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1998
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1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). The year 1998 was designated: International Year of the Ocean by UNESCO. EventsJanuarythumb|Coated in ice, power and telephone lines sag and often break, resulting in power outages. thumb|New [[Russian ruble|rubles]] thumb|Lunar Prospector- January 2 – A gunman shoots Antario Teodoro Filho, Brazilian politician and radio presenter, during a broadcast.
- January 6 – The 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.
FebruaryMarch- March 5 – NASA announces that the Clementine probe orbiting the Moon has found enough water in polar craters to support a human colony and rocket fueling station.
- March 24 – Jonesboro massacre: 2 young boys (aged 11 and 13 years) fire upon students at Westside Middle School while hidden in woodlands near the school. 4 students and 1 teacher are killed, and 10 are injured.
Aprilthumb|200px|Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge- April 8 – Iraq disarmament crisis: UNSCOM reports to the UN Security Council that Iraq's declaration on its biological weapons program is incomplete and inadequate.
- April 25 – A waste reservoir at the Los Frailes mine in Andalusia, Spain ruptures, discharging heavy metal waste into the Guadiamar River. The pollution threatens the sensitive ecosystem and endangered species of Doñana National Park, Spain's largest nature reserve, but is diverted into the Guadalquivir River. Up to 100 km² of farmland are ruined by the spill.
May- May 11 – The first euro coins are minted in Pessac, France. Because the final specifications for the coins were not finished in 1998, they will have to be melted and minted again in 1999.
- May 13 – India carries out 2 more nuclear tests at Pokhran. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India.
- May 13–14 – Riots directed against Chinese Indonesians break out in Indonesia. Indonesian natives destroy and burn Chinese Indonesian-owned properties and kill and rape more than 1,000 Chinese Indonesians.
- May 19 – The Galaxy IV communications satellite fails, leaving 80–90% of the world's pagers without service.
- May 21 – September 30 – Expo '98 is held in Lisbon, Portugal, with the title "Oceans, an Heritage for the Future". UNESCO had previously declared 1998 to be the International Year of the Oceans due to the Expo, which 12 million people attend.
- May 28 – Nuclear testing: In response to a series of Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan explodes 5 nuclear devices of its own in the Chaghai hills of Baluchistan, prompting the United States, Japan and other nations to impose economic sanctions.
June- June 2 – California voters approve Proposition 227, abolishing the state's bilingual education program.
July- July 5 – Japan launches a probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as an outer space-exploring nation.
Augustthumb|120px|[[August 7|Aug.7: Nairobi Embassy bombing.]] - August 7 – Yangtze River Floods: In China the Yangtze River breaks through the main bank; before this, from August 1–5, periphery levees collapsed consecutively in Jiayu County Baizhou Bay. The death toll exceeds 12,000, with many thousands more injured.
- August 19 – Monica Lewinsky scandal: On the day of his 52nd birthday, U.S. President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He also admits before the nation that night in a nationally televised address that he "misled people" about his sexual affair with Lewinsky.
- August 19 – 1998 Russian financial crisis: Russia defaults on the state short-term bonds, and devalues the ruble. The ruble loses 70% of its value against U.S. dollar in the next 6 months. Several of the largest Russians banks collapse, and millions of people lose their savings.
- August 24 – The first RFID human implantation is tested in the United Kingdom.
- August 26 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Scott Ritter resigns from UNSCOM, sharply criticizing 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 tells reporters that "Iraq is not disarming," "Iraq retains the capability to launch a chemical strike."
Septemberthumb|Canadian Coast Guard Vessel Henry Hudson searches for Swissair Flight 111 debris October- October 28 – An Air China jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan. After landing the plane safely, Yuan Bin is arrested.
- October 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 tricks the hijacker into thinking that he was landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel.
- October 29 – In Gothenburg, Sweden, 2 arsonists burn down a local Macedonian Society disco, killing 63 and injuring 200, most of them children of refugees.
November- November 9 – In the largest civil settlement in United States history, a federal judge approves a US$1.03 billion settlement requiring dozens of brokerage houses (including Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Salomon Smith Barney) to pay investors who claim they were cheated in a widespread price-fixing scheme on the NASDAQ.
- November 13 – Theglobe.com goes public, opening up 1000% and setting a stock market record for highest rising IPO in history. This became one of the first and most widely publicized IPOs of the internet boom.
December- December – Grade school children in Aurora, Colorado, collect $35,000 to purchase and free slave children in Sudan.
- December 11 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq announces that United Nations weapons inspections will no longer take place on Friday, the Muslim day of rest. Iraq also refuses to provide test data from the production of missiles and engines.
- December 21 – Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council members France, Germany and Russia call for sanctions to end against Iraq. The 3 Security Council members also call for UNSCOM to either be disbanded or for its role to be recast. The U.S. says it will veto any such proposal.
UndatedFictionalThe following are references to year 1998 in fiction: * CarnEvil: The rising of the Carnival of Evil.BirthsDeathsJanuary–Junethumb|120px|Lloyd Bridgesthumb|120px|Benjamin Spockthumb|120px|Frank Sinatrathumb|120px|Barry GoldwaterJuly–Decemberthumb|120px|George Wallacethumb|120px|Martin Rodbell Ship events Nobel Prizesright|100pxTempleton PrizeFields Medal
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