Top News Stories from 1998

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 4.378 billion

 

Nobel Peace Prize: John Hume and David Trimble (Northern Ireland)

More World Statistics...

• 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

U.S. Statistics

President: William J. Clinton

Vice President: Albert Gore, Jr.

Population: 270,298,524

More U.S. Statistics...

• 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

Federal spending: $1675.88 billion

Federal debt $5750.4 billion

Consumer Price Index: $163

Unemployment: 4.5%

Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.32

More Economics...

Sports

Sports Links

Pro Football Summary

Pro Basketball Summary

Pro Baseball Summary

Super Bowl

Denver d. Green Bay

World Series

New York Yankees d. San Diego

NBA Championship

Chicago d. Utah

Stanley Cup

Detroit d. Washington

Wimbledon

Women: Jana Novotna d. N. Tauziat (6-4 7-6)
Men: Pete Sampras d. G. Ivanisevic (6-7 7-6 6-4 3-6 6-2)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Real Quiet

NCAA Basketball Championship

Kentucky d. Utah

World Cup

France d. Brazil

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes

Fiction: American Pastoral, Philip Roth

Music: String Quartet No. 2, Musica Instrumentalis, Aaron Jay Kernis

Drama: How I Learned to Drive, Paula Vogel

Academy Award, Best Picture: Titanic, James Cameron and Jon Landau, producers (Paramount and 20th Century Fox)

Nobel Prize for Literature: José Saramago (Portugal)

Album of the Year: Time Out of Mind, Bob Dylan (Columbia Records)

Song of the Year: "Sunny Came Home," Shawn Colvin

Song of the Year: "Sunny Came Home," Shawn Colvin and John Leventhal, songwriters

Miss America: Katherine Shindle (IL)

More Entertainment Awards...

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

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Walter Kohn (US) and John A. Pople (UK), for their developments in the study of the properties of molecules and the chemical processes in which they are involved

Physics: Robert B. Laughlin (US), Horst L. Störmer (Germany), and Daniel C. Tsui (US), for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations

Physiology or Medicine: Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, and Ferid Murad (all US), for discovering that nitric oxide acts as a signal in the cardiovascular system

More Nobel Prizes in 1998...

• 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
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