the limit being lowered on a gradual scale until the FIA believed the fastest possible limit had been reached. The response from the drivers was mixed: 2016–17 champion Lucas di Grassi was positive but wished the rule was changed before the season.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Background
Bird feared drivers would not attach their seat belts on correctly in order to spend less time in the pit lane and lower safety standards, saying "If things like this start to be ignored then it's not the right thing to do." After teams signed a letter conveying their disappointment and safety concerns such as seat belt fastening to the stewards, it was decided to postpone the change until the Santiago ePrix to allow teams to obtain additional safety garage equipment for team members and invest in sports car style seat belts.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Background
The inaugural in-season rookie test was scheduled to be held at the circuit the day after the race. Teams were permitted six hours of running and were allowed to field two drivers who were not in possession of an e-licence at the time of the test. There were two pre-race driver changes. Having missed the season-opening Hong Kong double header to allow World Endurance Championship driver Kamui Kobayashi to race because of a sponsorship demand, former Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters competitor Tom Blomqvist was confirmed to race for Andretti for Marrakesh and the rest of the season.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Background
2016 24 Hours of Le Mans co-winner and World Endurance Champion Neel Jani struggled for pace at the Hong Kong double header and entered into discussions with Dragon over how the team should progress. Both sides mutually agreed to end their alliance early. Jani's place at the team was filled by three-time World Touring Car champion José María López for the rest of the season.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Practice
Two practice sessions—both on Saturday morning—were held before the late afternoon race. The first session ran for 45 minutes and the second for half an hour. A half an hour untimed shakedown session was held on Friday afternoon to enable teams to check the reliability of their cars and their electronic systems.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Practice
The first practice session started on a dusty track and several drivers made errors while exploring track limits but lap times fell by one second as it was cleaned by drivers. Di Grassi used 200 kW (270 hp) of power to go fastest with a late lap of 1 minute, 20.310 seconds, nine-tenths of a second quicker than Jérôme d'Ambrosio in second. Daniel Abt, Mitch Evans, Sébastien Buemi (e.Dams-Renault), Bird, Vergne, Nelson Piquet Jr., (Jaguar), Rosenqvist and Oliver Turvey (NIO) filled positions three to ten.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Practice
A persistent software bug affected the power cycles of the Venturi cars of Mortara and Maro Engel and cut off their powertrains seven times each. Similarly, André Lotterer reset his car after stopping on track. Heavy fog descended over the track at the start of the second session. While it caused mild visibility issues, it was not thick enough to disrupt proceedings. Six drivers led the session but Abt lowered the unofficial track lap record to a 1 minute, 19.760 seconds to go fastest. His teammate di Grassi was 0.138 seconds adrift in second and Buemi placed third.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Practice
Evans equalled his first practice result in fourth. His teammate Piquet, Alex Lynn, López, Rosenqvist, and the Techeetah pair of Vergne and Lotterer completed the top ten. As in the previous session, several drivers locked their tyres and ran onto the run-off areas due to a dusty track with Vergne and António Félix da Costa controlling their cars despite brake-related issues.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Qualifying
Saturday's afternoon qualifying session ran for an hour and was divided into four groups of five cars. Each group was determined by a lottery system and was permitted six minutes of on-track activity. All drivers were limited to two timed laps with one at maximum power. The fastest five overall competitors in the four groups participated in a "Super Pole" session with one driver on the track at any time going out in reverse order from fifth to first.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Qualifying
Each of the five drivers was limited to one timed lap and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest times (Super Pole from first to fifth, and group qualifying from sixth to twentieth). The driver and team who recorded the fastest time were awarded three points towards their respective championships. Qualifying took place in dry but cold and foggy weather. Teams kept their cars in their garages for as long as they could so that there was no overcrowding on the track.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Qualifying
In the first group of five drivers, di Grassi was the early pace setter with López a tenth slower in second. In his debut Formula E qualifying session, Blomqvist in third glanced the barrier which lodged part of an advertising billboard in his right-side wheel guard. D'Ambrosio and Lotterer were the group's slowest two drivers. Buemi was one-tenth off di Grassi's pace but his lap allowed him to lead the second group. Lynn, Luca Filippi and Engel were second to fourth. A loose rear slowed Nico Prost and he was fifth in the group.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Qualifying
In the third group, Rosenqvist set the overall fastest lap in group qualifying with an early effort of 1 minute, 20.115 seconds. Bird was four-tenths of a second slower in second. Vergne was third with Heidfeld and Mortara the third group's slowest two competitors. Heidfeld went too fast heading towards the entry of turn eleven and drifted sideways into an outside tyre barrier at the turn's exit which inflicted damage to his car. Consequently, Mortara slowed because of the accident; he began from 18th after further electrical issues stopped him at the final corner.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Qualifying
The start of the fourth group was delayed since marshals needed to repair the damaged wall and remove Heidfeld's car from the track. A large amount of water spilled onto the tarmac surface at turn 11 worsened its condition and bodywork debris was in the area. Just as group four had achieved a rhythm, Félix da Costa made an error on his fast lap because of a deflating tyre putting him over the turn seven kerb and into the exit barrier. This stopped the session to allow marshals to extricate the car from the circuit.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Qualifying
Abt and Turvey were given dispensation to have a second maximum power lap. Piquet led group four despite going wide at the final turn. Abt was second after he lost time in the final third of the lap. Evans also ran wide at the final turn and took third with Turvey fourth. At the end of group qualifying, Rosenqvist, di Grassi, López, Buemi qualified for super pole because of their lap times.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Qualifying
Buemi attacked on his attempt and took his first pole position of the season, the ninth of his career, and his first since the 2017 Paris ePrix with a time of 1 minute, 20.355 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Bird, who had pole position until Buemi's lap. Rosenqvist took third after mounting the turn five kerb and hitting the barrier. An error almost placed López in fourth into the turn nine wall. A motor generator unit problem left di Grassi in fifth. After qualifying, Lotterer was demoted to 20th for missing a signal to enter the weighbridge. The rest of the grid lined up after Lotterer's penalty as Lynn, Piquet, Abt, Evans, Turvey, Filippi, Blomqvist, Vergne, Engel, Prost, d'Ambrosio, Heidfeld, Mortara, Félix da Costa and Lotterer.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race
The race started at 16:00 Western European Time (UTC+0) on 13 January. The weather at the start were dry and sunny with the air temperature between 15.05 to 15.8 °C (59.09 to 60.44 °F) and the track temperature 14 °C (57 °F). A special feature of Formula E is the "Fan Boost" feature, an additional 100 kilowatts (130 hp) of power to use in the driver's second car. The three drivers who were allowed to use the boost were determined by a fan vote. For the Marrakesh race, Buemi, di Grassi and Abt were handed the extra power.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race
Chassis manufacturer Spark Racing Technology ordered that Rosenqvist's battery be changed half an hour before the race began after Mahindra were alterted to the problem. Similarly, Buemi began the race in his second car as the one he intended to start in had a water pump failure. Audi undertook a precautionary power inverter change in di Grassi's car. Turvey and d'Ambrosio started from the pit lane because of technical problems with their respective cars. Buemi made a clean start to retain the lead heading into the first corner as Bird and Rosenqvist maintained second and third. Both ran close behind Buemi as most drivers also made clean starts. Mortara made contact with another car further down the field.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race
Vergne moved from 13th to 10th by the end of the first lap, while d'Ambrosio's pit lane start lost him four positions over the same distance. At the end of the first lap, Buemi led Bird, Rosenqvist, López, di Grassi, Lynn, Abt, Piquet, Evans and Vergne. At the start of lap two, Abt lined up an overtake on Lynn for sixth place on the start/finish straight and both drivers made contact into the first turn. Lynn was spun onto the run-off area, and re-joined the track in 19th.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race
Meanwhile, Piquet had moved to fifth place, while his fellow countryman di Grassi passed López for fourth by forcing this way through. Shortly after López fell to seventh when Piquet and Abt passed him on lap three. Prost was sent into a spin by Lotterer, dropping to 19th. Turvey was the main beneficiary of the incident, moving to 15th place. Di Grassi and his Brazilian compatriot Piquet battled for fourth position and it ended when di Grassi slowed with a battery management system failure. He drove off the racing line and Audi instructed him to stop his car. Di Grassi attempted a restart procedure, prompting the waving of localised yellow flags. He returned to his garage to retire. After the race, di Grassi explained his car started to cut out on the previous lap.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race
Meanwhile, his teammate Abt overtook Piquet for fourth but was issued a drive-through penalty for his earlier contact with Lynn. Abt exited the pit lane behind Lynn in 15th place as Turvey moved to tenth. Multiple incidents occurred in the middle of the pack: Filippi and Mortara made contact and Félix da Costa hit Heidfeld who angrily gesticulated to the latter. Vergne was sixth and his teammate Lotterer 13th. The problems affecting the Audi pair of di Grassi and Abt promoted López to fourth.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race
On lap 15, Lotterer steered off the racing line to retire with a hardware malfunction that locked his brakes. Course officials waved yellow flags at the section of the track Lotterer stopped at for half a minute until the race director decided a full course yellow was necessary. On the 16th lap, Bird slowed briefly with gearbox issues on the start/finish straight, allowing Rosenqvist to take second.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race
The leaders elected to make their pit stops to change into their second cars during the full course yellow. Buemi kept the lead with his advantage over Rosenqvist increasing to 11⁄2 seconds. Piquet returned to fourth ahead of López and Vergne moved to fifth. The Venturi pair of Mortara and Engel exited the pit lane in the top ten. Evans, Félix da Costa and Abt lost half a minute of time because they made their pit stops before the activation of the full course yellow procedure. Turvey was the race's third retirement after a technical problem affected his second car.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race
At the front, the lead trio of Buemi, Rosenqvist and Bird were close behind one another and distanced themselves from the rest of the field. Rosenqvist quickly halved Buemi's advantage and later eased off slightly to allow Buemi to open his lead to a second. Rosenqvist also had slightly more electrical energy to use than Buemi and was tempting Buemi to use FanBoost.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race
Buemi however could not use the FanBoost because it was not programmed to work on the car he was driving, and Rosenqvist used more electrical energy and braked later than Buemi to pass him on the inside for the lead before the end of the backstraight and the turn seven left-hander on lap 29.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race
With three laps to go, Mortara attempted to overtake his teammate Engel—who battled Heidfeld—and the Venturi pair made contact. Engel had little space to negotiate through and ploughed into the side of Heidfeld. Engel and Heidfeld were able to continue driving but the damage sustained to Mortara's car forced him to park at the side of the circuit and retire. Piquet set the eace's fastest lap on the penultimate lap, completing a circuit in 1 minute, 22.832 seconds, earning him one point.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race
Rosenqvist crossed the start/finish line after 33 laps to claim his second win in a row and the third of his career. Buemi followed 0.945 seconds later in second and Bird completed the podium in third. Off the podium, Piquet equalled his best result of the season in fourth and Vergne took fifth. López finished sixth despite radio problems losing him access to electrical energy readouts. Engel was deemed responsible for causing the Heidfeld-Mortara crash and incurred a post-race drive through penalty converted into time, dropping him to twelfth. Hence, Heidfeld inherited seventh.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race
Blomqvist was consistent in his debut race and took eighth. Lynn, Abt, Evans and Engel followed in the next four places. Prost had 20 seconds added to his race time and was demoted to 13th after he was found to have exceeded the 50 km/h (31 mph) speed limit during the full course yellow flag. Félix da Costa, d'Ambrosio, Filippi and Mortara were the final finishers.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race, Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Rosenqvist spoke of his delight of returning to Marrakesh after losing the victory to Buemi in the 2016 race, saying he now felt settled into Formula E and no longer believed he was "a rookie driver", adding "I was learning racecraft in the beginning and losing here was our biggest lesson of the year – we realised we had a lot of work to do and a lot of things to improve."


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race, Post-race
Buemi stated he did not mind losing the win to Rosenqvist, feeling the latter had "payback" after his victory in the second 2017 Berlin ePrix was revoked because of a sporting infringement, "When you lose a race you always end up a bit disappointed. But everyone thought we had no pace and we were done, and we came here, had pole and finished second. We showed everyone we're still there."


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race, Post-race
Third-place finisher Bird revealed his car was affected by a rectifiable reoccurring issue since Hong Kong and made the decision not to replace the affected component, "But still, third place is strong points and it’s a third place with a big issue! I didn’t think I was going to finish the race in the first car, I thought I was going to be pulling over and retiring so actually we were quite relieved with the full course yellow came and saved my bacon a little bit."


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race, Post-race
Engel was perplexed with the penalty imposed on him for the contact with teammate Mortara and Heidfeld, arguing that he was attempting to avoid any damage where possible by mounting the kerbs on the inside and held the belief that Heidfeld did not leave enough space for him to pass through. Abt was also annoyed with the drive-through penalty he incurred for his second lap clash with Lynn.


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race, Post-race
He believed it was a "racing incident" and felt the steward's judgement was harsh, saying "In an incident like this Alex is going to say it is my fault and I will say it is more his fault because I think it was avoidable as I was already next to him when I made the move and he turns in." Di Grassi believed he would have stayed close by Rosenqvist had he not suffered technical problems with his car, saying "As a worst-case scenario, a third place would have been easy to achieve, if not a win."


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race, Post-race
Audi team principal Allan McNish affirmed the manufacturer would return to competitiveness in the season's upcoming races but admitted his disappointment at the unreliability of the team's cars. He stated his belief this would invigorate a comeback, "We just have to fightback and dig in. It’s like Le Mans. It only finishes at the end of the race, it doesn’t finish halfway through. You have to have the spirit to come back stronger, and we will do that straightaway."


2018 Marrakesh ePrix, Race, Post-race
The final positions moved Rosenqvist to top of the Drivers' Championship for the first time in his career with 54 points. Bird's second-place result dropped him to four points behind Rosenqvist in second while Vergne fell to third place after finishing fifth. Piquet gained three positions to move into fourth on 25 points and Mortara was fifth, one further point behind. Mahindra further extended their advantage atop of the Teams' Championship on 75 points; Virgin had 17 less points but still maintained second place and Techeetah remained in third. Jaguar overtook Venturi for fourth with nine races left in the season. Rosenqvist spoke of his satisfaction of leading the championship and revealed it motivated him not to take too many risks in the upcoming races.


2018 Marriott Hotels strike
The 2018 Marriott Hotels strike was a strike of more than 7,700 workers across the United States at 23 hotels operated by Marriott International in late 2018. The strike began in October and went through early December.


2018 Marriott Hotels strike, Strike
Various professions across the hotel industry including housekeepers, cooks, servers, dishwashers, doormen, and concierges walked off the job as members of the Unite Here labor union. Their slogan was “One job should be enough", as a reference to the Fight for $15 movement in the service industry where employees are demanding a living wage. This walkout began in early October and spread to 23 Marriott hotels across the US to cities including San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, and Honolulu.


2018 Marriott Hotels strike, Strike
The strike ended and workers went back to work on December 5, 2018 after negotiations with Marriott.


2018 Marriott Hotels strike, Strike
As a result of the strike, hotel workers in San Francisco received a $4 hourly raise. Strikes in other cities also resulting in various new employment contracts that offered better wages and benefits, along with more protection against sexual harassment in the workplace.


2018 Marshall Thundering Herd football team
The 2018 Marshall Thundering Herd football team represented Marshall University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Thundering Herd played their home games at the Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia, and competed in the East Division of Conference USA (C-USA). They were led by ninth-year head coach Doc Holliday. They finished the season 9–4, 6–2 in C-USA play to finish in a tie for second place in the East Division. They were invited to the Gasparilla Bowl where they defeated South Florida.


2018 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Previous season
The Thundering Herd finished the 2017 season 8–5, 4–4 in C-USA play to finish in a three-way tie for third place in the East Division. They were invited to the New Mexico Bowl where they defeated Colorado State.


2018 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Preseason, Preseason All-CUSA team
Conference USA released their preseason all-CUSA team on July 16, 2018, with the Thundering Herd having five players selected.


2018 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Preseason, Preseason media poll
Conference USA released their preseason media poll on July 17, 2018, with the Thundering Herd predicted to finish in second place in the East Division.


2018 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Schedule
Marshall announced its 2018 football schedule on January 23, 2018. The 2018 schedule consists of 6 home and away games in the regular season. The Thundering Herd will host CUSA foes Middle Tennessee, Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, and UTSA, and will travel to Western Kentucky (WKU),  Old Dominion, Southern Miss, and FIU.


2018 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Schedule
The Thundering Herd will host two of the four non-conference opponents, Eastern Kentucky of the Ohio Valley Conference at the FCS level and NC State of the Atlantic Coast Conference, and will travel to Miami of Ohio of the Mid-American Conference and South Carolina of the Southeastern Conference.


2018 Mary Hardin–Baylor Crusaders football team
The 2018 Mary Hardin–Baylor Crusaders football team was an American football team that represented the University of Mary Hardin–Baylor in the American Southwest Conference (ASC) during the 2018 NCAA Division III football season. In their 22nd year under head coach Pete Fredenburg, the team compiled a 15–0 record (9–0 against conference opponents) and won the ASC championship. The team advanced to the NCAA Division III playoffs and defeated Mount Union, 24–16, in the 2018 Stagg Bowl.


2018 Mary Hardin–Baylor Crusaders football team
Three Mary Hardin-Baylor players were selected by the Associated Press as first-team players on its Division III All-America team: running back Markeith Miller; linebacker Jalen Martin; and defensive back Jefferson Fritz.


2018 Mary Hardin–Baylor Crusaders football team
The team played its home games at Crusader Stadium in Belton, Texas.


2018 Maryland Attorney General election
The Maryland Attorney General election of 2018 was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the Attorney General of Maryland. Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Brian Frosh was eligible to seek a second term in office, filed for re-election on February 15, 2018, and was unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Republican former prosecutor and trade group CEO Craig Wolf was unopposed for the Republican nomination. Brian Frosh won with 64.8% of the vote.


2018 Maryland Comptroller election
The Maryland Comptroller election of 2018 was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the Comptroller of Maryland. Incumbent Democratic Comptroller Peter Franchot filed for re-election to a third term on October 5, 2017, and was unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Anjali Reed Phukan became a candidate under the Republican Party on April 20, 2017, and was unopposed for the Republican nomination. Franchot won re-election with 72.1% of the vote.


2018 Maryland House of Delegates election
The 2018 Maryland House of Delegates elections were held on November 6, 2018, as part of the biennial United States elections. All 141 of Maryland's state delegates were up for reelection.


2018 Maryland House of Delegates election
Prior to the election, there was little doubt that Democrats would hold their majority in the chamber. Maryland's House of Delegates has had a Democratic majority since the elections of 1920, and it remains a solidly Democratic in elections at both the national and state level. Still, there was some discussion about whether or not Republicans would be able to make inroads in the chamber, especially considering that popular incumbent Governor Larry Hogan was running for reelection at the top of the ticket simultaneously. These hopes were not met; though Hogan won his race by double digits, there was very little down-ballot appetite for Republicans, including in the House of Delegates.


2018 Maryland House of Delegates election
Democrats picked off eight seats from Republicans, while Republicans flipped one seat from Democrats. The result was a net gain of seven seats for the Democrats, which came from across the state. Six counties had seats flip to the Democrats, including two in Baltimore County. The one seat Republicans did pick up was in a conservative Anne Arundel County district where a retiring incumbent had switched parties from Republican to Democratic the month before the election.


2018 Maryland House of Delegates election
Overall, the results were a seen as a disappointment for Republicans, who had hoped Hogan's success would carry more Republicans to Annapolis. After the elections, Democrats held 99 seats to the Republicans' 42, meaning Democrats were in possession of more than 70% of seats in the chamber—enough to capture a two-thirds supermajority capable of overriding gubernatorial vetoes. Many factors contributed to the Democrats' gains, but President Donald Trump's unpopularity in the Old Line State, as well as Maryland's large and growing minority population and its heavily suburban nature, were among the most important.


2018 Maryland House of Delegates election, Election results
All election results are from the Maryland Board of Elections.


2018 Maryland Senate election
Elections for the Maryland Senate were held on November 6, 2018, with all 47 seats being contested. Republicans had initially hoped to break the Democrats' supermajority in the upper chamber by knocking off five incumbents, known as their "Drive for Five" plan. Though they did make a net gain of one seat, they came short of their goal. Three seats switched hands: District 9 in Carroll and Howard Counties flipped from Republican to Democratic while District 38 in Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester Counties and District 42 in Baltimore County both flipped from Democrats to Republicans.


2018 Maryland Senate election
The Maryland Senate has been in Democratic hands since the elections of 1900. Despite Governor Larry Hogan's success in his gubernatorial race at the top of the ticket, nobody expected Republicans to come close to recapturing the majority. In terms of popular vote, Maryland's Republican Senate candidates performed significantly worse than they previously had in 2014.


2018 Maryland Senate election, Election results
All election results are from the Maryland Board of Elections.


2018 Maryland Terrapins football team
The 2018 Maryland Terrapins football team represented the University of Maryland during the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Terrapins played their home games at Maryland Stadium in College Park, Maryland and competed in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference.


2018 Maryland Terrapins football team
Following the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair during a spring football practice, significant scrutiny was laid on head coach D. J. Durkin and his football staff. Following an investigation, Durkin was suspended and offensive coordinator Matt Canada was named interim coach. Durkin was fired on October 31, despite an internal investigation finding that the team did not have a "toxic culture".


2018 Maryland Terrapins football team
In the Terrapins' first game of the year, they defeated then-No. 23 Texas in a game played at FedExField, home of the Washington Redskins. In the team's home opener two weeks later, the team was upset by Temple. In Big Ten Conference play, the team secured wins against Minnesota, Rutgers, and Illinois. In a late-November game against eventual Big Ten champion Ohio State, Maryland took the Buckeyes to overtime, but lost on an unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt that would have won the game. Maryland finished in fifth in the East Division with a record of 5–7, 3–6 in conference play.


2018 Maryland Terrapins football team
Kasim Hill started at quarterback for the Terrapins until he suffered a torn ACL in the game against Indiana on November 10. Tyrell Pigrome started the remainder of the season. Running back Anthony McFarland Jr. led the team with over 1,000 yards rushing. On defense, linebacker Tre Watson led the Big Ten Conference with five interceptions and was named first team all-conference by the media.


2018 Maryland Terrapins football team, Previous season
The Terrapins finished the 2017 season 4–8, 2–7 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for sixth place in the East Division.


2018 Maryland Terrapins football team, Player death and culture controversy
On May 29, Jordan McNair, a 19-year-old offensive lineman for Maryland, collapsed during a strenuous practice. He was hospitalized after visibly showing signs of extreme exhaustion with a body temperature of 106 °F (41 °C) recorded upon arrival. He was later airlifted to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center to receive an emergency liver transplant, where he died on June 13.


2018 Maryland Terrapins football team, Player death and culture controversy
Though no cause of death was initially listed for McNair, findings published by ESPN in August show that he likely died of a heat stroke, with teammates and medical staff noticing an apparent seizure one hour before a 911 call was placed. This corroborated a statement made by his parents a month earlier.


2018 Maryland Terrapins football team, Player death and culture controversy
An investigation started immediately after his death showed that McNair first showed signs of heat illness at 4:59 PM but did not arrive at the hospital for treatment until 6:36 PM. A second investigation, into the culture of the Maryland football program, was started after ESPN published an investigative article in August 2018. Multiple staffers were suspended and the strength and conditioning coach named as the main abuser in the ESPN report, Rick Court, resigned almost immediately after being suspended.


2018 Maryland Terrapins football team, Player death and culture controversy
Head coach D.J. Durkin was also suspended and Matt Canada was named interim coach; after the second investigation concluded that Maryland football did not have, by definition, a toxic culture, Durkin was reinstated on October 30. Following intense uproar and protest over his return, Durkin was personally fired the next day by University President Wallace Loh.


2018 Maryland Terrapins football team, Game summaries, vs Texas
After a tumultuous offseason, Maryland emerged victorious against Texas 34-29 after shaking off a 30+ minute thunder delay. In Matt Canada's debut as interim head coach, Maryland forced three turnovers in the final 6:09 of the game after losing a 24-7 lead. Freshman Jeshaun Jones, in his first career game, completed the trifecta by passing for a touchdown, receiving a touchdown, and rushing for a touchdown. Most notably, the Terrapins paid tribute to the late Jordan McNair by lining up with 10 players on their first offensive play. Maryland waited for a delay of game penalty and Texas declined the penalty in a show of good sportsmanship.


2018 Maryland Terrapins men's soccer team
The 2018 Maryland Terrapins men's soccer team represented the University of Maryland, College Park during the 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was the 73rd season of the university fielding a program. The Terrapins were led by 26th year head coach, Sasho Cirovski.


2018 Maryland Terrapins men's soccer team
Despite a relatively poor regular season performance in Big Ten play, a strong RPI allowed the Terps to earn an at-large berth as the 11th seed in the NCAA Tournament. In the tournament, the Terps went on their 14th ever College Cup run.


2018 Maryland Terrapins men's soccer team, Background
Ahead of the 2018 season, seven year assistant coach, Brian Rowland, left Maryland to take the head coaching position at Temple.


2018 Maryland Terrapins men's soccer team, Squad information, Roster
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2018 Maryland county executive elections
The Maryland county executive elections of 2018 took place on November 6, 2018, with the primary election occurring on June 26, 2018.


2018 Maryland county executive elections
Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, Frederick County, Harford County, Howard County, Montgomery County, Prince George's County, and Wicomico County elected county executives.


2018 Maryland county executive elections, Baltimore County
Incumbent Baltimore County Executive Kevin B. Kamenetz is prevented from seeking a third term due to term limits, creating an open seat. Kamenetz died on May 10, 2018, making County Administrative Officer Fred Homan acting County Executive. Homan is not running for election.


2018 Maryland county executive elections, Baltimore County, Recount
The Democratic Party result was in dispute and runner-up Jim Brochin has requested a recount, which commenced on July 12, 2018. On election night, Olszewski finished ahead of Brochin by 350 votes. After absentee ballots were counted, Olszewski finished ahead of Brochin by 9 votes, out of roughly 84,500 cast. Vicki Almond finished third by roughly 1,000 votes. Olszewski ended up winning the recount by 17 votes.


2018 Maryland county executive elections, Montgomery County
Isiah "Ike" Leggett, incumbent county executive, former Montgomery County Councilman and former chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party is not eligible for reelection.


2018 Maryland county executive elections, Prince George's County
The current County Executive, Democrat Rushern Baker, was precluded from seeking a third term by term limits.


2018 Maryland county executive elections, Prince George's County, General election results
Republican primary winner Jerry J. Mathis withdrew from the race before the general election and his name did not appear on the ballot.


2018 Maryland county offices elections
The Maryland gubernatorial election of 2018 was held on November 6, 2018.


2018 Maryland county offices elections
The County elected offices include: County Council, State's Attorney, Sheriff, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Judge of the Orphans' Court, Register of Wills, and Board of Education. Please also see Maryland County Executive Election, 2018.


2018 Maryland county offices elections, Wicomico County, Board of Education
Beginning with the November 2018 election, the board transitioned from being appointed by the governor to fully elected, and non-partisan. It has one member elected from each of the five council districts, plus two elected at-large.


2018 Maryland flood
In the afternoon of May 27, 2018, after over 8 inches (20 cm) of rain in a span of two hours, the historic Main Street in Ellicott City, Maryland was flooded, just before the new flood emergency alert system was supposed to become operational. Flooding occurred throughout the Patapsco Valley, in the adjacent communities of Catonsville, Arbutus, and Elkridge, as well as the Jones Falls Valley in Baltimore.


2018 Maryland flood
The flooding caused a significant amount of damage to Ellicott City, which had been severely damaged in another flood just two years earlier. The streets were covered in water, buildings collapsed, and cars were swept away. It also caused the death of National Guardsman Sgt. Eddison Hermond.


2018 Maryland flood
Since the floods, the state and local governments have signed pieces of legislation to demolish some buildings in the historic district.


2018 Maryland flood, History and Previous Floods
Ellicott City was founded in 1772 and built along the Patapsco River. It is located about 10 miles (16 km) west of Baltimore and at the site of the Tiber River, along with other connected tributaries, causing it to be vulnerable to severe flooding. In 1868 three casualties occurred during a flood.


2018 Maryland flood, History and Previous Floods
Before the 2018 flood, Ellicott City was severely submerged during the 2016 Maryland flood on July 30, 2016. That flooding was considered an oddity, likely only occurring once in a 1,000-years, and resulted in the deaths of two people and the destruction of six buildings. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan toured the recovery efforts, along with Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman, and requested that the federal government help with the historic town's reconstruction.


2018 Maryland flood, Flood event
On Sunday, May 27, 2018, between 3:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. a massive storm released nearly two months of rain, over 9.71 inches (24.7 cm), onto the Ellicott City area with temperatures around 70 °F (21 °C), causing catastrophic flooding in the surrounding area, which swept away roads and cars, and brought more than 10 feet (3.0 m) of rapidly moving water down Main Street in Old Ellicott City. These flash floods occurred because the historic district was an urban area, and the land could not contain the falling precipitation. Therefore, the streets of Ellicott City had to deal with runoff from the fallen water. A large portion of the southbound US 29 flooded several feet. Heavy rains and rapidly rising water washed away portions of several roads.


2018 Maryland flood, Flood event
Howard County officials reported that at least 30 water rescues and one missing person search were performed as a result of the storm.


2018 Maryland flood, Flood event
The National Weather Service reported rainfall totals in excess of 10 inches (25 cm) in several areas, with Catonsville receiving the highest at 10.38 inches (26.4 cm) and Ellicott City receiving 8.40 inches (21.3 cm).


2018 Maryland flood, Flood event
According to meteorologists, the storm was "likely worse" than the 2016 Maryland flood because Ellicott City received only five inches (130 mm) of rain during the 2016 flood,  which was almost half as much of rain received in the 2018 flood.


2018 Maryland flood, Flood event
The 39-year-old National Guardsman and U.S. Air Force veteran Sgt. Eddison "Eddie" Hermond was reported missing after helping a local business owner who was trapped by rising water. Hermond was swept away by the current. Active recovery efforts were underway on May 28, 2018, and suspended the next day after his body was recovered in the Patapsco River. "We're deeply saddened to learn that the body of Sgt. Eddison Hermond has been found." Governor Hogan mourned Hermond's loss. "There are no words to adequately describe our sense of loss," he said in a statement. "He bravely risked his life to assist a fellow citizen during the flooding in Ellicott City. Our heartfelt prayers go out to Sgt. Hermond's family and loved ones." To honor Hermond, all Maryland flags were ordered to fly at half-staff.


2018 Maryland flood, Flood event, Surrounding rivers
The water level of the Patapsco River southeast of Ellicott City surpassed its previous peak record when it experienced a 17-foot (5.2 m) increase.


2018 Maryland flood, Aftermath
On May 28, 2018, Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency.


2018 Maryland flood, Aftermath
Since the flood, the Howard County government sought solutions to fortify the historic district against future flash flooding. There was a recovery website dedicated to the flood set up by the Howard County government. Former Howard County executive Allan H. Kittleman signed a bill which would demolish and remove 13 historic buildings from the city. The plan was funded at $50 million and is expected to be completed by 2023.


2018 Maryland flood, Aftermath
The plan to demolish the historic buildings had several obstacles due to the necessary permits: The Historic Preservation Commission required grant authorization for Howard County to raze the structures, The Maryland Department of the Environment required permits for waterways and non-tidal wetlands, and The United States Army Corps of Engineers also required a permit. The approval timeline for the Army Corps of Engineers's permit was extended because demolishing buildings in a historic district could alter Ellicott City's historic characteristics and nature, therefore influencing their place on the National Register of Historic Places.


2018 Maryland flood, Aftermath
Howard County executive Calvin Ball III did not support the plan of demolishing the historic buildings, stating that demolition should be a last resort.


2018 Maryland flood, Aftermath
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, on his show, 24 Hours to Hell and Back, visited the town and did renovations on several restaurants in the town.


2018 Maryland gubernatorial election
The 2018 Maryland gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018. The date included the election of the governor, lieutenant governor, and all members of the Maryland General Assembly. Incumbent governor Larry Hogan and Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford, both Republicans, were reelected to a second term against Democrat Ben Jealous, the former NAACP CEO, and his running mate Susan Turnbull. Hogan thus became the second Republican governor of Maryland to win reelection, the first since 1954.


2018 Maryland gubernatorial election, Background
At the presidential level, Maryland is a staunchly Democratic state due to the large amount of Democratic voters in the Washington metropolitan area and Baltimore City. Maryland has not seen a Republican presidential candidate win its votes since 1988, and the state has not been within 15% since 2004; Hillary Clinton won the state by 26 points over Donald Trump (60% to 34%) in 2016, Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney by 26 points in 2012 (62% to 36%), and Obama defeated John McCain by 25 points in 2008 (62% to 37%).


2018 Maryland gubernatorial election, Background
Hogan was elected governor in 2014, defeating then-lieutenant governor Anthony G. Brown by a margin of 51–47; the result was considered one of the biggest election upsets that year. Prior to Hogan's victory, Bob Ehrlich, elected in 2002, had been the only Republican elected as Governor of Maryland since Spiro Agnew. However, Ehrlich was defeated for reelection in 2006 by Martin O'Malley and defeated again in 2010, when he faced O'Malley in a rematch.


2018 Maryland gubernatorial election, Background
In April 2018, Hogan had a 68% approval rating, the second-highest approval of any governor in the country, only behind Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, who had a 71% approval rating. Despite the state's Democratic leaning, Hogan had a high approval rating among all partisan groups (65% approval from Democrats, 64% of Independents, and 81% of Republicans).


2018 Maryland gubernatorial election, Green nomination, Results
Following the Maryland Green Party's nominating procedure, the delegates of the Coordinating Council, which is the party's State Central Committee, made the decision to nominate the gubernatorial ticket as no other candidate had filed by the party's March 30, 2018 deadline. More than one ticket seeking the nomination would have required the party to conduct a primary, an obligation not mandated by the State Board of Elections for non-principal parties.


2018 Maryland gubernatorial election, General election, Debates
Larry Hogan and Ben Jealous met for their one and only scheduled debate on September 24. The debate was livestreamed in the evening by the Maryland Public Television.


2018 Marylebone Cricket Club University Matches
The 2018 Marylebone Cricket Club University Matches were a series of cricket matches played between the eighteen County Championship teams and the six Marylebone Cricket Club University teams (MCCU) of England and Wales. The first two rounds of fixtures were classed as first-class matches. Each county side were scheduled to play one fixture against a MCCU side ahead of the start of the 2018 County Championship. All the fixtures in the competition were affected by bad weather, with matches either ending in a draw, due to play not being possible because of rain, or in some cases, abandoned with no play possible across all three days.


2018 Massachusetts Senate election
The 2018 Massachusetts Senate election took place on November 6, 2018 to elect members of the Massachusetts Senate.


2018 Massachusetts Senate election, Qualifications
The following are the qualifications to be elected to the Massachusetts Senate:


2018 Massachusetts ballot measures
Three ballot measures were certified for the November 6, 2018, general election in the state of Massachusetts.


2018 Massachusetts ballot measures
The Constitution of Massachusetts can be amended through initiative, and state statutes can be proposed through initiative. The first and second certified measures, "Nurse-Patient Assignment Limits" and "Advisory Commission for Amendments to the U.S. Constitution Regarding Corporate Personhood and Political Spending", were both initiated state statutes. The third measure, "Gender Identity and Anti-Discrimination", was a veto referendum.


2018 Massachusetts ballot measures
In Massachusetts, after the state determines which measure(s) will appear on the ballot, an official name is assigned to each question. The Secretary of the Commonwealth has discretion over the ordering of questions on the ballot.


2018 Massachusetts ballot measures, Binding statewide questions
VR = veto referendumISS = initiated state statuteVote percentages as of November 8, with 100% reporting


2018 Massachusetts ballot measures, Endorsements, Question 1
On October 23, 2018, The Boston Globe editorial board endorsed a 'no' vote on Question 1, saying the nursing staff ratio is wrong for Massachusetts. On October 26, the Boston Herald also advocated for a 'no' vote. Governor of Massachusetts Charlie Baker said he would vote 'no', while Mayor of Boston Marty Walsh said he would vote 'yes'. A "yes" vote was also advocated by United States Senator for Vermont Bernie Sanders.


2018 Massachusetts ballot measures, Endorsements, Question 3
A 'yes' vote on Question 3 has been "wholeheartedly" endorsed by The Boston Globe in an October 17, 2018, editorial. Actress and LGBT advocate Laverne Cox also advocated for a 'yes' vote.


2018 Massachusetts ballot measures, Removed question
A measure titled "Income Tax for Education and Transportation Amendment", which sought to create a four percent tax on incomes that exceed $1 million, to be used for education and transportation purposes, was removed after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in June 2018 that the measure had been incorrectly certified by the Massachusetts Attorney General.


2018 Massachusetts ballot measures, Other potential questions
Several additional measures received a required number of signatures by December 6, 2017, but ultimately were not added to the ballot:


2018 Massachusetts ballot measures, Other potential questions
A new law enacting a majority of content from these three measures was signed into law in late June by Governor of Massachusetts Charlie Baker. Hourly minimum wage will be increased from $11 to $15 by 2023, workers will have paid medical leave of 12 to 20 weeks (depending on circumstance), and there will be an annual August sales tax holiday; the state sales tax was not decreased. Initiative organizers agreed to withdraw the associated ballot initiatives.


2018 Massachusetts elections
The 2018 Massachusetts general election was held on November 6, 2018, throughout Massachusetts. Primary elections took place on September 6. Early voting took place from October 22 through November 2.


2018 Massachusetts elections
At the federal level, Elizabeth Warren was re-elected to the United States Senate, and all nine seats in the United States House of Representatives were won by Democratic Party candidates.


2018 Massachusetts elections
Incumbents seeking re-election won all major statewide seats: Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Auditor, and Treasurer.


2018 Massachusetts elections
In the Massachusetts General Court (state legislature), Democrats gained one seat in the Senate and two seats in the House.


2018 Massachusetts elections
The number of ballots cast, approximately 2.7 million, was the highest ever in Massachusetts for a midterm election.


2018 Massachusetts elections, Governor and Lieutenant Governor
Incumbent Republican Governor Charlie Baker ran for re-election to a second term in office.


2018 Massachusetts elections, Governor and Lieutenant Governor
Primary elections for Governor and Lieutenant Governor were conducted separately on September 6, 2018, with the Democrats nominating former Patrick administration official Jay Gonzalez and former Obama administration advisor Quentin Palfrey. The Republicans re-nominated Governor Charlie Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito.


2018 Massachusetts elections, Secretary of the Commonwealth
Incumbent Democratic Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin ran for re-election to a seventh term in office.


2018 Massachusetts elections, Secretary of the Commonwealth
The Republican Party nominated Swampscott resident and security expert Anthony Amore.


2018 Massachusetts elections, Secretary of the Commonwealth
The Green-Rainbow Party nominated Holyoke resident and community organizer Juan Sanchez.


2018 Massachusetts elections, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Democratic primary
In the primary election, Galvin was re-nominated over Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim.


2018 Massachusetts elections, Attorney General
Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey ran for re-election to a second consecutive term. Healey was a speculative candidate for Governor but declined to run.


2018 Massachusetts elections, Attorney General, Republican primary
The Republican Party nominated Bourne attorney James McMahon for Attorney General over Hingham attorney Daniel Shores.


2018 Massachusetts elections, Treasurer and Receiver-General
Incumbent Democratic Treasurer and Receiver-General Deb Goldberg ran for re-election to a second term in office.


2018 Massachusetts elections, Treasurer and Receiver-General
State Representative and Republican National Committeewoman Keiko Orrall was unopposed for the Republican nomination.


2018 Massachusetts elections, Treasurer and Receiver-General
The Green-Rainbow party nominated Northampton resident Jamie Guerin. Guerin previously served as Jill Stein's 2016 Massachusetts campaign co-ordinator.