1998 - What happened in 1998 ?

January 1998

Tuesday 06:

The Lunar Prospector spacecraft is launched to survey the moon's surface.

Saturday 17:

Paula Jones accuses President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.

Sunday 18:

Monica Lewinsky affair story on his website The Drudge Report.

Thursday 22:

Suspected Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski pleads guilty and accepts a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

Wednesday 28:

Gunmen hold at least 400 children and teachers hostage for several hours at an elementary school in Manila, Philippines.

February 1998

Tuesday 10:

Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon such a law.

Saturday 14:

Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Robert Rudolph is a suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.

Wednesday 18:

Two white separatists are arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subways.

Monday 23:

Netscape Communications Corporation announces the foundation of mozilla.org, to co-ordinate the development of the open source Mozilla web browser.

Saturday 28:

Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive againt the KLA in Kosovo.

March 1998

Wednesday 04:

Gay rights: 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.

Thursday 05:

NASA announces the choice of United States Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins as the first woman commander of a space shuttle mission.

Tuesday 10:

American troops stationed in the Persian Gulf begin to receive the first vaccinations against anthrax.

Saturday 14:

An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale hits southeastern Iran.

Tuesday 24:

Jonesboro massacre: In Jonesboro, Arkansas, two boys (aged 11 and 13 years) fire upon students at Westside Middle School. Four students and one teacher are killed and 10 injured.

April 1998

Sunday 05:

In Japan, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshu and costing about US$3.8 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.

Monday 06:

1998 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 49.82 to close at 9,033.23 -- its first-ever close above 9,000.

Thursday 09:

The National Prisoner of War Museum is dedicated in Andersonville, Georgia, on the site of an American Civil War POW camp.

Sunday 12:

Catastrophical earthquake in Slovenia in Poso?je 5,6 on the Richter scale.

Thursday 16:

One of the most serious urban tornadoes in history does significant damage to downtown Nashville, Tennessee (see Nashville Tornado of 1998).

May 1998

Saturday 02:

The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the EU's monetary policy.

Monday 04:

A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepted a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.

Sunday 10:

National elections are held in Hungary.

Monday 18:

United States v. Microsoft: The United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.

Friday 22:

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.

June 1998

Wednesday 03:

Eschede train disaster: an ICE high speed train derails in Lower Saxony, Germany, causing 101 deaths.

Thursday 04:

Terry Nichols is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Monday 08:

Charlton Heston assumes the presidency of the U.S. National Rifle Association.

Thursday 11:

Compaq Computer pays $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in largest high-tech acquisition.

Thursday 25:

In Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.

July 1998

Sunday 05:

Japan launches a probe to Mars, and thus joins the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation.

Friday 17:

Biologists report in the journal Science how they sequenced the genome of the bacterium that causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum.

Saturday 18:

A 23-foot tidal wave kills nearly 3,000 people in Papua New Guinea.

Friday 24:

Russel 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.

Tuesday 28:

Monica Lewinsky scandal: Ex-White House intern, Monica Lewinsky receives transactional immunity in exchange for her grand jury testimony concerning her relationship with US President Bill Clinton.

August 1998

Saturday 15:

Omagh bomb in Northern Ireland, becoming the worst terrorist incident of The Troubles

Monday 17:

Monica Lewinsky scandal: 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 people" about his relationship.

Thursday 20:

1998 U.S. embassy bombings: The United States military launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum is destroyed in the attack.

Friday 21:

The United States destroys a pharmaceutical plant (erroneously believed to be a chemical weapons plant) in Sudan.

Monday 24:

The Netherlands is selected as the site for the trial of the two Libyan suspects of the 1988 PanAm bombing.

September 1998

Wednesday 02:

The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide.

Monday 07:

Google Inc. is founded.

Friday 11:

Independent counsel Kenneth Starr sends a report to the U.S. Congress accusing President Bill Clinton of 11 possible impeachable offenses.

Friday 18:

ICANN is formed.

Sunday 20:

Baseball: After playing 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles, Cal Ripken, Jr takes a day off.

October 1998

Sunday 04:

Leafie Mason of Hughes Springs, Texas, is murdered by Ángel Maturino Reséndiz. She is the serial killer's second victim in his second incident.

Sunday 11:

A Congo Air Lines Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo killing 40

Wednesday 14:

Eric Robert Rudolph is charged with 6 bombings including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia.

Saturday 24:

Tropical Storm Mitch reaches hurricane strength.

Tuesday 27:

Gerhard Schröder becomes Chancellor of Germany for the first time.

November 1998

Tuesday 03:

Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is elected Governor of the U.S. state of Minnesota.

Thursday 12:

Daimler-Benz completes a merger with Chrysler to form Daimler-Chrysler.

Wednesday 18:

Alice McDermott wins the National Book Award with her novel Charming Billy.

Friday 20:

A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin" in regards to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Thursday 26:

Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Republic of Ireland's parliament.

December 1998

Tuesday 01:

Exxon announces a US$73.7 billion deal to buy Mobil, thus creating Exxon-Mobil, the largest company on the planet.

Friday 04:

The second module of the International Space Station, Unity, was launched.

Tuesday 08:

81 people killed by armed groups in the Tadjena massacre in Algeria.

Saturday 26:

1998 - Severe gales over Ireland, northern England, and southern Scotland. Widespread disruption, widespread power outages in Northern Ireland and southern Scotland

Monday 28:

Claudia Benton of West University Place, Texas is murdered in her home by Angel Maturino Resendiz. This is Angel's third victim in his third incident.