What happened in 1998

45 events　World 3, Japan 3, North America 9, Europe 11, USSR / Russia 1, Asia 7, Middle East 1, Latin America 3, Africa 6, Oceania 1

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Highlights of 1998

World3

  • May 15The Windows 98 operating system is released to manufacturing.
  • Aug 17Russia's government devalues the ruble, defaults on domestic debt, and declares a moratorium on repayment of foreign debt. This marks the beginning of 1998 Russian financial crisis.
  • Dec 31In the Eurozone, the currency rates of this day are fixed permanently.

Japan3

  • Feb 7The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano, Japan.
  • Apr 5In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshū and costing about US$3.6 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.
  • Jul 5Japan launches the probe Nozomi to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as an outer space-exploring nation.

North America9

  • Jan 6The Lunar Prospector spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon's poles.
  • Jan 17The Drudge Report breaks the story about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky, which will lead to the House of Representatives' impeachment of him.
  • Mar 23The 70th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted for the 6th time by Billy Crystal, is held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Titanic wins 11 Oscars including Best Picture.
  • Jul 24Russell Eugene Weston Jr. enters the United States Capitol Building and opens fire, killing two members of the United States Capitol Police, Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson.
  • SepGoogle foundedA search engine built by Stanford graduate students Page and Brin. By treating pages linked from many other pages as more important, it made search far more accurate.
  • Nov 19Valve Corporation releases their first-person shooter video game Half-Life to critical acclaim. The game would be deemed one of the most influential titles of its genre, and one of the greatest video games of all time.
  • Dec 4The Space Shuttle Endeavour launches the first U.S.-built component to the International Space Station, the Unity module on STS-88. It docks with Zarya two days later.
  • Dec 16Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President Bill Clinton orders airstrikes on Iraq. UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq.
  • Dec 19The U.S. House of Representatives forwards articles of impeachment against President Clinton to the Senate, making him the second president to be impeached in U.S. history.

Europe11

  • Feb 3Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying EA-6B Prowler severs the cable of a cable-car.
  • Feb 28A massacre in Likoshane, FR Yugoslavia starts the Kosovo War.
  • Apr 10Good Friday Agreement: An hour after the end of the talks deadline, the Belfast Agreement is signed between the Irish and British governments and most Northern Ireland political parties, with the notable exception of the Democratic Unionist Party. This would mostly put an end to the conflict known as The Troubles.
  • Jun 1The European Central Bank is established, replacing the European Monetary Institute.
  • Jun 3Eschede train disaster: an Intercity-Express high-speed train derails between Hanover and Hamburg, Germany, causing 101 deaths.
  • Jun 10The 1998 FIFA World Cup in France: France beats Brazil 3–0 in the FIFA World Cup Final.
  • Jul 17Rome Statute: at a conference in Rome, 120 countries vote to create a permanent International Criminal Court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
  • Aug 15The Troubles: The Omagh bombing is carried out in Northern Ireland by the Real Irish Republican Army as a reaction to the Good Friday Agreement. 29 people are killed and 220 are injured. Shortly after these events, the group will call a ceasefire in response, signaling an end to the 30+ year conflict.
  • Sep 14Failed coup attempt in Albania following the death of Azem Hajdari, a key leader of the Democratic Party of Albania
  • Oct 1Europol is established when the Europol Convention signed by all of its member states comes into force.
  • Dec 14The Yugoslav Army ambushes a column of 140 Kosovo Liberation Army militants attempting to smuggle arms from Albania into Kosovo, killing 36.

USSR / Russia1

  • Nov 20A Russian Proton rocket is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying the first segment of the International Space Station, the 21-ton Zarya Module.

Asia7

  • Feb 2Cebu Pacific Flight 387 crashes into a mountain, this crash marked deadliest aviation accident in Philippines until 2000.
  • Feb 16China Airlines Flight 676 crashes upon attempted landing at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, killing 203, the second-deadliest air crash in Taiwan.
  • May 11Pokhran-II (Operation Shakti): India conducts three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including one thermonuclear device.
  • May 13Riots directed against Chinese Indonesians break out in Indonesia, killing around 1,000 people. Maria Catarina Sumarsih holds Prabowo Subianto the responsibility for being involved in a series of human rights abuses during the riot.
  • May 28Nuclear testing: In response to a series of Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan explodes five nuclear devices of its own in the Chagai hills of Baluchistan, codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.
  • Aug 7Yangtze River Floods: in China the Yangtze river breaks through the main bank; before this, from August 1–5, peripheral levees collapsed consecutively in Jiayu County Baizhou Bay. The death toll exceeds 12,000, with many thousands more injured.
  • Dec 11Thai Airways International Flight 261 crashes upon attempted landing at Surat Thani International Airport, killing 101, the second-deadliest air crash in Thailand.

Middle East1

  • May 30A 6.5 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.

Latin America3

  • Aug 10Voters in Nevis narrowly reject an independence referendum.
  • Oct 29Hurricane Mitch makes landfall in Central America, killing an estimated 11,000 people.
  • Dec 6Hugo Chávez, politician and former officer of the Venezuelan army, is elected President of Venezuela.

Africa6

  • Jan 11Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria.
  • Mar 26Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria: 52 people are killed with axes and knives; 32 of the killed are babies under the age of two.
  • Jun 7Former Brigadier-General Ansumane Mané seizes control over military barracks in Bissau, marking the beginning of the Guinea-Bissau Civil War (1998–99).
  • Aug 1Puntland State leaders in Somalia declare the territory an autonomous state; the capital is the city of Garoowe in the Nugal region.
  • Aug 4The Second Congo War begins; 5.4 million people die before it ends in 2003, making it the bloodiest war, to date, since World War II.
  • Aug 71998 U.S. embassy bombings: the bombings of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, kill 224 people and injure over 4,500; they are linked to terrorist Osama bin Laden, an exile of Saudi Arabia.

Oceania1

  • Jul 17The 7.0 Papua New Guinea earthquake shakes the region near Aitape with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). This submarine earthquake triggered a landslide that caused a destructive tsunami, leaving more than 2,100 dead and thousands injured.