Ten events most likely to hit the headlines in 2018

6. Victory: Russian election

After leadership elections in France, Germany and the UK in 2017, 2018 will be another "year of election" as Thailand, Russia, Italy, Brazil and Zimbabwe will hold presidential elections. The Russian election will get more attention since the public is curious whether President Vladimir Putin will be able to win.

According to several Russian media polls, Putin occupies the absolute advantage among the candidates in terms of public approval ratings. The United Russia and Just Russia parties have decided to support Putin and will not propose an alternative candidate, and Russia's Supreme Court ruled Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, cannot run for president due to criminal records, both of which make Putin more likely to win.