Timeline 1998 April - June
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1998 Apr 1, Judge Susan Webber threw out the sexual harassment suit filed by Paula Jones against Pres. Clinton saying her claims of sexual harassment fell "far short" of being worthy of trial. Clinton later settled with Jones without apology or admission of guilt.
(SFC, 4/2/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/1/08)
1998 Apr 1, The Bolivian Workers’ Confederation called an open-ended strike for wage increases and an end to the coca eradication program. Violent clashes over 4 days had left 3 dead and dozens injured in Chapare. Pres. Hugo Banzer said his government would continue to wipe out cocaine trafficking during his 5-year term.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A12)
1998 Apr 1, A boat enroute to Gabon with 300 passengers sank in the Bight of Bonny off Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom state. 280 were missing and feared dead.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.A23)
1998 Apr 1, In Brazil rains extinguished more than 95% of the extensive fires in the northern Amazon.
(WSJ, 4/2/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 1, In China a new law requiring motorists in Beijing to install pollution-reduction devices went into effect.
(SFC, 3/31/98, p.B3)
1998 Apr 1, China agreed to release and put into exile Wang Dan (b.1969), the noted dissident and student leader of Tiananmen Square, for medical reasons.
(http://tinyurl.com/y887u594)
1998 Apr 1, Israel accepted the 1978 UN Resolution 425 for withdrawal from the south of Lebanon.
(SFC, 4/2/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 1, In Japan the 3-year Big Bang process was begun to create more efficient investment markets.
(SFC, 3/31/98, p.B1)
1998 Apr 1, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin authorized the publication of classified documents relating to Josef Stalin.
(SFC, 4/2/98, p.C2)
1998 Apr 1, In Serbia the local currency was devalued 45%.
(WSJ, 4/2/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 1-2, Pres. Clinton visited Senegal. He traveled through the capital, Dakar, and spoke on the future of African-US relations on Goree Island.
(SFC, 3/21/98, p.A13)(WSJ, 4/2/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 2, California agreed to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by 3 female prison workers for $4.3 million.
(SFC, 4/3/98, p.A26)
1998 Apr 2, In Kansas City, Mo., it was reported that the SubTropolis underground business complex had some 4.3 million sq. feet of mine space converted to warehouse, office and factory use with 50 enterprises employing 1300 people. The underground industrial park began in 1945 as a limestone mine.
(WSJ, 4/2/98, p.A1)(www.3dinc.com/kc.html)
1998 Apr 2, In Burma ethnic Karen rebels launched attacks against Burmese troops and killed 30 people.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 2, In Colombia Thomas Fiore (43), one of the hostages captured Mar 27, escaped captivity by the FARC rebel group.
(SFC, 4/3/98, p.B5)
1998 Apr 2, A French court found Maurice Papon (1910-2007), a career civil servant, guilty of deporting Jews from Bordeaux in 1942-1943, when he was secretary-general of the Gironde Prefecture. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but served only 3 due to ill health.
(SFC, 4/2/98, p.C2)(SFC, 4/3/98, p.B2)(Econ, 2/24/07, p.99)
1998 Apr 2, Iran and Iraq began a war prisoner exchange involving nearly 6000 men, mostly Iraqis.
(WSJ, 4/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 2, In Northern Ireland police intercepted a 980-pound bomb at Dublin’s ferry port.
(SFC, 4/3/98, p.B8)
1998 Apr 2, In Israel three Arab homes were demolished in the Bedouin village of Suweij. Clashes with Israeli police occurred over the next few days as the Arabs attempted to rebuild their homes.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 2, In Latvia the only Jewish synagogue in Riga was bombed.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A14)
1998 Apr 2, Shaking their fists in rage, thousands of mourners marched in a funeral procession in the West Bank for a top Hamas bombmaker, Mohiyedine Sharif, hailed by Palestinians as a martyr and condemned by Israel as a terrorist.
(AP, 4/2/99)
1998 Apr 2, In Romania Radu Vasile, an economist and leader of the national Peasant Party, was named by Pres. Emil Constantinescu as the new prime minister. He soon began reforms with an economic program to restore domestic and foreign confidence.
(SFC, 4/3/98, p.B5)(WSJ, 5/6/98, p.A18)
1998 Apr 2, Sudanese soldiers shot and beat to death 74 student conscripts who tried to flee the Ailafoon military camp. At least 55 others drowned when their boat capsized on the blue Nile while they tried to escape.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 3, Pres. Clinton warned that Japanese officials "have to make a break" with their past policies. Moody’s Investor’s Services changed its outlook on Japan’s government debt to "negative" from "stable."
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 3, Douglas Fred Groat, a disgruntled spy fired by the CIA, was charged with espionage and extortion. Groat later pleaded guilty to extortion, and was sentenced to five years in prison.
(AP, 4/3/03)
1998 Apr 3, The Dow Jones industrial average climbed above 9,000 for the first time, but finished with a 3.23 point drop at 8,983.41.
(AP, 4/3/03)
1998 cApr 3, A 2-day meeting called by the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers was attended by 18 African nations, over a dozen European countries and Japan, Canada and Argentina. They endorsed measures to control the spread of light weapons.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 4, During a visit to Haiti, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged leaders to stop political infighting that had paralyzed the Caribbean nation for nearly a year.
1998 Apr 4, A new US toll-free exchange number, 877, was launched.
(SFC, 3/31/98, p.D1)
1998 Apr 4, Larry Singleton, rapist and murderer, was sentenced in Florida to death for the 1997 murder of Roxanne Hayes (31). He died in prison of cancer on December 28, 2001.
(SFC, 1/1/02, p.A13)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Singleton)
1998 Apr 4, In Georgia two small planes collided over Marietta and at least 5 people were killed.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 4, In Ethiopia a locust plague was reported covering an area of 3,700 acres in the regions of Jijiga and Dire Dawa. Aerial spraying was begun.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A7)
1998 Apr 4, In Iran Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the mayor of Tehran, was arrested by the judiciary on charges of corruption. He was convicted and began a 2 year sentence in May 1999.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A12)(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A1)
1998 Apr 4, North Korea proposed that officials at the deputy minister level meet in Beijing for talks. South Korea accepted the following day to reopen talks on economic aid and other issues.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 4, In the Ukraine a gas explosion at the Skochinsky coal mine outside Donetsk killed 63 men.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.A20)(AP, 4/4/08)
1998 Apr 4-20, Richard Butler, chief arms inspector in Iraq, refused to certify the Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction have been destroyed.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1998 Apr 5, In Leeds, England, environment chiefs from the world's top eight industrialized nations announced plans to curb the smuggling of hazardous waste, endangered species and substances that damage the ozone layer.
(AP, 4/5/99)
1998 Apr 5, In Indonesia an outbreak of dengue fever killed 125 people since the beginning of the year in South Sumatra.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.T13)
1998 Apr 5, Iran and Iraq exchanged 1,589 prisoners of war, bringing the number to over 4,000. Up to 30,000 prisoners were thought to be held by both sides.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 5, In Japan the $3.8 billion, 12,906 foot Akashi Kaikyo Bridge linking the islands of Shikoku and Honshu was opened. It was built to withstand an 8.5 earthquake and took ten years to build.
(SFEC, 4/6/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 5 South Korea accepted to reopen talks with North Korea on economic aid and other issues. North Korea proposed yesterday that officials at the deputy minister level meet in Beijing for talks.
(SFEC, 4/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 6, The British TV program for toddlers, "Teletubbies," opened in the US.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.E1)
1998 Apr 6, Pres. Clinton announced a ban on imports of 58 types of military-style assault weapons.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 6, Energy Secretary Federico Pena announced his resignation.
(AP, 4/6/99)
1998 Apr 6, The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 9,000 for the first time.
(CNBC, 4/6/98)(AP, 4/6/99)
1998 Apr 6, Citicorp (Citibank) under Sandy Weill and Travelers Group announced a merger in an $82 billion deal that would create the world’s largest financial services company. The merger formed Citigroup and was completed in October.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A1)(Econ, 2/5/05, p.69)(Econ, 8/14/10, p.63)
1998 Apr 6, National Semiconductor announced a new single chip computer system. It would hit the mass-market in June 1999.
(WSJ, 4/6/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 6, It was announced that the drug tamoxifen cut the risk of breast cancer by half, but that it had potentially serious side effects.
(WSJ, 4/6/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 6, Tammy Wynette (55), country singer, died at her Nashville, Tenn., home. Her songs included the 1968 hit "Stand by Your Man." In 2000 Jackie Daly authored the biography "Tammy Wynette."
(SFC, 4/798, p.A7)(AP, 4/6/99)(WSJ, 6/2/00, p.W10)
1998 Apr 6, In Algeria armed groups killed at least 35 civilians in 2 separate attacks. 27 were killed near Oran and 89 near M’Sila.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A16)
1998 Apr 6, Pakistan reported a successful test of medium-range missile from its Kahuta nuclear research lab. It was capable of carrying nuclear warheads with a range of 900 miles.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A16)(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A15)
1998 Apr 6, In Sudan 117 student conscripts were buried in a mass grave. They were killed after trying to flee the Ailafoon military camp 15 miles southeast of Khartoum. Commanders had refused to allow them to go home to celebrate a major Muslim holiday. In 2020 Sudanese authorities found a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of dozens of the student conscripts.
(AP, 6/16/20)
1998 Apr 6, From Uganda it was reported that rebels in western Uganda, who were short of food, had abducted a number of villagers and resorted to cannibalism.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 7, President Clinton held a town meeting in Kansas City, Mo., on the future of Social Security.
(AP, 4/7/99)
1998 Apr 7, Mary Bono, the widow of entertainer-turned-politician Sonny Bono, won a special election in California to serve out the remainder of her husband's congressional term.
(AP, 4/7/99)
1998 Apr 7, Indonesia and the IMF agreed on a new plan for the economy. Pres. Suharto and the fund made concessions, that included continuing subsidies on food and fuel and closing more insolvent banks.
(SFC, 4/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 8, US major cigarette makers withdrew support for a historic tobacco settlement, saying Congress had twisted their offer to help cut teen smoking into a harsh attack on their industry and sharp tax increases for American smokers.
(AP, 4/8/99)
1998 Apr 8, It was reported that Europe’s Infrared Space Observatory discovered water around stars and planets. Water vapor in the atmosphere of Titan was reported.
(SFC, 4/8/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 8, It was reported that a 20-year int’l. survey of plant diversity found that 1 out of every 8 known plant species was threatened with extinction.
(SFC, 4/8/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 8, A line of storms struck the southeast and killed at least 41 people. 32 were left dead in Alabama, 8 in Georgia and 1 in Mississippi. Thirty-six people were killed by tornadoes that struck Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia.
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A3)(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/10/98, p.A1) (AP, 4/8/99)
1998 Apr 8, In Bosnia NATO forces arrested Miroslav Kvocka and Mladen Radic, both whom were charged for war crimes at the Omarska camp near Prijedor where scores of Muslim and Croat prisoners were killed in 1992.
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 8, Cuba restored relations with the Dominican Republic.
(WSJ, 4/9/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 8, In Latvia the Democratic Party Samnieks, the largest of the 6-party coalition, walked out of Parliament accusing the nationalist prime minister of souring relations with Russia.
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 8, It was reported that 22 Romanian ships carrying 500 sailors were stranded worldwide due to economic problems of the state shipping firm, Navrom.
(SFC, 4/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 9, At Andersonville, Ga., the National Prisoner of War Museum opened at the site of the Civil War prison.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A7)(AP, 4/9/99)
1998 Apr 9, In Colombia a Catholic priest and a lay worker died from a toxic cocktail of wine mixed with cyanide. At least 10 Easter baskets with poisoned wine were delivered to priests in the provinces of Meta and Cundinamarca.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 9, UN Sec. Kofi Annan suspended the investigation in Congo of alleged massacres after a team member was seized by local authorities.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A18)
1998 Apr 9, In Northern Ireland this day was set as a deadline for peace talks. The talks continued past the deadline.
(SFC, 3/26/98, p.B3)(WSJ, 4/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 9, Japan abandoned austerity policies and Prime Minister Hashimoto announced a $30 billion temporary cut in taxes to encourage consumer spending. Pressure to change was exerted by the US, int’l. investors and elite Japanese business leaders.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 9, Some 1 million workers across Russia protested against the government and called for the resignation of Pres. Yeltsin. Unpaid wages and pensions were an admitted major problem of the government.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 9, In Rwanda attackers thought to be Hutu rebels killed 28 people and wounded 36 in a refugee camp. Soldiers intervened and killed 20 rebels. The UN Security Council voted this same day to investigate illegal arms sales to Rwanda.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A17)
1998 Apr 9, In Saudi Arabia it was reported that 2.3 million Muslims made the pilgrimage, hajj, to Mecca this year. Over 150 pilgrims died at the "stoning of the devil" ritual during a stampede that occurred on the last day of the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A10)(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A14)(SFC, 2/12/03, p.A9)(AP, 4/9/08)
1998 Apr 10, The anti-impotence drug Viagra appeared on the market and became one of the best-selling new medications of all time.
(MC, 4/10/02)
1998 Apr 10, In Iran an earthquake in the northeast killed 12 people and left 1,500 homeless in the Khorasan province.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 10, The Good Friday Agreement was announced 17 hours after the deadline as negotiators reached a landmark settlement to end 30 years of bitter rivalries and bloody attacks. Gerry Adams signed for the IRA. It was to face referendums in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland on May 22. If approved there would be June elections to create a local governing assembly for Northern Ireland.
(SFC, 4/11/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/10/99)(SSFC, 9/14/03, p.A1)
1998 Apr 10, The Russian Parliament rejected Pres. Yeltsin’s nominee, Sergei Kiriyenko, for prime minister 186 to 143. Yeltsin renominated Kiriyenko and another vote must take place within a week. In a speech to the Duma Kiriyenko said that economic growth had stopped.
(SFC, 4/11/98, p.A6)
1998 Apr 11, In Benoni, South Africa, Nicholas Steyn (42), a white farmer, shot Francina Diamina (11) and her 6-month old cousin, Angelina, for trespassing. The baby was hit in the head and killed and Francina was wounded in the back. Steyn was convicted of culpable homicide in 1999. Steyn was given a suspended sentence in 1999 and freed.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A8)(SFC, 3/6/99, p.A14)(WSJ, 3/24/99, p.A1)
1998 Apr 11, The executive committee of the Ulster Union Party voted 55-23 to support the Northern Ireland peace accord and its leader, David Trimble, who had outmaneuvered rebels in his ranks.
(AP, 4/11/99)
1998 Apr 12, Mark O’Meara won the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga. with a 9-under-par score of 279.
(WSJ, 4/13/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/12/99)
1998 Apr 12, In Colombia at least 22 soldiers and leftist rebels were killed in fighting in Restrepo.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.C12)
1998 Apr 12, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams appealed to IRA supporters to accept Northern Ireland's compromise peace accord.
(AP, 4/12/99)
1998 Apr 12, In Italy Maria Angela Rubino (32) was found shot in a train bathroom. The murder was similar to 6 others along the Italian Riviera since March 9.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 12, In Mexico authorities expelled 12 foreigners from Chiapas state saying they had engaged in activity in support of the Zapatista rebels. Two int’l. news photographers were beaten and police attempted to confiscate their film as they boarded a plane for Mexico City. The expelled group reported that they had witnessed a military operation to shut down a town council in Taniperlas, that was raided the previous day by 750 police and troops.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A10)(SFC, 4/14/98, p.C12)
1998 Apr 13, Bank of America announced a $62.5 billion merger plan with NationsBank Corp. of Charlotte, N.C. The country's first coast-to-coast bank would be called BankAmerica Corp. with headquarters in Charlotte.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A1)(SFC, 4/14/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/13/99)
1998 Apr 13, Banc One and First Chicago NBD said they would unite in a $28.9 billion deal.
(AP, 4/13/03)
1998 Apr 13, A 500-pound steel joint fell from the upper level of New York's Yankee Stadium, crashing onto seats below. No fans were inside the park at the time.
(AP, 4/13/99)
1998 Apr 13, An Amtrak train collided with Conrail freight cars near Pittsburgh and injured 20 people.
(WSJ, 4/14/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 13, In Algeria it was reported that Muslim clerics ruled to allow women raped by Islamic militants to have abortions.
(WSJ, 4/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 13, In Nassau, Bahamas, some 300 angry protestors faced 180 lesbian passengers on the cruise ship SS Seabreeze chartered by Olivia Cruises and Resorts.
(SFEC, 4/19/98, p.A26)
1998 Apr 13, In Tanzania it was reported that at least 90 miners were feared dead after heavy rains the previous week caused 14 pits to collapse near Arusha. They were mining for tanzanite, a gem used in jewelry.
(WSJ, 4/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 13, Turkish army forces captured Semdin Sakik, a field commanded of the PKK, Kurdistan Workers Party, in a secret raid in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.C12)
1998 Apr 14, The Grand Forks Herald of North Dakota won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of a flood and fire despite a damaged printing plant. The fiction prize went to Philip Roth, his first, for "American Pastoral."
(WSJ, 4/15/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/14/99)
1998 Apr 14, President Clinton moderated a town meeting on race with an all-star panel of sports figures.
(AP, 4/14/99)
1998 Apr 14, The Clinton administration agreed to create a Persian-language radio service to transmit anti-government propaganda into Iran. $1 million was also pledged to Voice of America for non-propaganda Persian-language programming. Radio Azadi (Radio Liberty) initially broadcast for 3 hours daily from Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 2002 the name was changed to Radio Farda and programming increased to a 24-hour cycle.
(SFC, 4/15/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 6/13/08, p.A10)
1998 Apr 14, FMC Corp. was hit with a $125 million verdict for misleading the US Army about the safety of its Bradley Fighting Vehicle. A 1986 lawsuit by former employee Henry Boisvert complained that the vehicles did not pass all the tests the company claimed it did.
(SFC, 4/15/98, p.A18)
1998 Apr 14, A new blood test for cancer used enzyme-coated iron particles to attract cancer cells for detection.
(WSJ, 4/14/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 14, Despite international pleas for leniency, the state of Virginia executed Angel Francisco Breard, a Paraguayan convicted of murder.
(AP, 4/14/99)
1998 Apr 14, Talks between North and South Korea broke off after 4 days when Seoul tried to expand them into reuniting families separated by their war.
(WSJ, 4/15/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 15, Pres. Clinton traveled to Chile for a Latin American trade summit.
(WSJ, 4/14/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 15, The US federal government accused A. Bruce Rozet and his business partners of illegally siphoning off $7.5 million from 73 subsidized housing projects across the nation. HUD had already sued Rozet for milking 17 projects in California and Nevada.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 15, In SF a superior Court judge ordered the immediate closure of the Cannabis Cultivator’s Club, the nation’s largest dispenser of medicinal pot.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 15, Rose Maddox (b.1926), US country singer, died in Ashland, Oregon. In her last decade she was backed by the bluegrass Vern Williams Band.
(SFC, 6/10/06, p.B4)(http://elvispelvis.com/rosemaddox.htm)
1998 Apr 15, Brazil lowered its prime rate from 28% to 23.3%.
(WSJ, 4/17/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 15, It was reported that Pol Pot (73) died of a heart attack in Anlong Veng, northern Cambodia. His body was cremated. It was later reported that he killed himself with malaria pills and tranquilizers after learning that an aide planned to hand him over to the US. In 1999 it was reported that Ta Mok had Pol Pot executed. In 2001 the place of his death was designated as a historic site and plans were made to make it a tourist attraction. In 2004 Philip Short and John Murray authored “Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare."
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A1)(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/21/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/27/99, p.A1)(SFC, 12/21/01, p.H5)(Econ, 11/6/04, p.89)
1998 Apr 15, In Indonesia anti-government rallies were held on at least 25 campuses around the country calling for the resignation of Suharto and his Cabinet.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 15, In Nepal Girija Prasad Koirala began his 2nd term as prime minister. He succeeded Krishna Prasad Bhattarai.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girija_Prasad_Koirala)
1998 Apr 15, In Somalia ten aid workers were kidnapped in Mogadishu.
(WSJ, 4/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 16, Paula Jones announced she would ask an appeals court to reinstate her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton after it was thrown out by a federal judge.
(AP, 4/16/99)
1998 Apr 16, Tornadoes claimed 11 lives in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky.
(SFC, 4/17/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/16/08)
1998 Apr 16, A Russian army convoy was ambushed near the Chechnya border. A general, 2 colonels and 3 soldiers were killed and Chechen militants were blamed.
(WSJ, 4/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 17, The space shuttle Columbia blasted off with 7 astronauts and a menagerie of creatures to test the effects of space travel on the nervous system.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 17, In Colombia Maria Arango (60), human rights activist, was killed by multiple gunshots.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 17, In Germany Gerhard Schroeder was endorsed by the Social Democrats to run against Helmut Kohl in the Sep 27 elections.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 17, In Russia the parliament rejected Yeltsin’s nomination of Sergei Kiriyenko for a 2nd time 271-115. Yeltsin immediately renominated Kiriyenko.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 17, A Thai military team collected evidence from the body of Pol Pot, former chief of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge guerrillas, to confirm that one of the century's worst tyrants was truly dead.
(AP, 4/17/99)
1998 Apr 18-1998 Apr 19, A 34-nation trade summit was held over the weekend in Santiago, Chile. Some $45 billion from the Inner-America Development Bank, The World Bank and the US Agency for Int’l. Development was to be made available for an array of development projects.
(WSJ, 4/17/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 4/19/98, p.A24)
1998 Apr 18, It was reported that Richard Mellon Scaife, 4th generation heir to the Mellon banking fortune, had donated million of dollars over more than 30 years to conservative groups and research centers. He had also supported groups critical of Pres. Clinton.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A7)
1998 Apr 18, Former North Carolina governor and U.S. Sen. Terry Sanford died in Durham at age 80.
(AP, 4/18/99)
1998 Apr 18, In Cambodia the Khmer Rouge killed 22 ethnic Vietnamese at Chanok Tru, a fishing village on Tonle Sap Lake. The remains of Pol Pot were cremated, three days after the Khmer Rouge leader blamed for the killings of up to 2 million Cambodians died at age 73.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A15)(AP, 4/18/99)
1998 Apr 18, In Canada it was reported that marijuana revenues from British Columbia were estimated to be $400 million to over $3 billion.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 18, Eduardo Umana Mendoza (50), Colombia’s top human rights lawyer, was killed with 6 bullets to the head.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A8)(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A18)
1998 Apr 18, In Northern Ireland the Ulster Unionists, despite fierce internal dissent, voted to support the peace agreement by a 72% margin.
(SFEC, 4/19/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/18/99)
1998 Apr 19, Renzo Piano, Italian architect, won this year’s Pritzker Architectural Prize. His work included the 1978 Georges Pompidou Center in Paris, The Beyeler Foundation Museum in Basel, The Cy Twombly Gallery at the Menil Collection museum in Houston, and the Kansai Air Terminal in Osaka Bay.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 19, Wang Dan, the noted dissident and student leader of Tiananmen Square, arrived in the US after being freed by China and was taken to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit for medical evaluation.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A8)(AP, 4/19/99)
1998 Apr 19, In Madison, Wi., Salim Amara doused a fellow passenger on a city bus with gasoline and ignited a fire burning himself and others severely.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 19, A small plane crashed on the west side of Detroit. It was reported to have contained cash and marijuana that neighbors quickly picked up. The pilot was believed to be Douglas C. Dufresne (66) of Florida.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A4)
1998 Apr 19, In Austria Thomas Klestil was re-elected president with 63% of the vote.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 19, In Bhutan a fire destroyed the Taktsang Monastery, that dated back in some form to the 9th century.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 19, In Chile leaders of the 34 Western Hemisphere democracies at the second Summit of the Americas agreed on a free-trade zone to be created by 2005. The first summit met in Miami in 1994.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 19, An Israeli settler was shot and killed and three others, including a Palestinian man, were wounded. Dov Dribben (28) of Maon was killed when settlers tried to force a group of Bedouin shepherds off a contested piece of land.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 19, In Japan Pres. Yeltsin held a summit with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hasimoto at the Kawana resort. Yeltsin promised to hand over KGB documents of interrogations of captured Japanese generals from WW II.
(SFEC, 4/19/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 19, In Mexico Octavio Paz (84), poet and essayist, died of cancer. His work included "The Labyrinth of Solitude" and the poem "Sun Stone."
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A17)(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 19, In Nigeria police shot dead at least 3 Shiite Muslims, supporters of Ibrahim El-Zak Zaky, and wounded many more in Kaduna in clashes over 2 days.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 19-1998 Apr 20, In Arizona grasshoppers by the millions descended on communities along the lower Colorado River.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 20, In an unusual use of a racketeering law designed to fight the mob, a federal jury in Chicago ruled that anti-abortion protest organizers had used threats and violence to shut down clinics. However, the US Supreme Court ruled in February 2003 that federal racketeering and extortion laws were wrongly used to try to stop blockades, harassment and violent protests outside clinics.
(AP, 4/20/03)
1998 Apr 20, The Goldman Environmental Awards were presented in SF. The prizes were increased to $100,000 from $75,000. Berita KuwarU’wa (44) of Colombia won for leading the U’wa tribe’s struggle against Occidental Petroleum; Kory Johnson (19) of Phoenix won for organizing Children for a Safe Environment; Sven "Bobby" Peek (31) of South Africa won for fighting for the rights of poor people in industrialized South Durban; Anna Giordano (32) of Italy for her campaign against illegal hunting of birds in Sicily and southern Italy; Atherton Martin (52) for his work against a copper mine in Dominica; and Hirofumi Yamashita (64) for fighting against the conversion of tidal flats to farmland on Ishaya Bay on Kyushu.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 20, Moses Tanui of Kenya won the 102nd Boston Marathon in 2 hrs, 7 min . and 43 sec. Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia won among the women in 2:23:21.
(WSJ, 4/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 20, A report was published that suggested that the drug raloxifene, sold by Eli Lilly as Evista, can prevent breast cancer in addition to tamoxifen. Both synthetic drugs block the action of estrogen.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A7)
1998 Apr 20, A poll of 400 scientists indicated that 7 of 10 believed that a "mass extinction" is under way, and that one-fifth of all living species could disappear within 30 years.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A7)
1998 Apr 20, In Colombia a Boeing 727 leased to Air France crashed after takeoff from Bogota and all 53 people aboard were killed.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A12)(AP, 4/20/99)
1998 Apr 20, In Nigeria the last of 5 government-sanctioned parties agreed to back Sani Abacha in the presidential elections. the government gave each party $250,000 for its convention.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 20, Three Russian security agents met at a guest house outside Moscow to make an extraordinary video in which they claimed their bosses had ordered them to kill, kidnap and frame prominent Russians. In 2006 Alexander Litvinenko, one of the 3 agents on the tape, was poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope in London.
(AP, 5/23/07)(WSJ, 5/23/07, p.A14)
1998 Apr 20, Turkmenistan Pres. Saparmurat Niyazov visited the US and planned to discuss oil and gas pipeline routes.
(WSJ, 4/20/98, p.B7D)
1998 Apr 21, It was reported that Microsoft planned its first retail store, an 8,500-sq. foot site, in the Yerba Buena Gardens complex of SF with plans to open in spring, 1999.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 21, It was reported that the US and Britain had begun a secretive removal of nuclear materials near Tbilisi. Britain volunteered to accept the material and had already taken 270 pounds. The unused highly enriched uranium was to be processed by a Scottish plant.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A18)(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 21, Astronomers announced in Washington they had discovered possible signs of a new family of planets orbiting a star 220 light-years away, the clearest evidence yet of worlds forming beyond our solar system. The dust structures were thought to be new solar systems forming around 3 sun-like stars.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/21/99)
1998 Apr 21, French and New Caledonian rival factions agreed to hold a referendum in Dec. on whether the territory should move to independence. The territory holds about 30% of the world’s nickel reserves.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 21, Khmer Rouge rebels drove a large government force back in 2 days of fighting along the Thai-Cambodian border.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 21, Skydivers from Malaysia parachuted the national car, the Proton Wira sedan, onto the North Pole this week.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 21, A special court sentenced Recep Erdogan, the mayor of Istanbul, to 10 months in prison for a 1997 speech that the military said incited hatred of the secularist army.
(WSJ, 4/22/98, p.A1)(Econ, 7/19/08, p.33)
1998 Apr 22, The new Disney Animal Kingdom theme park in Orlando opened.
(SFEC, 2/22/98, Par p.4)
1998 Apr 22, National TV Turnoff Week began.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, Par p.18)
1998 Apr 22, Amy Grossberg, a young woman charged along with her high school sweetheart with murdering their newborn at a Delaware motel, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Amy Grossberg ended up serving nearly two years of a 2 1/2-year sentence; Brian Peterson served 1 1/2 years of a two-year sentence. Peterson had received a lesser sentence of two years because he'd cooperated with authorities.
(AP, 4/22/03)(AP, 4/22/08)
1998 Apr 22, In Ireland legislation was passed for a May 22 referendum on the Northern Ireland peace agreement. Northern Ireland voters would also vote on the referendum. A constitutional amendment would result in which Ireland would renounce its claim on the territory of Northern Ireland.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 22, The UN Commission on Human Rights called on Iran to halt torture, amputations and stonings.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 22, In Greece Constantine Karamanlis (Caramanlis), statesman, died at age 91.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)
1998 Apr 22, In Iraq Ayatollah Murtadha Ali Mohammed Ibrahim Borujerdi (71) was shot and killed at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf. The shrine marks the grave of Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed and a central figure in Shiite Islam.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 22, In Ireland legislation was passed for a referendum on the Northern Ireland peace agreement.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 22, It was reported that hundreds of schools in Pakistan’s Punjab have no students, but still collect money for nonexistent teachers. Shabaz Sharig, the chief minister of Punjab for less than a year, called in the army to investigate. The literacy rate in Pakistan was 35% compared to 65% in India.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 22, Rwandan officials announced a public execution of 33 defendants connected with the 1994 genocide to be conducted by firing squad.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A13)(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 22, Yugoslavian (Serbian) troops claimed to have killed 23 ethnic Albanian infiltrators in the border region in Kosovo.
(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 23, In the US state of Georgia a trucking company owner Steven Moss (37) and his two children were killed during a burglary at their home near Macon. On April 27, 2016, Daniel Anthony Lucas (37) was executed for the murders.
(www.macon.com/news/local/crime/article73953032.html)(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A6)
1998 Apr 23, Two New Jersey troopers fired 11 shots into a van carrying African American and Latino men from the Bronx. They admitted to racial profiling and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in 2002.
(SFC, 1/15/02, p.A3)
1998 Apr 23, James Earl Ray died at a Nashville hospital at age 70. He was the ex-convict who confessed to assassinating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 and then insisted he was framed.
(AP, 4/23/99)
1998 Apr 23, The president of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, called for full autonomy for the Kosovo region.
(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 24, The American Health for Women magazine reported that Seattle was the healthiest city for women and that SF rated # 2 and Boston # 3.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A5)
1998 Apr 24, In Pennsylvania a 14-year-old boy was arrested after he shot a teacher to death and injured 2 others during a dance for 8th graders in Edinboro. Andrew Wurst (14) later pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A3)(AP, 4/24/03)
1998 Apr 24, In Bosnia some 1500 Bosnian Croats rioted in retaliation for a Serbian attack on Croatian Roman Catholic Cardinal Vinko Puljic.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 24, In Colombia the FARC released kidnapped American Louise Augustine. Two other bird-watchers were released soon after.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A9)(WSJ, 4/27/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 24, The Human Rights Office of the Guatemalan Catholic Church issued a report that said 200,000 people died or disappeared during the 36 year civil war that ended in 1996.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 24, In Peru Pres. Fujimori announced that police captured 3 top guerrilla leaders of the Shining Path.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 24, After a month of confrontation, Russian lawmakers caved in to President Boris Yeltsin, approving acting prime minister Sergei Kiriyenko, 35, as premier despite doubts about his relative youth and inexperience. Kiriyenko was fired just four months later.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/24/99)
1998 Apr 24, Rwanda executed 22 people by firing squad.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 24, In Somalia the aid workers kidnapped on Apr 15 were released.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 24, From Vietnam it was reported that 14 attacks had recently occurred on children aged 3-14 riding on the backs of motor scooters, caused by a slasher riding a Vina Suzuki scooter.
(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 24, Re Western Sahara: It was reported that the referendum on independence would be postponed until 1999 due to difficulties in counting eligible voters.
(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 25, Whitewater prosecutors questioned first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on videotape about her work as a private lawyer for the failed savings and loan at the center of the investigation.
(AP, 4/25/99)
1998 Apr 25, In Arkansas two little girls, Sidney Pippin (4-months old) and Vicky Fraley, died of heat exhaustion after they were left in a car for 8 hours in Little Rock. Police charged Ricky Leon Crisp (23), the father of Vicky (16-months old), and Justin Griffith (27) with first-degree murder.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 25, In Texas three teenagers were found shot to death in Brownsville.
(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A5)
1998 Apr 25, In Millbrae, Ca., motorcycle Patrolman David Chetcuti (43) was shot and killed by Marvin Patrick Sullivan (43) during a routine traffic stop. Sullivan, a paranoid schizophrenic, was found to be carrying a cache of pipe bombs and rifles. Sullivan was later found to be incompetent to stand trial.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/23/02, p.A1)
1998 Apr 25, In July a Pakistani defector claimed that the military leadership of Pakistan decided to launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack on New Delhi within 48 hours of this day. Dr. Iftikhar Khan Chaudry also claimed that Pakistan had already armed and deployed nuclear warheads at 2 sites along the Indian border. Chaudry (29) was described as a low-level engineer with no access to military planning data. Pakistani news media later said Chaudry was a low-level accountant at a bathroom fixtures company until Nov 1997, when he resigned. He was later identified as a fraud with no more than a high school education.
(SFC, 7/2/98, p.A15)(WSJ, 7/2/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/3/98, p.D2)(SFC, 7/7/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 25, In Spain a wall of acidic toxic liquid, 5 million cubic meters, broke free from an Aznalcollar mine waste lagoon near Seville and threatened the 300-sq. ml. Donana National Park. The tainted water was diverted to the Guadalquivir River and then to the Gulf of Cadiz. 13,300 acres of cropland were expected to be left barren for 25 years due to the spill.
(WSJ, 4/27/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/28/98, p.A13)(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 26, Jean Chretien, Prime Minister of Canada, visited Cuba and with Fidel Castro inaugurated a new $40 million terminal at the Havana airport.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A10)(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 26, In Germany the Christian Democrats lost ground to the Social Democrats in elections in Saxony-Anhalt. A neo-Nazi party took 13% of the vote. The German People’s Party (DVU) was largely bankrolled by Gerhard Frey, a Bavarian millionaire publisher.
(WSJ, 4/27/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/23/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 26, In Guatemala City Bishop Jose Gerardi (75) was killed. He oversaw the recent report: “Guatemala: Never Again." Marks on the bishop’s body were made by a dog. In July a priest and a cook, Rev. Mario Leonel Orantes Najera and Margarita Lopez, were arrested in connection. In Oct. US forensic experts said that at least 2 attackers were responsible for the bishop’s killing and described it as a political crime. In Oct Rev. Mario Lionel Orantes was charged with the killing. Orantes was released in Feb 1999. In 1999 Prosecutor Calvin Galindo resigned and fled the country in fear of his safety. Two judges had already quit the case. Three army suspects were arrested in Jan 2000. In 2000 Rev. Mario Orantes was again charged with the murder. In 2001 Col. Disrael Lima Estrada (60), Capt. Byron Lima Oliva (31) and Sgt. Jose Obdulio Villanueva (36) and Rev. Orantes were found guilty of the murder of Bishop Gerardi. The officers were sentenced to 30 years in prison and Orantes was sentenced to 20 years. Villanueva was killed during a prison riot Feb 12, 2003.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A1,8)(SFC, 8/19/98, p.C16)(SFC, 10/7/98, p.A10)(SFC, 10/22/98, p.C5)(SFC, 10/8/99, p.D3)(WSJ, 1/24/00, p.A1)(SFC, 3/11/00, p.A9)(SFC, 6/9/01, p.A8)(SFC, 2/12/03, p.A9)(AP, 3/19/10)
1998 Apr 26, In Russia former security chief Alexander Lebed led Governor Valery Zubov in voting for governor in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk.
(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 27, A Pentagon panel said remains of the Vietnam veteran in the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery should be exhumed to determine whether they belonged to Air Force First Lt. Michael J. Blassie, as his family believed. The remains were later positively identified as those of Blassie.
(AP, 4/27/99)
1998 Apr 27, In Arlington, Washington, a fire at a 90-year-old building, used as a home for the elderly, killed 7 residents.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 27, Florida teenagers Bryan Donahue and William Dodge (aged 17 and 16) beat and kicked to death a gay man, Steven Goedereis (29), who had called one of them "beautiful." The teenagers were convicted of 2nd and 3rd degree murder in 1999.
(http://tinyurl.com/yb7asxzd)(SFC, 6/15/99, p.A6)
1998 Apr 27, Carlos Castaneda (72), author, died. His 1968 thesis: "The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge," published by the Univ. of Calif. Press (1968), became an int’l. best seller. In 1997 his ex-wife Margaret Runyan Castaneda authored "A Magical Journey With Carlos Castaneda." In 2000 Richard DeMille authored "Castaneda's Journey: The Power and the Allegory." In 2003 Amy Wallace, Castaneda's lover in the 1970s, authored "The Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life With Carlos Castaneda."
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A2)(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.E2)
1998 Apr 27, The UN extended security sanctions against Iraq but agreed to reviews every 60 days. It was earlier reported that Iraq recently had executed 1,500 political prisoners.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Apr 27, Afghanistan peace talks between the Taliban and its opponents were scheduled to begin in Pakistan.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 27, In Cuba Canada’s Prime Minister Chretien urged Fidel Castro to release four leading dissidents. It was reported that about 350 political prisoners were currently held.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Apr 27, In Denmark some 550,000 workers walked of their jobs after unions turned down a compromise contract. The unions called for a 6th week of paid vacation.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 27, In India the hunger strike that began Mar 10 ended as police forced the Tibetan strikers to be fed intravenously as Gen’l Fu Quanyou of China began talks with Indian officials. One Tibetan exile set himself on fire and was not expected to survive.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Apr 27, In Japan a court ruled that the government must compensate 3 South Korean women forced into sexual slavery during WW II, and awarded the women $2,300 each.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 27, In Kosovo the Yugoslav army clashed with ethnic Albanians and 3 insurgents were killed. Albanian reports said up to a dozen were slain and that none of them were militants.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 27, It was reported that Hugo Chavez, leader of Venezuela’s Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), was campaigning for the office of president. He led a 1992 failed coup and was jailed for 2 years.
(WSJ, 4/27/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 28, A new group, the Historical Society, was announced as a back-to-basics professional organization. The society, based at Boston Univ., held its 1st convention in 1999. The American Historical Association had 15,000 members. The Organization of American Historians had 9,000 members.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A6)(WSJ, 6/4/99, p.W15)
1998 Apr 28, Public Radio Inc. of SF received a NEA grant for $185,000 to create "Lost and Found Sound: An American Record." The project will produce a series of radio programs for NPR to chronicle, reflect and celebrate the 20th century.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.E1)
1998 Apr 28, Don Fisher, founder of the Gap, pledged $25 million to bring the private Edison Project company to run more than a dozen SF Bay Area schools. The for-profit school project was 1st proposed in 1991 by businessman Chris Whittle. In 2005 Whittle authored “Crash Course: Imagining a Better Future for Public Education."
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A15)(WSJ, 9/7/05, p.D14)
1998 Apr 28, In a breakthrough for the government's tobacco investigation, cigarette maker Liggett & Myers agreed to tell prosecutors whether the industry had hidden evidence of health damage from smoking.
(AP, 4/28/99)
1998 Apr 28, The US Senate opened a new round of hearings on alleged abuse and mismanagement at the Internal Revenue Service.
(AP, 4/28/99)
1998 Apr 28, The Arizona Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a voter-approved law requiring English be used in official state and local business.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A4)
1998 Apr 28, In SF Supervisor Mabel Tang announced that the Boy Scouts of America will be barred from taking part in a city charity drive due to the groups stance against admitting gays.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A15)
1998 Apr 28, In Algeria 40 people were killed in a massacre at a village in Medea province.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A11)
1998 Apr 28, In Iraq Americares, a US relief organization, flew in $2 million in medical supplies for 22 centers throughout the country.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 28, In Nigeria a military tribunal sentenced 6 men to death for plotting a 1997 coup against Gen’l. Abacha. Gen’l. Oladipo Diya, former deputy head of state, maintained that he was framed by officers close to Abacha who fabricated the plot.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 29, The United States, Canada, and Mexico agreed to eliminate tariffs on items accounting for $1 billion in trade at a meeting in Paris of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
(AP, 4/29/99)
1998 Apr 29, The US and European powers decided to impose new sanctions and agreed to freeze the assets of Yugoslavia. A ban on investments would follow in 10 days if security police was not withdrawn from Kosova.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 29, The US Supreme Court called for ending judicial delays of execution in a 5-4 vote. This reversed the US Court of Appeals Aug, 1997, reprieve for Thomas Thompson, accused of the 1981 murder of Ginger Fleischli in California and reinstated his death penalty.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 29, In England it was reported that Nicholas van Hoogstraten was building the largest and most expensive house of the century in Sussex, named Hamilton Place at a cost of $50 million. The palace was to include a gallery for his French furniture and a mausoleum for his future.
(WSJ, 4/29/98, p.A20)
1979 Apr 29, British writer Douglas Adams, author of the 1979 classic "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy," began marketing his CD-ROM game "Starship Titanic."
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.E1)
1998 April 29, Israel formally opened the celebration of the 50th anniversary of its founding. According to the Gregorian calendar, the anniversary fell on May 14th.
(WSJ, 4/30/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/29/03)
1998 Apr 29, In the Philippines Imelda Marco withdrew from the presidential race.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 30, President Clinton questioned the conduct of Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr and dismissed Republican challenges to his own character as "high-level static" during a news conference.
(AP, 4/30/99)
1998 Apr 30, The US Senate approved the expansion of NATO to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 30, United and Delta airlines formed an alliance that would control one-third of all U.S. passenger seats.
(AP, 4/30/99)
1998 Apr 30, In Florida lawmakers passed a bill that required girls under 18 to notify at least one parent prior to an abortion.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 30, A study reported in the New England Journal of medicine that RU-486, an abortion pill, was 92% effective in causing abortions with 15 days without surgery.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 30, A report in Nature traced mammals back to around 100 million years before the present using a "molecular clock."
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 30, The 85,000 ton Disney cruise ship Disney Magic was scheduled to debut.
(SFEC, 1/18/98, p.T5)
1998 Apr 30, In California Daniel V. Jones (40) blew up his truck and fatally shot himself on a connector bridge between the harbor and Century Freeways freeway with live TV coverage. He had HIV and displayed an anti-HMO banner before killing himself.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A3)(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 30, In Indiana Antoine Whitehead (19) robbed the KeyBank in Carmel and killed Penny Schmitt (32) and shot 3 co-workers. He had just been refused a loan and killed himself following an intensive manhunt.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 30, In Northern Ireland the IRA refused to disarm as part of the peace accord, which demanded the decommission of weaponry to begin in June and finish in 2 years.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.D2)
1998 Apr, Eugene Genovese was elected president of the Historical Society, a new professional organization for historians opposed to the politicization of historical studies.
(WSJ, 7/17/98, p.W11)
1998 Apr, Pope John Paul II forced Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer of Austria, accused of sexually molesting young boys, to relinquish all duties.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B3)
1998 Apr, In China Lin Hai (30), a software entrepreneur, was arrested for inciting subversion by providing 30,000 Chinese e-mail addresses to Li Hongkuan, a US based Chinese dissident. [see Dec 4]
(SFC, 12/5/98, p.A10)(Wired, 2/99, p.127)
1998 Apr, Chinese authorities arrested Jude Shao (37), a Stanford educated entrepreneur, for alleged tax violations. He had earlier refused to pay bribes for his medical equipment export company. He was convicted in March, 2000, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Efforts to free him continued into 2008.
(SFC, 5/1/08, p.A12)(www.freejudeshao.com)
1998 Apr, In Congo the government banned the African Association for Defense of Human Rights.
(SFC, 10/2/98, p.B7)
1998 Apr, In India the 68-acre Int’l. Tech Park (ITP) in Bangalore was scheduled to open as a joint venture between Singaporean companies, the Tata Group of India, and the state of Karnataka.
(WSJ, 3/25/98, p.B10)
1998 Apr, In India suspected separatist guerrillas shot and killed 29 Hindus in the Jammu and Kashmir region.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.D1)
1998 Apr, The Kazakstan government investment banks to sell off minority stakes in four state enterprises: 2 oil and 2 mining companies, and planned to expand its privatization program.
(WSJ, 5/14/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr, In Somaliland authorities in Hargeysa established a war crimes committee to investigate the Barre-era human rights violations.
(SFC, 7/11/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr, Turkish archeologists discovered what appeared to be the ruins of the Great Palace built by Constantine in 330 AD.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr, Former Venezuela Pres. Carlos Andres Perez (76) and Cecilia Matos, his longtime mistress and personal secretary, were charged with depositing funds in US banks that far exceeded their earnings as public officials.
(SFC, 1/8/99, p.A16)
1998 Apr, Injuries in Vietnam from land mines, unexploded bombs and artillery shells totaled 60,064 since the end of the war.
(SFEC, 9/5/99, p.A12)
1998 May 1, Otto Bettmann, founder of the Bettmann photo archive, died at 94 in Boca Raton, Fla.
(WSJ, 5/4/98, p.A1)
1998 May 1, Eldridge Cleaver, ex-Black Panther who later renounced his past and became a Republican, died at age 62 in Pomona, Ca. He wrote the book "Soul On Ice" in 1965 while in Folsom Prison. The book was published in 1968. He jumped bail after a 1968 shooting and returned to the US in 1975.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A1,13)(AP, 5/1/99)
1998 May 1, In Kosovo, Serbia, a police raid in Drenica left 4 ethnic Albanians dead.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.19A)
1998 May 1, In Nigeria police fired into a crowd of 5,000 people demanding the ouster of Sani Abacha and witnesses said 7 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A9)
1998 May 1, Former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the 1994 genocide of more than 500,000 Tutsis. Kambanda was later sentenced to life in prison, but has since disavowed his guilty plea.
(AP, 5/1/03)
1998 May 1, In Zimbabwe labor leaders called for a 5-day national strike to protest a tax increase and higher prices.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A9)
1998 May 2, In the 124th Kentucky Derby jockey Kent Desormeaux rode to victory on "Real Quiet."
(BS, 5/3/98, p.1A)(AP, 5/2/99)
1998 May 2, In separate radio addresses, President Clinton and congressional Republicans lambasted the Internal Revenue Service and promised more reforms to prevent future abuses.
(AP, 5/2/99)
1998 May 2, Police fired tear gas into a crowd of 3,000 students at Michigan State Univ. who were protesting the end of drinking at Munn Field.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.3A)
1998 May 2, It was reported that a small galaxy was detected 12.3 Billion light-years away, 94% of the distance back to the Big Bang.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A7)
1998 May 2, The European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was launched in Brussels with 11 nations welcomed as the founding members.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A18)
1998 May 2, Cambodian refugees entered Thailand as government troops declared that they had all but destroyed the Khmer Rouge.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.16A)
1998 May 2, In Indonesia tens of thousands of students in Jakarta and at least a dozen other cities rallied against the government.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.19A)
1998 May 2, In Tajikistan government troops withdrew from around the capital after 4 days of fighting Islamist opposition forces. An agreement for a peaceful settlement was reached.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.17A)
1998 May 3, It was reported that the drugs angiostatin and endostatin eradicated cancer in mice and that human trials could begin within a year. The drugs were discovered by Harvard scientist Judah Folkman. Their operation was explained in 1999 by researchers at Duke.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.3A)(WSJ, 3/16/99, p.B1,6)
1998 May 3, The Columbia Space Shuttle landed at Cape Canaveral after a 16-day mission. The mission studied the effects of space travel on neurological development in nearly 2000 animals.
(USAT, 5/4/98, p.3A)(AP, 5/3/99)
1998 May 3, "The Sevres Road," by landscape painter Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, was stolen from the Louvre.
(AP, 5/3/99)
1998 May 3, European leaders meeting in Brussels, Belgium, agreed on Wim Duisenberg of the Netherlands as the chief of the new European Central Bank (ECB), but with the proviso that he step down in 2002 to make way for Frenchman Jean-Claude Trichet.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.21A)(AP, 5/3/99)
1998 May 3, In Serbia fighting began in the Kosovo village of Ponosevac and 10 ethnic Albanians were reported killed by Serbian police.
(WSJ, 5/5/98, p.A1)
1998 May 4, The FDA approved the first commercial surgical glue, Tisseel, made by Baxter Labs.
(USAT, 5/4/98, p.10D)
1998 May 4, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was given four life sentences plus 30 years by a federal judge in Sacramento, Calif., under a plea agreement that spared him the death penalty.
(AP, 5/4/99)
1998 May 4, The Clinton administration invoked sanctions against North Korea and Pakistan for a secret 1997 missile deal. Pakistan’s military named the acquired missile, Ghauri, after a famous Muslim warrior who slew a Hindu emperor named Prithvi, the name of a Russian made Indian missile.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A16)
1998 May 4, In Colombia gunmen killed 21 people in the province of Meta. Some 200 members of a right-wing paramilitary unit laid siege to the village of Puerta Alvira for 3 hours.
(WSJ, 5/6/98, p.A1)
1998 May 4, The IMF resumed lending to Indonesia with the release of almost $1 billion.
(USAT, 5/5/98, p.1B)
1998 May 4, In Vatican City Alois Estermann (43), the pope’s top bodyguard, was shot and killed along with his wife, Gladys Meza Romero (49) in their apartment by Cedrich Tornay (23), who then shot himself. Estermann had just been appointed the head of the Swiss Guards and was killed by Tornay due to damaged professional pride. An investigation was concluded in 1999 and suggested that marijuana and a brain cyst impaired Tornay.
(WSJ, 5/5/98, p.A1)(USAT, 5/6/98, p.6A)(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A10)(AP, 5/4/99)
1998 May 4, From Zimbabwe it was reported that the United Merchant Bank of tycoon Roger Boka was shut down when a government audit found it incapable of paying its debts.
(WSJ, 5/4/98, p.A17)
1998 May 5, The stage show "Saturday Night Fever," produced by Robert Stigwood, opened in London.
(WSJ, 8/24/99, p.A8)
1998 May 5, The $816 million, 3.1 million-sq.-ft. Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Washington DC was dedicated.
(USAT, 5/6/98, p.3A)
1998 May 5, An exasperated Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called on Israel to hand over an additional 13 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians, on top of the 27 percent already relinquished. Israel, however, continued to balk at the proposal.
(AP, 5/5/99)
1998 May 5, In Indonesia thousands of people clashed with police in Medan in protests as big increases in the price of gasoline and other essentials went into effect under an IMF bailout plan.
(WSJ, 5/6/98, p.A1)
1998 May 5, In Mexico a forest fire killed 19 firefighters and left 12 missing.
(WSJ, 5/6/98, p.A1)
1998 May 6, Rep. Dan Burton, chairman of the House fund-raising inquiry, apologized to GOP colleagues for the furor over his release of selected portions of tapes of Webster Hubbell's prison conversations; Burton's top investigator departed, ordered fired by House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
(AP, 5/6/99)
1998 May 6, Jurgen Schrempp of Daimler Benz and Robert Eaton of Chrysler announced in London that the German auto company will purchase Chrysler in a $38 billion merger. The takeover was later documented by Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz in their book "Taken for a Ride: How Daimler-Benz Drove Off with Chrysler."
(WSJ, 5/8/98, p.W1)(WSJ, 6/12/00, p.A28)
1998 May 6, Astronomers announced the detection of a gamma ray burst in a galaxy 12 billion light years away that was equal to the energy expended by the sun in a trillion years.
(AP, 5/6/99)
1998 May 6, In Bosnia 5 key Karadzic holdovers were arrested or suspended for political and economic illegal acts.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A10)
1998 May 6, The Danish government intervened to end a ten day strike by 500,000 workers. It was planned to make strikes illegal until March, 2000, and offered 2 extra vacation days and an additional 3 days of family leave for working parents with children under 14.
(WSJ, 5/7/98, p.A16)
1998 May 6, There was a border skirmish between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the 150-square-mile area called the Badme triangle. This grew into a two-decades-long war with half a million civilians forced from their homes. Later a settlement of the border war was contingent on the borders prior to this date. An international panel in 2005, formed to resolve disputes between Eritrea and Ethiopia, said Eritrea violated int’l. law when it invaded the north of Ethiopia.
(SFC, 1/30/99, p.A12)(SFC, 3/10/00, p.A12)(AFP, 12/22/05)(Econ., 11/7/20, p.14)
1998 May 6, In Peru a Boeing 737, chartered by Occidental Petroleum from the Peruvian air force, crashed in the Amazon jungle. At least 13 of 87 people survived the crash.
(WSJ, 5/7/98, p.A1)
1998 May 6, In Serbia fighting in Kosovo continued. A Serb policeman and an ethnic Albanian separatist were killed. The bodies of 2 Albanians who backed Serb rule were pulled from a river and a local politician died in a third attack.
(WSJ, 5/7/98, p.A1)
1998 May 7, The $34.7 billion merger of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler Corp. was confirmed in London. The parent company of Mercedes-Benz agreed to buy Chrysler Corp. for more than $37 billion.
(USAT, 5/7/98, p.1A)(AP, 5/7/99)
1998 May 7, In England Londoners voted overwhelmingly to elect their own mayor for the first time in history. Ken Livingston was elected in May 2000.
(AP, 5/7/03)(Econ, 6/5/04, p.53)
1998 May 7, In southern Italy heavy rains sent a torrent of mud through Sarno and several other towns. At least 55 people were reported dead. The death toll climbed to 116.
(USAT, 5/8/98, p.7A)(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A22)
1998 cMay 7, In Pakistan Bishop John Joseph (67), a Catholic human rights crusader, shot himself in the head to protest the country’s blasphemy law. His death triggered a 2 day riot when police clashed with mourners who carried his body to the Faisalabad cathedral for his funeral.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A10)
1998 May 8, The tobacco industry agreed to pay $6.6 billion to settle a suit with the state of Minnesota as the state's lawsuit was about to go to a jury. The settlement included restrictions on sales and marketing with payments spread over 25 years. Minnesota became the fourth state to settle with the tobacco industry over the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A3)(AP, 5/8/99)
1998 May 8, In southern California an identical twin whose plot to kill her sister made headlines around the world sobbed uncontrollably as a judge sentenced her to 26 years to life in prison. Jeen "Gina" Han (24), dubbed "the evil twin," and two teenagers were convicted last November of conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes for the 1996 attack on Sunny Han and her then-roommate, Helen Kim.
(http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/09/news/mn-47914)
1998 May 8, Eddie Rabbit, country music singer, died at age 53 of lung cancer. His songs included "Drivin’ My Life Away," "Every Which Way But Loose," and "Someone Could Lose a Heart Tonight."
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A21)
1998 May 8, In Brazil "Operation Drought" was launched to airlift food to the drought stricken northeast where 10 million people were threatened with hunger.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1998 May 8, In France a bomb exploded in Marseilles and damaged the Regional Council building. Corsican militants were suspected.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A22)
1998 May 8, In Mexico immigration authorities put a limit on human rights delegations to Chiapas. Groups of 10 people would only be allowed to stay 10 days.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1998 cMay 8, Norway authorized another season of hunting minke whales with a 30% allotment increase to 671.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A7)
1998 May 8, In Somalia fighting in Kismayo between rival militias left 23 dead and 30 wounded.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1998 May 8, In South Africa the National Sports Council asked the world to boycott South African Rugby in a move to push for the resignation of Louis Luyt, the league’s president, over racist and corrupt practices.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A10)
1998 May 9, In Britain the Israeli transsexual, Dana International (Yaron Cohen), won the annual Eurovision Song Prize with the song "Diva.".
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.D5)(SFEC, 7/20/98, p.A9)
1998 May 9, In France a bomb exploded near the Spanish border at Saint-Pierre d’Irube and caused damage to a bank branch and the City Hall. Basque militants were suspected.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A22)
1998 May 9, In Greece Archbishop Christodoulos was enthroned in Athens as the new head of the Greek Orthodox Church. A recent proposal to force the separation of church and state in Greece was rejected the previous week.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A19)
1998 May 9, Indonesian President Suharto left his troubled country for a summit in Egypt with a warning his army would quell violence over his 32-year rule and the worsening economy.
(AP, 5/9/99)
1998 May 9, The leading Group of Eight industrialized countries imposed an investment ban on Serbia and froze and froze the assets abroad of Serbia and Montenegro due to conditions in Kosovo. The sanctions did not go into effect because Serbia began talks with ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A13)(WSJ, 5/19/98, p.A1)
1998 May 10, Tax freedom day, the day the average American taxpayer will have earned enough to pay his annual taxes.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A3)
1998 May 10, The FAA grounded older models of the Boeing 737 after mandatory inspections of some aircraft found extensive wear in power lines through wing fuel tanks.
(SFC, 5/11/98)(AP, 5/10/08)
1998 May 10, In Clearfield, Pa., Kimberly Jo Dotts (15) was hanged to death by teenagers who planned to run away to Florida. Seven young people 14-24 were arrested for murder and the trial of Jessica Holtmeyer (16) and Aaron Straw (19) began in 1999. Holtmeyer was convicted Jan 28.
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A8)(SFC, 1/29/99, p.A6)
1998 May 10, In Afghanistan opposition forces launched a counterattack against the Taliban at Ishkamish, 120 miles north of Kabul.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 30, In China over 800 riot police clashed with some 3 thousand vendors when they tried to dismantle the street market in Chengdu.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)
1998 May 10, In Hungary Gyula Horn and the ruling Socialists led in the first round of parliamentary elections.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)
1998 May 10, From Moscow it was reported that police had arrested 5 members of a crime ring that operated out of an automobile repair shop. The ring responded to car for sale ads and killed 11 people for their vehicles.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A23)
1988 May 10, In Northern Ireland Sinn Fein (We Ourselves) voted to let their leaders participate in the new compromise administration. Leader Gerry Adams won full backing for the Northern Ireland peace accord in a fundamental reversal of decades-old policy.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/10/99)
1998 May 10, In Paraguay the ruling Colorado Party with Raul Cubas, initially the running mate of Lino Oviedo, won the presidential elections with 52% of the vote.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A12)
1998 May 10, In South Africa Louis Luyt announced his resignation as the president of the South African Rugby Football Assoc. [see May 8]
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)
1998 May 11, Attorney General Janet Reno requested an independent counsel to investigate Labor Secretary Alexis Herman for alleged influence-peddling and solicitation of illegal campaign contributions. Herman was later cleared.
(AP, 5/11/03)
1998 May 11, SBC Communications Inc. announced that it would acquire Ameritech Corp. in a stock merger valued at some $60 billion in stock.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A1)
1998 May 11, A new study reported that James Kabari, Congo Pres. Kabila’s chief of staff, supervised a special Rwandan military unit that killed 2,000 Hutus in 1997 in the Congolese town of Mbandaka with Kabila’s knowledge.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A8)
1998 May 11, A French mint produced the first coins of Europe's single currency, the euro.
(AP, 5/11/99)
1998 May 11, India set off the 1st of 3 underground atomic blasts in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan near the Pakistan border, its first nuclear tests in 24 years. Abdul Kalam led the teams of scientists who developed missiles designed for India’s atomic warheads.
(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/11/99)(WSJ, 7/15/02, p.A1)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.42)
1998 May 11, Mexico expelled 40 Italian human-rights activists, labeled as professional provocateurs, who spent 9 days in Chiapas and banned them from returning.
(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)
1998 May 11, In the Philippines elections for a new president were held. Joseph Ejercito Estrada, a former actor, led the polls. He was opposed by business groups and the Catholic Church. Estrada was declared the winner on May 29.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A10)
1998 May 12, Singer Ray Charles and sitar master Ravi Shankar received the Polar Music Prize, $133,000, from King Carl Gustav XVI in Sweden. The award was established by Stig Anderson, manager of the Abba pop group.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.C5)
1998 May 12, Britain offered Northern Ireland a $500 million package of financing and tax breaks for roads, railways and the reduction of unemployment.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A11)
1998 May 12, In Colombia retired Gen’l. Fernando Landazabal Reyes, a former defense minister, was shot and killed in Bogota.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)
1998 May 12, Eritrea accused Ethiopian militiamen of invading its territory in a border skirmish. Ethiopia later said 20 people were killed and 20 wounded by Eritrean forces.
(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A12)
1998 May 12, A day after India's first atomic test blasts in 24 years, neighboring Pakistan said it was ready to test a nuclear device itself.
(AP, 5/12/99)
1998 May 12-1998 May 15, In Indonesia President Suharto's security forces opened fire on student protesters at Trisakti Univ. and 6 were killed with another 20 injured. It was later reported that 1,188 people died in Jakarta in the riots over this period. The nationwide toll was believed to be much higher. A later government report indicated that the military contributed to Suharto’s downfall. The report also concluded that 66 women, many of them ethnic Chinese, were raped during the riots. Human rights groups estimated that 160 women were raped.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A14)(SFC, 6/4/98, p.C2)(SFC, 11/4/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 11/4/98, p.A1)
1998 May 12, In Kosovo Serbian police clashed with ethnic Albanians and 2 ethnic Albanians were reported killed in Pristina. The police had found the site of the attack to be loaded with weapons.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)
1998 May 12, In Rwanda Hutu rebels killed 17 people, 14 in the town of Taba and 3 others in Kayenzi. Another 10 were wounded in the attacks.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.D3)
1998 May 12, In Turkey Akin Birdal, head of the independent Human Rights Association, was shot and injured in an attack by the Turkish Revenge Brigade, an ultranationalist group. Five ultranationalists were arrested May 22.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A14)
1998 May 12, The UAR announced that it would buy 80 F-16s from the US for about $7 billion.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)
1998 May 13, Pres. Clinton traveled to Germany to meet with Chancellor Kohl and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift.
(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)
1998 May 13, President Clinton ordered harsh sanctions against an unapologetic India, which undertook a second round of nuclear tests despite global criticism. It was later reported that the number and size of the weapons were exaggerated.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A1)(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A1) (AP, 5/13/99)
1998 May 13, Federal regulators approved a plan to store nuclear bomb waste in the New Mexico at the Waste isolation Pilot Project (WIPP).
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A3)
1998 May 13, Thousands of yellow cab drivers went on a one day strike in NYC.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A3)
1998 May 13, India set off 2 more nuclear explosions in defiance of int’l. condemnations.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A1)
1998 May 13, In Indonesia student riots continued and at least 10 student activists were badly wounded. Pres. Suharto planned to return home early and said he was willing to step down if he is no longer trusted to lead the country.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A14)
1998 May 13, Israeli jets raided Lebanon and killed 3 men and wounded 21 in an attack on the radical Palestinian group, Fatah, the Uprising. As many as 10 men were killed in a Bekaa Valley training camp for Palestinian guerrillas.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)(SFC, 5/14/98, p.C2)
1998 May 13, In Israel a 6th Arab victim of stabbing died in Jerusalem. A serial stabber in the Orthodox Edah Heredit community had stabbed 5 victims since Feb., all of whom survived. A religious court of the community, which rejects the official state of Israel, ruled that its followers should inform police whatever they know about the attacks.
(SFEC, 5/24/98, p.A17)
1998 May 13, In Mexico impeachment procedures began for Jorge Carrillo Olea, governor of Morelos state.
(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A22)
1998 May 13, In Moscow a wall of the Jewish Lubavitch Marina Roshcha synagogue was destroyed by a bomb. It was another sign of rising anti-Semitism.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.D3)
1998 May 14, The Associated Press commemorated its 150th anniversary.
(AP, 5/14/99)
1998 May 14, The last episode of the hit sitcom "Seinfeld" was shown after nine years on NBC TV. Commercials on the show were priced at $2 million for 30 seconds.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.C1)(AP, 5/14/99)(SFC, 5/12/19, p.B3)
1998 May 14, A US district judge ruled that all California pot clubs were in violation of federal law.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A19)
1998 May 14, In Wisconsin abortion clinics across the state closed as a sweeping ban against "partial birth" abortions went into effect following last month’s bill signed by Gov. Tommy Thompson.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A3)
1998 May 14, Frank Sinatra, singer and actor, died of a heart attack in LA at age 82. Shortly thereafter Brian Gunn published "Rat Pack Confidential: Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter, Joey & the Last Great Show Biz Party," a biography of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. In Dec the FBI released a 1,300 page Sinatra file that had been put together over a 40-year period. In 2000 Tom and Phil Kuntz edited "The Sinatra Files." In 2005 Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan authored “Sinatra: The Life."
(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 7/5/98, BR p.5)(WSJ, 6/13/00, p.B1)(Econ, 7/16/05, p.82)
1998 May 14, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden and the US all imposed penalties on India for its nuclear testing. Pakistan was pressured to refrain from testing its own nuclear weapons.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A15)
1998 May 14, In Indonesia widespread rioting, shooting, looting and demonstrations continued for a 3rd day. At least 230 people were killed in the riots, with over 175 dead from a fire at the 5-story Yogya Plaza shopping center in East Jakarta.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A1)
1998 May 14, Palestinians marked the 50th anniversary of the creation of Israel with 2 minutes of silence and several hours of violence that left 9 dead. They refer to the creation of Israel as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe."
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A14)(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A10)
1998 May 14, Irene Saez (38) received the support of the Social Christian COPEI Party in her bid for the presidency of Venezuela.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.D3)
1998 May 15, In Washington DC Latia Robinson (7) took control of a Honda Accord after her father passed out and drove him safely to a hospital at the beginning of rush hour.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.A6)
1998 May 15, Three African nations, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, announced plans for an economic, political and social union.
(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A11)
1998 May 15, Leaders of eight countries, including the US, opened a three-day summit in Birmingham, England.
(AP, 5/15/08)
1998 May 15, It was reported that the Burmese junta was expanding opium production while collecting money from the UN for destroying poppy fields.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A14)
1998 May 15, Trapped in blazing shopping malls, hundreds of looters burned to death in rioting that laid smoking waste to Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.
(AP, 5/15/99)
1998 May 15, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin (b. 1962) became the 17th Sultan of Terengganu and the 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the constitutional head of state of Malaysia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizan_Zainal_Abidin_of_Terengganu)
1998 May 15, In Northern Ireland the Loyalist Volunteers announced a cease-fire to encourage Protestant voters to reject the peace accord referendum.
(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A11)
1998 May 15, Serbian police began to turn back truckers in a blockade of Kosovo. Shortage of critical food supplies soon developed.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.C16)
1998 May 16, "Real Quiet" won the Preakness, two weeks after winning the Kentucky Derby. Real Quiet later failed to capture the Triple Crown, losing the Belmont Stakes to Victory Gallop by a nose.
(AP, 5/16/08)
1998 May 16, Israeli soldiers in Hebron wounded 10 Palestinians in the 3rd straight day of clashes.
(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A23)
1998 May 16, In the Philippines a fire at the Lung Center of the Philippines, in a suburb of Manila, killed at least 8 people and another 14 were presumed dead.
(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A11)
1998 May 16, Rwanda’s former interior minister Seth Sendashonga (b.1951), a Hutu, was shot dead in Nairobi, Kenya.
(Econ, 6/26/10, p.49)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Sendashonga)
1998 May 17, New York Yankees pitcher David Wells became the 13th player in modern major league baseball history to throw a perfect game as he retired all 27 batters he faced in a 4-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
(AP, 5/17/99)
1998 May 17, Leaders of the Group of Eight nations ended their summit in Birmingham, England, with a plea to Pakistan not to respond in kind to India's five nuclear explosions.
(AP, 5/17/99)
1998 May 17, In Afghanistan Taliban jet fighters bombed a crowded market and killed at least 30 people and wounded 50 in Taloqan, the capital of Takhar province.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A12)
1998 May 17, It was reported that the worst drought since one in 1983 plagued northeast Brazil.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A10)
1998 May 17, In Colombia at least 10 people were killed by an alleged right-wing death squad in Barrancabermeja. Later the United Self-Defense Group acknowledged that they had kidnapped, killed and burned 25 people. At least 11 other people were shot. In 1999 3 military officers were dishonorably discharged and 5 police officers were suspended for failing to halt the kidnappings.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A12)(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A14)(SFEC, 8/29/99, p.A21)
1998 May 17, In Indonesia Muslim leader Amien Rais, head of the 28-million member Muhammadiyah Islamic group, threatened to bring millions onto the streets to demand Suharto’s resignation.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A10)
1998 May 17, Mexico continued to suffer in its worst drought in 70 years. Some 50 people were reported to have died fighting fires caused by peasants clearing their fields.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A10)
1998 May 17, In Russia retired Gen’l. Alexander Lebed was elected gov. of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A10)
1998 May 18, The US Justice Dept. filed an antitrust action against Microsoft Corp. for embedding its own browser in its operating system, thus limiting competition from others such as Netscape. The Justice Department and Microsoft reached a settlement in 2001.
(SFC, 5/19/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/18/08)
1998 May 18, The US Supreme Court, in a sweeping endorsement of broadcasters' free-speech rights and journalistic discretion, ruled that even public stations owned and run by states need not invite marginal candidates to political debates they sponsor.
(AP, 5/18/99)
1998 May 18, The US Customs Service ended a 3-year sting operation, Operation Casablanca, with the indictment of 3 Mexican banks and 107 people on charges of laundering millions of dollars for drug-smuggling cartels.
(SFC, 5/19/98, p.A1)
1998 May 18, In South Korea two economic advisors to former Pres. Kim Young Sam were arrested for bringing about the economic crises. Kang Kyong Shik, the former finance minister, and Kim In Ho, the economic secretary, were charged to have lied to the ex-president about the severity of the nation’s financial problems.
(SFC, 5/19/98, p.A16)
1998 May 18, In Yugoslavia lawmakers loyal to Pres. Slobodan Milosevic voted to oust Prime Minister Radoje Kontic, after he refused to clamp down on reformist leaders in Montenegro.
(SFC, 5/19/98, p.A12)
1998 May 19, The PanAmSat Corp. Galaxy 4 communications satellite malfunctioned and disrupted pager services for some 40 million customers.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/20/98, p.A1)
1998 May 19, In Florida Hank Carr freed himself from handcuffs and killed 2 officers and a state trooper after he was picked up for questioning in the shooting death of his 4-year-old stepson. He later shot himself during a standoff with 170 police officers at a gas station.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.A3)
1998 May 19, In Fayetteville, Tenn., an honor student (18) killed a classmate, who was dating his ex-girlfriend. Jacob Davis was convicted in 1999 for the murder of Nicholas Creson (18) and sentenced to life in prison.
(SFC, 4/21/99, p.A6)(SFC, 7/30/99, p.A9)
1998 May 19, In Afghanistan Taliban officials withdrew from the peace plan citing the refusal of the opposition to cooperate.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.C2)
1998 May 19, In Colombia Pres. Samper disbanded the 20th Intelligence Brigade under US pressure because of evidence that the unit was responsible for a series of murders of civilian politicians and human rights activists.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1998 May 19, A Congo military court sentenced Masasu Nindanga and Joseph Olenghankoy, opponents of Pres. Kabila, to jail terms of 20 and 15 years with no right of appeal.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.C2)
1998 May 19, In Indonesia a threatened anti-Suharto demonstration was called off to avoid bloodshed after the army mounted a big show of force in the capital.
(WSJ, 5/20/98, p.A1)
1998 May 19-1998 May 20, Bandits stole three of Rome's most important paintings, two by van Gogh and one by Cezanne, from the National Gallery of Modern Art.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A14)(AP, 5/19/99)
1998 May 19, In Russia strikes by coal miners, scientists and other workers spread across the country in a demand for unpaid wages.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.A12)
1998 May 19, In Serbia Pres. Milosevic named Momir Bulatovic as federal prime minister. Montenegro’s parliament said it did not recognize the ouster of Radoje Kontic and that it would no recognize any laws of the federal government.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.A12)
1998 May 20, Pres. Clinton vetoed a school voucher plan that would have provided tax funds for poor children in Washington D.C. to attend private or religious schools.
(WSJ, 5/21/98, p.A1)
1998 May 20, The US House voted overwhelmingly to block future satellite exports to China. [see May 10, 1999]
(AP, 5/20/99)
1998 May 20, The US government unveiled the design for the new $20 bill, featuring a larger and slightly off-center portrait of Andrew Jackson.
(AP, 5/20/99)
1998 May 20, In another part of Operation Casablanca, a US federal indictment in LA charged 5 Venezuelans with laundering millions of dollars from drug cartels. Bankers Esperanza de Saad and Marco Tulio Henriquez were included.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A5)
1998 May 20, In Wisconsin abortion clinics resumed first-trimester abortions after being assured that the new state law did not impact the first trimester operations.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A6)
1998 May 20, In Streamwood Ill., Frank Capaci, a retired electrician, won the record $195 mil Powerball lottery of Wisconsin. He chose to take a $104.23 mil lump sum payment.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.A3)
1998 May 20, In Beverly Hills, Calif., Hollywood royalty bid farewell to Frank Sinatra, who had died almost a week earlier at age 82, in a private, invitation-only funeral.
(AP, 5/20/99)
1998 May 20, In Argentina Alfredo Yabran, a businessman wanted in connection with a 1997 murder, committed suicide in Entre Rios province.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A14)
1998 May 20, In Bangladesh a cyclone pounded the southeastern coast and killed at least 14 people. Nearly 100 fisherman were missing.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D4)
1998 May 20, In Cambodia Prince Ranariddh quit as head of an opposition alliance against Hun Sen and chose to support Son Soubert.
(WSJ, 5/21/98, p.A1)
1998 May 20, The EU approved a rescue package to save the French Credit Lyonnais banking group. In exchange the state bank would be privatized and assets would have to be sold.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D4)
1998 May 20, In Kyrgyzstan a truck spilled 20 tons of cyanide and forced 600 people to seek medical treatment. 3,876 pounds of cyanide leached out of the truck but did not seem to hurt any local residents. Some fish died in the river and the water flowed into the 113-mile-long Lake Ysyk Kol. The Cameco Corp. of Canada ran the Kumtor gold mine and contributed some 15% of the country’s GNP.
(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/18/98, p.A18)
1998 May 20, In Trinidad Ishmael Sammy, a 22-year-old mechanic, was dragged out of his home by masked men and shot. In 2010 the director of public prosecutions said the state did not have the evidence to proceed with a murder charge against Yasin Abu Bakr and Brent Miller, members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen group, in the slaying of Sammy. Bakr, a former police officer who converted to Islam in the 1970s, has been charged with various crimes over the years but never convicted.
(www.ttgapers.com/News/2010/9/30/abu-bakr-arrested-for-murder-again/)(AP, 10/21/10)
1998 May 21, In Anaheim, Ca., Disney opened its world of tomorrow.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.A19)
1998 May 21, Frank and Shirley Capaci of Streamwood, Ill., announced they were holding a winning Powerball ticket worth $195 million.
(AP, 5/21/99)
1998 May 21, In Springfield, Ore., Kipland Kinkel (15) killed 1 classmate and wounded 19 more at Thurston High School. His parents, William (59) and Faith (57), were found shot dead at home and a 2nd student died the next day. He had been expelled from school the previous day for bringing a gun to school. Kinkel dropped an insanity plea in 1999 and pleaded guilty to 4 counts of murder and 26 counts of attempted murder. He was sentenced to over 111 years in prison.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A1)(SFC, 9/25/99, p.A3)(SFC, 11/11/99, p.A3)
1998 May 21, The Catholic Feast of the Ascension was celebrated around the world.
(www.timeanddate.com/holidays/netherlands/ascension-day)
1998 May 21, Canada ordered major cuts in the catch of Coho salmon on the West Coast due to declining stocks. Fishing on the Skeena and Thompson River runs was banned and US officials were urged to take similar action.
(WSJ, 5/22/98, p.A1)
1998 May 21, India announced a moratorium on nuclear tests and restated a willingness to negotiate an agreement on a formal test ban.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D3)
1998 May 21, In the wake of deadly anti-government protests, Indonesia’s Pres. Suharto resigned after 32 years in power and appointed his vice-president, B.J. Habibie (b. 6/25/36), as the new leader. In 2005 Richard Lloyd Parry authored “In the Time of Madness," an account of Indonesia’s transformation following the resignation of Suharto.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A14)(AP, 5/21/99)(Econ, 4/2/05, p.77)
1998 May 21, In Cuernavaca, Mexico, police arrested the wife, son, daughter and daughter-in-law of kidnapper Daniel Arizmendi Lopez. He was wanted for carrying out at least 18 bold and brutal kidnappings since 1996.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A24)
1998 May 21, In Portugal the 4-month Expo ‘98 was inaugurated in Lisbon. The theme of the fair expanded on the UN theme Int’l. Year of the Oceans. 15 million people were expected to visit with exhibits from almost 150 countries.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T6)(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D3)
1998 May 21, In Russia armed gunmen occupied a building in Makhachkala, Dagestan, in support of Nadirshakh Khachilayev, who led demands for a new government.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D3)
1998 May 21, In northwest Turkey rains caused floods and left at least 10 people dead.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D4)
1998 May 22, US Federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson ruled that Secret Service agents could be compelled to testify before the grand jury in the Monica Lewinsky investigation.
(AP, 5/22/99)
1998 May 22, John Derek, film director, died in Santa Maria, Ca. His wives included Pati Behrs, Ursula Andress, Linda Evans and Mary Cathleen Collins, better known as Bo Derek.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A23)
1998 May 22, A joint peacekeeping force was set up by 7 European nations to maintain peace in Kosovo. Deputy defense ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, Italy, Romania and Turkey signed on after meeting in Tirana. Slovenia and the US signed on as observers.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A14)
1998 May 22, In Bolivia earthquakes destroyed hundreds of homes in central remote mountain towns and at least 60 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A12)
1998 May 22, In Indonesia Gen’l. Wiranto emerged as defense minister and chief of the armed forces. He peacefully evicted student protestors from the Parliament and removed rival Gen’l. Prabowo, a son-in-law of Suharto, to a military college in Bandung.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A12)
1998 May 22, In Tijuana, Mexico, the workers of the Han Young auto parts factory went on strike. An attempted strike break and political maneuverings by the company were unsuccessful and the case was to be put before a judge.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A10)
1998 May 22, A vote on the referendum on the Northern Ireland peace agreement was held in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Voters showed 71% support in Northern Ireland and 94% support in the Republic of Ireland.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A12)(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 5/24/98, p.A1)
1998 May 22, In Portugal just 12,000 people visited the Expo by midday on its first day. Organizers had predicted an average daily attendance of 140,000.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A14)
1998 May 23, From Guatemala it was reported that the Pacaya volcano had erupted during the week and covered Guatemala City with a half-inch of grit.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A5)
1998 May 23, From India and Pakistan it was reported that temperatures had reached 120 degrees and claimed 34 lives. Most of the fatalities occurred in the southwestern Indian state of Maharashtra.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A5)
1998 May 23, Official returns showed two convincing "yes" votes for the Northern Ireland peace accord: a surprisingly strong 71.1% in British-linked Northern Ireland, and 94.4% in the Republic of Ireland.
(AP, 5/23/99)
1998 May 24, At the 51st Cannes Film Festival the Golden Palm award went to the Greek film "Mia Eoniotita Ke Mia Mera (Eternity and a Day), directed by Theo Angelopoulos. The Grand Prize went to the Italian film "La Vita e Bella" (Life Is Beautiful) by director Roberto Benigni. It starred Benigni, Giorgio Cantarini and Nicoletta Braschi.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.E5)(SFEC, 10/25/98, DB p.46)
1998 May 24, In Danville, Ill, an explosion occurred at the First Assembly of God Church and injured 33 members, mostly teenagers. The cause was not yet immediately known. The cause was determined the next day to have been a bomb.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A1)
1998 May 24, A Hall of Fame for American classical music was scheduled to open in Cincinnati.
(SFEC, 3/29/98, Par p.18)
1998 May 24, In Egypt Saber and Mahmoud Abu el-Ulla, a former inmate of a mental hospital and his brother, were hanged for the Sep 18, 1997, killings of 10 people in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1998 May 24, In Hong Kong voters turned out in record numbers for elections of a Legislative Council. They returned to office pro-democracy politicians ousted by Beijing. Democrats won 13 of 60 seats in the legislature.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/26/98, p.A1)
1998 May 24, The Young Democrats-Civic Party (Fidesz) led by Viktor Orban (34) won the elections and opened the way for a center-right coalition to rule. Fidesz won only 148 seats of the 386-member Parliament and planned to form a coalition with The Hungarian Democratic Forum (17 seats) and the Smallholders (48 seats). Orban was elected prime minister and served to 2002.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A10)(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 8/2100, p.B13F)(Econ, 4/10/10, p.54)
1998 May 24, In Indonesia State Sec. Akbar Tanjung said that parliamentary elections would be held as soon as possible, perhaps within 6 months to a year.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A10)
1998 May 24, In Russia striking miners lifted blockades along the trans-Siberian railway after officials promised to pay back wages and help workers find new jobs.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1998 May 25, It was reported that the Aramaic language, spoken by some 500-800 thousand people in the Middle East, was expected to die out within 2-3 decades. Parts of the Bible’s books of Ezra and Daniel were written in Aramaic.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A6)
1998 May 25, Leaders in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and its breakaway province of Abkhazia agreed to a cease-fire after a week of fighting. Fighting between Abkhaz forces and Georgian irregulars raged inside a Russian patrolled buffer zone despite an agreed 1993 cease-fire. Georgia later claimed that 100 people died and that 38,000 Georgians were driven from their homes.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 5/26/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/25/99)
1998 May 25, In Colombia it was reported that guerrilla movements were in control of 50% of the country. The FARC troops were estimated at 15,000 and the ELN troops at 5,000.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1998 May 25, In Egypt the conclusion of a decade long, $2.5 million restoration project on the Sphinx was celebrated.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A8)
1998 May 25, In Indonesia the government released 2 prominent Suharto critics, cancelled some public works projects that benefited Suharto kin, and named army troops as suspects in the May 12 shooting of 6 students. Indonesia's new president, B.J. Habibie, promised to hold elections.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A6)(AP, 5/25/99)
1998 May 25, In Lebanon opposition groups made gains in the first elections in 35 years. The first stage of the poll was in the Mount Lebanon governate.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A8)
1998 May 25, In Sierra Leone Borboh Jeff Kamara (14) was walking to school with classmates when rebels grabbed him, held him down and cut off his fingers, leaving only his thumbs.
(AP, 11/16/12)
1998 May 26, The 109,000 ton, 2,600 passenger Grand Princess cruise ship made its debut. It cost $450 million and was billed as the largest and most expensive cruise ship. Its inaugural season was to be in the Mediterranean after which it would do year-round 7-day cruises in the Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale.
(SFEC, 1/18/98, p.T5)(SFEC, 5/24/98, p.T3)(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.T9)
1998 May 26, The US Supreme Court made it far more difficult for police to be sued by people hurt during high-speed chases.
(AP, 5/26/99)
1998 May 26, The US Supreme Court ruled that Ellis Island is mainly in New Jersey, based on an 1834 border agreement between New York and New Jersey.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A3)
1998 May 26, In Australia the first National Sorry Day was held, to acknowledge the wrong that had been done to indigenous families and to allow healing process to begin. Sorry Day is also in remembrance of mistreatment of the Aboriginal people and not only to the children involved in the Stolen Generation. The day was held annually until 2004. It was renamed National Day of Healing from 2005, however, in September, 2005, the name reverted when the National Sorry Day Committee decided to restore the name Sorry Day.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Sorry_Day)
1998 May 26, Police in 5 European countries arrested 74 alleged Algerian separatists. 53 were arrested in France and 21 in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The idea was to dismantle terrorist networks prior to the World Cup.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A10)
1998 May 26, The South Korean stock market hit an 11-year low.
(WSJ, 5/27/98, p.A17)
1998 May 26, Palestinian lawmakers clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem after Mayor Ehud Olmert ordered the dismantling of tin shacks built by Jewish nationalist settlers of the Ateret Cohanim.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A10)
1998 May 26, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin signed an accord with King Harold V of Norway for the dismantling and disposal of 90 nuclear submarines decaying in the Barents Sea. Russia expected Norway to provide $30 million for the project, which was expected to cost billions and take over a decade.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.C2)
1998 May 26, In Rwanda Hutu rebels killed at least 94 civilians and wounded 67 outside Gisenyi.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A16)
1998 May 27, The sexual harassment suit of Paula Jones against pres. Clinton was scheduled to start.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A1)
1998 May 27, Michael Fortier, the government's star witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after apologizing for not warning anyone about the deadly plot.
(AP, 5/27/99)
1998 May 27, In Colombia the Occidental Petroleum Corp. agreed to give up the entire Samore block in return for exploration rights on another 80-square-mile outside the lands of the U’wa tribe.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.D3)
1998 May 27, It was reported that the planned delivery of a Russian missile system to Cyprus would contain a "Tombstone" radar system, to be operated by 70 Russian experts. This was a threat to the existing West’s exclusive monitoring.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A10)
1998 May 27, In Mongolia a Yu-12 plane crash killed all 28 on board.
(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A1)
1998 May 27, Russia tripled its interest rates to 150% to stave off a run on the ruble and to establish some economic stability.
(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A8)
1998 May 27, In South Korea unions began a 2-day strike to protest mounting layoffs.
(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A1)
1998 May 28, California astronomer Susan Terebey announced she had photographed what may be a planet some 450 light years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. It appears to have been ejected from the binary TMR-1 and was named TMR-1C.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A1,4)(AP, 5/28/99)
1998 May 28, In Danville, Ill., Rick White (39) died in a garage explosion as FBI agents were arriving to ask questions in connection with the May 24 Church bombing.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A3)(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A8)
1998 May 28, Comic actor Phil Hartman (49) of "Saturday Night Live" and "NewsRadio" fame was shot to death at his home in Encino, Calif., by his wife, Brynn (40), who then killed herself.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/28/08)
1998 May 28, In Ecuador Simon Bolivar Chanalata, a hotel clerk, engaged in a fight with 2 US sailors who were visiting while on a naval exercise. Chanalata died 6 days later and his family filed a $1.5 million suit against the US Navy. The 2 Navy men faced charges of involuntary manslaughter.
(SFC, 4/16/99, p.D5)
1998 May 28, In Eritrea veterans were mobilized to be sent to Ethiopian border where the 160-square-mile Yigra triangle was under dispute. Eritrea claimed ownership under the still binding Italian colonial borders.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.D4)
1998 May 28, The German parliament approved a mass pardon for hundreds of thousands of people who were punished unjustly by Nazi courts.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.D4)
1998 May 28, In Indonesia Pres. Habibie promised to hold elections in 1999 as student protests continued, though on a smaller scale.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A16)
1998 May 28, NATO Ministers agreed to help Albania and Macedonia strengthen their border patrols.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A16)
1998 May 28, Pakistan matched India and exploded five of its own underground nuclear tests in the Chagai Hills. Pres. Clinton grimly denounced the tests and imposed penalties that could cause Pakistan billions. It was later reported that the number and size of the weapons were exaggerated.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A1,13)(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/28/99)
1998 May 29, It was reported that 54% of adult Americans are overweight and that 22% are obese.
(WSJ, 5/29/98, p.A1)
1998 May 29, It was reported that a salmonella strain impervious to 5 antibiotics was rampant in Britain. Chickens were reported sold in Minnesota that were contaminated with campylobacter resistant to a powerful antibiotic. The high use of antibiotics by farmers was adding to the problem of an increasing number of drug-resistant germs.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A8)
1998 May 29, In Colorado three men shot and killed police officer Dale Claxton of Cortez when he stopped them in a suspected stolen water truck.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A6)
1998 May 29, Barry Goldwater (b.1909), former Senator from Arizona, died in Paradise Valley, Ariz.. In 2008 John W. Dean and Barry Goldwater Jr. authored “Pure Goldwater."
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/29/99)(WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A13)
1998 May 29, Two activists were killed by the Nigerian Mobile Police on Chevron’s Parabe oil production platform. The police were flown in on Chevron helicopters following 4 days of protests. In 2009 a federal judge upheld a San Francisco jury’s verdict that cleared Chevron of wrongdoing in the shootings.
(SFC, 11/19/98, p.A8,9)(SFC, 3/5/09, p.C1)
1998 May 29, In Serbia Pres. Milosevic imposed large licensing fees on radio and TV stations and denied permits to dozens of opposition broadcasters. Control of the autonomous state universities was also undertaken.
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A3)
1998 May 29, In Kosovo a Serb policeman was killed and another wounded in the Decani region. A 3-day Serb offensive began that left over 60 ethnic Albanians dead in Vranoc and other villages in the area.
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A11)(SFC, 7/16/98, p.A10)
1998 May 29, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin ordered a crackdown on tax delinquents. He fired Alexander Pochinok, head of the tax service, and replaced him with former finance minister Boris Fyodorov (40).
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A10)
1998 May 29, From Sierra Leone it was reported that defeated rebels were conducting a campaign of terror in the countryside and that hundreds have been killed since the rebels were driven from the cities in March.
(WSJ, 5/29/98, p.A1)
1998 May 30, A tornado tore through Spencer, S.D., killing six people. It destroyed 90% of the town.
(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/30/99)
1998 May 30, An estimated 6.9 earthquake hit northern Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Shari Basurkh was hit hardest and some estimates put the death toll up to 3,000. The estimated deaths later reached 5,000.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A2)(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/22/02)
1998 May 30, In Indonesia the government cancelled tax breaks for a "national car" program run by Suharto’s son, Hutomo Madala Putra, and with four port-service contracts owned by Hutomo. Economic contraction was feared to reach 10-20%.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A21)
1998 May 30, In Japan the 4-year-old governing coalition fractured and the Social Democratic Party announced it would go it alone. The Liberal Democratic Party continued to run the government.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A26)
1998 May 30, Pakistan set off a nuclear bomb, the 6th test in 3 days.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A15)
1998 May 30, In South Korea thousands of union members and students marched through Seoul to protest recent job losses and restructuring demands by the IMF.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A22)
1998 May 31, Pres. Clinton endorsed additional conditional financial support for Russia from the IMF and World Bank.
(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A9)
1998 May 31, Storms tore from Pennsylvania through New England, killing several people and knocking out power for nearly 1 million customers.
(AP, 5/31/99)
1998 May 31, Singer Geri Halliwell, also known as "Ginger Spice" of the Spice Girls, confirmed she was leaving the group. (AP, 5/31/99)
1998 May 31, In Colombian presidential elections conservative Andres Pastrana (43), son of former Pres. Misael Pastrana, was in a tight race with Hector Serpa (55) of the ruling Liberals. Serpa led Pastrana 34.6 vs. 34.3 and a runoff was set for Jun 21. Noemi Sanin, an independent female candidate, received 27% of the vote.
(WSJ, 5/29/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A12)(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A11)(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B1)
1998 May 31, In Ecuador Alvaro Noboa, scion of the country’s wealthiest family, made a run for the presidency in the first round of elections. Jamil Mahuad led the elections with 36.7%, but failed to get a majority. Alvaro Noboa had 29.8%. A runoff was scheduled for Jul 12.
(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A8)
1998 May 31, In Montenegro a reformist coalition led by Pres. Djukanovic led in national elections with 50.4%.
(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A8)
1998 May, US Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering said that illegal oil sales in Iraq had reached 200,000 barrels a day.
(SFC, 10/21/98, p.C2)
1998 May, In Maryland Tyson foods agreed to pay $6 million to the federal government to settle environmental violations from 1993-1997 at its 105-acre chicken processing plant in Berlin, 8 miles west of Ocean City. The plant was then owned by Hudson Foods.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A5)
1998 May, In Texas drug dealer Troy Clark drowned his former roommate Christina Muse of Tyler in his bathtub and stuffed her body into a barrel. He feared that she would snitch on him. In 2018 Clark (51) was executed by lethal injection.
(SFC, 9/27/18, p.A4)
1998 May, Apple Corp. introduced the iMac. The $1,300 computer housed in translucent plastic had a 233 MHz G3 processor.
(SFC, 1/24/04, p.A12)
1998 May, Samuel Cummings, a former CIA employee and int’l arms seller, died in Monaco. Cummings became a billionaire selling guns to guerrillas and dictators worldwide.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A6)
1998 May, In Brazil Jorge Luiz Fernandez, aka George the Smotherer, was sentenced to 47 years in prison for 2 murders in 1995. He headed a hit squad of off-duty policemen known as the "Golden Boys," who singled out criminal suspects and killed at least 30 people.
(SFC, 9/20/98, p.A12)
1998 May, In the Czech Republic the town of Usti Nad Labem approved the building of a wall to separate itself from the Gypsy neighborhood of Novy Svet. Completion was planned by Sept.
(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A3)
1998 May, In Croatia Gojko Susak, the Croatian Defense Minister, died of cancer. He had directed the wartime revolt by Bosnian Croats against the Muslim-led Bosnian government.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.C18)
1998 May, In Finland the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by Steven Holl, opened in Helsinki. The name was taken after the Greek word for intersection, the x shape of the letter chi, and meant it to stand for a synthesis of building and landscape.
(WSJ, 5/14/98, p.A20)
1998 May, In Guatemala Bishop Mario Rios Montt, the brother of former dictator Gen’l. Efrain Rios Montt, was appointed head of the human rights office.
(SFC, 7/31/98, p.D3)
1998 May, In Jamaica the government raised fines for harassing tourists 100 times to $2,700 for first offenders along with night courts to handle officers appearances.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T8)
1998 May, Officials in Nicaragua entered a stolen 1975 Lear jet airplane and found high levels of cocaine residue. The $3 million plane had been stolen Dec 16 from Fort Lauderdale and taken to Nicaragua. It was used by Jose Francisco Guasch to transport government officials to various destinations in Central America at no charge. Guasch slipped out of the country.
(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A10)
1998 May, In Sri Lanka Sarojini Yogeswaran, mayor of Jaffna, was shot and killed by suspected Tiger rebels. He had just been elected in Jan.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.B1)
1998 May, In Sri Lanka Brigadier Larry Wijeratne was killed by a Tiger suicide bomber.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.B1)
1998 May, Trinidad and Tobago withdrew from the American Convention on Human Rights and planned the execution of 5 prisoners in June.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B4)
1998 May, In Yemen Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani came into power.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 1, The MacArthur Foundation disbursed 29 genius grants with cash prizes ranging from $375,000 to $220,000. Included in the winners were poet Ishmael Reed; computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee (pioneer developer of the WWW), historian Mike Davis ("City of Quartz," a history of Los Angeles), Ayesha Jalal (historian of the cultures of India and Pakistan), and Peter Miller (Berlin scholar of early modern European intellectual history).
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 1, President Clinton abruptly abandoned his executive privilege claim in the Monica Lewinsky investigation, reducing the prospect of a quick Supreme Court review of a dispute over the testimony of presidential aides.
(AP, 6/1/99)
1998 Jun 1, In Mass. Rev. Eugene F. Rivers had his picture on the cover of Time Mag. for his youth ministry work in Dorchester. His Operation 2006 planned to put an adult volunteer into the life of every at-risk child in Dorchester, who needed help, by the year 2006.
(WSJ, 6/5/98, p.W13)
1998 Jun 1, In Michigan a new $22 million Kellogg’s Cereal City USA opened in Battle Creek. It was owned by the non-profit Heritage Center Foundation.
(SFEC, 8/2/98, p.T7)
1998 Jun 1, In Philadelphia the largest transit union went on strike and shut down a system that served 435,000 people a day. This followed 3 months of negotiations with the transportation authority (SEPTA).
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A5)
1998 Jun 1, American Home Products agreed to acquire Monsanto Co. in a deal valued at $35.08 billion.
(WSJ, 6/2/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 1, It was reported that investment flow out of Latin America was becoming a stampede.
(WSJ, 6/2/98, p.A16)
1998 Jun 1, In Burma the military sentenced Aung Thein and Ko Hla Myint to 14 years in prison for handing out copies of a letter from the Shan State Army addressed to Lt. Gen’l. Khin Nyunt, the head of military intelligence, back in March.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 1, From El Salvador it was reported that just 2% of the forest remained in the country that was once covered by forest.
(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 1, The European Central Bank (ECB) was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam. It is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. It began operating on Jan 1, 1999.
(www.ecb.int/ecb/orga/escb/html/index.en.html)
1998 Jun 1, In France pilots of Air France began a pay-dispute strike.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 1, In India Prime Minister Vajpayee announced that large budget increases of 14% for the armed forces, 68% for nuclear research and 62% for missile programs was approved. Social programs were increased 35%.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 1, In Indonesia the new government announced a broad inquiry into corruption under ex-Pres. Suharto.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 1, Thousands of refugees from Kosovo, Serbia, poured into Albania to escape deadly fighting that began last week around Decani. 39 people were reported dead.
(WSJ, 6/2/98, p.A3)(AP, 6/1/99)
1998 Jun 1, In Russia the stock market tumbled 10% in panic selling. Prime Minister Kiriyenko reduced the auction cost for the sale of state’s Rosneft Oil Co. to $1.6 bil.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 1, In South Korea Pres. Kim Dae Jung urged the US and western nations to end sanctions against North Korea.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 1, Zambia dropped charges against former Pres. Kaunda and released him after Kaunda pledged to retire.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 2, Voters in California passed Proposition 227, which effectively abolished the state's 30-year-old bilingual education program by requiring that all children be taught in English.
(AP, 6/2/99)
1998 Jun 2, Monica Lewinsky hired a new defense team, Jacob Stein and Plato Cacheris, replacing William H. Ginsburg as her lead attorney.
(AP, 6/2/99)
1998 Jun 2, In Florida Bishop J. Keith Symons (65) announced his resignation as head of the Palm Beach diocese after admitting that he molested 5 boys early in his career. Bishop Robert N. Lynch was named as temp. administrator over the 200,000 Catholics in the 5-county diocese.
(SFC, 6/3/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 2, Space Shuttle Discovery was launched and it planned to pick up astronaut Andrew Thomas from the Mir space station.
(WSJ, 6/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 2, Royal Caribbean Cruises admitted to routinely dumping oily waste into the Caribbean and agreed to pay a fine of $9 million. It was estimated that 80% of the oil pollution in the world’s seas was caused by routing dumping by ships of all sorts.
(SFC, 6/3/98, p.A6)
1998 Jun 2, In Burma 26 farmers were gunned down near Murng-Kerng.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 2, In Mexico the military leader of an anti-narcotics investigation was kidnapped and beaten by henchmen of Ramon Alcides Magana, aka El Metro. At the same time his office was robbed of evidence linking Yucatan Gov. Mario Villanueva Madrid to El Metro.
(SFC, 12/14/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 2, In Russia Yeltsin held a meeting with the country’s most powerful business leaders and urged them to help keep investors from fleeing. Russian stocks rose 12%.
(SFC, 6/3/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 3, An 87-foot memorial to Crazy Horse, sculpted into rock near Custer in the South Dakota Black Hills by Korczak Ziolkowski (d.1982), was dedicated after 50 years of work.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A5)(SSFC, 7/28/02, Par p.11)
1998 Jun 3, Pres. Clinton announced the renewal of favored nation trade status with China. President Clinton urged Congress to renew normal trade benefits for China, saying good relations with Beijing were crucial amid fears of a nuclear arms race in South Asia.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A3)(AP, 6/3/99)
1998 Jun 3, In New York City hundreds of sidewalk food vendors held a 1-day strike and paraded through lower Manhattan.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 3, The US FDA approved Rebetron, a combination of two anti-viral drugs (interferon and ribavirin), to treat Chronic Hepatitis C.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 3, Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers clashed in heavy fighting along their disputed border.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 3, In Germany the high-speed ICE 884 train derailed near Eschede and 94 [101] people were killed. A damaged wheel was later cited as the cause.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/8/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/3/99)
1998 Jun 3, Mexico announced that it would prosecute US customs officials for breaking numerous Mexican laws in the undercover Casablanca operation that was announced May 18.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 3, In Mexico Chiapas Gov. Roberto Albores ordered a thousand police officers and soldiers into the town of Nicolas Ruiz where 141 people were arrested for supporting Zapatista rebels.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 3, The Kremlin announced a crackdown on skinheads.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T8)
1998 Jun 3, Special Serbian forces reported 40 people killed in a 5-day operation in Kosovo.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 3, From Sierra Leone it was reported that 243,000 refugees had fled to camps in Liberia and Guinea in terror of the ousted junta’s loyalists.
(WSJ, 6/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 4, It was reported that Duke Univ. scientists reported that they were able to change sickled blood cells into normal cells using genetic therapy.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A7)
1998 Jun 4, In Denver a federal judge sentenced Terry Nichols to life in prison without parole for conspiring in 1995 to bomb the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/4/99)
1998 Jun 4, Americans aboard the shuttle Discovery arrived at the Russian space station Mir to pick up U.S. astronaut Andrew Thomas, who'd spent four months in orbit.
(AP, 6/4/99)
1998 Jun 4, In Bluff, Utah, Robert Mason (26), one of 3 suspects in the May 29 killing of a Cortez, Colo., police officer, was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 4, A team of physicists from Japan reported that they had established that the subnuclear neutrino particles had mass. In an experiment called SuperKamiokande, they showed that muon neutrinos produced by cosmic rays hitting the upper atmosphere had gone missing by the time they should have reached an underground detector. This led them to suspect that the missing muon neutrinos had changed flavor through a process called oscillation, which required them to have mass. Their experiments showed that neutrinos spontaneously transform between three varieties (electron, muon and tau neutrinos) in a process known as oscillation.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A1)(Econ, 4/8/06, p.77)(Econ, 6/28/14, p.69)
1998 Jun 4, Shirley Polykoff, the pioneering advertising woman who authored the "Does she... or doesn’t she" for Clairol hair dyes in 1956, died at age 90. She wrote the 1975 book "Does She... or Doesn’t She? And How She Die It."
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A24)
1998 Jun 4, In Britain the House of Commons decided to get rid of its collapsible top hats, a tradition that dated from 19th century.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.D4)
1998 Jun 4, The first meeting of the Eurogroup was held at Senningen Castle in Luxembourg. Formerly known as the Euro-X and Euro-XI in relation to the number of states adopting the euro, the group was established at the request of France as a policy co-ordination and consultation forum on eurozone matters.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurogroup)
1998 Jun 4, In Indonesia creditor banks unveiled a plan to restructure $80 billion of foreign debt owed by banks and corporations.
(WSJ, 6/5/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 4, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela agreed to cuts in oil production and exports for the 2nd time this year in order to raise prices.
(WSJ, 6/5/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 4, In Pristina, Serbia, the Kosovo Albanians withdrew from negotiations with Serbia due to the new Serbian offensive.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 4, In Taiwan it was reported that an airborne virus had killed 26 children in the last 6 weeks. Another 132 were hospitalized and as many as 9,000 were infected. Efforts to fight the disease were being centralized. Enterovirus 71 soon claimed 7 more children.
(WSJ, 6/5/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B4)
1998 Jun 5, Some 3,400 workers at a GM stamping plant in Flint, Mich., went on strike. The strike closed five assembly plants and idled workers nationwide for seven weeks.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A7)(AP, 6/5/99)
1998 Jun 5, Volkswagen AG won approval to buy Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for $703 million. However, BMW later purchased the Rolls-Royce brand name and logo.
(AP, 6/5/99)(SFC, 6/6/98, p.D1)
1998 Jun 5, Some 70,000 white bass at the Cheney Reservoir west of Wichita had died over the past week from unexplained causes. The reservoir in the north fork of the Ninnescah River was the main drinking water source for Wichita.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 5, In Texas an estimated 22,000 trout died in the Guadalupe River after eating dead fire ants that fell into the river after mating.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 5, Alfred Kazin (b.1915), literary critic, died on his birthday. Kazin’s work included 3 autobiographical volumes: “A Walker in the City," “Starting Out in the Thirties," and “New York Jew." In 2003 Ted Solotaroff edited "Alfred Kazin's America: Critical and Personal Writings." In 2007 Richard M. Cook authored “Alfred Kazin: A Biography."
(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.M2)(WSJ, 1/12/08, p.W9)(SFC, 2/7/08, p.E2)
1998 Jun 5, In Cambodia over 1,000 former Khmer Rouge soldiers were inducted into the Cambodian army at Anlong Veng. Khmer Rouge leader Ta Mok and some loyalists were still in the jungles along the Thai border.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 5, In Matamoros, Mexico, Salvador Gomez, a former policeman and drug cartel leader, was arrested.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 5-6, Eritrea and Ethiopia sent warplanes on bombing raids against each other. In Mekele, Ethiopia, at least 40 people were killed and over 100 wounded.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 6, In Boston Cardinal Bernard Law announced that he defrocked retired priest, John Geoghan, who was accused of sexually molesting more than 50 children over 3 decades. The church had already paid millions to settle claims brought by dozens of alleged victims. Geoghan went on trial in 2002 and was convicted for fondling a boy in 1992. Geoghan was sentenced 9-10 years in prison for molesting a 10-year-old boy.
(SFEC, 6/7/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/18/02, p.W18)(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A2)(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A3)
1998 Jun 6, "Real Quiet" was denied horse racing's Triple Crown as "Victory Gallop" won the Belmont Stakes by a nose.
(AP, 6/6/99)
1998 Jun 6, Fires in east-central Florida burned 1,700 wooded acres near Palm Coast and 1,200 acres in Seminole County.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 6, India reported that 1,359 people had died over the past 3 weeks due to the severe heat wave. The death toll was raised to 2,500.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A4)(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 6, The UN Security Council demanded in a unanimous vote that India and Pakistan refrain from further nuclear tests and sign nuclear control agreements.
(AP, 6/6/99)
1998 Jun 6, A strike by Philippine Airline workers abruptly grounded all flights in the Philippine Islands.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 7, "The Lion King" won the Tony Award for best musical along with 5 other awards. "Ragtime" won 4 awards as did "Cabaret" and "The Beauty Queen of Leenane." "Art" was named best play.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.D1)(AP, 6/7/99)
1998 Jun 7, James Byrd Junior, a 49-year-old black man, was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas. Three white men were soon arrested; 2 of the men were sentenced to death and the 3rd received life in prison [see Jun 9].
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A3)(AP, 6/7/00)
1998 Jun 7, CNN and Time magazine reported that a secret 1970 raid called Operation Tailwind by a Special Forces unit called the Studies and Observations Group (SOG) used the nerve gas sarin in Laos to kill American armed service members who had defected. A report in 1998 allegedly confirmed that over 100 people were killed including up to 20 American military defectors. Adm. Thomas Moorer, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, confirmed in 1998 that nerve gas was used. CNN and Time magazine later recanted the story due to insufficient evidence. Reporter April Oliver and senior producer Jack Smith were fired. Oliver stood by her story and in 1999 filed suit against CNN and retired Army Gen. John Singlaub, her source for the Tailwind report.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A3)(WSJ, 6/26/98, p.W13)(SFC, 7/3/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/4/98, p.C2)(SFC, 5/8/99, p.A3)
1998 Jun 7, In Colombia drug cartel leader Alberto Orlandez Gamboa, alias "the Snail," was arrested.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 7, In Mexico army troops killed 11 [12] leftist rebels of the EPR near Ayutla in Guerrero state. Another 5 were wounded and 21 were arrested. Erika Zamora Pardo, an EPR member, later testified that the guerrillas were shot when they surrendered with their hands up. She also testified that civilians trapped in a schoolhouse also tried to surrender, but that soldiers threw a fragmentation grenade in their midst.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 7, In Pakistan a bomb exploded on a passenger train in the southern Sindh province near Sukkur. 26 people were killed and 45 wounded. Pakistan later blamed the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). India denied involvement.
(SFEC, 6/7/98, p.A18)(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 6/8/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 7, In Serbia Pres. Milosevic agreed to allow diplomatic observers to enter and move about in Kosovo.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 8, Charlton Heston was installed as the new head of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 8, The US FTC filed a suit against Intel Corp. for using its monopoly power to bully other computer companies.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 8, Wells Fargo and Norwest Corp. reported a merger plan valued at $30-34 billion to form the nation’s 6th-7th largest bank.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 8, In New Mexico the $77 million Sloan Digital Sky Survey was reported to be about to start probing the universe.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 8, The shuttle Discovery pulled away from Mir, ending America's three-year space partnership with Russia.
(AP, 6/8/99)
1998 Jun 8, In Haysville, Kansas, a Debruce Grain Elevator exploded and killed 2 men. Four people were trapped in the wreckage. The death toll rose to five after more victims were found the next day.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A6)(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 8, In Splendora, Texas, Don Willburn Collins (13) doused Robert Middleton with gasoline on his 8th birthday and set him on fire. Middleton died in 2011 from skin cancer blamed on burns across 99% of his body. In 2014 a judge ruled that Collins could be tried as an adult.
(SFC, 3/7/14, p.A8)(http://tinyurl.com/mzfz6pk)
1998 Jun 8, Eritrea appealed for direct talks with Ethiopia to end the border war.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 8, In Mexico Catholic Bishop Samuel Ruiz resigned as chief mediator in peace negotiations with the Zapatista guerrillas. The committee that he led also resigned and accused the government of standing in the way of peace.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 8, Nigeria’s Gen’l. Sani Abacha (54) died of a heart attack in the arms of 2 Indian prostitutes and a local virgin. Gen’l. Abdulsalam Abubakar, the defense chief of staff, was quickly named the new head of state.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A11)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.62)
1998 Jun 8, In Russia the number of AIDS was reported to have quadrupled since 1996 to 8,313, mainly due to intravenous drug-taking.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 8, Larisa Yudina (53), an independent journalist in the southern Russian Republic of Kalmykia, was found dead in a pond with a fractured skull and multiple stab wounds. She had pursued investigations of corruption of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of Kalmykia. The murder was called a political killing. Two aides of Ilyumzhinov were later arrested by the police and confessed to the killing. The aides were sentenced to 21-year prison terms.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/17/98, p.C2)(SFC, 11/30/99, p.D3)
1998 Jun 8, It was reported that Turkish soldiers had killed 37 Kurdish insurgents in the southeast provinces of Sirnak, Siirt, and Diyarbakir.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 9, President Clinton unleashed a torrent of public works money, signing a $203 billion transportation bill.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A2)(AP, 6/9/99)
1998 Jun 9, In Salt Lake City the Southern Baptist Convention approved a new statement on the family that said wives must live in submission to their husbands and that homosexuality was a perversion.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 9, In Texas three white men, Shawn Allen Berry (23), Lawrence Russell Brewer (31) and John William King (23), were charged for the June 7 murder of James Byrd Jr. (49). King was convicted of murder Feb 23, 1999, and was executed in 2019. Brewer was found guilty of capital murder on Sep 20, 1999 and was excuted in 2011. Berry was sentenced to life in prison.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A3)(SFC, 2/24/99, p.A1)(SFC, 9/14/99, p.A10)(SFC, 9/21/99, p.A3)(SFC, 9/24/99, p.A3)(SFC, 11/19/99, p.A3)(SFC, 4/25/19, p.A8)
1998 Jun 9, Heavy fighting erupted on the Ethiopian-Eritrean frontier in the latest stage of their undeclared war.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 9, Senegal and Guinea sent troops to aid Pres. Vieira in Guinea-Bissau. Rebels led by Ansumane Mane had just staged a coup to end the 18-year rule of Pres. Vieira, who was accused of corruption.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 9, Some 30 Haitians drowned when police in the British Turks and Caicos Islands fired on a boat jammed with about 100 refugees.
(WSJ, 6/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 9, At least 205 people were killed by a cyclone that hit on India’s western coast at Porbunder. At least 15,000 people were forced to evacuate. The death toll was increased to 420 and 150 people were missing. The death toll was increased to 835.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A9)(WSJ, 6/11/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 9, Indonesia’s Pres. Habibie offered to grant special status to East Timor in exchange for peace and signed a decree to release 10 jailed East Timor rebels.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 9, In Russia Yuri Yurkov, head of the State Statistics Committee, was arrested with 2 top aides for falsifying data to help corporations avoid taxes.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 10, A jury in Jacksonville, Fla. ordered Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp. to pay nearly $1 million to the family of Roland Maddox, who had died after smoking Lucky Strikes for almost 50 years. A Florida appeals court later overturned the verdict.
(AP, 6/10/99)(AP, 6/10/08)
1998 Jun 10, The Wisconsin Supreme court ruled that taxpayer could be used to send poor children to private religious schools.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 10, It was reported that scientists had decoded the DNA sequence for Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 10, Belarus delayed a deadline for foreign diplomats to leave their residences to permit repairs following protests by diplomats.
(WSJ, 6/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 10, In France pilots agreed to end their 10-day strike after accepting shares in Air France in exchange for salary cuts.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 10, In Mexico 9 people were killed in Chiapas when the army tried to retake control of El Bosque. 52 people were arrested.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 10, The Russian market fell for a 5th straight day and the government failed to sell enough treasury bills to cover its short-term debt.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 10, In Sudan three aid workers were killed when gunmen opened fire on a UN relief convoy.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 10-Jul 12, The World Cup soccer championships were scheduled to be held in France.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A22)
1998 Jun 11, Mitsubishi Motors agreed to pay $34 million to settle allegations that women on the assembly line at its Illinois factory were groped and insulted and that managers did nothing to stop it.
(AP, 6/11/99)
1998 Jun 11, In Burundi military leader Pierre Buyoya was sworn in as president by the democratically elected parliament.
(SFC, 6/12/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 11, China ordered officials in its nearly 1 million villages to open their activities to public scrutiny.
(SFC, 6/12/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 11, Fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia was reported 50 miles from Eritrea’s Red Sea port of Assab.
(SFC, 6/12/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 11, Between 1,500 and 2,000 foreigners, mostly Portuguese, were evacuated by ship from the capital of Guinea-Bissau, where civil war raged.
(AP, 6/11/03)
1998 Jun 11, Pakistan announced a moratorium on nuclear tests and offered to enter into bilateral talks with India.
(WSJ, 6/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 12, In California Christina Marie Williams (13) was reported missing in the Monterey area and was feared to have been kidnapped. In Jan 1999 the remains of a young woman were found in the area that she was last seen on Fort Ord. Her remains were identified with dental records. On April 6, 2017 authorities identified Charles Allen Holifield (56), a sex offender serving a 25-year sentence at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, as the girl’s murderer.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.A1)(SFC, 1/14/99, p.A1)(SFC, 1/15/99, p.A1)(SFC, 4/7/17, p.D1)
1998 Jun 12, Strikes at GM plants in Flint idled 13 assembly plants and dozens of parts operations and 50,900 workers in the US, Canada and Mexico.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 12, A jury in Hattiesburg, Miss., convicted 17-year-old Luke Woodham of killing two students and wounding seven others at Pearl High School.
(AP, 6/12/99)
1998 Jun 12, Space shuttle Discovery returned to Earth, bringing home the last American to live aboard Mir and closing out three years of U.S.-Russian cooperation aboard the aging space station.
(AP, 6/12/99)
1998 Jun 12, Leo Buscaglia, columnist, lecturer and social philosopher known as "Dr. Hug," died at age 74.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A21)
1998 Jun 12, In China torrential rains began in Hunan province and led to the death of at least 40 people. Over 100,000 homes were destroyed.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 12, The G8 industrialized nations agreed to halt all loans to India and Pakistan except those for humanitarian purposes.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 12, In Guinea-Bissau some 200 people drowned as they fled the country by boat.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 12, In France Jean-Paul Guerlain (63), renowned perfumer, was shot and his mansion was plundered when some 12 armed and masked men invaded his home.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 12, In Nigeria security forces broke up a planned mass protest organized to mark the 5-year anniversary of the annulment of the last presidential elections.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 13, President Clinton visited Thurston High School in Springfield, Ore., where two students were killed and 22 others wounded the previous month.
(AP, 6/13/99)
1998 Jun 13, Civil rights leaders and politicians called for an end to racial violence as hundreds of mourners gathered in Jasper, Texas, for the funeral of James Byrd Jr., a black man who police said was brutally killed by white supremacists.
(AP, 6/13/99)
1998 Jun 13, It was reported that in Madagascar a grasshopper swarm, 7 miles long, had spread into the capital city of Antananarivo.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A7)
1998 Jun 13, It was reported that the Old World Screwworm had broken out in Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain. 19 people were reported infected by the disease in which carnivorous larvae hatch from eggs laid in broken skin.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A7)
1998 Jun 13, In London Reg Smythe, creator of the Andy Capp comic strip, died at age 81.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A22)
1998 Jun 13, In Israel Nissim Aloni, playwright, died at age 72. His work included "Most Cruel the King" (1953); "The Emperor’s New Clothes" (1961), "The American Princess" (1963); "The Revolution and the Chicken" (1964); "The Bride and the Butterfly Hunter" (1967); "Napoleon, Dead or Alive" (1970); and "The Gypsies of Jaffa" (1971).
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A22)
1998 Jun 13, In Bihar state, India, Brij Bihari Prasad, a former state minister in the Rashtriya Janata Party, was killed along with his guard.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 14, The Chicago Bulls clinched their sixth NBA championship, defeating the Utah Jazz in game six played in Salt Lake City, 87-86.
(AP, 6/14/03)
1998 Jun 14, Tori Murden of Louisville, Ky., departed from North Carolina in a 23-foot fiberglass rowboat in an attempt to become the first woman to row across the Atlantic.
(SFC, 8/12/98, p.A8)
1998 cJun 14, The Boston Globe asked for the resignation of columnist Patricia Smith due to fabricated quotations and people in her column. The New Republic recently reported that writer Stephen Glass had fabricated parts or all of 27 of 41 articles.
(SFC, 6/29/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 14, In NYC Antoine Reid, a squeegee man, was allegedly shot by off-duty officer Michael Meyer after soaping Meyer’s car window. Reid later filed a $100 million suit against the city and the police dept.
(SFC, 6/29/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 14, Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to halt the use of air strikes in their border war.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 14, In Guinea-Bissau the fighting intensified and thousands of people sought escape routes.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 14, In Bihar state, India, Ajit Kumar Sarkar was the 2nd legislator in 2 days to be killed by gunmen. Two Sarkar supporters were also killed.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 14, In Kosovo the fighting intensified as Serbs launched 500 grenades into villages in western Kosovo.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/15/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 15, The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that state prison inmates are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
(AP, 6/15/99)
1998 Jun 15, In Richmond, Virginia, Quinshawn Booker (14) fired 8-9 rounds from a .32 caliber semiautomatic pistol at Armstrong High School and wounded a coach and a volunteer aide.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 15, US F-16 fighter jets took off as part of a 13-nation, 85 warplane NATO show of force over Albania and Macedonia. Meanwhile Serb forces attacked 4 Kosovo villages with grenades and helicopter gunships and began sealing off the border to Albania.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/15/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/16/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B2)(AP, 6/15/99)
1998 Jun 15, In Indonesia Habibie replaced the attorney general, a Suharto appointee, with Major Gen’l. Andi Muhammad Galib, chief of the military’s law office and chief auditor.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 15, In Nigeria nine prominent political prisoners were released.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 16, The Detroit Red Wings took home the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive year after completing a sweep of the Washington Capitals with a 4-1 victory in game four.
(AP, 6/16/03)
1998 Jun 16, A woman (40) in Florida gave birth to a baby boy, named Sean, shown live on the Internet.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 16, Massachusetts' highest court cleared the way for Louise Woodward to return home to England, upholding a judge's ruling that freed the au pair convicted of killing a baby.
(AP, 6/16/99)
1998 Jun 16, In Afghanistan the Taliban ordered the closing of over 100 private schools that had been educating girls. Schools would not be allowed to teach girls older than 8 and lessons were to be limited to the Koran.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.C16)
1998 Jun 16, North Korea admitted that it had sold missiles abroad and would continue to do so to generate needed income.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 16, In South Korea Chung Ju-Yung (83), a wealthy industrialist, led 500 cattle in 50 open trucks, his Operation Rawhide, across the border to North Korea. He recently published an autobiography.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.C16)
1998 Jun 16, Senegal fired artillery into Guinea-Bissau to support Pres. Vieira.
(WSJ, 6/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 16, In Serbia Pres. Milosevic agreed to allow monitors into Kosovo and to begin talks with Kosovo Albanian leaders, but not to withdraw his military forces until "terrorist activities subside."
(WSJ, 6/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 17, The Pritzker Architecture Prize was awarded to Italian architect Renzo Piano (60).
(USAT, 6/17/98, p.1D)
1998 Jun 17, The US Senate snuffed out Congress' first bill to curb teen smoking, with Democrats accusing Republicans of being owned by Big Tobacco, and Republicans charging the measure was laden with too many amendments.
(AP, 6/17/03)
1998 Jun 17, Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto welcomed a rare U.S. intervention in currency markets to support the sinking yen. The US and Japan bought billions of dollars worth of yen to stabilize the Japanese currency.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.A1) (AP, 6/17/99)
1998 Jun 17, Scientists announced the 3-D structure of the key protein that the HIV virus uses to unlock and enter cells.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 17, In Albania representatives of 5 Kosovo political parties met in Tirana and announced plans to organize defenses against the Serbian anti-insurgency campaign.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B2)
1998 Jun 17, In Cairo Sheik Mohammed Sharawi died at age 87. The popular cleric lectured on Egyptian TV and his teachings were widely acclaimed. He supported female circumcision and ruled that women should not be appointed to top government positions or become judges.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B6)
1998 Jun 17, In Israel Nahum Manbar, an Israeli businessman, was convicted of endangering security through the sale of $16 million in information and chemical weapons components to Iran. Manbar was sentenced to 16 years in July 1998 for selling materials to make nerve and mustard gas to Iran but insisted he acted with the approval of the Israeli authorities. He had been arrested in March the previous year. He was released from jail in 2011.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.A20)(AFP, 10/31/11)
1998 Jun 17, Andrei Kozlenok, a diamond merchant, was extradited from Greece to Russia, on charges of stealing $180 million in gold and gems from the Russian government in 1992. Kozlenok used the money to set up shop in SF and then moved to Belgium to avoid extradition.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B1)
1998 Jun 17, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin named Anatoly Chubais as Russia’s chief liaison to the IMF. Chubais was also reinstated as a deputy premier.
(WSJ, 6/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 17, In Rwanda Hutu rebels killed at least 25 and wounded 62 Tutsis at a camp for displaced people north of Kigali.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.A20)
1998 Jun 17, In Paramaribo, Suriname, four million acres of rain forest was dedicated as the Suriname Wilderness Nature Reserve.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.A20)
1998 Jun 17, Serb troops killed at least 10 Albanians they said were trying to cross the border into Kosovo.
(WSJ, 6/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 18, President Clinton appointed UN ambassador Bill Richardson to replace Energy Secretary Federico Pena and named Bosnian peace architect and diplomatic troubleshooter Richard Holbrooke as the new representative to the United Nations. The Holbrooke nomination was held up for a year because of ethics questions.
(AP, 6/18/03)
1998 Jun 18, Smoking was banned in SF public parks and recreation centers, but the larger city parks were exempt.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 18, In Portage, Ind., a Chicago-bound commuter train struck a truck and dislodged a steel coil that crashed into the first train car and crushed 3 people to death.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A3)(AP, 6/18/99)
1998 Jun 18, In North Carolina an Amtrak train crashed into a tractor-trailer and killed the driver. Ten others were injured.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 18, China formally declared it new housing policy that eliminated the right of workers to cost-free apartments by the end of the year.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 18, In Nigeria six more political detainees were released.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B7)
1998 Jun 18, In Puerto Rico fearing loss of their jobs 6,400 workers of Telefonica went on strike and began cutting telephone cables.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A2)(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 19, A study published in the British medical journal The Lancet said smoking more than doubles the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
(AP, 6/19/03)
1998 Jun 19, Pope John Paul II began his third visit to Austria for 3 days.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B3)(AP, 6/19/99)
1998 Jun 19, In India suspected separatist guerrillas shot and killed 25 male members of 2 Hindu wedding parties in Jammu and Kashmir state.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.D1)
1998 Jun 19, In Mexico the 37th annual US-Mexico Parliamentary Session opened.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 19, Switzerland's three biggest banks offered $600 million to settle claims they'd stolen the assets of Holocaust victims; outraged Jewish leaders called the offer insultingly low.
(AP, 6/19/99)
1998 Jun 19, In Yemen a 40% price increase for gasoline, kerosene and cooking gas led to protests for the next 4 days.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 20, On the eve of Father's Day, President Clinton used his weekly radio address to announce the release of the first wave of almost $60 million in prostate cancer research grants.
(AP, 6/20/08)
1998 Jun 20, Hanna “Kali" Weynerowska (100), a San Francisco-based Polish artist, died. In 1988 she had bequeathed 78 artworks to a Polish government museum in Switzerland, but they soon disappeared. In 2014 75 of her original works were found in Santa Rosa and shipped to Rapperswil, Switzerland.
(SFC, 4/12/14, p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/mzjt2v3)
1998 Jun 20, Seven people were killed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike when a Greyhound bus crashed into a tractor-trailer parked on the shoulder. At least 18 people were hurt. The driver was on his last run before retirement. He was among the dead with his wife and boy that they took care of.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A10)(WSJ, 6/22/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 20, In Belarus ambassadors of the EU nations announced that they would leave the country to protest a government move barring them from their homes.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 20, Iran reversed its opposition to a UN plan, passed the previous day, permitting Iraq to spend $300 million of revenues from the oil-for-food program to buy spare parts to rebuild its oil industry.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A25)
1998 Jun 20, Suekiku Miyanaga (107), Japan’s oldest person, died in Osumi.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A25)
1998 Jun 20, In Kosovo 3 Serbian police were killed and four were held by the Kosovo separatist army during fighting in the Decani area..
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A25)
1998 Jun 21, In the soccer World Cup Iran knocked out the US team 2-1.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 21, The Chechen security chief, Lecha Khulygov, and a guerrilla commander, Vakha Dzhafarov, fatally shot each other in an argument over a demonstration by rebel supporters.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 21, In Colombia, former Bogota Mayor Andres Pastrana was elected president, defeating Horacio Serpa, a key player in the scandal-tainted administration of President Ernesto Samper.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A8)(AP, 6/21/08)
1998 Jun 21, In the Czech Republic the Social Democrats placed first in parliamentary elections.
(WSJ, 6/22/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 21, In England the Druids were allowed to celebrate the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 21, In India a deal was signed in New Delhi with Russia to build power plants for two nuclear reactors.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 21, The Israeli Cabinet approved a plan to expand Jerusalem’s control far beyond its current borders, despite protests from Palestinians and warnings from Washington that the move was "provocative."
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 21, In Moscow a violent storm left 6 dead and heavy damage to the Bolshoi Theater and the wall of the Kremlin.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 21, Elections were held in Togo. When returns showed Pres. Eyadama trailing one of his generals took over the ballot counting. Soldiers killed hundreds. Vote counting stopped, and Eyadema was declared winner.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A12)(SFC, 7/24/99, p.C1)(AP, 6/1/03)
1998 Jun 22, The US Supreme Court made it much harder for students who are sexually harassed by teachers to hold school districts financially responsible, ruling 5-4 that a key anti-bias law applies only if administrators know about the misconduct.
1998 Jun 22, In Britain legislators voted to lower the age of consent for homosexual acts to 16, the norm in the EU.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 22, Hong Kong suspended government land sales to bolster prices and announced a stimulus package to revive the economy.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 22, South Korea captured a small North Korean submarine that was entangled in a fishing net. The sub sank while under tow and 9 crewmen were later found dead with rifle wounds to the head.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A9)(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A13)(WSJ, 6/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 22, In Kosovo ethnic Albanians kidnapped 3 Serbs and took over the mine pit at Belacevac.
(WSJ, 6/23/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 22, In Yemen police fired on protestors reacting to fuel price increases. At least one person was killed in Taiz and 3 were killed in Sanaa. Protestors called for the resignation of Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 23, President Clinton said the reported discovery of traces of deadly nerve gas on an Iraqi missile warhead gave the United States new ammunition to maintain tough U.N. sanctions against the Baghdad government.
(AP, 6/23/99)
1998 Jun 23, US Congressional leaders approved a plan to reduce the period for investment capital gains to 12 months from 18 and the rate from 20% to 15%. It was planned to be retroactive to Jan 1, 1998.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 23, The US FDA announced the approval of rifapentine, a drug to treat pulmonary TB.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 23, In Chicago some 4,500 got sick from an outbreak of E. coli possibly due to contaminated potato salad at Iwan’s Deli in Orland Park.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 23, In Georgia a virulent E. coli, O157:H7, sickened at least 6 children after playing in a Marietta water park.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 23, Laboratory grown adult nerve cells were implanted into a human brain for the first time to treat a stroke at the Univ. of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
(SFC, 7/2/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 23, In Florida some 260 fires raged across the state.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 23, Maureen O’Sullivan (b.1911), film actress, died in Scottsdale, Arizona. She had starred as Jane in the Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.C2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maureen_O%27Sullivan)
1998 Jun 23, Pakistan and India agreed to negotiations in Sri Lanka. Their prime ministers would meet during a South Asian summit starting Jul 29.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 23, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin called for a package of emergency fiscal measures to bolster the economy and threatened to dissolve parliament if the measures were not quickly passed.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 23, In Spain a Boeing 727 with 131 people was hijacked and diverted to Valencia.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 23, In Yemen police killed 6 people blocking fuel trucks in the 5th day of violence. The government ordered increased fuel prices to pay off an $80 million IMF loan.
(WSJ, 6/24/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 24, The Clinton administration claimed that Syria has an active chemical weapons program and has armed missiles with the nerve gas sarin.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 24, President Clinton left on a nine-day visit to China amid a swirl of controversy over his policy toward the Beijing government.
(WSJ, 6/25/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/24/99)
1998 Jun 24, AT&T Corp. struck a deal to buy cable television giant Tele-Communications Inc. for $31.7 billion dollars. Combined sales were estimated to be $60 billion.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A1) (AP, 6/24/99)
1998 Jun 24, In China Wang Youcai and other dissidents announced plans to form the China Democracy Party and applied to officials in Zhejiang province for permission to set up a local committee. The attempt was crushed six months later with leading organizers sentenced to up to 13 years in prison. Wu Yilong, a student in the master's program in literature at Zhejiang University, was one of dozens of dissidents detained after attempting to register the China Democracy Party. Wu Yilong (43) was released on Sep 13, 2010.
(SFC, 2/05/04, p.A3)(AP, 9/15/10)
1998 Jun 24, In Colombia rebels seized Ed Leonard of the Terramundo Drilling Co. of Canada. They asked for a ransom of $2 million from the Grey Star Resources Co., which had hired Terramundo for exploratory work.
(SFC, 11/7/98, p.C1)
1998 Jun 24, In Hungary the Young Democrats Party and the Smallholders Party agreed to form the next government.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 24, In Northern Ireland a car bomb exploded in Newtownhamilton and injured a 13-year-old boy. The INLA claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 24, In Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Rossello signed a law completed the $1.9 billion sale of Telefonica to a US consortium led by GTE.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 24, In Togo thousands protested the declared victory of Pres. Gngassigbe Eyadema, who has ruled over the last 31 years. EU observers declared that the electoral process was flawed.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 24, In Turkey the constitutional court ruled that adultery was no longer a crime for women. Adultery, legal for men for a long time, had been punishable for women with up to 3 years in prison.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 25, Pres. Clinton landed in Xian, China. In Zhejiang province democracy activists announced the formation of the China Democracy Party. Some of the organizers were later arrested and jailed.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/13/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 25, The US Supreme Court rejected a 1997 line-item veto law as unconstitutional, and ruled that those infected with HIV are protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act.
(AP, 6/25/99)
1998 Jun 25, Susan McDougal was ordered free by a federal judge in Little Rock, who reduced her sentence to the time already served.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 25, The US Supreme Court struck down the line-tem veto. It held that the law violated the constitutional requirement that legislation be passed by both houses and presented in its entirety to the president.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 25, The US Supreme Court ruled that "decency" can be considered in awarding federal arts grants.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 25, A planet, 1.9 times bigger than Jupiter, was reported found to be circling the small star Gliese 876, 15 light-years from Earth.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A5)
1998 Jun 25, On Kauai, Ha., a helicopter crash killed at least 5 of 6 people on Mount Waialeale.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 25, Albanian security personnel (SHIK) under CIA guidance arrested Shawki Salama Attiya, a Tirana cell forger. Over the next month they made a successful raids on more suspected members of the Egyptian Jihad terrorist organization. The suspected terrorists were turned over to anti-terrorist officials in Egypt, where they delivered forced confessions following torture.
(SFC, 8/13/98, p.A16)(WSJ, 11/20/01, p.A1)
1998 Jun 25, In Algeria Lounes Matoub (42), a popular singer and Berber patriot, was killed near Beni Douala. The Armed Islamic Group later claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)(SFC, 7/2/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 25, In Indonesia a revised IMF bailout deal was loaded with fuel and food subsidies for the nation’s poor.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 25, In Indonesia it was reported that two new tribes were found in the Mamberamo river area of Irian Jaya.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 25, In Northern Ireland voters chose members for the new 108-seat Northern Ireland Assembly. Parties committed to the peace settlement emerged as victors. Anti-agreement forces accounted for 29 of the 108 seats.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A12)(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A12)(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 25, Two Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon by a roadside bomb and seriously wounded 3. Meanwhile the government traded the corpses of 40 Lebanese guerrillas and the release of 60 Lebanese prisoners for the body of Itamar Ilya, a commando killed on Sep 5, 1997.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A16)
1998 Jun 25, Nigeria released 17 more political prisoners.
(WSJ, 6/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 25, Marek Papala (38), former national police chief, was killed in Warsaw as he stepped out of his car outside his home. He was scheduled to be liaison officer to the EU with efforts directed at organized crime. Some 300-400 organized gangs were operating in Poland. Polish officials accused Edward Mazur, who holds Polish and US citizenship, of enticing another man to shoot Papala for $40,000. Mazur faced murder charges in Poland in the shooting death of Papala. In 2006 Mazur remained in the US federal government's Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago pending an extradition hearing.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A14)(AP, 11/28/06)
1998 Jun 25, In Puerto Rico protestors planted bombs, smashed bank machines and burned telephone cables in reaction to the privatization of the phone company.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 25, In Romania the Senate voted to keep some 125 million secret police files locked away.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 25, In Russia a balcony collapsed at the Russian National Freestyle wrestling Competition in Nalchik and killed 22 people.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 25, The Vatican agreed to sign a joint declaration with the Lutheran Church on how humans receive God’s forgiveness and salvation.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 26, Pres. Clinton visited Beijing and chided China about its human rights record, but said Beijing and Washington must cooperated "for the future sake of the world."
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 26, The US agreed to modernize 10 helicopters for Colombia and to provide 6 new ones to fight drug traffickers.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 26, The US Supreme Court issued a landmark sexual harassment ruling, putting employers on notice that they can be held responsible for supervisors' misconduct even if they knew nothing about it.
(AP, 6/26/99)
1998 Jun 26, Hundreds rioted in eastern Algeria over the death of Lounes Matoub, a popular singer.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)
1998 Jun 26, In Israel some 1,500 marchers in Tel Aviv celebrated gay pride.
(SFEC, 7/20/98, p.A16)
1998 Jun 26, In the Ivory Coast Alioune Blondin Beye, a diplomat from Mali, crashed in a small plane near Abidjan. He had just met with Togo Pres. Gnassigbe Eyadema to support peace talks in Angola. Three other passengers were Koffi Adjovi of Togo, journalist Moktar Gueye of Senegal, and Baendegar Dessandre of Chad.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A18)
1998 Jun 26, In Norway a draft law was passed to set aside $58 million for Jewish survivors of Nazi death camps.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 26, In Taiwan summer camps were ordered to be closed and children under 14 barred from swimming pools to fight an intestinal virus that has recently killed 52 children.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 26, In Thailand four Pakistanis were reported to have been arrested in Bangkok. They were suspected of planning to assassinate US Ambassador William Itoh and to launch a terrorist strike against the US embassy.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 27, Pres. Clinton held a live news conference with Pres. Jiang Zemin in Beijing that was broadcast across China. President Clinton and President Jiang Zemin offered an uncensored airing of differences on human rights, freedom, trade and Tibet.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/27/99)
1998 Jun 27, In Florida Vicki Robinson (49) was killed in Tampa Bay in a plot hatched by her daughter, Valessa (15), boyfriend Adam William Davis (19) and friend Jon Whispel. In 2021 Davis, who had been sentenced to death, was re-sentenced to life in prison. Valessa served 13 years in prison. Whispel, was released from prison in 2019.
(https://murderpedia.org/male.D/d/davis-adam.htm)(Tribune Publ., 5/24/21)
1998 Jun 27, Heavy thunderstorms in the Northeast and Midwest left at least 5 people dead. The annual Ben & Jerry’s One World One Heart festival at Sugarbush, Vermont, was cancelled.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 27, In Burma soldiers of the Light Infantry Battalion 246 shot and killed 23 villagers in Kaeng Tawn. The dead included 7 children and 2 women.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 27, In Germany some 10,000 gays and lesbians took part in the 20th commemoration of Christopher St. Day with a march through Berlin.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A20)
1998 Jun 27, In East Timor Manuel Soares (21) was shot dead in Manatuto when troops opened fire to quell a clash between Pro-Indonesia and pro-independence supporters. Three EU envoys arrived on a fact-finding mission.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A20)
1998 Jun 27, In Malaysia the new $3.61 bil airport at Kuala Lumpur was scheduled to open. The new $2.25 billion int’l. airport covered 25,000 acres and was opened by King Tuanku Jaafar.
(WSJ, 8/30/96, p.B8B)(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 27, In southern Turkey a 6.3 earthquake around Adana and Ceyhan killed at least 144 people and injured about a 1,000.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A21)(WSJ, 6/29/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/4/98, p.A7)
1998 Jun 28, The Cincinnati Enquirer published an apology and agreed to pay Chiquita Brands Int’l. $10 million to avoid suit for articles critical of the company’s business. The articles were reportedly based on voice mails stolen from Chiquita. Chiquita is based in Cincinnati and is controlled by financier Carl H. Lindner Jr. Reporter Michael Gallagher was fired and later sued by Chiquita. His 18-page article alleged that Chiquita used life-threatening pesticides, had a Honduran Army raze a village to close a plantation, and that Colombian officials had been bribed to allow the shipment of drugs on its ships.
(SFC, 6/29/98, p.A4)(SFC, 7/3/98, p.A13)
1998 Jun 28, The 12th World AIDS Conference opened in Geneva with some 12,000 participants.
(SFC, 6/29/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/28/99)
1998 Jun 28, Storms in the US Midwest and East coast left 21 people dead.
(SFC, 6/29/98, p.A2)(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 28, Major Gen’l. Marion Carl (82), a WW II fighter pilot, was fatally shot at his home in southern Oregon during a robbery. Jesse Stuart Fanus (19) was later arrested for the murder. Fanus was convicted in March and a jury sentenced him to be executed in May, 1999.
(SFC, 7/6/98, p.A7)(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A3)
1998 Jun 28, In Puerto Rico the Greater Committee of Labor Organizations voted for a work stoppage over the sale of the state phone company.
(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 29, With negotiations on a new labor agreement at a standstill, the NBA announced that a lockout would be imposed at midnight.
(AP, 6/29/99)
1998 Jun 29, It was reported that Mike Corbin had begun manufacturing the single-seat Sparrow, 3-wheel vehicle in Hollister, Ca. The 960 pound electric vehicle was designed for a range of 60 miles on a single charge with a top speed of 60 mph. It was priced at $12,900.
(SFC, 6/29/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 29, Students at Peking University peppered President Clinton with polite but critical questions about America's human rights record, Taiwan policy and views on China in an exchange televised live across the vast nation. In Beijing US corporations announced major sales agreements with China worth nearly $2 billion.
(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A8)(AP, 6/29/08)
1998 Jun 29, Serbian troops opened a series of attacks in Kosovo in the mining town of Belacevac and Lapushnik. Albanian KLA rebels had taken over the huge open mine pit at Belacevac last week.
(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 30, A US fighter jet fired a missile at an Iraqi anti-aircraft site after the site’s radar locked on a British warplane.
(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 30, Officials confirmed that the remains of a Vietnam War serviceman buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery were identified as those of Air Force pilot Michael J. Blassie.
(AP, 6/29/99)
1998 Jun 30, Linda Tripp, whose tape-and-tell friendship with Monica Lewinsky spurred a White House crisis, spent six hours testifying before a grand jury in Washington.
(AP, 6/29/99)
1998 Jun 30, A federal judge halted enforcement of a new Florida law that imposed 5-year prison terms on doctors who perform a type of late-term abortion.
(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 30, Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani in Long Beach, Ca., ordered the activation of a stun belt (50,000 volts), fitted under the jail jumpsuit of defendant Ronnie Hawkins, for his repeated interruptions.
(SFC, 7/10/98, p.A3)(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A17)
1998 Jun 30, In NYC some 20,000 construction workers rallied to protest the city’s use of a nonunion contractor.
(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 30, In Geneva AIDS specialists from SF reported a patient infected with a strain of HIV resistant to the new anti-viral drugs.
(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 30, In Haiti Theodore Beaubrun, a leading comedian, died at age 79.
(SFC, 7/4/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 30, In Malaysia the new Kuala Lumpur Int’l. Airport (KLIA) began operations.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T3)(Econ, 2/7/09, p.35)
1998 Jun 30, Serbian forces recaptured the Kosovo coal mine at Belacevac.
(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 30, In the Philippines Joseph Estrada took his oath of office as the nation’s 13th president.
(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun, The first module of an int’l. space station, US funded and Russian-built, was to be launched at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. [it was postponed]
(SFC, 1/30/98, p.A7)
1998 Jun, At Kennedy airport newly elected Kampala, Uganda, mayor Nasser Ntge Sebaggala was arrested for lying to custom's agents, bringing in $108,000 in traveler's checks without declaring them and defrauding the BostonBank. He was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to 15 months in prison.
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.A12)
1998 Jun, Adrian Carrera Fuentes, former director of the Mexican Federal Judicial Police, was allowed to travel to the US to testify. In Houston he told a grand jury that he had collected nearly $2 million in drug bribes in 1993-1994 and turned the money over to Mario Ruiz Massieu, who fled Mexico in 1995.
(SFC, 7/15/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun, In England Dr. Harold F. Shipman came under suspicion of murder when former Preston Mayor Kathleen Grundy (81) was found dead and toxicologists later found that she'd been given a large dose of heroin. Her revised will arrived at a law firm on the same day with her $640,000 estate willed to Shipman. 14 other female patients were also suspected to have been murdered by Shipman. Shipman was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to 15 life sentences. In 2001 Shipman was suspected of having injected hundreds of elderly women with diamorphine over his 24-year career. In 2002 an investigation reported that Shipman had killed at least 215 people over 23 years.
(SFC, 12/9/99, p.C8)(SFC, 1/6/01, p.A1)(SFC, 7/20/02, p.A8)
1998 Jun, A US federal grand jury indicted Osama bin Laden on terrorist conspiracy charges. Prince Turki al Faisal of Saudi Arabia, chief of Saudi intelligence, negotiated with the Taliban in Kandahar, Afghanistan, for the ouster or custody for trial in Saudi Arabia of Osama bin Laden. Negotiations broke down after the Aug 7 US embassy bombings in Africa.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.A15)(SSFC, 9/30/01, p.A14)
1998 Jun, In Guinea-Bissau a rebellion was triggered by the dismissal of Brigadier Ansumane Mane. The top military commander was dismissed for allegedly running guns to separatist fighters in Senegal.
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A9)
1998 Jun, In Nicaragua a group of ex-Sandinistas called the Revolutionary Armed Forces ambushed a government army patrol in Matagalpa and killed 4 soldiers.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun, In South Africa four bombings occurred in the center of Cape Town and attributed to rival gangs.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T8)
1998 Jun, In Sri Lanka Pres. Kumaratunga ordered censorship on war reporting.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.B1)
1998 Jun, In Tibet 5 nuns at the Drapchi prison committed suicide in the face of Chinese torture. The nuns had been arrested for protesting China’s occupation of Tibet. They were tortured for refusing to sing patriotic songs.
(SFC, 10/6/00, p.A18)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
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Return to home
1998 Apr 1, Judge Susan Webber threw out the sexual harassment suit filed by Paula Jones against Pres. Clinton saying her claims of sexual harassment fell "far short" of being worthy of trial. Clinton later settled with Jones without apology or admission of guilt.
(SFC, 4/2/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/1/08)
1998 Apr 1, The Bolivian Workers’ Confederation called an open-ended strike for wage increases and an end to the coca eradication program. Violent clashes over 4 days had left 3 dead and dozens injured in Chapare. Pres. Hugo Banzer said his government would continue to wipe out cocaine trafficking during his 5-year term.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A12)
1998 Apr 1, A boat enroute to Gabon with 300 passengers sank in the Bight of Bonny off Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom state. 280 were missing and feared dead.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.A23)
1998 Apr 1, In Brazil rains extinguished more than 95% of the extensive fires in the northern Amazon.
(WSJ, 4/2/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 1, In China a new law requiring motorists in Beijing to install pollution-reduction devices went into effect.
(SFC, 3/31/98, p.B3)
1998 Apr 1, China agreed to release and put into exile Wang Dan (b.1969), the noted dissident and student leader of Tiananmen Square, for medical reasons.
(http://tinyurl.com/y887u594)
1998 Apr 1, Israel accepted the 1978 UN Resolution 425 for withdrawal from the south of Lebanon.
(SFC, 4/2/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 1, In Japan the 3-year Big Bang process was begun to create more efficient investment markets.
(SFC, 3/31/98, p.B1)
1998 Apr 1, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin authorized the publication of classified documents relating to Josef Stalin.
(SFC, 4/2/98, p.C2)
1998 Apr 1, In Serbia the local currency was devalued 45%.
(WSJ, 4/2/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 1-2, Pres. Clinton visited Senegal. He traveled through the capital, Dakar, and spoke on the future of African-US relations on Goree Island.
(SFC, 3/21/98, p.A13)(WSJ, 4/2/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 2, California agreed to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by 3 female prison workers for $4.3 million.
(SFC, 4/3/98, p.A26)
1998 Apr 2, In Kansas City, Mo., it was reported that the SubTropolis underground business complex had some 4.3 million sq. feet of mine space converted to warehouse, office and factory use with 50 enterprises employing 1300 people. The underground industrial park began in 1945 as a limestone mine.
(WSJ, 4/2/98, p.A1)(www.3dinc.com/kc.html)
1998 Apr 2, In Burma ethnic Karen rebels launched attacks against Burmese troops and killed 30 people.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 2, In Colombia Thomas Fiore (43), one of the hostages captured Mar 27, escaped captivity by the FARC rebel group.
(SFC, 4/3/98, p.B5)
1998 Apr 2, A French court found Maurice Papon (1910-2007), a career civil servant, guilty of deporting Jews from Bordeaux in 1942-1943, when he was secretary-general of the Gironde Prefecture. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but served only 3 due to ill health.
(SFC, 4/2/98, p.C2)(SFC, 4/3/98, p.B2)(Econ, 2/24/07, p.99)
1998 Apr 2, Iran and Iraq began a war prisoner exchange involving nearly 6000 men, mostly Iraqis.
(WSJ, 4/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 2, In Northern Ireland police intercepted a 980-pound bomb at Dublin’s ferry port.
(SFC, 4/3/98, p.B8)
1998 Apr 2, In Israel three Arab homes were demolished in the Bedouin village of Suweij. Clashes with Israeli police occurred over the next few days as the Arabs attempted to rebuild their homes.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 2, In Latvia the only Jewish synagogue in Riga was bombed.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A14)
1998 Apr 2, Shaking their fists in rage, thousands of mourners marched in a funeral procession in the West Bank for a top Hamas bombmaker, Mohiyedine Sharif, hailed by Palestinians as a martyr and condemned by Israel as a terrorist.
(AP, 4/2/99)
1998 Apr 2, In Romania Radu Vasile, an economist and leader of the national Peasant Party, was named by Pres. Emil Constantinescu as the new prime minister. He soon began reforms with an economic program to restore domestic and foreign confidence.
(SFC, 4/3/98, p.B5)(WSJ, 5/6/98, p.A18)
1998 Apr 2, Sudanese soldiers shot and beat to death 74 student conscripts who tried to flee the Ailafoon military camp. At least 55 others drowned when their boat capsized on the blue Nile while they tried to escape.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 3, Pres. Clinton warned that Japanese officials "have to make a break" with their past policies. Moody’s Investor’s Services changed its outlook on Japan’s government debt to "negative" from "stable."
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 3, Douglas Fred Groat, a disgruntled spy fired by the CIA, was charged with espionage and extortion. Groat later pleaded guilty to extortion, and was sentenced to five years in prison.
(AP, 4/3/03)
1998 Apr 3, The Dow Jones industrial average climbed above 9,000 for the first time, but finished with a 3.23 point drop at 8,983.41.
(AP, 4/3/03)
1998 cApr 3, A 2-day meeting called by the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers was attended by 18 African nations, over a dozen European countries and Japan, Canada and Argentina. They endorsed measures to control the spread of light weapons.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 4, During a visit to Haiti, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged leaders to stop political infighting that had paralyzed the Caribbean nation for nearly a year.
1998 Apr 4, A new US toll-free exchange number, 877, was launched.
(SFC, 3/31/98, p.D1)
1998 Apr 4, Larry Singleton, rapist and murderer, was sentenced in Florida to death for the 1997 murder of Roxanne Hayes (31). He died in prison of cancer on December 28, 2001.
(SFC, 1/1/02, p.A13)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Singleton)
1998 Apr 4, In Georgia two small planes collided over Marietta and at least 5 people were killed.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 4, In Ethiopia a locust plague was reported covering an area of 3,700 acres in the regions of Jijiga and Dire Dawa. Aerial spraying was begun.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A7)
1998 Apr 4, In Iran Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the mayor of Tehran, was arrested by the judiciary on charges of corruption. He was convicted and began a 2 year sentence in May 1999.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A12)(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A1)
1998 Apr 4, North Korea proposed that officials at the deputy minister level meet in Beijing for talks. South Korea accepted the following day to reopen talks on economic aid and other issues.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 4, In the Ukraine a gas explosion at the Skochinsky coal mine outside Donetsk killed 63 men.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.A20)(AP, 4/4/08)
1998 Apr 4-20, Richard Butler, chief arms inspector in Iraq, refused to certify the Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction have been destroyed.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1998 Apr 5, In Leeds, England, environment chiefs from the world's top eight industrialized nations announced plans to curb the smuggling of hazardous waste, endangered species and substances that damage the ozone layer.
(AP, 4/5/99)
1998 Apr 5, In Indonesia an outbreak of dengue fever killed 125 people since the beginning of the year in South Sumatra.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.T13)
1998 Apr 5, Iran and Iraq exchanged 1,589 prisoners of war, bringing the number to over 4,000. Up to 30,000 prisoners were thought to be held by both sides.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 5, In Japan the $3.8 billion, 12,906 foot Akashi Kaikyo Bridge linking the islands of Shikoku and Honshu was opened. It was built to withstand an 8.5 earthquake and took ten years to build.
(SFEC, 4/6/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 5 South Korea accepted to reopen talks with North Korea on economic aid and other issues. North Korea proposed yesterday that officials at the deputy minister level meet in Beijing for talks.
(SFEC, 4/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 6, The British TV program for toddlers, "Teletubbies," opened in the US.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.E1)
1998 Apr 6, Pres. Clinton announced a ban on imports of 58 types of military-style assault weapons.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 6, Energy Secretary Federico Pena announced his resignation.
(AP, 4/6/99)
1998 Apr 6, The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 9,000 for the first time.
(CNBC, 4/6/98)(AP, 4/6/99)
1998 Apr 6, Citicorp (Citibank) under Sandy Weill and Travelers Group announced a merger in an $82 billion deal that would create the world’s largest financial services company. The merger formed Citigroup and was completed in October.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A1)(Econ, 2/5/05, p.69)(Econ, 8/14/10, p.63)
1998 Apr 6, National Semiconductor announced a new single chip computer system. It would hit the mass-market in June 1999.
(WSJ, 4/6/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 6, It was announced that the drug tamoxifen cut the risk of breast cancer by half, but that it had potentially serious side effects.
(WSJ, 4/6/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 6, Tammy Wynette (55), country singer, died at her Nashville, Tenn., home. Her songs included the 1968 hit "Stand by Your Man." In 2000 Jackie Daly authored the biography "Tammy Wynette."
(SFC, 4/798, p.A7)(AP, 4/6/99)(WSJ, 6/2/00, p.W10)
1998 Apr 6, In Algeria armed groups killed at least 35 civilians in 2 separate attacks. 27 were killed near Oran and 89 near M’Sila.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A16)
1998 Apr 6, Pakistan reported a successful test of medium-range missile from its Kahuta nuclear research lab. It was capable of carrying nuclear warheads with a range of 900 miles.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A16)(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A15)
1998 Apr 6, In Sudan 117 student conscripts were buried in a mass grave. They were killed after trying to flee the Ailafoon military camp 15 miles southeast of Khartoum. Commanders had refused to allow them to go home to celebrate a major Muslim holiday. In 2020 Sudanese authorities found a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of dozens of the student conscripts.
(AP, 6/16/20)
1998 Apr 6, From Uganda it was reported that rebels in western Uganda, who were short of food, had abducted a number of villagers and resorted to cannibalism.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 7, President Clinton held a town meeting in Kansas City, Mo., on the future of Social Security.
(AP, 4/7/99)
1998 Apr 7, Mary Bono, the widow of entertainer-turned-politician Sonny Bono, won a special election in California to serve out the remainder of her husband's congressional term.
(AP, 4/7/99)
1998 Apr 7, Indonesia and the IMF agreed on a new plan for the economy. Pres. Suharto and the fund made concessions, that included continuing subsidies on food and fuel and closing more insolvent banks.
(SFC, 4/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 8, US major cigarette makers withdrew support for a historic tobacco settlement, saying Congress had twisted their offer to help cut teen smoking into a harsh attack on their industry and sharp tax increases for American smokers.
(AP, 4/8/99)
1998 Apr 8, It was reported that Europe’s Infrared Space Observatory discovered water around stars and planets. Water vapor in the atmosphere of Titan was reported.
(SFC, 4/8/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 8, It was reported that a 20-year int’l. survey of plant diversity found that 1 out of every 8 known plant species was threatened with extinction.
(SFC, 4/8/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 8, A line of storms struck the southeast and killed at least 41 people. 32 were left dead in Alabama, 8 in Georgia and 1 in Mississippi. Thirty-six people were killed by tornadoes that struck Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia.
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A3)(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/10/98, p.A1) (AP, 4/8/99)
1998 Apr 8, In Bosnia NATO forces arrested Miroslav Kvocka and Mladen Radic, both whom were charged for war crimes at the Omarska camp near Prijedor where scores of Muslim and Croat prisoners were killed in 1992.
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 8, Cuba restored relations with the Dominican Republic.
(WSJ, 4/9/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 8, In Latvia the Democratic Party Samnieks, the largest of the 6-party coalition, walked out of Parliament accusing the nationalist prime minister of souring relations with Russia.
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 8, It was reported that 22 Romanian ships carrying 500 sailors were stranded worldwide due to economic problems of the state shipping firm, Navrom.
(SFC, 4/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 9, At Andersonville, Ga., the National Prisoner of War Museum opened at the site of the Civil War prison.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A7)(AP, 4/9/99)
1998 Apr 9, In Colombia a Catholic priest and a lay worker died from a toxic cocktail of wine mixed with cyanide. At least 10 Easter baskets with poisoned wine were delivered to priests in the provinces of Meta and Cundinamarca.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 9, UN Sec. Kofi Annan suspended the investigation in Congo of alleged massacres after a team member was seized by local authorities.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A18)
1998 Apr 9, In Northern Ireland this day was set as a deadline for peace talks. The talks continued past the deadline.
(SFC, 3/26/98, p.B3)(WSJ, 4/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 9, Japan abandoned austerity policies and Prime Minister Hashimoto announced a $30 billion temporary cut in taxes to encourage consumer spending. Pressure to change was exerted by the US, int’l. investors and elite Japanese business leaders.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 9, Some 1 million workers across Russia protested against the government and called for the resignation of Pres. Yeltsin. Unpaid wages and pensions were an admitted major problem of the government.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 9, In Rwanda attackers thought to be Hutu rebels killed 28 people and wounded 36 in a refugee camp. Soldiers intervened and killed 20 rebels. The UN Security Council voted this same day to investigate illegal arms sales to Rwanda.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A17)
1998 Apr 9, In Saudi Arabia it was reported that 2.3 million Muslims made the pilgrimage, hajj, to Mecca this year. Over 150 pilgrims died at the "stoning of the devil" ritual during a stampede that occurred on the last day of the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A10)(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A14)(SFC, 2/12/03, p.A9)(AP, 4/9/08)
1998 Apr 10, The anti-impotence drug Viagra appeared on the market and became one of the best-selling new medications of all time.
(MC, 4/10/02)
1998 Apr 10, In Iran an earthquake in the northeast killed 12 people and left 1,500 homeless in the Khorasan province.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 10, The Good Friday Agreement was announced 17 hours after the deadline as negotiators reached a landmark settlement to end 30 years of bitter rivalries and bloody attacks. Gerry Adams signed for the IRA. It was to face referendums in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland on May 22. If approved there would be June elections to create a local governing assembly for Northern Ireland.
(SFC, 4/11/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/10/99)(SSFC, 9/14/03, p.A1)
1998 Apr 10, The Russian Parliament rejected Pres. Yeltsin’s nominee, Sergei Kiriyenko, for prime minister 186 to 143. Yeltsin renominated Kiriyenko and another vote must take place within a week. In a speech to the Duma Kiriyenko said that economic growth had stopped.
(SFC, 4/11/98, p.A6)
1998 Apr 11, In Benoni, South Africa, Nicholas Steyn (42), a white farmer, shot Francina Diamina (11) and her 6-month old cousin, Angelina, for trespassing. The baby was hit in the head and killed and Francina was wounded in the back. Steyn was convicted of culpable homicide in 1999. Steyn was given a suspended sentence in 1999 and freed.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A8)(SFC, 3/6/99, p.A14)(WSJ, 3/24/99, p.A1)
1998 Apr 11, The executive committee of the Ulster Union Party voted 55-23 to support the Northern Ireland peace accord and its leader, David Trimble, who had outmaneuvered rebels in his ranks.
(AP, 4/11/99)
1998 Apr 12, Mark O’Meara won the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga. with a 9-under-par score of 279.
(WSJ, 4/13/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/12/99)
1998 Apr 12, In Colombia at least 22 soldiers and leftist rebels were killed in fighting in Restrepo.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.C12)
1998 Apr 12, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams appealed to IRA supporters to accept Northern Ireland's compromise peace accord.
(AP, 4/12/99)
1998 Apr 12, In Italy Maria Angela Rubino (32) was found shot in a train bathroom. The murder was similar to 6 others along the Italian Riviera since March 9.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 12, In Mexico authorities expelled 12 foreigners from Chiapas state saying they had engaged in activity in support of the Zapatista rebels. Two int’l. news photographers were beaten and police attempted to confiscate their film as they boarded a plane for Mexico City. The expelled group reported that they had witnessed a military operation to shut down a town council in Taniperlas, that was raided the previous day by 750 police and troops.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A10)(SFC, 4/14/98, p.C12)
1998 Apr 13, Bank of America announced a $62.5 billion merger plan with NationsBank Corp. of Charlotte, N.C. The country's first coast-to-coast bank would be called BankAmerica Corp. with headquarters in Charlotte.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A1)(SFC, 4/14/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/13/99)
1998 Apr 13, Banc One and First Chicago NBD said they would unite in a $28.9 billion deal.
(AP, 4/13/03)
1998 Apr 13, A 500-pound steel joint fell from the upper level of New York's Yankee Stadium, crashing onto seats below. No fans were inside the park at the time.
(AP, 4/13/99)
1998 Apr 13, An Amtrak train collided with Conrail freight cars near Pittsburgh and injured 20 people.
(WSJ, 4/14/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 13, In Algeria it was reported that Muslim clerics ruled to allow women raped by Islamic militants to have abortions.
(WSJ, 4/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 13, In Nassau, Bahamas, some 300 angry protestors faced 180 lesbian passengers on the cruise ship SS Seabreeze chartered by Olivia Cruises and Resorts.
(SFEC, 4/19/98, p.A26)
1998 Apr 13, In Tanzania it was reported that at least 90 miners were feared dead after heavy rains the previous week caused 14 pits to collapse near Arusha. They were mining for tanzanite, a gem used in jewelry.
(WSJ, 4/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 13, Turkish army forces captured Semdin Sakik, a field commanded of the PKK, Kurdistan Workers Party, in a secret raid in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.C12)
1998 Apr 14, The Grand Forks Herald of North Dakota won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of a flood and fire despite a damaged printing plant. The fiction prize went to Philip Roth, his first, for "American Pastoral."
(WSJ, 4/15/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/14/99)
1998 Apr 14, President Clinton moderated a town meeting on race with an all-star panel of sports figures.
(AP, 4/14/99)
1998 Apr 14, The Clinton administration agreed to create a Persian-language radio service to transmit anti-government propaganda into Iran. $1 million was also pledged to Voice of America for non-propaganda Persian-language programming. Radio Azadi (Radio Liberty) initially broadcast for 3 hours daily from Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 2002 the name was changed to Radio Farda and programming increased to a 24-hour cycle.
(SFC, 4/15/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 6/13/08, p.A10)
1998 Apr 14, FMC Corp. was hit with a $125 million verdict for misleading the US Army about the safety of its Bradley Fighting Vehicle. A 1986 lawsuit by former employee Henry Boisvert complained that the vehicles did not pass all the tests the company claimed it did.
(SFC, 4/15/98, p.A18)
1998 Apr 14, A new blood test for cancer used enzyme-coated iron particles to attract cancer cells for detection.
(WSJ, 4/14/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 14, Despite international pleas for leniency, the state of Virginia executed Angel Francisco Breard, a Paraguayan convicted of murder.
(AP, 4/14/99)
1998 Apr 14, Talks between North and South Korea broke off after 4 days when Seoul tried to expand them into reuniting families separated by their war.
(WSJ, 4/15/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 15, Pres. Clinton traveled to Chile for a Latin American trade summit.
(WSJ, 4/14/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 15, The US federal government accused A. Bruce Rozet and his business partners of illegally siphoning off $7.5 million from 73 subsidized housing projects across the nation. HUD had already sued Rozet for milking 17 projects in California and Nevada.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 15, In SF a superior Court judge ordered the immediate closure of the Cannabis Cultivator’s Club, the nation’s largest dispenser of medicinal pot.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 15, Rose Maddox (b.1926), US country singer, died in Ashland, Oregon. In her last decade she was backed by the bluegrass Vern Williams Band.
(SFC, 6/10/06, p.B4)(http://elvispelvis.com/rosemaddox.htm)
1998 Apr 15, Brazil lowered its prime rate from 28% to 23.3%.
(WSJ, 4/17/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 15, It was reported that Pol Pot (73) died of a heart attack in Anlong Veng, northern Cambodia. His body was cremated. It was later reported that he killed himself with malaria pills and tranquilizers after learning that an aide planned to hand him over to the US. In 1999 it was reported that Ta Mok had Pol Pot executed. In 2001 the place of his death was designated as a historic site and plans were made to make it a tourist attraction. In 2004 Philip Short and John Murray authored “Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare."
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A1)(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/21/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/27/99, p.A1)(SFC, 12/21/01, p.H5)(Econ, 11/6/04, p.89)
1998 Apr 15, In Indonesia anti-government rallies were held on at least 25 campuses around the country calling for the resignation of Suharto and his Cabinet.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 15, In Nepal Girija Prasad Koirala began his 2nd term as prime minister. He succeeded Krishna Prasad Bhattarai.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girija_Prasad_Koirala)
1998 Apr 15, In Somalia ten aid workers were kidnapped in Mogadishu.
(WSJ, 4/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 16, Paula Jones announced she would ask an appeals court to reinstate her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton after it was thrown out by a federal judge.
(AP, 4/16/99)
1998 Apr 16, Tornadoes claimed 11 lives in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky.
(SFC, 4/17/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/16/08)
1998 Apr 16, A Russian army convoy was ambushed near the Chechnya border. A general, 2 colonels and 3 soldiers were killed and Chechen militants were blamed.
(WSJ, 4/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 17, The space shuttle Columbia blasted off with 7 astronauts and a menagerie of creatures to test the effects of space travel on the nervous system.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 17, In Colombia Maria Arango (60), human rights activist, was killed by multiple gunshots.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 17, In Germany Gerhard Schroeder was endorsed by the Social Democrats to run against Helmut Kohl in the Sep 27 elections.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 17, In Russia the parliament rejected Yeltsin’s nomination of Sergei Kiriyenko for a 2nd time 271-115. Yeltsin immediately renominated Kiriyenko.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 17, A Thai military team collected evidence from the body of Pol Pot, former chief of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge guerrillas, to confirm that one of the century's worst tyrants was truly dead.
(AP, 4/17/99)
1998 Apr 18-1998 Apr 19, A 34-nation trade summit was held over the weekend in Santiago, Chile. Some $45 billion from the Inner-America Development Bank, The World Bank and the US Agency for Int’l. Development was to be made available for an array of development projects.
(WSJ, 4/17/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 4/19/98, p.A24)
1998 Apr 18, It was reported that Richard Mellon Scaife, 4th generation heir to the Mellon banking fortune, had donated million of dollars over more than 30 years to conservative groups and research centers. He had also supported groups critical of Pres. Clinton.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A7)
1998 Apr 18, Former North Carolina governor and U.S. Sen. Terry Sanford died in Durham at age 80.
(AP, 4/18/99)
1998 Apr 18, In Cambodia the Khmer Rouge killed 22 ethnic Vietnamese at Chanok Tru, a fishing village on Tonle Sap Lake. The remains of Pol Pot were cremated, three days after the Khmer Rouge leader blamed for the killings of up to 2 million Cambodians died at age 73.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A15)(AP, 4/18/99)
1998 Apr 18, In Canada it was reported that marijuana revenues from British Columbia were estimated to be $400 million to over $3 billion.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 18, Eduardo Umana Mendoza (50), Colombia’s top human rights lawyer, was killed with 6 bullets to the head.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A8)(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A18)
1998 Apr 18, In Northern Ireland the Ulster Unionists, despite fierce internal dissent, voted to support the peace agreement by a 72% margin.
(SFEC, 4/19/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/18/99)
1998 Apr 19, Renzo Piano, Italian architect, won this year’s Pritzker Architectural Prize. His work included the 1978 Georges Pompidou Center in Paris, The Beyeler Foundation Museum in Basel, The Cy Twombly Gallery at the Menil Collection museum in Houston, and the Kansai Air Terminal in Osaka Bay.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 19, Wang Dan, the noted dissident and student leader of Tiananmen Square, arrived in the US after being freed by China and was taken to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit for medical evaluation.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A8)(AP, 4/19/99)
1998 Apr 19, In Madison, Wi., Salim Amara doused a fellow passenger on a city bus with gasoline and ignited a fire burning himself and others severely.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 19, A small plane crashed on the west side of Detroit. It was reported to have contained cash and marijuana that neighbors quickly picked up. The pilot was believed to be Douglas C. Dufresne (66) of Florida.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A4)
1998 Apr 19, In Austria Thomas Klestil was re-elected president with 63% of the vote.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 19, In Bhutan a fire destroyed the Taktsang Monastery, that dated back in some form to the 9th century.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 19, In Chile leaders of the 34 Western Hemisphere democracies at the second Summit of the Americas agreed on a free-trade zone to be created by 2005. The first summit met in Miami in 1994.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 19, An Israeli settler was shot and killed and three others, including a Palestinian man, were wounded. Dov Dribben (28) of Maon was killed when settlers tried to force a group of Bedouin shepherds off a contested piece of land.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 19, In Japan Pres. Yeltsin held a summit with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hasimoto at the Kawana resort. Yeltsin promised to hand over KGB documents of interrogations of captured Japanese generals from WW II.
(SFEC, 4/19/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 19, In Mexico Octavio Paz (84), poet and essayist, died of cancer. His work included "The Labyrinth of Solitude" and the poem "Sun Stone."
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A17)(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 19, In Nigeria police shot dead at least 3 Shiite Muslims, supporters of Ibrahim El-Zak Zaky, and wounded many more in Kaduna in clashes over 2 days.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 19-1998 Apr 20, In Arizona grasshoppers by the millions descended on communities along the lower Colorado River.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 20, In an unusual use of a racketeering law designed to fight the mob, a federal jury in Chicago ruled that anti-abortion protest organizers had used threats and violence to shut down clinics. However, the US Supreme Court ruled in February 2003 that federal racketeering and extortion laws were wrongly used to try to stop blockades, harassment and violent protests outside clinics.
(AP, 4/20/03)
1998 Apr 20, The Goldman Environmental Awards were presented in SF. The prizes were increased to $100,000 from $75,000. Berita KuwarU’wa (44) of Colombia won for leading the U’wa tribe’s struggle against Occidental Petroleum; Kory Johnson (19) of Phoenix won for organizing Children for a Safe Environment; Sven "Bobby" Peek (31) of South Africa won for fighting for the rights of poor people in industrialized South Durban; Anna Giordano (32) of Italy for her campaign against illegal hunting of birds in Sicily and southern Italy; Atherton Martin (52) for his work against a copper mine in Dominica; and Hirofumi Yamashita (64) for fighting against the conversion of tidal flats to farmland on Ishaya Bay on Kyushu.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 20, Moses Tanui of Kenya won the 102nd Boston Marathon in 2 hrs, 7 min . and 43 sec. Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia won among the women in 2:23:21.
(WSJ, 4/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 20, A report was published that suggested that the drug raloxifene, sold by Eli Lilly as Evista, can prevent breast cancer in addition to tamoxifen. Both synthetic drugs block the action of estrogen.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A7)
1998 Apr 20, A poll of 400 scientists indicated that 7 of 10 believed that a "mass extinction" is under way, and that one-fifth of all living species could disappear within 30 years.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A7)
1998 Apr 20, In Colombia a Boeing 727 leased to Air France crashed after takeoff from Bogota and all 53 people aboard were killed.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A12)(AP, 4/20/99)
1998 Apr 20, In Nigeria the last of 5 government-sanctioned parties agreed to back Sani Abacha in the presidential elections. the government gave each party $250,000 for its convention.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 20, Three Russian security agents met at a guest house outside Moscow to make an extraordinary video in which they claimed their bosses had ordered them to kill, kidnap and frame prominent Russians. In 2006 Alexander Litvinenko, one of the 3 agents on the tape, was poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope in London.
(AP, 5/23/07)(WSJ, 5/23/07, p.A14)
1998 Apr 20, Turkmenistan Pres. Saparmurat Niyazov visited the US and planned to discuss oil and gas pipeline routes.
(WSJ, 4/20/98, p.B7D)
1998 Apr 21, It was reported that Microsoft planned its first retail store, an 8,500-sq. foot site, in the Yerba Buena Gardens complex of SF with plans to open in spring, 1999.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 21, It was reported that the US and Britain had begun a secretive removal of nuclear materials near Tbilisi. Britain volunteered to accept the material and had already taken 270 pounds. The unused highly enriched uranium was to be processed by a Scottish plant.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A18)(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 21, Astronomers announced in Washington they had discovered possible signs of a new family of planets orbiting a star 220 light-years away, the clearest evidence yet of worlds forming beyond our solar system. The dust structures were thought to be new solar systems forming around 3 sun-like stars.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/21/99)
1998 Apr 21, French and New Caledonian rival factions agreed to hold a referendum in Dec. on whether the territory should move to independence. The territory holds about 30% of the world’s nickel reserves.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 21, Khmer Rouge rebels drove a large government force back in 2 days of fighting along the Thai-Cambodian border.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 21, Skydivers from Malaysia parachuted the national car, the Proton Wira sedan, onto the North Pole this week.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 21, A special court sentenced Recep Erdogan, the mayor of Istanbul, to 10 months in prison for a 1997 speech that the military said incited hatred of the secularist army.
(WSJ, 4/22/98, p.A1)(Econ, 7/19/08, p.33)
1998 Apr 22, The new Disney Animal Kingdom theme park in Orlando opened.
(SFEC, 2/22/98, Par p.4)
1998 Apr 22, National TV Turnoff Week began.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, Par p.18)
1998 Apr 22, Amy Grossberg, a young woman charged along with her high school sweetheart with murdering their newborn at a Delaware motel, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Amy Grossberg ended up serving nearly two years of a 2 1/2-year sentence; Brian Peterson served 1 1/2 years of a two-year sentence. Peterson had received a lesser sentence of two years because he'd cooperated with authorities.
(AP, 4/22/03)(AP, 4/22/08)
1998 Apr 22, In Ireland legislation was passed for a May 22 referendum on the Northern Ireland peace agreement. Northern Ireland voters would also vote on the referendum. A constitutional amendment would result in which Ireland would renounce its claim on the territory of Northern Ireland.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 22, The UN Commission on Human Rights called on Iran to halt torture, amputations and stonings.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 22, In Greece Constantine Karamanlis (Caramanlis), statesman, died at age 91.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)
1998 Apr 22, In Iraq Ayatollah Murtadha Ali Mohammed Ibrahim Borujerdi (71) was shot and killed at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf. The shrine marks the grave of Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed and a central figure in Shiite Islam.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 22, In Ireland legislation was passed for a referendum on the Northern Ireland peace agreement.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 22, It was reported that hundreds of schools in Pakistan’s Punjab have no students, but still collect money for nonexistent teachers. Shabaz Sharig, the chief minister of Punjab for less than a year, called in the army to investigate. The literacy rate in Pakistan was 35% compared to 65% in India.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 22, Rwandan officials announced a public execution of 33 defendants connected with the 1994 genocide to be conducted by firing squad.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A13)(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 22, Yugoslavian (Serbian) troops claimed to have killed 23 ethnic Albanian infiltrators in the border region in Kosovo.
(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 23, In the US state of Georgia a trucking company owner Steven Moss (37) and his two children were killed during a burglary at their home near Macon. On April 27, 2016, Daniel Anthony Lucas (37) was executed for the murders.
(www.macon.com/news/local/crime/article73953032.html)(SFC, 4/28/16, p.A6)
1998 Apr 23, Two New Jersey troopers fired 11 shots into a van carrying African American and Latino men from the Bronx. They admitted to racial profiling and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in 2002.
(SFC, 1/15/02, p.A3)
1998 Apr 23, James Earl Ray died at a Nashville hospital at age 70. He was the ex-convict who confessed to assassinating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 and then insisted he was framed.
(AP, 4/23/99)
1998 Apr 23, The president of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, called for full autonomy for the Kosovo region.
(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 24, The American Health for Women magazine reported that Seattle was the healthiest city for women and that SF rated # 2 and Boston # 3.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A5)
1998 Apr 24, In Pennsylvania a 14-year-old boy was arrested after he shot a teacher to death and injured 2 others during a dance for 8th graders in Edinboro. Andrew Wurst (14) later pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A3)(AP, 4/24/03)
1998 Apr 24, In Bosnia some 1500 Bosnian Croats rioted in retaliation for a Serbian attack on Croatian Roman Catholic Cardinal Vinko Puljic.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 24, In Colombia the FARC released kidnapped American Louise Augustine. Two other bird-watchers were released soon after.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A9)(WSJ, 4/27/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 24, The Human Rights Office of the Guatemalan Catholic Church issued a report that said 200,000 people died or disappeared during the 36 year civil war that ended in 1996.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 24, In Peru Pres. Fujimori announced that police captured 3 top guerrilla leaders of the Shining Path.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 24, After a month of confrontation, Russian lawmakers caved in to President Boris Yeltsin, approving acting prime minister Sergei Kiriyenko, 35, as premier despite doubts about his relative youth and inexperience. Kiriyenko was fired just four months later.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/24/99)
1998 Apr 24, Rwanda executed 22 people by firing squad.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 24, In Somalia the aid workers kidnapped on Apr 15 were released.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 24, From Vietnam it was reported that 14 attacks had recently occurred on children aged 3-14 riding on the backs of motor scooters, caused by a slasher riding a Vina Suzuki scooter.
(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 24, Re Western Sahara: It was reported that the referendum on independence would be postponed until 1999 due to difficulties in counting eligible voters.
(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 25, Whitewater prosecutors questioned first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on videotape about her work as a private lawyer for the failed savings and loan at the center of the investigation.
(AP, 4/25/99)
1998 Apr 25, In Arkansas two little girls, Sidney Pippin (4-months old) and Vicky Fraley, died of heat exhaustion after they were left in a car for 8 hours in Little Rock. Police charged Ricky Leon Crisp (23), the father of Vicky (16-months old), and Justin Griffith (27) with first-degree murder.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 25, In Texas three teenagers were found shot to death in Brownsville.
(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A5)
1998 Apr 25, In Millbrae, Ca., motorcycle Patrolman David Chetcuti (43) was shot and killed by Marvin Patrick Sullivan (43) during a routine traffic stop. Sullivan, a paranoid schizophrenic, was found to be carrying a cache of pipe bombs and rifles. Sullivan was later found to be incompetent to stand trial.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/23/02, p.A1)
1998 Apr 25, In July a Pakistani defector claimed that the military leadership of Pakistan decided to launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack on New Delhi within 48 hours of this day. Dr. Iftikhar Khan Chaudry also claimed that Pakistan had already armed and deployed nuclear warheads at 2 sites along the Indian border. Chaudry (29) was described as a low-level engineer with no access to military planning data. Pakistani news media later said Chaudry was a low-level accountant at a bathroom fixtures company until Nov 1997, when he resigned. He was later identified as a fraud with no more than a high school education.
(SFC, 7/2/98, p.A15)(WSJ, 7/2/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/3/98, p.D2)(SFC, 7/7/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 25, In Spain a wall of acidic toxic liquid, 5 million cubic meters, broke free from an Aznalcollar mine waste lagoon near Seville and threatened the 300-sq. ml. Donana National Park. The tainted water was diverted to the Guadalquivir River and then to the Gulf of Cadiz. 13,300 acres of cropland were expected to be left barren for 25 years due to the spill.
(WSJ, 4/27/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/28/98, p.A13)(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 26, Jean Chretien, Prime Minister of Canada, visited Cuba and with Fidel Castro inaugurated a new $40 million terminal at the Havana airport.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A10)(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 26, In Germany the Christian Democrats lost ground to the Social Democrats in elections in Saxony-Anhalt. A neo-Nazi party took 13% of the vote. The German People’s Party (DVU) was largely bankrolled by Gerhard Frey, a Bavarian millionaire publisher.
(WSJ, 4/27/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/23/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 26, In Guatemala City Bishop Jose Gerardi (75) was killed. He oversaw the recent report: “Guatemala: Never Again." Marks on the bishop’s body were made by a dog. In July a priest and a cook, Rev. Mario Leonel Orantes Najera and Margarita Lopez, were arrested in connection. In Oct. US forensic experts said that at least 2 attackers were responsible for the bishop’s killing and described it as a political crime. In Oct Rev. Mario Lionel Orantes was charged with the killing. Orantes was released in Feb 1999. In 1999 Prosecutor Calvin Galindo resigned and fled the country in fear of his safety. Two judges had already quit the case. Three army suspects were arrested in Jan 2000. In 2000 Rev. Mario Orantes was again charged with the murder. In 2001 Col. Disrael Lima Estrada (60), Capt. Byron Lima Oliva (31) and Sgt. Jose Obdulio Villanueva (36) and Rev. Orantes were found guilty of the murder of Bishop Gerardi. The officers were sentenced to 30 years in prison and Orantes was sentenced to 20 years. Villanueva was killed during a prison riot Feb 12, 2003.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A1,8)(SFC, 8/19/98, p.C16)(SFC, 10/7/98, p.A10)(SFC, 10/22/98, p.C5)(SFC, 10/8/99, p.D3)(WSJ, 1/24/00, p.A1)(SFC, 3/11/00, p.A9)(SFC, 6/9/01, p.A8)(SFC, 2/12/03, p.A9)(AP, 3/19/10)
1998 Apr 26, In Russia former security chief Alexander Lebed led Governor Valery Zubov in voting for governor in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk.
(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 27, A Pentagon panel said remains of the Vietnam veteran in the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery should be exhumed to determine whether they belonged to Air Force First Lt. Michael J. Blassie, as his family believed. The remains were later positively identified as those of Blassie.
(AP, 4/27/99)
1998 Apr 27, In Arlington, Washington, a fire at a 90-year-old building, used as a home for the elderly, killed 7 residents.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 27, Florida teenagers Bryan Donahue and William Dodge (aged 17 and 16) beat and kicked to death a gay man, Steven Goedereis (29), who had called one of them "beautiful." The teenagers were convicted of 2nd and 3rd degree murder in 1999.
(http://tinyurl.com/yb7asxzd)(SFC, 6/15/99, p.A6)
1998 Apr 27, Carlos Castaneda (72), author, died. His 1968 thesis: "The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge," published by the Univ. of Calif. Press (1968), became an int’l. best seller. In 1997 his ex-wife Margaret Runyan Castaneda authored "A Magical Journey With Carlos Castaneda." In 2000 Richard DeMille authored "Castaneda's Journey: The Power and the Allegory." In 2003 Amy Wallace, Castaneda's lover in the 1970s, authored "The Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life With Carlos Castaneda."
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A2)(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.E2)
1998 Apr 27, The UN extended security sanctions against Iraq but agreed to reviews every 60 days. It was earlier reported that Iraq recently had executed 1,500 political prisoners.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Apr 27, Afghanistan peace talks between the Taliban and its opponents were scheduled to begin in Pakistan.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 27, In Cuba Canada’s Prime Minister Chretien urged Fidel Castro to release four leading dissidents. It was reported that about 350 political prisoners were currently held.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Apr 27, In Denmark some 550,000 workers walked of their jobs after unions turned down a compromise contract. The unions called for a 6th week of paid vacation.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 27, In India the hunger strike that began Mar 10 ended as police forced the Tibetan strikers to be fed intravenously as Gen’l Fu Quanyou of China began talks with Indian officials. One Tibetan exile set himself on fire and was not expected to survive.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Apr 27, In Japan a court ruled that the government must compensate 3 South Korean women forced into sexual slavery during WW II, and awarded the women $2,300 each.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 27, In Kosovo the Yugoslav army clashed with ethnic Albanians and 3 insurgents were killed. Albanian reports said up to a dozen were slain and that none of them were militants.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 27, It was reported that Hugo Chavez, leader of Venezuela’s Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), was campaigning for the office of president. He led a 1992 failed coup and was jailed for 2 years.
(WSJ, 4/27/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 28, A new group, the Historical Society, was announced as a back-to-basics professional organization. The society, based at Boston Univ., held its 1st convention in 1999. The American Historical Association had 15,000 members. The Organization of American Historians had 9,000 members.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A6)(WSJ, 6/4/99, p.W15)
1998 Apr 28, Public Radio Inc. of SF received a NEA grant for $185,000 to create "Lost and Found Sound: An American Record." The project will produce a series of radio programs for NPR to chronicle, reflect and celebrate the 20th century.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.E1)
1998 Apr 28, Don Fisher, founder of the Gap, pledged $25 million to bring the private Edison Project company to run more than a dozen SF Bay Area schools. The for-profit school project was 1st proposed in 1991 by businessman Chris Whittle. In 2005 Whittle authored “Crash Course: Imagining a Better Future for Public Education."
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A15)(WSJ, 9/7/05, p.D14)
1998 Apr 28, In a breakthrough for the government's tobacco investigation, cigarette maker Liggett & Myers agreed to tell prosecutors whether the industry had hidden evidence of health damage from smoking.
(AP, 4/28/99)
1998 Apr 28, The US Senate opened a new round of hearings on alleged abuse and mismanagement at the Internal Revenue Service.
(AP, 4/28/99)
1998 Apr 28, The Arizona Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a voter-approved law requiring English be used in official state and local business.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A4)
1998 Apr 28, In SF Supervisor Mabel Tang announced that the Boy Scouts of America will be barred from taking part in a city charity drive due to the groups stance against admitting gays.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A15)
1998 Apr 28, In Algeria 40 people were killed in a massacre at a village in Medea province.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A11)
1998 Apr 28, In Iraq Americares, a US relief organization, flew in $2 million in medical supplies for 22 centers throughout the country.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 28, In Nigeria a military tribunal sentenced 6 men to death for plotting a 1997 coup against Gen’l. Abacha. Gen’l. Oladipo Diya, former deputy head of state, maintained that he was framed by officers close to Abacha who fabricated the plot.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 29, The United States, Canada, and Mexico agreed to eliminate tariffs on items accounting for $1 billion in trade at a meeting in Paris of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
(AP, 4/29/99)
1998 Apr 29, The US and European powers decided to impose new sanctions and agreed to freeze the assets of Yugoslavia. A ban on investments would follow in 10 days if security police was not withdrawn from Kosova.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 29, The US Supreme Court called for ending judicial delays of execution in a 5-4 vote. This reversed the US Court of Appeals Aug, 1997, reprieve for Thomas Thompson, accused of the 1981 murder of Ginger Fleischli in California and reinstated his death penalty.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 29, In England it was reported that Nicholas van Hoogstraten was building the largest and most expensive house of the century in Sussex, named Hamilton Place at a cost of $50 million. The palace was to include a gallery for his French furniture and a mausoleum for his future.
(WSJ, 4/29/98, p.A20)
1979 Apr 29, British writer Douglas Adams, author of the 1979 classic "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy," began marketing his CD-ROM game "Starship Titanic."
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.E1)
1998 April 29, Israel formally opened the celebration of the 50th anniversary of its founding. According to the Gregorian calendar, the anniversary fell on May 14th.
(WSJ, 4/30/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/29/03)
1998 Apr 29, In the Philippines Imelda Marco withdrew from the presidential race.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 30, President Clinton questioned the conduct of Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr and dismissed Republican challenges to his own character as "high-level static" during a news conference.
(AP, 4/30/99)
1998 Apr 30, The US Senate approved the expansion of NATO to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 30, United and Delta airlines formed an alliance that would control one-third of all U.S. passenger seats.
(AP, 4/30/99)
1998 Apr 30, In Florida lawmakers passed a bill that required girls under 18 to notify at least one parent prior to an abortion.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 30, A study reported in the New England Journal of medicine that RU-486, an abortion pill, was 92% effective in causing abortions with 15 days without surgery.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 30, A report in Nature traced mammals back to around 100 million years before the present using a "molecular clock."
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 30, The 85,000 ton Disney cruise ship Disney Magic was scheduled to debut.
(SFEC, 1/18/98, p.T5)
1998 Apr 30, In California Daniel V. Jones (40) blew up his truck and fatally shot himself on a connector bridge between the harbor and Century Freeways freeway with live TV coverage. He had HIV and displayed an anti-HMO banner before killing himself.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A3)(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A3)
1998 Apr 30, In Indiana Antoine Whitehead (19) robbed the KeyBank in Carmel and killed Penny Schmitt (32) and shot 3 co-workers. He had just been refused a loan and killed himself following an intensive manhunt.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 30, In Northern Ireland the IRA refused to disarm as part of the peace accord, which demanded the decommission of weaponry to begin in June and finish in 2 years.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.D2)
1998 Apr, Eugene Genovese was elected president of the Historical Society, a new professional organization for historians opposed to the politicization of historical studies.
(WSJ, 7/17/98, p.W11)
1998 Apr, Pope John Paul II forced Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer of Austria, accused of sexually molesting young boys, to relinquish all duties.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B3)
1998 Apr, In China Lin Hai (30), a software entrepreneur, was arrested for inciting subversion by providing 30,000 Chinese e-mail addresses to Li Hongkuan, a US based Chinese dissident. [see Dec 4]
(SFC, 12/5/98, p.A10)(Wired, 2/99, p.127)
1998 Apr, Chinese authorities arrested Jude Shao (37), a Stanford educated entrepreneur, for alleged tax violations. He had earlier refused to pay bribes for his medical equipment export company. He was convicted in March, 2000, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Efforts to free him continued into 2008.
(SFC, 5/1/08, p.A12)(www.freejudeshao.com)
1998 Apr, In Congo the government banned the African Association for Defense of Human Rights.
(SFC, 10/2/98, p.B7)
1998 Apr, In India the 68-acre Int’l. Tech Park (ITP) in Bangalore was scheduled to open as a joint venture between Singaporean companies, the Tata Group of India, and the state of Karnataka.
(WSJ, 3/25/98, p.B10)
1998 Apr, In India suspected separatist guerrillas shot and killed 29 Hindus in the Jammu and Kashmir region.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.D1)
1998 Apr, The Kazakstan government investment banks to sell off minority stakes in four state enterprises: 2 oil and 2 mining companies, and planned to expand its privatization program.
(WSJ, 5/14/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr, In Somaliland authorities in Hargeysa established a war crimes committee to investigate the Barre-era human rights violations.
(SFC, 7/11/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr, Turkish archeologists discovered what appeared to be the ruins of the Great Palace built by Constantine in 330 AD.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr, Former Venezuela Pres. Carlos Andres Perez (76) and Cecilia Matos, his longtime mistress and personal secretary, were charged with depositing funds in US banks that far exceeded their earnings as public officials.
(SFC, 1/8/99, p.A16)
1998 Apr, Injuries in Vietnam from land mines, unexploded bombs and artillery shells totaled 60,064 since the end of the war.
(SFEC, 9/5/99, p.A12)
1998 May 1, Otto Bettmann, founder of the Bettmann photo archive, died at 94 in Boca Raton, Fla.
(WSJ, 5/4/98, p.A1)
1998 May 1, Eldridge Cleaver, ex-Black Panther who later renounced his past and became a Republican, died at age 62 in Pomona, Ca. He wrote the book "Soul On Ice" in 1965 while in Folsom Prison. The book was published in 1968. He jumped bail after a 1968 shooting and returned to the US in 1975.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A1,13)(AP, 5/1/99)
1998 May 1, In Kosovo, Serbia, a police raid in Drenica left 4 ethnic Albanians dead.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.19A)
1998 May 1, In Nigeria police fired into a crowd of 5,000 people demanding the ouster of Sani Abacha and witnesses said 7 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A9)
1998 May 1, Former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the 1994 genocide of more than 500,000 Tutsis. Kambanda was later sentenced to life in prison, but has since disavowed his guilty plea.
(AP, 5/1/03)
1998 May 1, In Zimbabwe labor leaders called for a 5-day national strike to protest a tax increase and higher prices.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A9)
1998 May 2, In the 124th Kentucky Derby jockey Kent Desormeaux rode to victory on "Real Quiet."
(BS, 5/3/98, p.1A)(AP, 5/2/99)
1998 May 2, In separate radio addresses, President Clinton and congressional Republicans lambasted the Internal Revenue Service and promised more reforms to prevent future abuses.
(AP, 5/2/99)
1998 May 2, Police fired tear gas into a crowd of 3,000 students at Michigan State Univ. who were protesting the end of drinking at Munn Field.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.3A)
1998 May 2, It was reported that a small galaxy was detected 12.3 Billion light-years away, 94% of the distance back to the Big Bang.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A7)
1998 May 2, The European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was launched in Brussels with 11 nations welcomed as the founding members.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A18)
1998 May 2, Cambodian refugees entered Thailand as government troops declared that they had all but destroyed the Khmer Rouge.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.16A)
1998 May 2, In Indonesia tens of thousands of students in Jakarta and at least a dozen other cities rallied against the government.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.19A)
1998 May 2, In Tajikistan government troops withdrew from around the capital after 4 days of fighting Islamist opposition forces. An agreement for a peaceful settlement was reached.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.17A)
1998 May 3, It was reported that the drugs angiostatin and endostatin eradicated cancer in mice and that human trials could begin within a year. The drugs were discovered by Harvard scientist Judah Folkman. Their operation was explained in 1999 by researchers at Duke.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.3A)(WSJ, 3/16/99, p.B1,6)
1998 May 3, The Columbia Space Shuttle landed at Cape Canaveral after a 16-day mission. The mission studied the effects of space travel on neurological development in nearly 2000 animals.
(USAT, 5/4/98, p.3A)(AP, 5/3/99)
1998 May 3, "The Sevres Road," by landscape painter Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, was stolen from the Louvre.
(AP, 5/3/99)
1998 May 3, European leaders meeting in Brussels, Belgium, agreed on Wim Duisenberg of the Netherlands as the chief of the new European Central Bank (ECB), but with the proviso that he step down in 2002 to make way for Frenchman Jean-Claude Trichet.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.21A)(AP, 5/3/99)
1998 May 3, In Serbia fighting began in the Kosovo village of Ponosevac and 10 ethnic Albanians were reported killed by Serbian police.
(WSJ, 5/5/98, p.A1)
1998 May 4, The FDA approved the first commercial surgical glue, Tisseel, made by Baxter Labs.
(USAT, 5/4/98, p.10D)
1998 May 4, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was given four life sentences plus 30 years by a federal judge in Sacramento, Calif., under a plea agreement that spared him the death penalty.
(AP, 5/4/99)
1998 May 4, The Clinton administration invoked sanctions against North Korea and Pakistan for a secret 1997 missile deal. Pakistan’s military named the acquired missile, Ghauri, after a famous Muslim warrior who slew a Hindu emperor named Prithvi, the name of a Russian made Indian missile.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A16)
1998 May 4, In Colombia gunmen killed 21 people in the province of Meta. Some 200 members of a right-wing paramilitary unit laid siege to the village of Puerta Alvira for 3 hours.
(WSJ, 5/6/98, p.A1)
1998 May 4, The IMF resumed lending to Indonesia with the release of almost $1 billion.
(USAT, 5/5/98, p.1B)
1998 May 4, In Vatican City Alois Estermann (43), the pope’s top bodyguard, was shot and killed along with his wife, Gladys Meza Romero (49) in their apartment by Cedrich Tornay (23), who then shot himself. Estermann had just been appointed the head of the Swiss Guards and was killed by Tornay due to damaged professional pride. An investigation was concluded in 1999 and suggested that marijuana and a brain cyst impaired Tornay.
(WSJ, 5/5/98, p.A1)(USAT, 5/6/98, p.6A)(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A10)(AP, 5/4/99)
1998 May 4, From Zimbabwe it was reported that the United Merchant Bank of tycoon Roger Boka was shut down when a government audit found it incapable of paying its debts.
(WSJ, 5/4/98, p.A17)
1998 May 5, The stage show "Saturday Night Fever," produced by Robert Stigwood, opened in London.
(WSJ, 8/24/99, p.A8)
1998 May 5, The $816 million, 3.1 million-sq.-ft. Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Washington DC was dedicated.
(USAT, 5/6/98, p.3A)
1998 May 5, An exasperated Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called on Israel to hand over an additional 13 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians, on top of the 27 percent already relinquished. Israel, however, continued to balk at the proposal.
(AP, 5/5/99)
1998 May 5, In Indonesia thousands of people clashed with police in Medan in protests as big increases in the price of gasoline and other essentials went into effect under an IMF bailout plan.
(WSJ, 5/6/98, p.A1)
1998 May 5, In Mexico a forest fire killed 19 firefighters and left 12 missing.
(WSJ, 5/6/98, p.A1)
1998 May 6, Rep. Dan Burton, chairman of the House fund-raising inquiry, apologized to GOP colleagues for the furor over his release of selected portions of tapes of Webster Hubbell's prison conversations; Burton's top investigator departed, ordered fired by House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
(AP, 5/6/99)
1998 May 6, Jurgen Schrempp of Daimler Benz and Robert Eaton of Chrysler announced in London that the German auto company will purchase Chrysler in a $38 billion merger. The takeover was later documented by Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz in their book "Taken for a Ride: How Daimler-Benz Drove Off with Chrysler."
(WSJ, 5/8/98, p.W1)(WSJ, 6/12/00, p.A28)
1998 May 6, Astronomers announced the detection of a gamma ray burst in a galaxy 12 billion light years away that was equal to the energy expended by the sun in a trillion years.
(AP, 5/6/99)
1998 May 6, In Bosnia 5 key Karadzic holdovers were arrested or suspended for political and economic illegal acts.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A10)
1998 May 6, The Danish government intervened to end a ten day strike by 500,000 workers. It was planned to make strikes illegal until March, 2000, and offered 2 extra vacation days and an additional 3 days of family leave for working parents with children under 14.
(WSJ, 5/7/98, p.A16)
1998 May 6, There was a border skirmish between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the 150-square-mile area called the Badme triangle. This grew into a two-decades-long war with half a million civilians forced from their homes. Later a settlement of the border war was contingent on the borders prior to this date. An international panel in 2005, formed to resolve disputes between Eritrea and Ethiopia, said Eritrea violated int’l. law when it invaded the north of Ethiopia.
(SFC, 1/30/99, p.A12)(SFC, 3/10/00, p.A12)(AFP, 12/22/05)(Econ., 11/7/20, p.14)
1998 May 6, In Peru a Boeing 737, chartered by Occidental Petroleum from the Peruvian air force, crashed in the Amazon jungle. At least 13 of 87 people survived the crash.
(WSJ, 5/7/98, p.A1)
1998 May 6, In Serbia fighting in Kosovo continued. A Serb policeman and an ethnic Albanian separatist were killed. The bodies of 2 Albanians who backed Serb rule were pulled from a river and a local politician died in a third attack.
(WSJ, 5/7/98, p.A1)
1998 May 7, The $34.7 billion merger of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler Corp. was confirmed in London. The parent company of Mercedes-Benz agreed to buy Chrysler Corp. for more than $37 billion.
(USAT, 5/7/98, p.1A)(AP, 5/7/99)
1998 May 7, In England Londoners voted overwhelmingly to elect their own mayor for the first time in history. Ken Livingston was elected in May 2000.
(AP, 5/7/03)(Econ, 6/5/04, p.53)
1998 May 7, In southern Italy heavy rains sent a torrent of mud through Sarno and several other towns. At least 55 people were reported dead. The death toll climbed to 116.
(USAT, 5/8/98, p.7A)(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A22)
1998 cMay 7, In Pakistan Bishop John Joseph (67), a Catholic human rights crusader, shot himself in the head to protest the country’s blasphemy law. His death triggered a 2 day riot when police clashed with mourners who carried his body to the Faisalabad cathedral for his funeral.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A10)
1998 May 8, The tobacco industry agreed to pay $6.6 billion to settle a suit with the state of Minnesota as the state's lawsuit was about to go to a jury. The settlement included restrictions on sales and marketing with payments spread over 25 years. Minnesota became the fourth state to settle with the tobacco industry over the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A3)(AP, 5/8/99)
1998 May 8, In southern California an identical twin whose plot to kill her sister made headlines around the world sobbed uncontrollably as a judge sentenced her to 26 years to life in prison. Jeen "Gina" Han (24), dubbed "the evil twin," and two teenagers were convicted last November of conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes for the 1996 attack on Sunny Han and her then-roommate, Helen Kim.
(http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/09/news/mn-47914)
1998 May 8, Eddie Rabbit, country music singer, died at age 53 of lung cancer. His songs included "Drivin’ My Life Away," "Every Which Way But Loose," and "Someone Could Lose a Heart Tonight."
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A21)
1998 May 8, In Brazil "Operation Drought" was launched to airlift food to the drought stricken northeast where 10 million people were threatened with hunger.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1998 May 8, In France a bomb exploded in Marseilles and damaged the Regional Council building. Corsican militants were suspected.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A22)
1998 May 8, In Mexico immigration authorities put a limit on human rights delegations to Chiapas. Groups of 10 people would only be allowed to stay 10 days.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1998 cMay 8, Norway authorized another season of hunting minke whales with a 30% allotment increase to 671.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A7)
1998 May 8, In Somalia fighting in Kismayo between rival militias left 23 dead and 30 wounded.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1998 May 8, In South Africa the National Sports Council asked the world to boycott South African Rugby in a move to push for the resignation of Louis Luyt, the league’s president, over racist and corrupt practices.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A10)
1998 May 9, In Britain the Israeli transsexual, Dana International (Yaron Cohen), won the annual Eurovision Song Prize with the song "Diva.".
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.D5)(SFEC, 7/20/98, p.A9)
1998 May 9, In France a bomb exploded near the Spanish border at Saint-Pierre d’Irube and caused damage to a bank branch and the City Hall. Basque militants were suspected.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A22)
1998 May 9, In Greece Archbishop Christodoulos was enthroned in Athens as the new head of the Greek Orthodox Church. A recent proposal to force the separation of church and state in Greece was rejected the previous week.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A19)
1998 May 9, Indonesian President Suharto left his troubled country for a summit in Egypt with a warning his army would quell violence over his 32-year rule and the worsening economy.
(AP, 5/9/99)
1998 May 9, The leading Group of Eight industrialized countries imposed an investment ban on Serbia and froze and froze the assets abroad of Serbia and Montenegro due to conditions in Kosovo. The sanctions did not go into effect because Serbia began talks with ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A13)(WSJ, 5/19/98, p.A1)
1998 May 10, Tax freedom day, the day the average American taxpayer will have earned enough to pay his annual taxes.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A3)
1998 May 10, The FAA grounded older models of the Boeing 737 after mandatory inspections of some aircraft found extensive wear in power lines through wing fuel tanks.
(SFC, 5/11/98)(AP, 5/10/08)
1998 May 10, In Clearfield, Pa., Kimberly Jo Dotts (15) was hanged to death by teenagers who planned to run away to Florida. Seven young people 14-24 were arrested for murder and the trial of Jessica Holtmeyer (16) and Aaron Straw (19) began in 1999. Holtmeyer was convicted Jan 28.
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A8)(SFC, 1/29/99, p.A6)
1998 May 10, In Afghanistan opposition forces launched a counterattack against the Taliban at Ishkamish, 120 miles north of Kabul.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 30, In China over 800 riot police clashed with some 3 thousand vendors when they tried to dismantle the street market in Chengdu.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)
1998 May 10, In Hungary Gyula Horn and the ruling Socialists led in the first round of parliamentary elections.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)
1998 May 10, From Moscow it was reported that police had arrested 5 members of a crime ring that operated out of an automobile repair shop. The ring responded to car for sale ads and killed 11 people for their vehicles.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A23)
1988 May 10, In Northern Ireland Sinn Fein (We Ourselves) voted to let their leaders participate in the new compromise administration. Leader Gerry Adams won full backing for the Northern Ireland peace accord in a fundamental reversal of decades-old policy.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/10/99)
1998 May 10, In Paraguay the ruling Colorado Party with Raul Cubas, initially the running mate of Lino Oviedo, won the presidential elections with 52% of the vote.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A12)
1998 May 10, In South Africa Louis Luyt announced his resignation as the president of the South African Rugby Football Assoc. [see May 8]
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)
1998 May 11, Attorney General Janet Reno requested an independent counsel to investigate Labor Secretary Alexis Herman for alleged influence-peddling and solicitation of illegal campaign contributions. Herman was later cleared.
(AP, 5/11/03)
1998 May 11, SBC Communications Inc. announced that it would acquire Ameritech Corp. in a stock merger valued at some $60 billion in stock.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A1)
1998 May 11, A new study reported that James Kabari, Congo Pres. Kabila’s chief of staff, supervised a special Rwandan military unit that killed 2,000 Hutus in 1997 in the Congolese town of Mbandaka with Kabila’s knowledge.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A8)
1998 May 11, A French mint produced the first coins of Europe's single currency, the euro.
(AP, 5/11/99)
1998 May 11, India set off the 1st of 3 underground atomic blasts in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan near the Pakistan border, its first nuclear tests in 24 years. Abdul Kalam led the teams of scientists who developed missiles designed for India’s atomic warheads.
(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/11/99)(WSJ, 7/15/02, p.A1)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.42)
1998 May 11, Mexico expelled 40 Italian human-rights activists, labeled as professional provocateurs, who spent 9 days in Chiapas and banned them from returning.
(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)
1998 May 11, In the Philippines elections for a new president were held. Joseph Ejercito Estrada, a former actor, led the polls. He was opposed by business groups and the Catholic Church. Estrada was declared the winner on May 29.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A10)
1998 May 12, Singer Ray Charles and sitar master Ravi Shankar received the Polar Music Prize, $133,000, from King Carl Gustav XVI in Sweden. The award was established by Stig Anderson, manager of the Abba pop group.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.C5)
1998 May 12, Britain offered Northern Ireland a $500 million package of financing and tax breaks for roads, railways and the reduction of unemployment.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A11)
1998 May 12, In Colombia retired Gen’l. Fernando Landazabal Reyes, a former defense minister, was shot and killed in Bogota.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)
1998 May 12, Eritrea accused Ethiopian militiamen of invading its territory in a border skirmish. Ethiopia later said 20 people were killed and 20 wounded by Eritrean forces.
(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A12)
1998 May 12, A day after India's first atomic test blasts in 24 years, neighboring Pakistan said it was ready to test a nuclear device itself.
(AP, 5/12/99)
1998 May 12-1998 May 15, In Indonesia President Suharto's security forces opened fire on student protesters at Trisakti Univ. and 6 were killed with another 20 injured. It was later reported that 1,188 people died in Jakarta in the riots over this period. The nationwide toll was believed to be much higher. A later government report indicated that the military contributed to Suharto’s downfall. The report also concluded that 66 women, many of them ethnic Chinese, were raped during the riots. Human rights groups estimated that 160 women were raped.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A14)(SFC, 6/4/98, p.C2)(SFC, 11/4/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 11/4/98, p.A1)
1998 May 12, In Kosovo Serbian police clashed with ethnic Albanians and 2 ethnic Albanians were reported killed in Pristina. The police had found the site of the attack to be loaded with weapons.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)
1998 May 12, In Rwanda Hutu rebels killed 17 people, 14 in the town of Taba and 3 others in Kayenzi. Another 10 were wounded in the attacks.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.D3)
1998 May 12, In Turkey Akin Birdal, head of the independent Human Rights Association, was shot and injured in an attack by the Turkish Revenge Brigade, an ultranationalist group. Five ultranationalists were arrested May 22.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A14)
1998 May 12, The UAR announced that it would buy 80 F-16s from the US for about $7 billion.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)
1998 May 13, Pres. Clinton traveled to Germany to meet with Chancellor Kohl and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift.
(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)
1998 May 13, President Clinton ordered harsh sanctions against an unapologetic India, which undertook a second round of nuclear tests despite global criticism. It was later reported that the number and size of the weapons were exaggerated.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A1)(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A1) (AP, 5/13/99)
1998 May 13, Federal regulators approved a plan to store nuclear bomb waste in the New Mexico at the Waste isolation Pilot Project (WIPP).
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A3)
1998 May 13, Thousands of yellow cab drivers went on a one day strike in NYC.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A3)
1998 May 13, India set off 2 more nuclear explosions in defiance of int’l. condemnations.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A1)
1998 May 13, In Indonesia student riots continued and at least 10 student activists were badly wounded. Pres. Suharto planned to return home early and said he was willing to step down if he is no longer trusted to lead the country.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A14)
1998 May 13, Israeli jets raided Lebanon and killed 3 men and wounded 21 in an attack on the radical Palestinian group, Fatah, the Uprising. As many as 10 men were killed in a Bekaa Valley training camp for Palestinian guerrillas.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)(SFC, 5/14/98, p.C2)
1998 May 13, In Israel a 6th Arab victim of stabbing died in Jerusalem. A serial stabber in the Orthodox Edah Heredit community had stabbed 5 victims since Feb., all of whom survived. A religious court of the community, which rejects the official state of Israel, ruled that its followers should inform police whatever they know about the attacks.
(SFEC, 5/24/98, p.A17)
1998 May 13, In Mexico impeachment procedures began for Jorge Carrillo Olea, governor of Morelos state.
(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A22)
1998 May 13, In Moscow a wall of the Jewish Lubavitch Marina Roshcha synagogue was destroyed by a bomb. It was another sign of rising anti-Semitism.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.D3)
1998 May 14, The Associated Press commemorated its 150th anniversary.
(AP, 5/14/99)
1998 May 14, The last episode of the hit sitcom "Seinfeld" was shown after nine years on NBC TV. Commercials on the show were priced at $2 million for 30 seconds.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.C1)(AP, 5/14/99)(SFC, 5/12/19, p.B3)
1998 May 14, A US district judge ruled that all California pot clubs were in violation of federal law.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A19)
1998 May 14, In Wisconsin abortion clinics across the state closed as a sweeping ban against "partial birth" abortions went into effect following last month’s bill signed by Gov. Tommy Thompson.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A3)
1998 May 14, Frank Sinatra, singer and actor, died of a heart attack in LA at age 82. Shortly thereafter Brian Gunn published "Rat Pack Confidential: Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter, Joey & the Last Great Show Biz Party," a biography of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. In Dec the FBI released a 1,300 page Sinatra file that had been put together over a 40-year period. In 2000 Tom and Phil Kuntz edited "The Sinatra Files." In 2005 Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan authored “Sinatra: The Life."
(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 7/5/98, BR p.5)(WSJ, 6/13/00, p.B1)(Econ, 7/16/05, p.82)
1998 May 14, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden and the US all imposed penalties on India for its nuclear testing. Pakistan was pressured to refrain from testing its own nuclear weapons.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A15)
1998 May 14, In Indonesia widespread rioting, shooting, looting and demonstrations continued for a 3rd day. At least 230 people were killed in the riots, with over 175 dead from a fire at the 5-story Yogya Plaza shopping center in East Jakarta.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A1)
1998 May 14, Palestinians marked the 50th anniversary of the creation of Israel with 2 minutes of silence and several hours of violence that left 9 dead. They refer to the creation of Israel as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe."
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A14)(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A10)
1998 May 14, Irene Saez (38) received the support of the Social Christian COPEI Party in her bid for the presidency of Venezuela.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.D3)
1998 May 15, In Washington DC Latia Robinson (7) took control of a Honda Accord after her father passed out and drove him safely to a hospital at the beginning of rush hour.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.A6)
1998 May 15, Three African nations, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, announced plans for an economic, political and social union.
(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A11)
1998 May 15, Leaders of eight countries, including the US, opened a three-day summit in Birmingham, England.
(AP, 5/15/08)
1998 May 15, It was reported that the Burmese junta was expanding opium production while collecting money from the UN for destroying poppy fields.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.A14)
1998 May 15, Trapped in blazing shopping malls, hundreds of looters burned to death in rioting that laid smoking waste to Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.
(AP, 5/15/99)
1998 May 15, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin (b. 1962) became the 17th Sultan of Terengganu and the 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the constitutional head of state of Malaysia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizan_Zainal_Abidin_of_Terengganu)
1998 May 15, In Northern Ireland the Loyalist Volunteers announced a cease-fire to encourage Protestant voters to reject the peace accord referendum.
(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A11)
1998 May 15, Serbian police began to turn back truckers in a blockade of Kosovo. Shortage of critical food supplies soon developed.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.C16)
1998 May 16, "Real Quiet" won the Preakness, two weeks after winning the Kentucky Derby. Real Quiet later failed to capture the Triple Crown, losing the Belmont Stakes to Victory Gallop by a nose.
(AP, 5/16/08)
1998 May 16, Israeli soldiers in Hebron wounded 10 Palestinians in the 3rd straight day of clashes.
(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A23)
1998 May 16, In the Philippines a fire at the Lung Center of the Philippines, in a suburb of Manila, killed at least 8 people and another 14 were presumed dead.
(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A11)
1998 May 16, Rwanda’s former interior minister Seth Sendashonga (b.1951), a Hutu, was shot dead in Nairobi, Kenya.
(Econ, 6/26/10, p.49)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Sendashonga)
1998 May 17, New York Yankees pitcher David Wells became the 13th player in modern major league baseball history to throw a perfect game as he retired all 27 batters he faced in a 4-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
(AP, 5/17/99)
1998 May 17, Leaders of the Group of Eight nations ended their summit in Birmingham, England, with a plea to Pakistan not to respond in kind to India's five nuclear explosions.
(AP, 5/17/99)
1998 May 17, In Afghanistan Taliban jet fighters bombed a crowded market and killed at least 30 people and wounded 50 in Taloqan, the capital of Takhar province.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A12)
1998 May 17, It was reported that the worst drought since one in 1983 plagued northeast Brazil.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A10)
1998 May 17, In Colombia at least 10 people were killed by an alleged right-wing death squad in Barrancabermeja. Later the United Self-Defense Group acknowledged that they had kidnapped, killed and burned 25 people. At least 11 other people were shot. In 1999 3 military officers were dishonorably discharged and 5 police officers were suspended for failing to halt the kidnappings.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A12)(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A14)(SFEC, 8/29/99, p.A21)
1998 May 17, In Indonesia Muslim leader Amien Rais, head of the 28-million member Muhammadiyah Islamic group, threatened to bring millions onto the streets to demand Suharto’s resignation.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A10)
1998 May 17, Mexico continued to suffer in its worst drought in 70 years. Some 50 people were reported to have died fighting fires caused by peasants clearing their fields.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A10)
1998 May 17, In Russia retired Gen’l. Alexander Lebed was elected gov. of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A10)
1998 May 18, The US Justice Dept. filed an antitrust action against Microsoft Corp. for embedding its own browser in its operating system, thus limiting competition from others such as Netscape. The Justice Department and Microsoft reached a settlement in 2001.
(SFC, 5/19/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/18/08)
1998 May 18, The US Supreme Court, in a sweeping endorsement of broadcasters' free-speech rights and journalistic discretion, ruled that even public stations owned and run by states need not invite marginal candidates to political debates they sponsor.
(AP, 5/18/99)
1998 May 18, The US Customs Service ended a 3-year sting operation, Operation Casablanca, with the indictment of 3 Mexican banks and 107 people on charges of laundering millions of dollars for drug-smuggling cartels.
(SFC, 5/19/98, p.A1)
1998 May 18, In South Korea two economic advisors to former Pres. Kim Young Sam were arrested for bringing about the economic crises. Kang Kyong Shik, the former finance minister, and Kim In Ho, the economic secretary, were charged to have lied to the ex-president about the severity of the nation’s financial problems.
(SFC, 5/19/98, p.A16)
1998 May 18, In Yugoslavia lawmakers loyal to Pres. Slobodan Milosevic voted to oust Prime Minister Radoje Kontic, after he refused to clamp down on reformist leaders in Montenegro.
(SFC, 5/19/98, p.A12)
1998 May 19, The PanAmSat Corp. Galaxy 4 communications satellite malfunctioned and disrupted pager services for some 40 million customers.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/20/98, p.A1)
1998 May 19, In Florida Hank Carr freed himself from handcuffs and killed 2 officers and a state trooper after he was picked up for questioning in the shooting death of his 4-year-old stepson. He later shot himself during a standoff with 170 police officers at a gas station.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.A3)
1998 May 19, In Fayetteville, Tenn., an honor student (18) killed a classmate, who was dating his ex-girlfriend. Jacob Davis was convicted in 1999 for the murder of Nicholas Creson (18) and sentenced to life in prison.
(SFC, 4/21/99, p.A6)(SFC, 7/30/99, p.A9)
1998 May 19, In Afghanistan Taliban officials withdrew from the peace plan citing the refusal of the opposition to cooperate.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.C2)
1998 May 19, In Colombia Pres. Samper disbanded the 20th Intelligence Brigade under US pressure because of evidence that the unit was responsible for a series of murders of civilian politicians and human rights activists.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1998 May 19, A Congo military court sentenced Masasu Nindanga and Joseph Olenghankoy, opponents of Pres. Kabila, to jail terms of 20 and 15 years with no right of appeal.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.C2)
1998 May 19, In Indonesia a threatened anti-Suharto demonstration was called off to avoid bloodshed after the army mounted a big show of force in the capital.
(WSJ, 5/20/98, p.A1)
1998 May 19-1998 May 20, Bandits stole three of Rome's most important paintings, two by van Gogh and one by Cezanne, from the National Gallery of Modern Art.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A14)(AP, 5/19/99)
1998 May 19, In Russia strikes by coal miners, scientists and other workers spread across the country in a demand for unpaid wages.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.A12)
1998 May 19, In Serbia Pres. Milosevic named Momir Bulatovic as federal prime minister. Montenegro’s parliament said it did not recognize the ouster of Radoje Kontic and that it would no recognize any laws of the federal government.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.A12)
1998 May 20, Pres. Clinton vetoed a school voucher plan that would have provided tax funds for poor children in Washington D.C. to attend private or religious schools.
(WSJ, 5/21/98, p.A1)
1998 May 20, The US House voted overwhelmingly to block future satellite exports to China. [see May 10, 1999]
(AP, 5/20/99)
1998 May 20, The US government unveiled the design for the new $20 bill, featuring a larger and slightly off-center portrait of Andrew Jackson.
(AP, 5/20/99)
1998 May 20, In another part of Operation Casablanca, a US federal indictment in LA charged 5 Venezuelans with laundering millions of dollars from drug cartels. Bankers Esperanza de Saad and Marco Tulio Henriquez were included.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A5)
1998 May 20, In Wisconsin abortion clinics resumed first-trimester abortions after being assured that the new state law did not impact the first trimester operations.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A6)
1998 May 20, In Streamwood Ill., Frank Capaci, a retired electrician, won the record $195 mil Powerball lottery of Wisconsin. He chose to take a $104.23 mil lump sum payment.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.A3)
1998 May 20, In Beverly Hills, Calif., Hollywood royalty bid farewell to Frank Sinatra, who had died almost a week earlier at age 82, in a private, invitation-only funeral.
(AP, 5/20/99)
1998 May 20, In Argentina Alfredo Yabran, a businessman wanted in connection with a 1997 murder, committed suicide in Entre Rios province.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A14)
1998 May 20, In Bangladesh a cyclone pounded the southeastern coast and killed at least 14 people. Nearly 100 fisherman were missing.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D4)
1998 May 20, In Cambodia Prince Ranariddh quit as head of an opposition alliance against Hun Sen and chose to support Son Soubert.
(WSJ, 5/21/98, p.A1)
1998 May 20, The EU approved a rescue package to save the French Credit Lyonnais banking group. In exchange the state bank would be privatized and assets would have to be sold.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D4)
1998 May 20, In Kyrgyzstan a truck spilled 20 tons of cyanide and forced 600 people to seek medical treatment. 3,876 pounds of cyanide leached out of the truck but did not seem to hurt any local residents. Some fish died in the river and the water flowed into the 113-mile-long Lake Ysyk Kol. The Cameco Corp. of Canada ran the Kumtor gold mine and contributed some 15% of the country’s GNP.
(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/18/98, p.A18)
1998 May 20, In Trinidad Ishmael Sammy, a 22-year-old mechanic, was dragged out of his home by masked men and shot. In 2010 the director of public prosecutions said the state did not have the evidence to proceed with a murder charge against Yasin Abu Bakr and Brent Miller, members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen group, in the slaying of Sammy. Bakr, a former police officer who converted to Islam in the 1970s, has been charged with various crimes over the years but never convicted.
(www.ttgapers.com/News/2010/9/30/abu-bakr-arrested-for-murder-again/)(AP, 10/21/10)
1998 May 21, In Anaheim, Ca., Disney opened its world of tomorrow.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.A19)
1998 May 21, Frank and Shirley Capaci of Streamwood, Ill., announced they were holding a winning Powerball ticket worth $195 million.
(AP, 5/21/99)
1998 May 21, In Springfield, Ore., Kipland Kinkel (15) killed 1 classmate and wounded 19 more at Thurston High School. His parents, William (59) and Faith (57), were found shot dead at home and a 2nd student died the next day. He had been expelled from school the previous day for bringing a gun to school. Kinkel dropped an insanity plea in 1999 and pleaded guilty to 4 counts of murder and 26 counts of attempted murder. He was sentenced to over 111 years in prison.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A1)(SFC, 9/25/99, p.A3)(SFC, 11/11/99, p.A3)
1998 May 21, The Catholic Feast of the Ascension was celebrated around the world.
(www.timeanddate.com/holidays/netherlands/ascension-day)
1998 May 21, Canada ordered major cuts in the catch of Coho salmon on the West Coast due to declining stocks. Fishing on the Skeena and Thompson River runs was banned and US officials were urged to take similar action.
(WSJ, 5/22/98, p.A1)
1998 May 21, India announced a moratorium on nuclear tests and restated a willingness to negotiate an agreement on a formal test ban.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D3)
1998 May 21, In the wake of deadly anti-government protests, Indonesia’s Pres. Suharto resigned after 32 years in power and appointed his vice-president, B.J. Habibie (b. 6/25/36), as the new leader. In 2005 Richard Lloyd Parry authored “In the Time of Madness," an account of Indonesia’s transformation following the resignation of Suharto.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A14)(AP, 5/21/99)(Econ, 4/2/05, p.77)
1998 May 21, In Cuernavaca, Mexico, police arrested the wife, son, daughter and daughter-in-law of kidnapper Daniel Arizmendi Lopez. He was wanted for carrying out at least 18 bold and brutal kidnappings since 1996.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A24)
1998 May 21, In Portugal the 4-month Expo ‘98 was inaugurated in Lisbon. The theme of the fair expanded on the UN theme Int’l. Year of the Oceans. 15 million people were expected to visit with exhibits from almost 150 countries.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T6)(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D3)
1998 May 21, In Russia armed gunmen occupied a building in Makhachkala, Dagestan, in support of Nadirshakh Khachilayev, who led demands for a new government.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D3)
1998 May 21, In northwest Turkey rains caused floods and left at least 10 people dead.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D4)
1998 May 22, US Federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson ruled that Secret Service agents could be compelled to testify before the grand jury in the Monica Lewinsky investigation.
(AP, 5/22/99)
1998 May 22, John Derek, film director, died in Santa Maria, Ca. His wives included Pati Behrs, Ursula Andress, Linda Evans and Mary Cathleen Collins, better known as Bo Derek.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A23)
1998 May 22, A joint peacekeeping force was set up by 7 European nations to maintain peace in Kosovo. Deputy defense ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, Italy, Romania and Turkey signed on after meeting in Tirana. Slovenia and the US signed on as observers.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A14)
1998 May 22, In Bolivia earthquakes destroyed hundreds of homes in central remote mountain towns and at least 60 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A12)
1998 May 22, In Indonesia Gen’l. Wiranto emerged as defense minister and chief of the armed forces. He peacefully evicted student protestors from the Parliament and removed rival Gen’l. Prabowo, a son-in-law of Suharto, to a military college in Bandung.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A12)
1998 May 22, In Tijuana, Mexico, the workers of the Han Young auto parts factory went on strike. An attempted strike break and political maneuverings by the company were unsuccessful and the case was to be put before a judge.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A10)
1998 May 22, A vote on the referendum on the Northern Ireland peace agreement was held in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Voters showed 71% support in Northern Ireland and 94% support in the Republic of Ireland.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A12)(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 5/24/98, p.A1)
1998 May 22, In Portugal just 12,000 people visited the Expo by midday on its first day. Organizers had predicted an average daily attendance of 140,000.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A14)
1998 May 23, From Guatemala it was reported that the Pacaya volcano had erupted during the week and covered Guatemala City with a half-inch of grit.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A5)
1998 May 23, From India and Pakistan it was reported that temperatures had reached 120 degrees and claimed 34 lives. Most of the fatalities occurred in the southwestern Indian state of Maharashtra.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A5)
1998 May 23, Official returns showed two convincing "yes" votes for the Northern Ireland peace accord: a surprisingly strong 71.1% in British-linked Northern Ireland, and 94.4% in the Republic of Ireland.
(AP, 5/23/99)
1998 May 24, At the 51st Cannes Film Festival the Golden Palm award went to the Greek film "Mia Eoniotita Ke Mia Mera (Eternity and a Day), directed by Theo Angelopoulos. The Grand Prize went to the Italian film "La Vita e Bella" (Life Is Beautiful) by director Roberto Benigni. It starred Benigni, Giorgio Cantarini and Nicoletta Braschi.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.E5)(SFEC, 10/25/98, DB p.46)
1998 May 24, In Danville, Ill, an explosion occurred at the First Assembly of God Church and injured 33 members, mostly teenagers. The cause was not yet immediately known. The cause was determined the next day to have been a bomb.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A1)
1998 May 24, A Hall of Fame for American classical music was scheduled to open in Cincinnati.
(SFEC, 3/29/98, Par p.18)
1998 May 24, In Egypt Saber and Mahmoud Abu el-Ulla, a former inmate of a mental hospital and his brother, were hanged for the Sep 18, 1997, killings of 10 people in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1998 May 24, In Hong Kong voters turned out in record numbers for elections of a Legislative Council. They returned to office pro-democracy politicians ousted by Beijing. Democrats won 13 of 60 seats in the legislature.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/26/98, p.A1)
1998 May 24, The Young Democrats-Civic Party (Fidesz) led by Viktor Orban (34) won the elections and opened the way for a center-right coalition to rule. Fidesz won only 148 seats of the 386-member Parliament and planned to form a coalition with The Hungarian Democratic Forum (17 seats) and the Smallholders (48 seats). Orban was elected prime minister and served to 2002.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A10)(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 8/2100, p.B13F)(Econ, 4/10/10, p.54)
1998 May 24, In Indonesia State Sec. Akbar Tanjung said that parliamentary elections would be held as soon as possible, perhaps within 6 months to a year.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A10)
1998 May 24, In Russia striking miners lifted blockades along the trans-Siberian railway after officials promised to pay back wages and help workers find new jobs.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1998 May 25, It was reported that the Aramaic language, spoken by some 500-800 thousand people in the Middle East, was expected to die out within 2-3 decades. Parts of the Bible’s books of Ezra and Daniel were written in Aramaic.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A6)
1998 May 25, Leaders in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and its breakaway province of Abkhazia agreed to a cease-fire after a week of fighting. Fighting between Abkhaz forces and Georgian irregulars raged inside a Russian patrolled buffer zone despite an agreed 1993 cease-fire. Georgia later claimed that 100 people died and that 38,000 Georgians were driven from their homes.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 5/26/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/25/99)
1998 May 25, In Colombia it was reported that guerrilla movements were in control of 50% of the country. The FARC troops were estimated at 15,000 and the ELN troops at 5,000.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1998 May 25, In Egypt the conclusion of a decade long, $2.5 million restoration project on the Sphinx was celebrated.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A8)
1998 May 25, In Indonesia the government released 2 prominent Suharto critics, cancelled some public works projects that benefited Suharto kin, and named army troops as suspects in the May 12 shooting of 6 students. Indonesia's new president, B.J. Habibie, promised to hold elections.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A6)(AP, 5/25/99)
1998 May 25, In Lebanon opposition groups made gains in the first elections in 35 years. The first stage of the poll was in the Mount Lebanon governate.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A8)
1998 May 25, In Sierra Leone Borboh Jeff Kamara (14) was walking to school with classmates when rebels grabbed him, held him down and cut off his fingers, leaving only his thumbs.
(AP, 11/16/12)
1998 May 26, The 109,000 ton, 2,600 passenger Grand Princess cruise ship made its debut. It cost $450 million and was billed as the largest and most expensive cruise ship. Its inaugural season was to be in the Mediterranean after which it would do year-round 7-day cruises in the Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale.
(SFEC, 1/18/98, p.T5)(SFEC, 5/24/98, p.T3)(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.T9)
1998 May 26, The US Supreme Court made it far more difficult for police to be sued by people hurt during high-speed chases.
(AP, 5/26/99)
1998 May 26, The US Supreme Court ruled that Ellis Island is mainly in New Jersey, based on an 1834 border agreement between New York and New Jersey.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A3)
1998 May 26, In Australia the first National Sorry Day was held, to acknowledge the wrong that had been done to indigenous families and to allow healing process to begin. Sorry Day is also in remembrance of mistreatment of the Aboriginal people and not only to the children involved in the Stolen Generation. The day was held annually until 2004. It was renamed National Day of Healing from 2005, however, in September, 2005, the name reverted when the National Sorry Day Committee decided to restore the name Sorry Day.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Sorry_Day)
1998 May 26, Police in 5 European countries arrested 74 alleged Algerian separatists. 53 were arrested in France and 21 in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The idea was to dismantle terrorist networks prior to the World Cup.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A10)
1998 May 26, The South Korean stock market hit an 11-year low.
(WSJ, 5/27/98, p.A17)
1998 May 26, Palestinian lawmakers clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem after Mayor Ehud Olmert ordered the dismantling of tin shacks built by Jewish nationalist settlers of the Ateret Cohanim.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A10)
1998 May 26, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin signed an accord with King Harold V of Norway for the dismantling and disposal of 90 nuclear submarines decaying in the Barents Sea. Russia expected Norway to provide $30 million for the project, which was expected to cost billions and take over a decade.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.C2)
1998 May 26, In Rwanda Hutu rebels killed at least 94 civilians and wounded 67 outside Gisenyi.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A16)
1998 May 27, The sexual harassment suit of Paula Jones against pres. Clinton was scheduled to start.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A1)
1998 May 27, Michael Fortier, the government's star witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after apologizing for not warning anyone about the deadly plot.
(AP, 5/27/99)
1998 May 27, In Colombia the Occidental Petroleum Corp. agreed to give up the entire Samore block in return for exploration rights on another 80-square-mile outside the lands of the U’wa tribe.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.D3)
1998 May 27, It was reported that the planned delivery of a Russian missile system to Cyprus would contain a "Tombstone" radar system, to be operated by 70 Russian experts. This was a threat to the existing West’s exclusive monitoring.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A10)
1998 May 27, In Mongolia a Yu-12 plane crash killed all 28 on board.
(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A1)
1998 May 27, Russia tripled its interest rates to 150% to stave off a run on the ruble and to establish some economic stability.
(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A8)
1998 May 27, In South Korea unions began a 2-day strike to protest mounting layoffs.
(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A1)
1998 May 28, California astronomer Susan Terebey announced she had photographed what may be a planet some 450 light years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. It appears to have been ejected from the binary TMR-1 and was named TMR-1C.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A1,4)(AP, 5/28/99)
1998 May 28, In Danville, Ill., Rick White (39) died in a garage explosion as FBI agents were arriving to ask questions in connection with the May 24 Church bombing.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A3)(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A8)
1998 May 28, Comic actor Phil Hartman (49) of "Saturday Night Live" and "NewsRadio" fame was shot to death at his home in Encino, Calif., by his wife, Brynn (40), who then killed herself.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/28/08)
1998 May 28, In Ecuador Simon Bolivar Chanalata, a hotel clerk, engaged in a fight with 2 US sailors who were visiting while on a naval exercise. Chanalata died 6 days later and his family filed a $1.5 million suit against the US Navy. The 2 Navy men faced charges of involuntary manslaughter.
(SFC, 4/16/99, p.D5)
1998 May 28, In Eritrea veterans were mobilized to be sent to Ethiopian border where the 160-square-mile Yigra triangle was under dispute. Eritrea claimed ownership under the still binding Italian colonial borders.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.D4)
1998 May 28, The German parliament approved a mass pardon for hundreds of thousands of people who were punished unjustly by Nazi courts.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.D4)
1998 May 28, In Indonesia Pres. Habibie promised to hold elections in 1999 as student protests continued, though on a smaller scale.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A16)
1998 May 28, NATO Ministers agreed to help Albania and Macedonia strengthen their border patrols.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A16)
1998 May 28, Pakistan matched India and exploded five of its own underground nuclear tests in the Chagai Hills. Pres. Clinton grimly denounced the tests and imposed penalties that could cause Pakistan billions. It was later reported that the number and size of the weapons were exaggerated.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A1,13)(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/28/99)
1998 May 29, It was reported that 54% of adult Americans are overweight and that 22% are obese.
(WSJ, 5/29/98, p.A1)
1998 May 29, It was reported that a salmonella strain impervious to 5 antibiotics was rampant in Britain. Chickens were reported sold in Minnesota that were contaminated with campylobacter resistant to a powerful antibiotic. The high use of antibiotics by farmers was adding to the problem of an increasing number of drug-resistant germs.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A8)
1998 May 29, In Colorado three men shot and killed police officer Dale Claxton of Cortez when he stopped them in a suspected stolen water truck.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A6)
1998 May 29, Barry Goldwater (b.1909), former Senator from Arizona, died in Paradise Valley, Ariz.. In 2008 John W. Dean and Barry Goldwater Jr. authored “Pure Goldwater."
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/29/99)(WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A13)
1998 May 29, Two activists were killed by the Nigerian Mobile Police on Chevron’s Parabe oil production platform. The police were flown in on Chevron helicopters following 4 days of protests. In 2009 a federal judge upheld a San Francisco jury’s verdict that cleared Chevron of wrongdoing in the shootings.
(SFC, 11/19/98, p.A8,9)(SFC, 3/5/09, p.C1)
1998 May 29, In Serbia Pres. Milosevic imposed large licensing fees on radio and TV stations and denied permits to dozens of opposition broadcasters. Control of the autonomous state universities was also undertaken.
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A3)
1998 May 29, In Kosovo a Serb policeman was killed and another wounded in the Decani region. A 3-day Serb offensive began that left over 60 ethnic Albanians dead in Vranoc and other villages in the area.
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A11)(SFC, 7/16/98, p.A10)
1998 May 29, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin ordered a crackdown on tax delinquents. He fired Alexander Pochinok, head of the tax service, and replaced him with former finance minister Boris Fyodorov (40).
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A10)
1998 May 29, From Sierra Leone it was reported that defeated rebels were conducting a campaign of terror in the countryside and that hundreds have been killed since the rebels were driven from the cities in March.
(WSJ, 5/29/98, p.A1)
1998 May 30, A tornado tore through Spencer, S.D., killing six people. It destroyed 90% of the town.
(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/30/99)
1998 May 30, An estimated 6.9 earthquake hit northern Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Shari Basurkh was hit hardest and some estimates put the death toll up to 3,000. The estimated deaths later reached 5,000.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A2)(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/22/02)
1998 May 30, In Indonesia the government cancelled tax breaks for a "national car" program run by Suharto’s son, Hutomo Madala Putra, and with four port-service contracts owned by Hutomo. Economic contraction was feared to reach 10-20%.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A21)
1998 May 30, In Japan the 4-year-old governing coalition fractured and the Social Democratic Party announced it would go it alone. The Liberal Democratic Party continued to run the government.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A26)
1998 May 30, Pakistan set off a nuclear bomb, the 6th test in 3 days.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A15)
1998 May 30, In South Korea thousands of union members and students marched through Seoul to protest recent job losses and restructuring demands by the IMF.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A22)
1998 May 31, Pres. Clinton endorsed additional conditional financial support for Russia from the IMF and World Bank.
(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A9)
1998 May 31, Storms tore from Pennsylvania through New England, killing several people and knocking out power for nearly 1 million customers.
(AP, 5/31/99)
1998 May 31, Singer Geri Halliwell, also known as "Ginger Spice" of the Spice Girls, confirmed she was leaving the group. (AP, 5/31/99)
1998 May 31, In Colombian presidential elections conservative Andres Pastrana (43), son of former Pres. Misael Pastrana, was in a tight race with Hector Serpa (55) of the ruling Liberals. Serpa led Pastrana 34.6 vs. 34.3 and a runoff was set for Jun 21. Noemi Sanin, an independent female candidate, received 27% of the vote.
(WSJ, 5/29/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A12)(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A11)(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B1)
1998 May 31, In Ecuador Alvaro Noboa, scion of the country’s wealthiest family, made a run for the presidency in the first round of elections. Jamil Mahuad led the elections with 36.7%, but failed to get a majority. Alvaro Noboa had 29.8%. A runoff was scheduled for Jul 12.
(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A8)
1998 May 31, In Montenegro a reformist coalition led by Pres. Djukanovic led in national elections with 50.4%.
(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A8)
1998 May, US Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering said that illegal oil sales in Iraq had reached 200,000 barrels a day.
(SFC, 10/21/98, p.C2)
1998 May, In Maryland Tyson foods agreed to pay $6 million to the federal government to settle environmental violations from 1993-1997 at its 105-acre chicken processing plant in Berlin, 8 miles west of Ocean City. The plant was then owned by Hudson Foods.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A5)
1998 May, In Texas drug dealer Troy Clark drowned his former roommate Christina Muse of Tyler in his bathtub and stuffed her body into a barrel. He feared that she would snitch on him. In 2018 Clark (51) was executed by lethal injection.
(SFC, 9/27/18, p.A4)
1998 May, Apple Corp. introduced the iMac. The $1,300 computer housed in translucent plastic had a 233 MHz G3 processor.
(SFC, 1/24/04, p.A12)
1998 May, Samuel Cummings, a former CIA employee and int’l arms seller, died in Monaco. Cummings became a billionaire selling guns to guerrillas and dictators worldwide.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.A6)
1998 May, In Brazil Jorge Luiz Fernandez, aka George the Smotherer, was sentenced to 47 years in prison for 2 murders in 1995. He headed a hit squad of off-duty policemen known as the "Golden Boys," who singled out criminal suspects and killed at least 30 people.
(SFC, 9/20/98, p.A12)
1998 May, In the Czech Republic the town of Usti Nad Labem approved the building of a wall to separate itself from the Gypsy neighborhood of Novy Svet. Completion was planned by Sept.
(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A3)
1998 May, In Croatia Gojko Susak, the Croatian Defense Minister, died of cancer. He had directed the wartime revolt by Bosnian Croats against the Muslim-led Bosnian government.
(SFC, 5/14/98, p.C18)
1998 May, In Finland the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by Steven Holl, opened in Helsinki. The name was taken after the Greek word for intersection, the x shape of the letter chi, and meant it to stand for a synthesis of building and landscape.
(WSJ, 5/14/98, p.A20)
1998 May, In Guatemala Bishop Mario Rios Montt, the brother of former dictator Gen’l. Efrain Rios Montt, was appointed head of the human rights office.
(SFC, 7/31/98, p.D3)
1998 May, In Jamaica the government raised fines for harassing tourists 100 times to $2,700 for first offenders along with night courts to handle officers appearances.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T8)
1998 May, Officials in Nicaragua entered a stolen 1975 Lear jet airplane and found high levels of cocaine residue. The $3 million plane had been stolen Dec 16 from Fort Lauderdale and taken to Nicaragua. It was used by Jose Francisco Guasch to transport government officials to various destinations in Central America at no charge. Guasch slipped out of the country.
(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A10)
1998 May, In Sri Lanka Sarojini Yogeswaran, mayor of Jaffna, was shot and killed by suspected Tiger rebels. He had just been elected in Jan.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.B1)
1998 May, In Sri Lanka Brigadier Larry Wijeratne was killed by a Tiger suicide bomber.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.B1)
1998 May, Trinidad and Tobago withdrew from the American Convention on Human Rights and planned the execution of 5 prisoners in June.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B4)
1998 May, In Yemen Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani came into power.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 1, The MacArthur Foundation disbursed 29 genius grants with cash prizes ranging from $375,000 to $220,000. Included in the winners were poet Ishmael Reed; computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee (pioneer developer of the WWW), historian Mike Davis ("City of Quartz," a history of Los Angeles), Ayesha Jalal (historian of the cultures of India and Pakistan), and Peter Miller (Berlin scholar of early modern European intellectual history).
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 1, President Clinton abruptly abandoned his executive privilege claim in the Monica Lewinsky investigation, reducing the prospect of a quick Supreme Court review of a dispute over the testimony of presidential aides.
(AP, 6/1/99)
1998 Jun 1, In Mass. Rev. Eugene F. Rivers had his picture on the cover of Time Mag. for his youth ministry work in Dorchester. His Operation 2006 planned to put an adult volunteer into the life of every at-risk child in Dorchester, who needed help, by the year 2006.
(WSJ, 6/5/98, p.W13)
1998 Jun 1, In Michigan a new $22 million Kellogg’s Cereal City USA opened in Battle Creek. It was owned by the non-profit Heritage Center Foundation.
(SFEC, 8/2/98, p.T7)
1998 Jun 1, In Philadelphia the largest transit union went on strike and shut down a system that served 435,000 people a day. This followed 3 months of negotiations with the transportation authority (SEPTA).
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A5)
1998 Jun 1, American Home Products agreed to acquire Monsanto Co. in a deal valued at $35.08 billion.
(WSJ, 6/2/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 1, It was reported that investment flow out of Latin America was becoming a stampede.
(WSJ, 6/2/98, p.A16)
1998 Jun 1, In Burma the military sentenced Aung Thein and Ko Hla Myint to 14 years in prison for handing out copies of a letter from the Shan State Army addressed to Lt. Gen’l. Khin Nyunt, the head of military intelligence, back in March.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 1, From El Salvador it was reported that just 2% of the forest remained in the country that was once covered by forest.
(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 1, The European Central Bank (ECB) was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam. It is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. It began operating on Jan 1, 1999.
(www.ecb.int/ecb/orga/escb/html/index.en.html)
1998 Jun 1, In France pilots of Air France began a pay-dispute strike.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 1, In India Prime Minister Vajpayee announced that large budget increases of 14% for the armed forces, 68% for nuclear research and 62% for missile programs was approved. Social programs were increased 35%.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 1, In Indonesia the new government announced a broad inquiry into corruption under ex-Pres. Suharto.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 1, Thousands of refugees from Kosovo, Serbia, poured into Albania to escape deadly fighting that began last week around Decani. 39 people were reported dead.
(WSJ, 6/2/98, p.A3)(AP, 6/1/99)
1998 Jun 1, In Russia the stock market tumbled 10% in panic selling. Prime Minister Kiriyenko reduced the auction cost for the sale of state’s Rosneft Oil Co. to $1.6 bil.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 1, In South Korea Pres. Kim Dae Jung urged the US and western nations to end sanctions against North Korea.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 1, Zambia dropped charges against former Pres. Kaunda and released him after Kaunda pledged to retire.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 2, Voters in California passed Proposition 227, which effectively abolished the state's 30-year-old bilingual education program by requiring that all children be taught in English.
(AP, 6/2/99)
1998 Jun 2, Monica Lewinsky hired a new defense team, Jacob Stein and Plato Cacheris, replacing William H. Ginsburg as her lead attorney.
(AP, 6/2/99)
1998 Jun 2, In Florida Bishop J. Keith Symons (65) announced his resignation as head of the Palm Beach diocese after admitting that he molested 5 boys early in his career. Bishop Robert N. Lynch was named as temp. administrator over the 200,000 Catholics in the 5-county diocese.
(SFC, 6/3/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 2, Space Shuttle Discovery was launched and it planned to pick up astronaut Andrew Thomas from the Mir space station.
(WSJ, 6/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 2, Royal Caribbean Cruises admitted to routinely dumping oily waste into the Caribbean and agreed to pay a fine of $9 million. It was estimated that 80% of the oil pollution in the world’s seas was caused by routing dumping by ships of all sorts.
(SFC, 6/3/98, p.A6)
1998 Jun 2, In Burma 26 farmers were gunned down near Murng-Kerng.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 2, In Mexico the military leader of an anti-narcotics investigation was kidnapped and beaten by henchmen of Ramon Alcides Magana, aka El Metro. At the same time his office was robbed of evidence linking Yucatan Gov. Mario Villanueva Madrid to El Metro.
(SFC, 12/14/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 2, In Russia Yeltsin held a meeting with the country’s most powerful business leaders and urged them to help keep investors from fleeing. Russian stocks rose 12%.
(SFC, 6/3/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 3, An 87-foot memorial to Crazy Horse, sculpted into rock near Custer in the South Dakota Black Hills by Korczak Ziolkowski (d.1982), was dedicated after 50 years of work.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A5)(SSFC, 7/28/02, Par p.11)
1998 Jun 3, Pres. Clinton announced the renewal of favored nation trade status with China. President Clinton urged Congress to renew normal trade benefits for China, saying good relations with Beijing were crucial amid fears of a nuclear arms race in South Asia.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A3)(AP, 6/3/99)
1998 Jun 3, In New York City hundreds of sidewalk food vendors held a 1-day strike and paraded through lower Manhattan.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 3, The US FDA approved Rebetron, a combination of two anti-viral drugs (interferon and ribavirin), to treat Chronic Hepatitis C.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 3, Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers clashed in heavy fighting along their disputed border.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 3, In Germany the high-speed ICE 884 train derailed near Eschede and 94 [101] people were killed. A damaged wheel was later cited as the cause.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/8/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/3/99)
1998 Jun 3, Mexico announced that it would prosecute US customs officials for breaking numerous Mexican laws in the undercover Casablanca operation that was announced May 18.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 3, In Mexico Chiapas Gov. Roberto Albores ordered a thousand police officers and soldiers into the town of Nicolas Ruiz where 141 people were arrested for supporting Zapatista rebels.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 3, The Kremlin announced a crackdown on skinheads.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T8)
1998 Jun 3, Special Serbian forces reported 40 people killed in a 5-day operation in Kosovo.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 3, From Sierra Leone it was reported that 243,000 refugees had fled to camps in Liberia and Guinea in terror of the ousted junta’s loyalists.
(WSJ, 6/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 4, It was reported that Duke Univ. scientists reported that they were able to change sickled blood cells into normal cells using genetic therapy.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A7)
1998 Jun 4, In Denver a federal judge sentenced Terry Nichols to life in prison without parole for conspiring in 1995 to bomb the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/4/99)
1998 Jun 4, Americans aboard the shuttle Discovery arrived at the Russian space station Mir to pick up U.S. astronaut Andrew Thomas, who'd spent four months in orbit.
(AP, 6/4/99)
1998 Jun 4, In Bluff, Utah, Robert Mason (26), one of 3 suspects in the May 29 killing of a Cortez, Colo., police officer, was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 4, A team of physicists from Japan reported that they had established that the subnuclear neutrino particles had mass. In an experiment called SuperKamiokande, they showed that muon neutrinos produced by cosmic rays hitting the upper atmosphere had gone missing by the time they should have reached an underground detector. This led them to suspect that the missing muon neutrinos had changed flavor through a process called oscillation, which required them to have mass. Their experiments showed that neutrinos spontaneously transform between three varieties (electron, muon and tau neutrinos) in a process known as oscillation.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A1)(Econ, 4/8/06, p.77)(Econ, 6/28/14, p.69)
1998 Jun 4, Shirley Polykoff, the pioneering advertising woman who authored the "Does she... or doesn’t she" for Clairol hair dyes in 1956, died at age 90. She wrote the 1975 book "Does She... or Doesn’t She? And How She Die It."
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A24)
1998 Jun 4, In Britain the House of Commons decided to get rid of its collapsible top hats, a tradition that dated from 19th century.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.D4)
1998 Jun 4, The first meeting of the Eurogroup was held at Senningen Castle in Luxembourg. Formerly known as the Euro-X and Euro-XI in relation to the number of states adopting the euro, the group was established at the request of France as a policy co-ordination and consultation forum on eurozone matters.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurogroup)
1998 Jun 4, In Indonesia creditor banks unveiled a plan to restructure $80 billion of foreign debt owed by banks and corporations.
(WSJ, 6/5/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 4, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela agreed to cuts in oil production and exports for the 2nd time this year in order to raise prices.
(WSJ, 6/5/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 4, In Pristina, Serbia, the Kosovo Albanians withdrew from negotiations with Serbia due to the new Serbian offensive.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 4, In Taiwan it was reported that an airborne virus had killed 26 children in the last 6 weeks. Another 132 were hospitalized and as many as 9,000 were infected. Efforts to fight the disease were being centralized. Enterovirus 71 soon claimed 7 more children.
(WSJ, 6/5/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B4)
1998 Jun 5, Some 3,400 workers at a GM stamping plant in Flint, Mich., went on strike. The strike closed five assembly plants and idled workers nationwide for seven weeks.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A7)(AP, 6/5/99)
1998 Jun 5, Volkswagen AG won approval to buy Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for $703 million. However, BMW later purchased the Rolls-Royce brand name and logo.
(AP, 6/5/99)(SFC, 6/6/98, p.D1)
1998 Jun 5, Some 70,000 white bass at the Cheney Reservoir west of Wichita had died over the past week from unexplained causes. The reservoir in the north fork of the Ninnescah River was the main drinking water source for Wichita.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 5, In Texas an estimated 22,000 trout died in the Guadalupe River after eating dead fire ants that fell into the river after mating.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 5, Alfred Kazin (b.1915), literary critic, died on his birthday. Kazin’s work included 3 autobiographical volumes: “A Walker in the City," “Starting Out in the Thirties," and “New York Jew." In 2003 Ted Solotaroff edited "Alfred Kazin's America: Critical and Personal Writings." In 2007 Richard M. Cook authored “Alfred Kazin: A Biography."
(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.M2)(WSJ, 1/12/08, p.W9)(SFC, 2/7/08, p.E2)
1998 Jun 5, In Cambodia over 1,000 former Khmer Rouge soldiers were inducted into the Cambodian army at Anlong Veng. Khmer Rouge leader Ta Mok and some loyalists were still in the jungles along the Thai border.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 5, In Matamoros, Mexico, Salvador Gomez, a former policeman and drug cartel leader, was arrested.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 5-6, Eritrea and Ethiopia sent warplanes on bombing raids against each other. In Mekele, Ethiopia, at least 40 people were killed and over 100 wounded.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 6, In Boston Cardinal Bernard Law announced that he defrocked retired priest, John Geoghan, who was accused of sexually molesting more than 50 children over 3 decades. The church had already paid millions to settle claims brought by dozens of alleged victims. Geoghan went on trial in 2002 and was convicted for fondling a boy in 1992. Geoghan was sentenced 9-10 years in prison for molesting a 10-year-old boy.
(SFEC, 6/7/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/18/02, p.W18)(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A2)(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A3)
1998 Jun 6, "Real Quiet" was denied horse racing's Triple Crown as "Victory Gallop" won the Belmont Stakes by a nose.
(AP, 6/6/99)
1998 Jun 6, Fires in east-central Florida burned 1,700 wooded acres near Palm Coast and 1,200 acres in Seminole County.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 6, India reported that 1,359 people had died over the past 3 weeks due to the severe heat wave. The death toll was raised to 2,500.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A4)(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 6, The UN Security Council demanded in a unanimous vote that India and Pakistan refrain from further nuclear tests and sign nuclear control agreements.
(AP, 6/6/99)
1998 Jun 6, A strike by Philippine Airline workers abruptly grounded all flights in the Philippine Islands.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 7, "The Lion King" won the Tony Award for best musical along with 5 other awards. "Ragtime" won 4 awards as did "Cabaret" and "The Beauty Queen of Leenane." "Art" was named best play.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.D1)(AP, 6/7/99)
1998 Jun 7, James Byrd Junior, a 49-year-old black man, was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas. Three white men were soon arrested; 2 of the men were sentenced to death and the 3rd received life in prison [see Jun 9].
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A3)(AP, 6/7/00)
1998 Jun 7, CNN and Time magazine reported that a secret 1970 raid called Operation Tailwind by a Special Forces unit called the Studies and Observations Group (SOG) used the nerve gas sarin in Laos to kill American armed service members who had defected. A report in 1998 allegedly confirmed that over 100 people were killed including up to 20 American military defectors. Adm. Thomas Moorer, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, confirmed in 1998 that nerve gas was used. CNN and Time magazine later recanted the story due to insufficient evidence. Reporter April Oliver and senior producer Jack Smith were fired. Oliver stood by her story and in 1999 filed suit against CNN and retired Army Gen. John Singlaub, her source for the Tailwind report.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A3)(WSJ, 6/26/98, p.W13)(SFC, 7/3/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/4/98, p.C2)(SFC, 5/8/99, p.A3)
1998 Jun 7, In Colombia drug cartel leader Alberto Orlandez Gamboa, alias "the Snail," was arrested.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 7, In Mexico army troops killed 11 [12] leftist rebels of the EPR near Ayutla in Guerrero state. Another 5 were wounded and 21 were arrested. Erika Zamora Pardo, an EPR member, later testified that the guerrillas were shot when they surrendered with their hands up. She also testified that civilians trapped in a schoolhouse also tried to surrender, but that soldiers threw a fragmentation grenade in their midst.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 7, In Pakistan a bomb exploded on a passenger train in the southern Sindh province near Sukkur. 26 people were killed and 45 wounded. Pakistan later blamed the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). India denied involvement.
(SFEC, 6/7/98, p.A18)(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 6/8/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 7, In Serbia Pres. Milosevic agreed to allow diplomatic observers to enter and move about in Kosovo.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 8, Charlton Heston was installed as the new head of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 8, The US FTC filed a suit against Intel Corp. for using its monopoly power to bully other computer companies.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 8, Wells Fargo and Norwest Corp. reported a merger plan valued at $30-34 billion to form the nation’s 6th-7th largest bank.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 8, In New Mexico the $77 million Sloan Digital Sky Survey was reported to be about to start probing the universe.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 8, The shuttle Discovery pulled away from Mir, ending America's three-year space partnership with Russia.
(AP, 6/8/99)
1998 Jun 8, In Haysville, Kansas, a Debruce Grain Elevator exploded and killed 2 men. Four people were trapped in the wreckage. The death toll rose to five after more victims were found the next day.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A6)(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 8, In Splendora, Texas, Don Willburn Collins (13) doused Robert Middleton with gasoline on his 8th birthday and set him on fire. Middleton died in 2011 from skin cancer blamed on burns across 99% of his body. In 2014 a judge ruled that Collins could be tried as an adult.
(SFC, 3/7/14, p.A8)(http://tinyurl.com/mzfz6pk)
1998 Jun 8, Eritrea appealed for direct talks with Ethiopia to end the border war.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 8, In Mexico Catholic Bishop Samuel Ruiz resigned as chief mediator in peace negotiations with the Zapatista guerrillas. The committee that he led also resigned and accused the government of standing in the way of peace.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 8, Nigeria’s Gen’l. Sani Abacha (54) died of a heart attack in the arms of 2 Indian prostitutes and a local virgin. Gen’l. Abdulsalam Abubakar, the defense chief of staff, was quickly named the new head of state.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A11)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.62)
1998 Jun 8, In Russia the number of AIDS was reported to have quadrupled since 1996 to 8,313, mainly due to intravenous drug-taking.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 8, Larisa Yudina (53), an independent journalist in the southern Russian Republic of Kalmykia, was found dead in a pond with a fractured skull and multiple stab wounds. She had pursued investigations of corruption of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of Kalmykia. The murder was called a political killing. Two aides of Ilyumzhinov were later arrested by the police and confessed to the killing. The aides were sentenced to 21-year prison terms.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/17/98, p.C2)(SFC, 11/30/99, p.D3)
1998 Jun 8, It was reported that Turkish soldiers had killed 37 Kurdish insurgents in the southeast provinces of Sirnak, Siirt, and Diyarbakir.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 9, President Clinton unleashed a torrent of public works money, signing a $203 billion transportation bill.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A2)(AP, 6/9/99)
1998 Jun 9, In Salt Lake City the Southern Baptist Convention approved a new statement on the family that said wives must live in submission to their husbands and that homosexuality was a perversion.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 9, In Texas three white men, Shawn Allen Berry (23), Lawrence Russell Brewer (31) and John William King (23), were charged for the June 7 murder of James Byrd Jr. (49). King was convicted of murder Feb 23, 1999, and was executed in 2019. Brewer was found guilty of capital murder on Sep 20, 1999 and was excuted in 2011. Berry was sentenced to life in prison.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A3)(SFC, 2/24/99, p.A1)(SFC, 9/14/99, p.A10)(SFC, 9/21/99, p.A3)(SFC, 9/24/99, p.A3)(SFC, 11/19/99, p.A3)(SFC, 4/25/19, p.A8)
1998 Jun 9, Heavy fighting erupted on the Ethiopian-Eritrean frontier in the latest stage of their undeclared war.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 9, Senegal and Guinea sent troops to aid Pres. Vieira in Guinea-Bissau. Rebels led by Ansumane Mane had just staged a coup to end the 18-year rule of Pres. Vieira, who was accused of corruption.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 9, Some 30 Haitians drowned when police in the British Turks and Caicos Islands fired on a boat jammed with about 100 refugees.
(WSJ, 6/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 9, At least 205 people were killed by a cyclone that hit on India’s western coast at Porbunder. At least 15,000 people were forced to evacuate. The death toll was increased to 420 and 150 people were missing. The death toll was increased to 835.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A9)(WSJ, 6/11/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 9, Indonesia’s Pres. Habibie offered to grant special status to East Timor in exchange for peace and signed a decree to release 10 jailed East Timor rebels.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 9, In Russia Yuri Yurkov, head of the State Statistics Committee, was arrested with 2 top aides for falsifying data to help corporations avoid taxes.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 10, A jury in Jacksonville, Fla. ordered Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp. to pay nearly $1 million to the family of Roland Maddox, who had died after smoking Lucky Strikes for almost 50 years. A Florida appeals court later overturned the verdict.
(AP, 6/10/99)(AP, 6/10/08)
1998 Jun 10, The Wisconsin Supreme court ruled that taxpayer could be used to send poor children to private religious schools.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 10, It was reported that scientists had decoded the DNA sequence for Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 10, Belarus delayed a deadline for foreign diplomats to leave their residences to permit repairs following protests by diplomats.
(WSJ, 6/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 10, In France pilots agreed to end their 10-day strike after accepting shares in Air France in exchange for salary cuts.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 10, In Mexico 9 people were killed in Chiapas when the army tried to retake control of El Bosque. 52 people were arrested.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 10, The Russian market fell for a 5th straight day and the government failed to sell enough treasury bills to cover its short-term debt.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 10, In Sudan three aid workers were killed when gunmen opened fire on a UN relief convoy.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 10-Jul 12, The World Cup soccer championships were scheduled to be held in France.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A22)
1998 Jun 11, Mitsubishi Motors agreed to pay $34 million to settle allegations that women on the assembly line at its Illinois factory were groped and insulted and that managers did nothing to stop it.
(AP, 6/11/99)
1998 Jun 11, In Burundi military leader Pierre Buyoya was sworn in as president by the democratically elected parliament.
(SFC, 6/12/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 11, China ordered officials in its nearly 1 million villages to open their activities to public scrutiny.
(SFC, 6/12/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 11, Fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia was reported 50 miles from Eritrea’s Red Sea port of Assab.
(SFC, 6/12/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 11, Between 1,500 and 2,000 foreigners, mostly Portuguese, were evacuated by ship from the capital of Guinea-Bissau, where civil war raged.
(AP, 6/11/03)
1998 Jun 11, Pakistan announced a moratorium on nuclear tests and offered to enter into bilateral talks with India.
(WSJ, 6/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 12, In California Christina Marie Williams (13) was reported missing in the Monterey area and was feared to have been kidnapped. In Jan 1999 the remains of a young woman were found in the area that she was last seen on Fort Ord. Her remains were identified with dental records. On April 6, 2017 authorities identified Charles Allen Holifield (56), a sex offender serving a 25-year sentence at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, as the girl’s murderer.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.A1)(SFC, 1/14/99, p.A1)(SFC, 1/15/99, p.A1)(SFC, 4/7/17, p.D1)
1998 Jun 12, Strikes at GM plants in Flint idled 13 assembly plants and dozens of parts operations and 50,900 workers in the US, Canada and Mexico.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 12, A jury in Hattiesburg, Miss., convicted 17-year-old Luke Woodham of killing two students and wounding seven others at Pearl High School.
(AP, 6/12/99)
1998 Jun 12, Space shuttle Discovery returned to Earth, bringing home the last American to live aboard Mir and closing out three years of U.S.-Russian cooperation aboard the aging space station.
(AP, 6/12/99)
1998 Jun 12, Leo Buscaglia, columnist, lecturer and social philosopher known as "Dr. Hug," died at age 74.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A21)
1998 Jun 12, In China torrential rains began in Hunan province and led to the death of at least 40 people. Over 100,000 homes were destroyed.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 12, The G8 industrialized nations agreed to halt all loans to India and Pakistan except those for humanitarian purposes.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 12, In Guinea-Bissau some 200 people drowned as they fled the country by boat.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 12, In France Jean-Paul Guerlain (63), renowned perfumer, was shot and his mansion was plundered when some 12 armed and masked men invaded his home.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 12, In Nigeria security forces broke up a planned mass protest organized to mark the 5-year anniversary of the annulment of the last presidential elections.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 13, President Clinton visited Thurston High School in Springfield, Ore., where two students were killed and 22 others wounded the previous month.
(AP, 6/13/99)
1998 Jun 13, Civil rights leaders and politicians called for an end to racial violence as hundreds of mourners gathered in Jasper, Texas, for the funeral of James Byrd Jr., a black man who police said was brutally killed by white supremacists.
(AP, 6/13/99)
1998 Jun 13, It was reported that in Madagascar a grasshopper swarm, 7 miles long, had spread into the capital city of Antananarivo.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A7)
1998 Jun 13, It was reported that the Old World Screwworm had broken out in Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain. 19 people were reported infected by the disease in which carnivorous larvae hatch from eggs laid in broken skin.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A7)
1998 Jun 13, In London Reg Smythe, creator of the Andy Capp comic strip, died at age 81.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A22)
1998 Jun 13, In Israel Nissim Aloni, playwright, died at age 72. His work included "Most Cruel the King" (1953); "The Emperor’s New Clothes" (1961), "The American Princess" (1963); "The Revolution and the Chicken" (1964); "The Bride and the Butterfly Hunter" (1967); "Napoleon, Dead or Alive" (1970); and "The Gypsies of Jaffa" (1971).
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A22)
1998 Jun 13, In Bihar state, India, Brij Bihari Prasad, a former state minister in the Rashtriya Janata Party, was killed along with his guard.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 14, The Chicago Bulls clinched their sixth NBA championship, defeating the Utah Jazz in game six played in Salt Lake City, 87-86.
(AP, 6/14/03)
1998 Jun 14, Tori Murden of Louisville, Ky., departed from North Carolina in a 23-foot fiberglass rowboat in an attempt to become the first woman to row across the Atlantic.
(SFC, 8/12/98, p.A8)
1998 cJun 14, The Boston Globe asked for the resignation of columnist Patricia Smith due to fabricated quotations and people in her column. The New Republic recently reported that writer Stephen Glass had fabricated parts or all of 27 of 41 articles.
(SFC, 6/29/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 14, In NYC Antoine Reid, a squeegee man, was allegedly shot by off-duty officer Michael Meyer after soaping Meyer’s car window. Reid later filed a $100 million suit against the city and the police dept.
(SFC, 6/29/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 14, Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to halt the use of air strikes in their border war.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 14, In Guinea-Bissau the fighting intensified and thousands of people sought escape routes.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 14, In Bihar state, India, Ajit Kumar Sarkar was the 2nd legislator in 2 days to be killed by gunmen. Two Sarkar supporters were also killed.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 14, In Kosovo the fighting intensified as Serbs launched 500 grenades into villages in western Kosovo.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/15/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 15, The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that state prison inmates are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
(AP, 6/15/99)
1998 Jun 15, In Richmond, Virginia, Quinshawn Booker (14) fired 8-9 rounds from a .32 caliber semiautomatic pistol at Armstrong High School and wounded a coach and a volunteer aide.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 15, US F-16 fighter jets took off as part of a 13-nation, 85 warplane NATO show of force over Albania and Macedonia. Meanwhile Serb forces attacked 4 Kosovo villages with grenades and helicopter gunships and began sealing off the border to Albania.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/15/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/16/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B2)(AP, 6/15/99)
1998 Jun 15, In Indonesia Habibie replaced the attorney general, a Suharto appointee, with Major Gen’l. Andi Muhammad Galib, chief of the military’s law office and chief auditor.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 15, In Nigeria nine prominent political prisoners were released.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 16, The Detroit Red Wings took home the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive year after completing a sweep of the Washington Capitals with a 4-1 victory in game four.
(AP, 6/16/03)
1998 Jun 16, A woman (40) in Florida gave birth to a baby boy, named Sean, shown live on the Internet.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 16, Massachusetts' highest court cleared the way for Louise Woodward to return home to England, upholding a judge's ruling that freed the au pair convicted of killing a baby.
(AP, 6/16/99)
1998 Jun 16, In Afghanistan the Taliban ordered the closing of over 100 private schools that had been educating girls. Schools would not be allowed to teach girls older than 8 and lessons were to be limited to the Koran.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.C16)
1998 Jun 16, North Korea admitted that it had sold missiles abroad and would continue to do so to generate needed income.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 16, In South Korea Chung Ju-Yung (83), a wealthy industrialist, led 500 cattle in 50 open trucks, his Operation Rawhide, across the border to North Korea. He recently published an autobiography.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.C16)
1998 Jun 16, Senegal fired artillery into Guinea-Bissau to support Pres. Vieira.
(WSJ, 6/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 16, In Serbia Pres. Milosevic agreed to allow monitors into Kosovo and to begin talks with Kosovo Albanian leaders, but not to withdraw his military forces until "terrorist activities subside."
(WSJ, 6/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 17, The Pritzker Architecture Prize was awarded to Italian architect Renzo Piano (60).
(USAT, 6/17/98, p.1D)
1998 Jun 17, The US Senate snuffed out Congress' first bill to curb teen smoking, with Democrats accusing Republicans of being owned by Big Tobacco, and Republicans charging the measure was laden with too many amendments.
(AP, 6/17/03)
1998 Jun 17, Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto welcomed a rare U.S. intervention in currency markets to support the sinking yen. The US and Japan bought billions of dollars worth of yen to stabilize the Japanese currency.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.A1) (AP, 6/17/99)
1998 Jun 17, Scientists announced the 3-D structure of the key protein that the HIV virus uses to unlock and enter cells.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 17, In Albania representatives of 5 Kosovo political parties met in Tirana and announced plans to organize defenses against the Serbian anti-insurgency campaign.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B2)
1998 Jun 17, In Cairo Sheik Mohammed Sharawi died at age 87. The popular cleric lectured on Egyptian TV and his teachings were widely acclaimed. He supported female circumcision and ruled that women should not be appointed to top government positions or become judges.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B6)
1998 Jun 17, In Israel Nahum Manbar, an Israeli businessman, was convicted of endangering security through the sale of $16 million in information and chemical weapons components to Iran. Manbar was sentenced to 16 years in July 1998 for selling materials to make nerve and mustard gas to Iran but insisted he acted with the approval of the Israeli authorities. He had been arrested in March the previous year. He was released from jail in 2011.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.A20)(AFP, 10/31/11)
1998 Jun 17, Andrei Kozlenok, a diamond merchant, was extradited from Greece to Russia, on charges of stealing $180 million in gold and gems from the Russian government in 1992. Kozlenok used the money to set up shop in SF and then moved to Belgium to avoid extradition.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B1)
1998 Jun 17, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin named Anatoly Chubais as Russia’s chief liaison to the IMF. Chubais was also reinstated as a deputy premier.
(WSJ, 6/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 17, In Rwanda Hutu rebels killed at least 25 and wounded 62 Tutsis at a camp for displaced people north of Kigali.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.A20)
1998 Jun 17, In Paramaribo, Suriname, four million acres of rain forest was dedicated as the Suriname Wilderness Nature Reserve.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.A20)
1998 Jun 17, Serb troops killed at least 10 Albanians they said were trying to cross the border into Kosovo.
(WSJ, 6/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 18, President Clinton appointed UN ambassador Bill Richardson to replace Energy Secretary Federico Pena and named Bosnian peace architect and diplomatic troubleshooter Richard Holbrooke as the new representative to the United Nations. The Holbrooke nomination was held up for a year because of ethics questions.
(AP, 6/18/03)
1998 Jun 18, Smoking was banned in SF public parks and recreation centers, but the larger city parks were exempt.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 18, In Portage, Ind., a Chicago-bound commuter train struck a truck and dislodged a steel coil that crashed into the first train car and crushed 3 people to death.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A3)(AP, 6/18/99)
1998 Jun 18, In North Carolina an Amtrak train crashed into a tractor-trailer and killed the driver. Ten others were injured.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 18, China formally declared it new housing policy that eliminated the right of workers to cost-free apartments by the end of the year.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 18, In Nigeria six more political detainees were released.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B7)
1998 Jun 18, In Puerto Rico fearing loss of their jobs 6,400 workers of Telefonica went on strike and began cutting telephone cables.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A2)(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 19, A study published in the British medical journal The Lancet said smoking more than doubles the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
(AP, 6/19/03)
1998 Jun 19, Pope John Paul II began his third visit to Austria for 3 days.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.B3)(AP, 6/19/99)
1998 Jun 19, In India suspected separatist guerrillas shot and killed 25 male members of 2 Hindu wedding parties in Jammu and Kashmir state.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.D1)
1998 Jun 19, In Mexico the 37th annual US-Mexico Parliamentary Session opened.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 19, Switzerland's three biggest banks offered $600 million to settle claims they'd stolen the assets of Holocaust victims; outraged Jewish leaders called the offer insultingly low.
(AP, 6/19/99)
1998 Jun 19, In Yemen a 40% price increase for gasoline, kerosene and cooking gas led to protests for the next 4 days.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 20, On the eve of Father's Day, President Clinton used his weekly radio address to announce the release of the first wave of almost $60 million in prostate cancer research grants.
(AP, 6/20/08)
1998 Jun 20, Hanna “Kali" Weynerowska (100), a San Francisco-based Polish artist, died. In 1988 she had bequeathed 78 artworks to a Polish government museum in Switzerland, but they soon disappeared. In 2014 75 of her original works were found in Santa Rosa and shipped to Rapperswil, Switzerland.
(SFC, 4/12/14, p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/mzjt2v3)
1998 Jun 20, Seven people were killed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike when a Greyhound bus crashed into a tractor-trailer parked on the shoulder. At least 18 people were hurt. The driver was on his last run before retirement. He was among the dead with his wife and boy that they took care of.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A10)(WSJ, 6/22/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 20, In Belarus ambassadors of the EU nations announced that they would leave the country to protest a government move barring them from their homes.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 20, Iran reversed its opposition to a UN plan, passed the previous day, permitting Iraq to spend $300 million of revenues from the oil-for-food program to buy spare parts to rebuild its oil industry.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A25)
1998 Jun 20, Suekiku Miyanaga (107), Japan’s oldest person, died in Osumi.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A25)
1998 Jun 20, In Kosovo 3 Serbian police were killed and four were held by the Kosovo separatist army during fighting in the Decani area..
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A25)
1998 Jun 21, In the soccer World Cup Iran knocked out the US team 2-1.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 21, The Chechen security chief, Lecha Khulygov, and a guerrilla commander, Vakha Dzhafarov, fatally shot each other in an argument over a demonstration by rebel supporters.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 21, In Colombia, former Bogota Mayor Andres Pastrana was elected president, defeating Horacio Serpa, a key player in the scandal-tainted administration of President Ernesto Samper.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A8)(AP, 6/21/08)
1998 Jun 21, In the Czech Republic the Social Democrats placed first in parliamentary elections.
(WSJ, 6/22/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 21, In England the Druids were allowed to celebrate the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 21, In India a deal was signed in New Delhi with Russia to build power plants for two nuclear reactors.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 21, The Israeli Cabinet approved a plan to expand Jerusalem’s control far beyond its current borders, despite protests from Palestinians and warnings from Washington that the move was "provocative."
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 21, In Moscow a violent storm left 6 dead and heavy damage to the Bolshoi Theater and the wall of the Kremlin.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 21, Elections were held in Togo. When returns showed Pres. Eyadama trailing one of his generals took over the ballot counting. Soldiers killed hundreds. Vote counting stopped, and Eyadema was declared winner.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A12)(SFC, 7/24/99, p.C1)(AP, 6/1/03)
1998 Jun 22, The US Supreme Court made it much harder for students who are sexually harassed by teachers to hold school districts financially responsible, ruling 5-4 that a key anti-bias law applies only if administrators know about the misconduct.
1998 Jun 22, In Britain legislators voted to lower the age of consent for homosexual acts to 16, the norm in the EU.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 22, Hong Kong suspended government land sales to bolster prices and announced a stimulus package to revive the economy.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 22, South Korea captured a small North Korean submarine that was entangled in a fishing net. The sub sank while under tow and 9 crewmen were later found dead with rifle wounds to the head.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A9)(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A13)(WSJ, 6/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 22, In Kosovo ethnic Albanians kidnapped 3 Serbs and took over the mine pit at Belacevac.
(WSJ, 6/23/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 22, In Yemen police fired on protestors reacting to fuel price increases. At least one person was killed in Taiz and 3 were killed in Sanaa. Protestors called for the resignation of Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 23, President Clinton said the reported discovery of traces of deadly nerve gas on an Iraqi missile warhead gave the United States new ammunition to maintain tough U.N. sanctions against the Baghdad government.
(AP, 6/23/99)
1998 Jun 23, US Congressional leaders approved a plan to reduce the period for investment capital gains to 12 months from 18 and the rate from 20% to 15%. It was planned to be retroactive to Jan 1, 1998.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 23, The US FDA announced the approval of rifapentine, a drug to treat pulmonary TB.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 23, In Chicago some 4,500 got sick from an outbreak of E. coli possibly due to contaminated potato salad at Iwan’s Deli in Orland Park.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 23, In Georgia a virulent E. coli, O157:H7, sickened at least 6 children after playing in a Marietta water park.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 23, Laboratory grown adult nerve cells were implanted into a human brain for the first time to treat a stroke at the Univ. of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
(SFC, 7/2/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 23, In Florida some 260 fires raged across the state.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 23, Maureen O’Sullivan (b.1911), film actress, died in Scottsdale, Arizona. She had starred as Jane in the Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.C2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maureen_O%27Sullivan)
1998 Jun 23, Pakistan and India agreed to negotiations in Sri Lanka. Their prime ministers would meet during a South Asian summit starting Jul 29.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 23, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin called for a package of emergency fiscal measures to bolster the economy and threatened to dissolve parliament if the measures were not quickly passed.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 23, In Spain a Boeing 727 with 131 people was hijacked and diverted to Valencia.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 23, In Yemen police killed 6 people blocking fuel trucks in the 5th day of violence. The government ordered increased fuel prices to pay off an $80 million IMF loan.
(WSJ, 6/24/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 24, The Clinton administration claimed that Syria has an active chemical weapons program and has armed missiles with the nerve gas sarin.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 24, President Clinton left on a nine-day visit to China amid a swirl of controversy over his policy toward the Beijing government.
(WSJ, 6/25/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/24/99)
1998 Jun 24, AT&T Corp. struck a deal to buy cable television giant Tele-Communications Inc. for $31.7 billion dollars. Combined sales were estimated to be $60 billion.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A1) (AP, 6/24/99)
1998 Jun 24, In China Wang Youcai and other dissidents announced plans to form the China Democracy Party and applied to officials in Zhejiang province for permission to set up a local committee. The attempt was crushed six months later with leading organizers sentenced to up to 13 years in prison. Wu Yilong, a student in the master's program in literature at Zhejiang University, was one of dozens of dissidents detained after attempting to register the China Democracy Party. Wu Yilong (43) was released on Sep 13, 2010.
(SFC, 2/05/04, p.A3)(AP, 9/15/10)
1998 Jun 24, In Colombia rebels seized Ed Leonard of the Terramundo Drilling Co. of Canada. They asked for a ransom of $2 million from the Grey Star Resources Co., which had hired Terramundo for exploratory work.
(SFC, 11/7/98, p.C1)
1998 Jun 24, In Hungary the Young Democrats Party and the Smallholders Party agreed to form the next government.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 24, In Northern Ireland a car bomb exploded in Newtownhamilton and injured a 13-year-old boy. The INLA claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 24, In Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Rossello signed a law completed the $1.9 billion sale of Telefonica to a US consortium led by GTE.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 24, In Togo thousands protested the declared victory of Pres. Gngassigbe Eyadema, who has ruled over the last 31 years. EU observers declared that the electoral process was flawed.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 24, In Turkey the constitutional court ruled that adultery was no longer a crime for women. Adultery, legal for men for a long time, had been punishable for women with up to 3 years in prison.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 25, Pres. Clinton landed in Xian, China. In Zhejiang province democracy activists announced the formation of the China Democracy Party. Some of the organizers were later arrested and jailed.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/13/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 25, The US Supreme Court rejected a 1997 line-item veto law as unconstitutional, and ruled that those infected with HIV are protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act.
(AP, 6/25/99)
1998 Jun 25, Susan McDougal was ordered free by a federal judge in Little Rock, who reduced her sentence to the time already served.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 25, The US Supreme Court struck down the line-tem veto. It held that the law violated the constitutional requirement that legislation be passed by both houses and presented in its entirety to the president.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 25, The US Supreme Court ruled that "decency" can be considered in awarding federal arts grants.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 25, A planet, 1.9 times bigger than Jupiter, was reported found to be circling the small star Gliese 876, 15 light-years from Earth.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A5)
1998 Jun 25, On Kauai, Ha., a helicopter crash killed at least 5 of 6 people on Mount Waialeale.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 25, Albanian security personnel (SHIK) under CIA guidance arrested Shawki Salama Attiya, a Tirana cell forger. Over the next month they made a successful raids on more suspected members of the Egyptian Jihad terrorist organization. The suspected terrorists were turned over to anti-terrorist officials in Egypt, where they delivered forced confessions following torture.
(SFC, 8/13/98, p.A16)(WSJ, 11/20/01, p.A1)
1998 Jun 25, In Algeria Lounes Matoub (42), a popular singer and Berber patriot, was killed near Beni Douala. The Armed Islamic Group later claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)(SFC, 7/2/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 25, In Indonesia a revised IMF bailout deal was loaded with fuel and food subsidies for the nation’s poor.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 25, In Indonesia it was reported that two new tribes were found in the Mamberamo river area of Irian Jaya.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 25, In Northern Ireland voters chose members for the new 108-seat Northern Ireland Assembly. Parties committed to the peace settlement emerged as victors. Anti-agreement forces accounted for 29 of the 108 seats.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A12)(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A12)(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 25, Two Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon by a roadside bomb and seriously wounded 3. Meanwhile the government traded the corpses of 40 Lebanese guerrillas and the release of 60 Lebanese prisoners for the body of Itamar Ilya, a commando killed on Sep 5, 1997.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A16)
1998 Jun 25, Nigeria released 17 more political prisoners.
(WSJ, 6/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 25, Marek Papala (38), former national police chief, was killed in Warsaw as he stepped out of his car outside his home. He was scheduled to be liaison officer to the EU with efforts directed at organized crime. Some 300-400 organized gangs were operating in Poland. Polish officials accused Edward Mazur, who holds Polish and US citizenship, of enticing another man to shoot Papala for $40,000. Mazur faced murder charges in Poland in the shooting death of Papala. In 2006 Mazur remained in the US federal government's Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago pending an extradition hearing.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A14)(AP, 11/28/06)
1998 Jun 25, In Puerto Rico protestors planted bombs, smashed bank machines and burned telephone cables in reaction to the privatization of the phone company.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 25, In Romania the Senate voted to keep some 125 million secret police files locked away.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 25, In Russia a balcony collapsed at the Russian National Freestyle wrestling Competition in Nalchik and killed 22 people.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 25, The Vatican agreed to sign a joint declaration with the Lutheran Church on how humans receive God’s forgiveness and salvation.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 26, Pres. Clinton visited Beijing and chided China about its human rights record, but said Beijing and Washington must cooperated "for the future sake of the world."
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 26, The US agreed to modernize 10 helicopters for Colombia and to provide 6 new ones to fight drug traffickers.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 26, The US Supreme Court issued a landmark sexual harassment ruling, putting employers on notice that they can be held responsible for supervisors' misconduct even if they knew nothing about it.
(AP, 6/26/99)
1998 Jun 26, Hundreds rioted in eastern Algeria over the death of Lounes Matoub, a popular singer.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)
1998 Jun 26, In Israel some 1,500 marchers in Tel Aviv celebrated gay pride.
(SFEC, 7/20/98, p.A16)
1998 Jun 26, In the Ivory Coast Alioune Blondin Beye, a diplomat from Mali, crashed in a small plane near Abidjan. He had just met with Togo Pres. Gnassigbe Eyadema to support peace talks in Angola. Three other passengers were Koffi Adjovi of Togo, journalist Moktar Gueye of Senegal, and Baendegar Dessandre of Chad.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A18)
1998 Jun 26, In Norway a draft law was passed to set aside $58 million for Jewish survivors of Nazi death camps.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 26, In Taiwan summer camps were ordered to be closed and children under 14 barred from swimming pools to fight an intestinal virus that has recently killed 52 children.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 26, In Thailand four Pakistanis were reported to have been arrested in Bangkok. They were suspected of planning to assassinate US Ambassador William Itoh and to launch a terrorist strike against the US embassy.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 27, Pres. Clinton held a live news conference with Pres. Jiang Zemin in Beijing that was broadcast across China. President Clinton and President Jiang Zemin offered an uncensored airing of differences on human rights, freedom, trade and Tibet.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/27/99)
1998 Jun 27, In Florida Vicki Robinson (49) was killed in Tampa Bay in a plot hatched by her daughter, Valessa (15), boyfriend Adam William Davis (19) and friend Jon Whispel. In 2021 Davis, who had been sentenced to death, was re-sentenced to life in prison. Valessa served 13 years in prison. Whispel, was released from prison in 2019.
(https://murderpedia.org/male.D/d/davis-adam.htm)(Tribune Publ., 5/24/21)
1998 Jun 27, Heavy thunderstorms in the Northeast and Midwest left at least 5 people dead. The annual Ben & Jerry’s One World One Heart festival at Sugarbush, Vermont, was cancelled.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 27, In Burma soldiers of the Light Infantry Battalion 246 shot and killed 23 villagers in Kaeng Tawn. The dead included 7 children and 2 women.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 27, In Germany some 10,000 gays and lesbians took part in the 20th commemoration of Christopher St. Day with a march through Berlin.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A20)
1998 Jun 27, In East Timor Manuel Soares (21) was shot dead in Manatuto when troops opened fire to quell a clash between Pro-Indonesia and pro-independence supporters. Three EU envoys arrived on a fact-finding mission.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A20)
1998 Jun 27, In Malaysia the new $3.61 bil airport at Kuala Lumpur was scheduled to open. The new $2.25 billion int’l. airport covered 25,000 acres and was opened by King Tuanku Jaafar.
(WSJ, 8/30/96, p.B8B)(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 27, In southern Turkey a 6.3 earthquake around Adana and Ceyhan killed at least 144 people and injured about a 1,000.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A21)(WSJ, 6/29/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/4/98, p.A7)
1998 Jun 28, The Cincinnati Enquirer published an apology and agreed to pay Chiquita Brands Int’l. $10 million to avoid suit for articles critical of the company’s business. The articles were reportedly based on voice mails stolen from Chiquita. Chiquita is based in Cincinnati and is controlled by financier Carl H. Lindner Jr. Reporter Michael Gallagher was fired and later sued by Chiquita. His 18-page article alleged that Chiquita used life-threatening pesticides, had a Honduran Army raze a village to close a plantation, and that Colombian officials had been bribed to allow the shipment of drugs on its ships.
(SFC, 6/29/98, p.A4)(SFC, 7/3/98, p.A13)
1998 Jun 28, The 12th World AIDS Conference opened in Geneva with some 12,000 participants.
(SFC, 6/29/98, p.A1)(AP, 6/28/99)
1998 Jun 28, Storms in the US Midwest and East coast left 21 people dead.
(SFC, 6/29/98, p.A2)(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 28, Major Gen’l. Marion Carl (82), a WW II fighter pilot, was fatally shot at his home in southern Oregon during a robbery. Jesse Stuart Fanus (19) was later arrested for the murder. Fanus was convicted in March and a jury sentenced him to be executed in May, 1999.
(SFC, 7/6/98, p.A7)(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A3)
1998 Jun 28, In Puerto Rico the Greater Committee of Labor Organizations voted for a work stoppage over the sale of the state phone company.
(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 29, With negotiations on a new labor agreement at a standstill, the NBA announced that a lockout would be imposed at midnight.
(AP, 6/29/99)
1998 Jun 29, It was reported that Mike Corbin had begun manufacturing the single-seat Sparrow, 3-wheel vehicle in Hollister, Ca. The 960 pound electric vehicle was designed for a range of 60 miles on a single charge with a top speed of 60 mph. It was priced at $12,900.
(SFC, 6/29/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 29, Students at Peking University peppered President Clinton with polite but critical questions about America's human rights record, Taiwan policy and views on China in an exchange televised live across the vast nation. In Beijing US corporations announced major sales agreements with China worth nearly $2 billion.
(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A8)(AP, 6/29/08)
1998 Jun 29, Serbian troops opened a series of attacks in Kosovo in the mining town of Belacevac and Lapushnik. Albanian KLA rebels had taken over the huge open mine pit at Belacevac last week.
(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 30, A US fighter jet fired a missile at an Iraqi anti-aircraft site after the site’s radar locked on a British warplane.
(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 30, Officials confirmed that the remains of a Vietnam War serviceman buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery were identified as those of Air Force pilot Michael J. Blassie.
(AP, 6/29/99)
1998 Jun 30, Linda Tripp, whose tape-and-tell friendship with Monica Lewinsky spurred a White House crisis, spent six hours testifying before a grand jury in Washington.
(AP, 6/29/99)
1998 Jun 30, A federal judge halted enforcement of a new Florida law that imposed 5-year prison terms on doctors who perform a type of late-term abortion.
(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 30, Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani in Long Beach, Ca., ordered the activation of a stun belt (50,000 volts), fitted under the jail jumpsuit of defendant Ronnie Hawkins, for his repeated interruptions.
(SFC, 7/10/98, p.A3)(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A17)
1998 Jun 30, In NYC some 20,000 construction workers rallied to protest the city’s use of a nonunion contractor.
(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 30, In Geneva AIDS specialists from SF reported a patient infected with a strain of HIV resistant to the new anti-viral drugs.
(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 30, In Haiti Theodore Beaubrun, a leading comedian, died at age 79.
(SFC, 7/4/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 30, In Malaysia the new Kuala Lumpur Int’l. Airport (KLIA) began operations.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T3)(Econ, 2/7/09, p.35)
1998 Jun 30, Serbian forces recaptured the Kosovo coal mine at Belacevac.
(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 30, In the Philippines Joseph Estrada took his oath of office as the nation’s 13th president.
(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun, The first module of an int’l. space station, US funded and Russian-built, was to be launched at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. [it was postponed]
(SFC, 1/30/98, p.A7)
1998 Jun, At Kennedy airport newly elected Kampala, Uganda, mayor Nasser Ntge Sebaggala was arrested for lying to custom's agents, bringing in $108,000 in traveler's checks without declaring them and defrauding the BostonBank. He was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to 15 months in prison.
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.A12)
1998 Jun, Adrian Carrera Fuentes, former director of the Mexican Federal Judicial Police, was allowed to travel to the US to testify. In Houston he told a grand jury that he had collected nearly $2 million in drug bribes in 1993-1994 and turned the money over to Mario Ruiz Massieu, who fled Mexico in 1995.
(SFC, 7/15/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun, In England Dr. Harold F. Shipman came under suspicion of murder when former Preston Mayor Kathleen Grundy (81) was found dead and toxicologists later found that she'd been given a large dose of heroin. Her revised will arrived at a law firm on the same day with her $640,000 estate willed to Shipman. 14 other female patients were also suspected to have been murdered by Shipman. Shipman was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to 15 life sentences. In 2001 Shipman was suspected of having injected hundreds of elderly women with diamorphine over his 24-year career. In 2002 an investigation reported that Shipman had killed at least 215 people over 23 years.
(SFC, 12/9/99, p.C8)(SFC, 1/6/01, p.A1)(SFC, 7/20/02, p.A8)
1998 Jun, A US federal grand jury indicted Osama bin Laden on terrorist conspiracy charges. Prince Turki al Faisal of Saudi Arabia, chief of Saudi intelligence, negotiated with the Taliban in Kandahar, Afghanistan, for the ouster or custody for trial in Saudi Arabia of Osama bin Laden. Negotiations broke down after the Aug 7 US embassy bombings in Africa.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.A15)(SSFC, 9/30/01, p.A14)
1998 Jun, In Guinea-Bissau a rebellion was triggered by the dismissal of Brigadier Ansumane Mane. The top military commander was dismissed for allegedly running guns to separatist fighters in Senegal.
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A9)
1998 Jun, In Nicaragua a group of ex-Sandinistas called the Revolutionary Armed Forces ambushed a government army patrol in Matagalpa and killed 4 soldiers.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun, In South Africa four bombings occurred in the center of Cape Town and attributed to rival gangs.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T8)
1998 Jun, In Sri Lanka Pres. Kumaratunga ordered censorship on war reporting.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.B1)
1998 Jun, In Tibet 5 nuns at the Drapchi prison committed suicide in the face of Chinese torture. The nuns had been arrested for protesting China’s occupation of Tibet. They were tortured for refusing to sing patriotic songs.
(SFC, 10/6/00, p.A18)
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