Whether it was the discovery of a black hole or a scathing report on Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, this year was filled with headlines that grabbed readers across the world. The impeachment of a president, political and environmental protests and exciting advancements in space exploration all made the news this year. Plus, there was a new royal baby and some big business controversies.
NPR’s international and national security correspondents kept busy helping readers make sense of a range of global developments. Those stories captured your attention, too. Some of your favorites were about endangered wildlife, angry Canadians and a show-stealing eye roll during a Chinese parliament session. Others were about a brewing trade war, uncertainty over Brexit and a series of corporate scandals that threatened the reputations of companies like Nissan and Whirlpool.
Of course, there was also plenty of lighter fare this year. An egg became the most-liked photo on Instagram, a few hundred people “stormed” Area 51 and a 91-year-old woman chased a would-be kidnapper into a karate studio. And then there’s Sudan, the last male northern white rhino who lived in a zoo before being moved to a conservancy in Kenya, where he died at age 45. We’ve compiled a list of the top headlines from the past year, based on reader pageviews. From the 7.1 quake that struck Ensenada, Mexico, to the L.A. man who helped expose the college admissions scam, these are the headlines that caught your attention.