| |
| 1998 |
| January 2nd |
 |
Russia
began to circulate new roubles to stem inflation and promote
confidence. |
|
| January
6th |
|
The
Lunar Prospector spacecraft was launched into orbit around the
Moon and later found evidence of frozen water in soil in permanently
shadowed craters near the Moon's poles. |
|
| January 8th |
|
In
the United States, terrorist Ramzi Yousef was sentenced to life
in prison for planning the World Trade Center bombing of 1993. |
|
| January 8th |
|
Cosmologists
announced that the expansion rate of the universe was increasing. |
|
| January 12th |
|
In
Europe, 19 European nations agreed to forbid human cloning. |
|
| January
16th |
|
NASA
announced that John Glenn would return to space on the Space
Shuttle 'Discovery' mission STS-95 in October 1998. |
|
| January 17th |
|
In
the United States, Paula Jones accused President Bill Clinton
of sexual harassment. |
|
| January 22nd |
|
In
America, suspected 'Unabomber' Theodore Kaczynski pleaded guilty
and accepted a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. |
|
| January 26th |
|
On
American television, Bill Clinton denied he had 'sexual relations'
with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. |
|
| January 27th |
|
The
American First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared on the 'Today'
show and called the attacks against her husband part of a "vast
right-wing conspiracy." |
|
| January 28th |
|
In
Asis, gunmen hold at least 400 children and teachers hostage
for several hours at an elementary school in Manila, Philippines. |
|
| February
3rd |
|
In
Italy, a United States Military pilot caused the death of 20
people near Trento, when his low-flying plane severed the cable
of a cable-car. Known as the 'Cavalese cable-car disaster'. |
|
| February
4th |
|
In
north east Afghanistan, a 6.1 earthquake killed more than 5,000
people. |
|
| February
16th |
|
China
Airlines Flight 676 crashed into a residential area near by
Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. The disaster killed 202
people, included all 196 passengers on board and six on the
ground. |
|
| February
20th |
|
Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein negotiated a deal with U.N. secretary-general
Kofi Annan, that allowed weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad.
The agreement prevented military action by the U.S. and Britain. |
|
| February
23rd |
|
Osama
bin Laden published a fatwa that declared jihad (Holy War) against
all Jews and Crusaders. |
|
| February
28th |
|
In
the Balkans, Serbian police began to wipe out so-called 'terrorist
gangs' in Kosovo. |
|
| March 2nd |
|
Data
sent from the 'Galileo' probe indicated that Jupiter's moon
Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice. |
|
| March 5th |
|
NASA
announced that the 'Clementine' probe orbiting the Moon had
found enough water in the polar craters to support a human colony
and rocket fueling station. |
|
| March 5th |
|
NASA
announced the choice of United States Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen
Collins as commander of a future Space Shuttle 'Columbia' mission
to launch an X-ray telescope, making Collins the first woman
commander of a space shuttle mission. |
|
| March 10th |
|
American
troops stationed in the Persian Gulf began to receive the first
vaccinations against anthrax. |
|
| April 6th |
|
In
Asia, Pakistan raised the tension with India when they tested
medium-range missiles capable of reaching India. |
|
| April 10th |
|
The 'Good Friday Agreement' was signed between the Irish and
British governments and most of the Northern Ireland's political
parties, with the exception of the Democratic Unionist Party. |
|
| April 15th |
|
The
Cambodian communist organisation Khmer Rouge leader, and the
one time Prime Minister of Cambodia (1975-1979), Pol Pot (Saloth
Sar) died. The death toll under the Khmer Rouge has been reported
up to 1.6 million people. |
|
| May 11th |
|
In
response to Pakistan's missile tests on April 6th, India conducted
its second series of underground nuclear tests in the Rajasthan
Desert and increased the tension with Pakistan. |
|
| May 13th |
|
In
response of the nuclear tension in Asia and India's second round
of nuclear tests, the United States and Japan imposed economic
sanctions on the nation. |
|
| May 22nd |
|
A
federal judge ruled that US Secret Service agents can be compelled
to testify before a grand jury concerning the scandal between
President Clinton and the ex-White House intern Monica Lewinsky. |
|
| May 27th |
|
In
the United States, Michael Fortier was sentenced to 12 years
in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities
about the terrorist plot in the Oklahoma City bombing of April
19th 1995. |
|
| May 28th |
|
In
response to a series of nuclear tests by India, Pakistan exploded
six nuclear devices in the Chaghai hills of Baluchistan, and
prompted the United States, Japan and other nations to impose
economic sanctions. |
|
| May 30th |
|
In
Asia, Pakistan conducted further nuclear tests when they detonated
two more nuclear explosions following its first test. |
|
| June 4th |
|
In
the United States, Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison
for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing of April 19th 1995. |
|
| July
5th |
|
Japan
launched a probe to Mars and joined the United States and Russia
as a space-exploring nation. |
|
| July 10th |
|
The
DNA-identified remains of USAF 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie
arrived home to his family in St. Louis, Missouri, after he
was identified as the man in the 'Tomb of the Unknowns' since
1984. |
|
| July 17th |
|
In
St. Petersburg, Russia, the remains of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
and his family were buried in St. Catherine Chapel, 80 years
after he and his family were murdered by the revolutionary Bolsheviks. |
|
| July 17th |
|
An undersea earthquake triggered a tsunami which destroyed 10
villages in Papua New Guinea. 1,500 people were killed and an
estimated 2,000 more unaccounted and thousands made homeless. |
|
| July 21st |
|
NASA
astronaut Alan Shepard died. Shepard became the first
American to go into space in Mercury 3 (MR-3), 5th May
1961, and walked on the Moon on Apollo 14, 31st January 1971. |
|
| July 28th |
|
Ex-White
House intern, Monica Lewinsky received transactional immunity,
in exchange for her grand jury testimony concerning her relationship
with US President Bill Clinton. |
|
| August 5th |
|
Iraq
officially suspended all cooperation with UNSCOM inspection
teams. |
|
| August 7th |
|
Bombs
detonated at the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
and Nairobi, Kenya, killed 224 and injured over 4,500 people.
The bombings were linked to Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. |
|
| August 15th |
|
The
IRA splinter group, the Real IRA, detonated a car bomb in Omagh,
County Tyrone, Ireland. The attack killed 29 and injured over
200. The greatest loss of life in 'The Troubles' since it started
in 1969. |
|
| August 17th |
|
US
President Bill Clinton admited in a taped testimony that he
had an 'improper physical relationship' with the White House
intern Monica Lewinsky. He also admited to the American public
that he "misled people" about their relationship. |
|
| August 20th |
|
The
U.S. military launched cruise missile attacks against alleged
Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. Also the suspected chemical plant
al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoumin, Sudan, was attacked
and destroyed. The attacks were in response for the August 7th
bombs that destroyed the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. |
|
| August 26th |
|
Scott
Ritter resigned from UNSCOM, sharply criticized the Clinton
administration and the U.N. Security Council for not being vigorous
enough about insisting that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
be destroyed. Ritter told reporters that "Iraq is not disarming,"
"Iraq retains the capability to launch a chemical strike." |
|
| August
31st |
|
North
Korea reportedly launched 'Kwangmyongsong', their first satellite.
Although North Korea reported that it reached a stable orbit,
NORAD was never able to confirm this assertion. |
|
| September
2nd |
|
A
United Nations court found Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor
of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide,
marking the first time that the 1948 law banning genocide was
enforced. |
|
| September
29th |
|
The
U.S. Congress passed the 'Iraq Liberation Act', which stated
that the United States wants to remove Saddam Hussein from power
and replace the government with a democratic institution. |
|
| October 14th |
|
Eric
Robert Rudolph was charged with 6 bombings including the Centennial
Olympic Park bomb during the 1996 Summer Olympics, Atlanta,
USA. The bomb killed one and injured 111 other people. |
|
| October 16th |
|
British
police placed ex-Chilean President General Augusto Pinochet
into house arrest during his medical treatment in Britain. |
|
| October 29th |
|
Retired
NASA astronaut John H. Glenn returned to space on board
the space shuttle 'Discovery' on mission STS-95, he became the
oldest man to go into space. He originally became the first
American to orbit Earth on February 20th 1962. |
|
| October 31st |
|
Iraq
announced it would no longer cooperate with the United Nations
weapons inspectors. |
|
| November
1st |
|
The
European Court of Human Rights was instituted. |
|
| November
5th |
|
As
part of the impeachment inquiry, House Judiciary Committee chairman
Henry Hyde sent a list of 81 questions to US President Bill
Clinton with regard to the Monica Lewinsky scandal. |
|
| November
7th |
|
Retired
NASA astronaut John H. Glenn returned to Earth on board
the space shuttle 'Discovery' STS-95. |
|
November
13th - 14th |
|
The
U.S. President Clinton ordered airstrikes on Iraq. Clinton then
called off the attack at the last minute when Iraq promised
once again to cooperate 'unconditionally' with UNSCOM weapons
inspectors. |
|
| November
18th |
|
The
United Nations' UNSCOM weapon inspectors returned to Iraq. The
return was instigated by the fear of attack threatened by U.S.
President Clinton on November 13th. |
|
| November
19th |
|
The
United State House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee began
impeachment hearings against US President Bill Clinton. |
|
| November
20th |
|
A
court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declared the accused
terrorist Osama bin Laden 'a man without a sin' with regard
to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. |
|
November
23th - 26th |
|
In
Iraq, the U.N. inspectors UNSCOM were blocked again. Iraq once
again ended their cooperation with UNSCOM with withholding information
and intimidation. |
|
| November
26th |
|
In
Ireland, Labour party leader and British Prime Minister Tony
Blair became the first British Prime Minister to address the
Republic of Ireland's parliament in Dublin. |
|
| December
11th |
|
Iraq
announced that U.N. weapons inspections will no longer take
place on Friday, the Muslim holy day. Iraq also refused to provide
test data from the production of missiles and engines. |
|
| December
11th |
|
NASA's
'Mars Climate Orbiter' was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida,
USA. Among other objectives, the orbiter was to serve as a data
relay satellite for the Mars Polar Lander and other future NASA
and international lander missions to Mars. |
|
December
16th - 19th |
|
U.S.
President Clinton ordered American and British airstrikes on
Iraq, which prompted UNSCOM to withdraw all their weapons inspectors
from Iraq. |
|
| December
19th |
|
Iraqi
vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan announced that Iraq would
no longer cooperate with the UN weapon inspectors and declared
that UNSCOM's 'mission was over'. |
|
| December
21st |
|
UN
Security Council members France, Germany and Russia called for
sanctions against Iraq to end. The three Security Council members
also called for UNSCOM to either be disbanded or for its role
to be redesigned. The U.S. stated that it would veto any such
proposal. |
|
| December
26th |
|
Iraq
announced its intention to fire upon US and British warplanes
that patrol the northern and southern 'No-fly zones'. |
|
| December
29th |
|
In
Asia, the remaining leaders of the Cambodian communists Khmer
Rouge, apologised for the genocide in Cambodia that claimed
over 1 million lives during in the 1970s. |
|
| |
|
John
Hume and David Trimble received the Nobel Peace Prize for their
efforts in bringing peace to Northern Ireland. |
|
| |
|
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