| 1998-01-01
The European Central Bank is established.
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| 1998-08-24
The Netherlands is selected as the site for the trial of the two Libyan suspects of the 1988 Pan Am bombing.
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| 1998-01-27
Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva.
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| 1998-12-26
Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.
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| 1998-02-23
Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and "Crusaders"; the latter term is commonly interpreted to refer to the people of Europe and the United States.
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| 1998-05-02
The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union's monetary policy.
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| 1998-08-20
The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
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| 1998-07-05
Japan launches a probe to Mars, and thus joins the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation.
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| 1998-03-31
Netscape releases the code base of its browser under an open-source license agreement; the project is given the code name Mozilla and is eventually spun off into the non-profit Mozilla Foundation.
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| 1998-07-17
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.
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| 1998-03-24
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.
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| 1998-11-26
Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Republic of Ireland's parliament.
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| 1998-01-29
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.
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| 1998-05-27
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.
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| 1998-10-29
ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with the launch of STS-95 space shuttle mission.
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| 1998-04-12
An earthquake in Slovenia, measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale occurs near the town of Bovec.
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| 1998-07-20
Two hundred aid workers from CARE International, Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups leave Afghanistan on orders of the Taliban.
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| 1998-05-22
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.
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| 1998-09-02
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.
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| 1998-02-10
Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon such a law.
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| 1998-08-07
The United States embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill approximately 212 people.
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| 1998-12-19
Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives forwards articles I and III of impeachment against President Bill Clinton to the Senate.
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| 1998-06-11
Compaq Computer pays $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.
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| 1998-02-23
In the United States, tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
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| 1998-05-28
Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions.
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| 1998-02-02
A Cebu Pacific Flight 387 DC-9-32 crashes into a mountain near Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, killing 104.
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| 1998-11-12
Vice President Al Gore signs the Kyoto Protocol.
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| 1998-02-06
Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
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| 1998-09-04
Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University.
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| 1998-03-24
A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India killing 250 people and injuring 3000 others.
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| 1998-03-16
Pope John Paul II asks God for forgiveness for the inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust.
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| 1998-11-12
Daimler-Benz completes a merger with Chrysler to form Daimler-Chrysler.
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| 1998-01-25
During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands the release of political prisoners and political reforms while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.
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| 1998-11-20
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.
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| 1998-08-20
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.
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| 1998-06-05
A strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants (the strike lasted seven weeks).
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| 1998-09-14
Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom.
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| 1998-10-16
Former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a warrant from Spain requesting his extradition on murder charges.
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| 1998-12-16
Iraq disarmament crisis: Operation Desert Fox – The United States and United Kingdom bomb targets in Iraq.
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| 1998-08-15
Omagh bomb in Northern Ireland, the worst terrorist incident of The Troubles
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| 1998-03-27
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.
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| 1998-09-02
Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia. All 229 people on board are killed.
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| 1998-07-24
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.
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| 1998-08-24
First RFID human implantation tested in the United Kingdom.
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| 1998-02-03
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.
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| 1998-02-18
Two white separatists are arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subways.
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| 1998-08-10
The Royal Proclamation of HRH Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah as the crown prince of Brunei.
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| 1998-01-11
Sidi-Hamed massacre takes place in Algeria, over 100 people are killed.
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| 1998-10-28
An Air China jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan.
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| 1998-12-08
Eighty-one people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.
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| 1998-08-17
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.
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| 1998-05-23
The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes.
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| 1998-10-01
Vladimir Putin became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.
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| 1998-01-04
Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria: over 170 are killed in three remote villages.
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| 1998-12-31
The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.
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| 1998-11-09
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom, already abolished for murder, is completely abolished for all remaining capital offences.
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| 1998-12-11
Thai Airways Flight 261 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101. The pilot flying the Thai Airways Airbus A310-300 is thought to have suffered spatial disorientation.
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| 1998-11-19
Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of the Artist Without Beard sells at auction for $71.5 million USD.
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| 1998-06-25
In Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.
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| 1998-05-04
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 death penalty.
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| 1998-05-06
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.
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| 1998-05-26
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.
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| 1998-05-21
In Miami, Florida, five abortion clinics are hit by a butyric acid attacker.
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| 1998-04-06
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.
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| 1998-07-06
Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport is closed and the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok becomes operational.
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| 1998-01-25
A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth kills 8 people and injures 25 others.
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| 1998-07-17
A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing a permanent international court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crime against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
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| 1998-10-14
Eric Robert Rudolph is charged with six bombings including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia.
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| 1998-02-06
In Corsica, the prefect Claude Erignac is assassinated in Ajaccio, presumably by Yvan Colonna.
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| 1998-05-11
India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran to include a thermonuclear device.
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| 1998-10-29
Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, makes landfall in Honduras.
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| 1998-04-22
Disney's Animal Kingdom opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
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| 1998-09-15
With the landmark merger of WorldCom and MCI Communications completed the day prior, the new MCI WorldCom opens its doors for business.
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| 1998-11-09
Brokerage houses are ordered to pay 1.03 billion USD to cheated NASDAQ investors to compensate for their price-fixing. This is the largest civil settlement in United States history.
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| 1998-08-28
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.
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| 1998-01-17
Paula Jones accuses President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.
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| 1998-03-04
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, although to strictly refer to this as "gay rights" is something of a misnomer.
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| 1998-02-28
Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.
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| 1998-10-29
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 thinking that he is landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel.
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| 1998-01-18
Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair on his website The Drudge Report.
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| 1998-12-01
Exxon announces a $73.7 billion USD deal to buy Mobil, thus creating Exxon-Mobil, the world's largest company.
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| 1998-05-30
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.
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| 1998-02-03
Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984.
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| 1998-10-08
Oslo's Gardermoen airport opens after the close down of Fornebu airport.
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| 1998-06-03
Eschede train disaster: an ICE high speed train derails in Lower Saxony, Germany, causing 101 deaths.
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| 1998-11-19
Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against U.S. President Bill Clinton.
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| 1998-01-04
A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction.
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| 1998-04-05
In Japan, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshū and costing about $3.8 billion USD, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.
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| 1998-10-29
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.
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| 1998-10-23
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a "land for peace" agreement.
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| 1998-10-24
Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission
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| 1998-04-06
Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
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| 1998-10-31
Iraq disarmament crisis begins: Iraq announces it would no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
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| 1998-01-26
Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
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| 1998-12-29
Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million lives.
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| 1998-01-12
Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.
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| 1998-10-11
A Congo Airlines Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 40 people.
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| 1998-10-29
Apartheid: In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.
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| 1998-02-28
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.
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| 1998-03-02
Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
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| 1998-08-31
North Korea reportedly launches Kwangmyongsong, its first satellite.
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| 1998-09-18
ICANN is formed.
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| 1998-03-26
Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria: 52 people are killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of 2.
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| 1998-03-14
An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale hits southeastern Iran.
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| 1998-06-04
Terry Nichols is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
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| 1998-12-04
The Unity Module, the second module of the International Space Station, is launched.
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| 1998-02-01
Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne became the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.
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| 1998-02-04
An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
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| 1998-10-29
The Gothenburg nightclub fire in Sweden claims 63 lives and injures 200.
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| 1998-05-13
Race riots break out in Jakarta, Indonesia, where shops owned by Indonesians of Chinese descent are looted and women raped.
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| 1998-10-17
At Jesse, in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, a petroleum pipeline explodes killing about 1200 villagers, some of whom are scavenging gasoline.
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| 1998-01-01
Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
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| 1998-05-07
Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for $40 billion USD and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
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| 1998-10-07
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.
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| 1998-09-27
Google is founded.
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| 1998-11-20
The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.
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| 1998-05-13
India carries out two nuclear tests at Pokhran, following the three conducted on May 11. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India.
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| 1998-02-20
American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest gold-medalist at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
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| 1998-12-06
Hugo Chávez Frías, Venezuelan military officer and politician, is elected President of Venezuela.
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| 1998-04-20
German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
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| 1998-11-22
Albania constitution adopted by popular referendum.
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| 1998-12-08
The Australian Cricket Board's cover-up of Shane Warne and Mark Waugh's involvement with bookmakers is revealed.
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| 1998-07-10
Roman Catholic sex abuse cases: 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.
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