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What Happened In History Year 1998

Historical Events for the Year 1998

  • 1st January » Russia begins to circulate new Russian ruble called rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
  • 1st January » The European Central Bank is established.
  • 4th January » Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 4 January 1998 called Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria: over 170 are killed in three remote villages.
  • 4th January » North American Ice Storm of 1998 known as A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction.
  • 11th January » Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria.
  • 12th January » Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.
  • 17th January » Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair on his website 'The Drudge Report'.
  • 25th January » During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands political reforms and the release of political prisoners while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.
  • 26th January » Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "Lewinsky scandal known as sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
  • 29th January » In Birmingham, Alabama, a bomb explodes at an abortion clinic, killing one and severely wounding another. Serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph is suspected as the culprit.
  • 1st February » Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.
  • 3rd February » Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas, becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984.
  • 3rd February » Cavalese cable car disaster (1998) or Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States Military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
  • 4th February » An February 4, 1998 Afghanistan earthquake called earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
  • 6th February » Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
  • 10th February » Voters in Maine repeal a LGBT rights in the United States e.g gay rights law passed in 1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon such a law.
  • 14th February » An oil tanker train collides with a freight train in Yaoundé, Cameroon, spilling fuel oil. One person scavenging the oil created Yaoundé train explosion known as a massive explosion which kills 120.
  • 16th February » China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a road and residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan, killing all 196 aboard and seven more on the ground.
  • 20th February » American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest gold-medalist at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
  • 23rd February » In the United States, Kissimmee Tornado Outbreak e.g tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
  • 28th February » First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace.
  • 28th February » Kosovo War: Serbia and Montenegro e.g Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.
  • 1st March » 'Titanic (1997 film) or Titanic' became the first film to gross over List of highest-grossing films named $1 billion worldwide.
  • 4th March » LGBT rights in the United States called Gay rights: 'Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services': The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex.
  • 24th March » Westside Middle School massacre known as Jonesboro massacre: Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded.
  • 24th March » A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India, killing 250 people and injuring 3000 others.
  • 26th March » Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria: Fifty-two people are killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of two.
  • 27th March » The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.
  • 5th April » In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge linking Awaji Island with Honshū and costing about $3.8 billion United States dollar e.g USD, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.
  • 6th April » Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
  • 6th April » Travelers Group announces an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger is completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank.
  • 10th April » Northern Ireland peace deal reached (Good Friday Agreement).
  • 12th April » An earthquake in Slovenia, measuring 5.6 on the Richter magnitude scale e.g Richter scale occurs near the town of Bovec.
  • 20th April » German terrorist group the Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
  • 4th May » A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the Capital punishment called death penalty.
  • 6th May » Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his 5th career start.
  • 7th May » Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for $40 billion United States dollar named USD and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
  • 11th May » India conducts Pokhran-II named three underground atomic tests in Pokhran to include a thermonuclear device.
  • 12th May » Four students Trisakti shootings known as are shot at Trisakti University, leading to May 1998 riots of Indonesia called widespread riots and the fall of Suharto
  • 13th May » Jakarta riots of May 1998 known as Race riots break out in Jakarta, Indonesia, where shops owned by Indonesians of Chinese Indonesian known as Chinese descent are looted and women raped.
  • 13th May » India carries out two nuclear testing named nuclear tests at Pokhran, following the three conducted on May 11. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India.
  • 21st May » In Miami, five abortion clinics are hit by a butyric acid attacker.
  • 21st May » President Suharto of Indonesia resigns following the killing of students from Tri Sakti University earlier that week by security forces and growing mass protests in Jakarta against his ongoing corrupt rule.
  • 22nd May » Lewinsky scandal: a federal judge rules that United States Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the scandal, involving President Bill Clinton.
  • 23rd May » The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes.
  • 26th May » The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York.
  • 26th May » The first "Stolen Generation called National Sorry Day" was held in Australia, and reconciliation events were held nationally, and attended by over a million people.
  • 27th May » Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier (American) named Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorism known as terrorist plot.
  • 30th May » A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.
  • 30th May » Nuclear weapons testing called Nuclear Testing: Pakistan conducts an underground test in the Kharan Desert. It is reported to be a plutonium device with yield of 20kt.
  • 4th June » Terry Nichols is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
  • 5th June » A Strike action called strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants. The strike lasts seven weeks.
  • 11th June » Compaq Computer pays US$9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.
  • 25th June » In 'Clinton v. City of New York', the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is United States Constitution or unconstitutional.
  • 4th July » Japan launches the Nozomi (spacecraft) e.g Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as a outer space known as space exploring nation.
  • 10th July » Roman Catholic sex abuse cases: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas named Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claimed they were child sexual abuse named sexually abused by Rudolph Kos, a former priest.
  • 17th July » 1998 Papua New Guinea earthquake known as Papua New Guinea earthquake: A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroys 10 villages in Papua New Guinea killing an estimated 3,183, leaving 2,000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless.
  • 17th July » A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing a International Criminal Court known as permanent international court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the cri
  • 24th July » United States Capitol shooting incident (1998) or Russell Eugene Weston, Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.
  • 2nd August » The Second Congo War begins.
  • 7th August » 1998 United States embassy bombings named The United States embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill approximately 212 people.
  • 10th August » HRH Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah is proclaimed the crown prince of Brunei with a Royal Proclamation.
  • 15th August » Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland, the worst terrorism known as terrorist incident of The Troubles.
  • 17th August » Lewinsky scandal: President of the United States named US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled
  • 20th August » 1998 United States embassy bombings called U.S. embassy bombings: The United States launches Cruise missile strikes on Afghanistan and Sudan (August 1998) known as cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemic
  • 24th August » First radio-frequency identification (RFID) human implantation tested in the United Kingdom.
  • 28th August » Second Congo War: Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo e.g Loyalist troops backed by Angolan and Zimbabwean forces repulse the Rally for Congolese Democracy or RCD and Rwandan offensive on Kinshasa.
  • 30th August » Second Congo War: Armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and their Angolan and Zimbabwean allies recapture Matadi and the Inga dams in the western DRC from Rally for Congolese Democracy called RCD and Rwandan troops.
  • 31st August » North Korea reportedly launches 'Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1', its first artificial satellite e.g satellite.
  • 2nd September » Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia. All 229 people on board are killed.
  • 4th September » Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University.
  • 11th September » Opening ceremony for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia is the first Asian country to host the games.
  • 14th September » Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom.
  • 15th September » With the landmark merger of WorldCom and MCI Communications completed the day prior, the new MCI WorldCom opens its doors for business.
  • 18th September » ICANN is formed.
  • 27th September » The Google internet search engine retrospectively claims this as its birthday.
  • 7th October » Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is found tied to a fence after being savagely beaten by two young adults in Laramie, Wyoming.
  • 10th October » A Lignes Aériennes Congolaises Boeing 727 is 1998 Lignes Aériennes Congolaises crash or shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 41 people.
  • 14th October » Eric Rudolph is charged with six bombings including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta known as Atlanta, Georgia.
  • 23rd October » Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian people called Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a "land for peace" agreement.
  • 23rd October » Swatch Internet Time, a measure of 1000 "beats" per day was inaugurated by Swatch Group named The Swatch Group.
  • 24th October » Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission
  • 28th October » An Air China jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan.
  • 29th October » Apartheid: In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa) known as Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.
  • 29th October » Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space.
  • 29th October » ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with the launch of STS-95 space shuttle mission.
  • 29th October » While 'en route' from Adana to Ankara, a Turkish Airlines flight with a crew of 6 and 33 passengers is hijacked by a Kurdish militant who orders the pilot to fly to Switzerland. The plane instead lands in Ankara after the pilot tricked the hijacker into t
  • 29th October » Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, makes Landfall (meteorology) named landfall in Honduras.
  • 29th October » The Gothenburg nightclub fire in Sweden kills 63 and injures 200.
  • 31st October » Iraq disarmament crisis begins: Iraq announces it would no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
  • 9th November » A US federal judge orders 37 US brokerage houses to pay 1.03 billion United States dollar called USD to cheated NASDAQ investors to compensate for price-fixing. This is the largest civil settlement in United States history.
  • 9th November » Capital punishment in the United Kingdom, already abolished for murder, is completely abolished for all remaining capital offences.
  • 19th November » Lewinsky scandal: The United States House Committee on the Judiciary e.g United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against President of the United States named U.S. President Bill Clinton.
  • 20th November » A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin" in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
  • 20th November » The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.
  • 26th November » Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland named Ireland.
  • 4th December » The 'Unity Module', the second module of the International Space Station, is launched.
  • 8th December » Tadjena massacre named Eighty-one people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.
  • 11th December » Thai Airways International Flight 261 Thai Airways Flight 261 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101. The pilot flying the Thai Airways International Thai Airways Airbus Airbus A310 A310-300 A310-300 is thought to have suffered spatial disorientati
  • 19th December » President Bill Clinton is Impeachment of Bill Clinton called impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second President of the United States to be impeached.
  • 26th December » Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern Iraqi no-fly zones or no-fly zones.
  • 29th December » Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million lives.
  • 31st December » The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.

Historical events for the year 1998 by month