1998 - What happened in 1998 ?

January 1998

Thursday 08:

Ramzi Yousef is sentenced to life in prison for planning the World Trade Center bombing and for planning Project Bojinka.

Sunday 11:

Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria; over 100 people killed.

Tuesday 13:

ABC and ESPN negotiate a $1.15 billion a season contract to keep Monday Night Football.

Wednesday 14:

An Afghan cargo plane crashes into a mountain in southwest Pakistan killing more than 50 people.

Thursday 29:

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.

February 1998

Monday 02:

A Cebu Pacific airlines DC-9-32 crashes into a mountain near Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, killing 104

Saturday 07:

The 1998 Winter Olympic Games open in Nagano, Japan.

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.

Monday 23:

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

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.

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.

Tuesday 31:

Netscape gives the code base of its browser under an open-source license agreement, thus creating Mozilla Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation to oversee the development of Mozilla.

April 1998

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).

Monday 20:

German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.

May 1998

Saturday 09:

In Birmingham, United Kingdom, Dana International wins the forty-third Eurovision Song Contest for Israel singing "Diva".

Sunday 10:

National elections are held in Hungary.

Monday 11:

ZDTV, "the official technology television network", begins broadcasting. It lasts six years before merging with G4 to become G4techTV, a gaming channel.

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.

Wednesday 27:

Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.

June 1998

Tuesday 02:

The CIH computer virus is discovered in Taiwan.

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.

Friday 05:

Both Reuters and ABC news erroneously report the death of comedian Bob Hope after Arizona congressman Bob Stump announces the demise of Hope on the floor of the US Congress.

Thursday 11:

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

July 1998

Saturday 04:

Lin "Spit" Newborn and Daniel Shersty are murdered by neonazis in the desert just outside Las Vegas.

Sunday 05:

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

Friday 10:

Catholic priests' sex abuse scandal: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claimed they were sexually abused by former priest Rudolph Kos.

Sunday 12:

KDE 1.0 released.

Friday 17:

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

August 1998

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.

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.

Friday 28:

Pakistan's National Assembly passes a constitutional amendment to make the "Qur'an and Sunnah" the "supreme law" but the bill is defeated in the Senate.

Monday 31:

North Korea reportedly launchs Kwangmyongsong, its first satellite.

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.

Tuesday 08:

At Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, Mark McGwire breaks Roger Maris' 1961 record of 61 home runs hit in a single season.

Monday 14:

Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom.

Friday 18:

ICANN is formed.

Friday 25:

A Pauknair BAE146 crashes into hillside in Morocco killing 38.

October 1998

Thursday 01:

ICANN assumes responsibility for selling top-level domain names for the Internet.

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

Monday 12:

U.S. Congress passes Digital Millennium Copyright Act

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 05:

The journal Nature publishes a genetic study showing compelling evidence that Thomas Jefferson fathered a son, Eston Hemings Jefferson, by his slave Sally Hemings.

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.

Monday 30:

Deutsche Bank announces a US$10 billion deal to buy Bankers Trust, thus creating the largest financial institution in the world.

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.

Friday 11:

A Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes just short of runway at Surat Thani Airport, killing 101.

Saturday 19:

The U.S. House of Representatives passes articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky scandal.

Saturday 26:

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