Top News Stories from 1998

World Events

• Serbs battle ethnic Albanians in Kosovo (March 5 et seq.). Serbs renew attack on Kosovo rebels (June 1). NATO, on verge of air strikes, reaches settlement with Milosevic on Kosovo (Oct. 12).
• Good Friday Accord is reached in Northern Ireland (April 10). Irish Parliament backs peace agreement (April 22). Background: N. Ireland Peace Negotiations
• Europeans agree on single currency, the euro (May 3).
• India conducts three atomic tests despite worldwide disapproval (May 11, 13). Pakistan stages five nuclear tests in response (May 29, 30).
• Indonesian dictator Suharto steps down after 32 years in power (May 21).
• US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania bombed (Aug. 7). US cruise missiles hit suspected terrorist bases in Sudan and Afghanistan (Aug. 20).
• Russia fights to avert financial collapse (Aug. 17).
• Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet arrested in London (Oct. 16).
• Wye Mills Agreement between Netanyahu and Arafat moves Middle East peace talks forward (Oct. 23). Background: Middle East Peace Negotiations
• Iraq ends cooperation with UN arms inspectors (Aug. 5). Clinton orders air strikes (Dec. 16–19).

U.S. Events

• President accused in White House sex scandal; denies allegations of affair with White House intern, Monica Lewinsky (Jan. 21 et seq.).
• President outlines first balanced budget in 30 years (Feb. 3).
• US Supreme Court rules line-item veto unconstitutional (Feb. 12).
• Unabomber sentenced to four life terms (May 4).
• Life sentence meted out to Terry Nichols, convicted in Oklahoma City bombing fatal to 168 (June 4).
• Starr Report by independent counsel outlines case for impeachment proceedings against President (Sept. 11).
• Matthew Shepard, gay Wyoming student, fatally beaten in hate crime; two arrested (Oct. 6 et seq.).
• House impeaches President Clinton along party lines on two charges, perjury and obstruction of justice. (Dec. 19).

Economics

Sports

Super Bowl

World Series

NBA Championship

Stanley Cup

Wimbledon

Kentucky Derby Champion

NCAA Basketball Championship

World Cup

Entertainment

Events

• Titanic becomes the highest-grossing film of all time, raking in more than $580 million domestically.
• An estimated 76 million viewers watch the last episode of Seinfeld.
• Legendary crooner Frank Sinatra dies of a heart attack at age 82.
• NBC agrees to fork over $13 million an episode for the next three years for broadcast rights to the top-rated series ER. The total dollar figure, $850 million, eclipses any price ever paid for a television show.
• Titanic captures a record-tying 11 Academy Awards, including those for Best Picture and Best Director (James Cameron).
• The American Film Institute announces its list of the top 100 films of all time. Citizen Kane tops the list.
• Tina Brown, editor of The New Yorker sends shockwaves through the publishing world with her resignation from the venerable weekly. David Remnick is hired to replace her.

Movies

• Affliction, American History X, Elizabeth, Shakespeare in Love, There's Something about Mary

Books

• Edward Ball, Slaves in the Family
• Russell Banks, Cloudsplitter
• Michael Cunningham, The Hours
• Donald Hall, Without
• Alice McDermott, Charming Billy
• Gerald Stern, This Time: New and Selected Poems

Science

• The Athena probe finds frozen water on moon. Scientists say ice crystals mixed with soil could provide fuel for rockets exploring solar system (Mar. 5). Background: US Unstaffed Planetary and Lunar Programs
• The FDA approves the male impotence drug Viagra (Mar. 27). Background: New Medicines
• Astronomers detect giant explosion, second in force only to the "Big Bang," in deep space (May 6). Background: Astronomy
• Dow Corning Corporation agrees on $3.2 billion settlement for tens of thousands of women claiming injury from manufacturer's silicone breast implants (July 8). Background: Health & Nutrition
• 77-year-old Senator John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, returns to orbit in the space shuttle Discovery (Oct. 29). Background: US Staffed Space Flights
• The crew of the space shuttle Endeavour connects first two modules of the international space station (Dec. 6). Background: Space Exploration

Death

• Gene Autry
• Sonny Bono
• Florence Griffith Joyner
• Akira Kurosawa
• Octavio Paz
• Frank Sinatra
• Junior Wells

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