- July 24
- Russell Eugene Weston Junior bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire, killing two police officers. He is later ruled incompetent to stand trial. [19]
- July 25
- The United States Navy commissions the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and puts her into service. [19]
- 63 are sickened and four killed by arsenic in a festival in the town in Wakayama Prefecture in Japan; Masumi Hayashi is arrested for murder. [19]
- July 30
- The Disney Cruise Line launches its first cruise ship, the Disney Magic, from Port Canaveral, Florida. [60.407] [61.4] [62.393] [69]
- July 31
- The United Kingdom bans the importation of land mines. [19]
- August 4
- Near the coast of Ecuador, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurs. Few deaths and injuries, but widespread damage. [53]
- August 5
- Iraq officially suspends all cooperation with UNSCOM teams. [19]
vvv advertisement vvv
^^^ advertisement ^^^
- August 7
- In China the Yangtze River breaks through the main bank, following breaches of periphery levees in Jiayu County Baizhou Bay in recent days. The death toll exceeds 12,000, with many thousands more injured. [19]
- The bombings of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya kill 224 people and injure over 4,500; they are linked to terrorist Osama Bin Laden, an exile of Saudi Arabia. [19]
- August 8
- In Myanmar, a popular uprising against military rule is staged. [252.46]
- August 14
- Gary C. Evans, infamous in New York's Capital Region for killing five people, escapes police custody and kills himself by jumping off a bridge. [19]
- August 15
- The Real Irish Republican Army detonates a car bomb in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, killing 29 and injuring over 200. [19] [230.57]
- Apple Computer begins shipping the iMac to retail outlets in the US. Price is US$1299. 278,000 units are shipped in the first six weeks. [4]
- August 16
- Silk-Miller police murders: Australian police officers are murdered in Moorabbin, Victoria. [19]
- August 17
- Russia devalues the ruble. [430.68]
- US President Bill Clinton testifies before a grand jury, acknowledging that he had had an extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky. [129]
- August 19
- On the day of his 52nd birthday, U.S. President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He also admits before the nation that night in a nationally televised address that he "misled people" about his sexual affair with Lewinsky. [19]
- Russia defaults on the state short-term bonds, and devalues the ruble. (The ruble loses 70% of its value against U.S. dollar in the next six months. Several of the largest Russians banks collapse, and millions of people lose their savings.) [19]
- August 20
- The Supreme Court of Canada states Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval. [5] [19]
- The United States military launches cruise missile attacks against alleged Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum is destroyed in the attack. [19]
- August 26
- Scott Ritter resigns from UNSCOM, sharply criticizing the President Bill Clinton administration and the U.N. Security Council for not being vigorous enough about insisting that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction be destroyed. Ritter tells reporters that "Iraq is not disarming," "Iraq retains the capability to launch a chemical strike." [19]
- August 31
- North Korea reportedly launches Kwangmyongsong, its first satellite. Although North Korea reports that it reached stable orbit, NORAD is not able to confirm this assertion. [5] [19]
- September 2
- In Canada, pilots for Air Canada launch the first strike in the company's history. [19]
- A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliner carrying Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia, after taking off from New York City en-route to Geneva. All 229 people on board are killed. [19]
- A United Nations court finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide, marking the first time that the 1948 law banning genocide is enforced. [19]
- September 3
- In Somalia, the southern port of Kismayo is declared the capital of independent Jubaland under Muhamed Said Hersi. [19]
- September 4
- Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University in California, found Google. [5]
- September 7
- Google, Inc. is founded, in Menlo Park, California, by Stanford University Ph.D. candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin. [5] [19]
- September 9
- The United Nations General Assembly elects Didier Opertiri of Uruguay as president for its 53rd session. [19]
- September 14
- The GSPC is formed in Algeria, splitting off from the GIA over its policy of massacring civilians. [19]
- At the end of the day's stock market trading Microsoft stands as America's most valuable company, at US$261.1 billion. Microsoft and General Electric were both valued at over US$300 billion in July, but Microsoft survived a stock market plunge better, putting it on top. [4]
- September 15
- Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom. [19] (September 14 [5])
- September 18
- September 25
- (to September 28) Major creditors of Long-Term Capital Management, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund, after days of tough bargaining and some informal mediation by Federal Reserve officials, agree on terms of a re-capitalization. [19]
- September 27
- Germany holds parliamentary elections. A new coalition government is formed by the SPD (40.9 percent), and Buendnis 90/The Greens (6.7 percent) with leader Gerhard Schröder. [19] [37]
- September 29
- The U.S. Congress passes the "Iraq Liberation Act", which states that the United States wants to remove Saddam Hussein from power and replace the government with a democratic institution. [19]
- October 1
- Sky Digital television service launches in the United Kingdom. [19]
- October 3
- In Australia, John Howard's coalition government is re-elected for a second term. [19]
- October 7
- Oslo's Fornebu Airport closes in Norway. [19]
- The United States Congress passes the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which gives copyright holders 20 more years of copyright privilege on work they control. This effectively freezes the public domain to works created before 1923 in the United States. [19]
- October 8
- Oslo Airport (Gardermoen) opens in Norway. [19]
- In New York City, USA, Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries sells at auction a USA 1868 1-cent Franklin stamp, Z-grill, used, for US$935,000, a record for a USA postage stamp. [798.3] [957]
- October 11
- In Frankfurt am Main, Germany, writer Martin Walser receives the Peace Prize given by the German Bookdealers Association (Börsenverein des deutschen Buchhandels). [37]
- Edith Stein is canonized a saint by Pope John-Paul II. [37]
- October 12
- The Congress of the United States passes the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. [19]
- October 15
- American Airlines becomes the first airline to offer electronic ticketing in all 44 countries it serves. [19]
- October 16
- British police place General Augusto Pinochet under house arrest during his medical treatment in the United Kingdom. [19]
- October 17
- Elfriede Jelinek, a feminist writer in Austria, is presented with the Büchner-Prize from the German Academy for Language and Literature (Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung). [37]
- October 19
- Travelers Group changes its company name to Citigroup Incorporated. [228]
- October 21
- Konami releases the Metal Gear Solid video game for the PlayStation in the USA. 350,000 copies are sold in the first three days. Total sales over its lifetime: six million copies. [9]
- In Japan, Nintendo releases the Game Boy Color portable video game system. It features 2.1 MHz processor, and 32 kB RAM. It can display 56 colors simultaneously from a palette of 32,000. Size is 3 x 5.25 x 1 inches; weight is 6.7 ounces. [9]
- October 26
- Last day in office of Helmut Kohl as German Chancellor, ending his 16 years in office. [37]
- October 27
- New German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his liberal SPD-Green Coalition take office. [19] [37]
- October 28
- An Air China jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan. After landing the plane safely, Yuan Bin is arrested. [19]
- October 29
- In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities. [19]
- The NASA Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off with 77-year-old Senator John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space. [19] [129]
- While en route from Adana to Ankara, a Turkish Airlines flight with a crew of 6 and 33 passengers is hijacked by a Kurdish militant, who orders the pilot to fly to Switzerland. The plane instead lands in Ankara after the pilot tricks the hijacker into thinking that he was landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel. [19]
- Hurricane Mitch makes landfall in Central America, killing an estimated 18,000 people. [19]
- In Gothenburg, Sweden, two arsonists burn down a local Macedonian Society disco, killing 63 and injuring 200, most of them children of refugees. [19]
- October 31
- Iraq announces it will no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors. [19]
- November 1
- The European Court of Human Rights is instituted. [19]
- November 3
- Edmonton, Canada, and Wonju, South Korea are declared sister cities. [19]
- November 9
- In the largest civil settlement in United States history, a federal judge approves a US$1.03 billion settlement requiring dozens of brokerage houses (including Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Salomon Smith Barney) to pay investors who claim they were cheated in a wide-spread price-fixing scheme on the NASDAQ. [19]
- United Kingdom formally abolishes the death penalty. [19]
- November 12
- Daimler-Benz completes a merger with Chrysler Corporation to form Daimler-Chrysler. [19]
- November 13
- In Southern Iran, a magnitude 5.4 earthquake occurs. Five people killed, 105 injured and at least 850 houses damaged by the earthquake and landslides. [53]
- (to November 14) U.S. President Bill Clinton orders airstrikes on Iraq, then calls them off at the last minute when Iraq promises once again to "unconditionally" cooperate with UNSCOM. [19]
- November 20
- A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin" in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. [19]
- Galina Starovoitova, Russian legislator and democracy advocate, is assassinated in St. Petersburg, Russia. [19]
- The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched. [5]
- November 21
- In Hyvinkää, Finland, satanists Jarno Elg, Terhi Tervashonka and Mika Riska murder, cut up, and partly eat a 23-year-old man. [19]
- November 23
- According to UNSCOM, Iraq once again ends cooperation with the United Nations inspectors, alternately intimidating and withholding information from them. [19]
- Nintendo releases the Game Boy Color handheld video game system in the USA. Price is US$79.95. [9]
- November 24
- America Online announces an agreement to acquire Netscape Communications for US$4.2 billion in stock. [4]
- November 26
- Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Dáil Éireann, the Republic of Ireland's parliament. [19]
- Japan-China Joint Declaration On Building a Partnership of Friendship and Cooperation for Peace and Development. [19]
- November 27
- In Japan, Sega Enterprises releases the Dreamcast video game system. It features a 200 MHz 128-bit Hitachi SH-4 processor, special NEC graphics processing chip, built-in 56 kbps modem, Web browser, one controller, and CD-ROM drive for 1 GB capacity disks. Price is 29,800 Yen, about US$220. 101,490 units sell in the first week. About 10 million systems and 400 different games are shipped in the product's lifetime. [9]
- November 29
- In the Ceram Sea, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake occurs. [53]
- November 30
- Deutsche Bank announces a US$10 billion deal to buy Bankers Trust, thus creating the largest financial institution in the world. [19]
- December 1
- Exxon announces a US$73.7 billion deal to buy Mobil, thus creating Exxon-Mobil, the second-largest company on the planet by revenue. [19]
- December 4
- The second (Unity) module of the International Space Station is launched. [5]
- December 6
- Hugo Chávez Frías, former member of the Venezuelan military and politician, is elected President of Venezuela. [19]
- December 8
- Tadjena massacre in Algeria: 81 villagers are killed. [19]
- December 11
- Iraq announces that United Nations weapons inspections will no longer take place on Friday, the Muslim day of rest. Iraq also refuses to provide test data from the production of missiles and engines. [19]
- In Hindu Kush region, Afghanistan, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake occurs. [53]
- December 16
- U.S. President Bill Clinton orders American and British airstrikes on Iraq. UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq. [19]
- December 17
- Claudia Benton, of West University Place, Texas, is murdered in her house by Angel Maturino Resendiz (his third victim in his third incident). [19]
- December 19
- Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan announces that Iraq will no longer cooperate and declares that UNSCOM's "mission is over." [19]
- The US House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. [19] [129]
- December 21
- United Nations Security Council members France, Germany and Russia call for sanctions to end against Iraq. The three Security Council members also call for UNSCOM to either be disbanded or for its role to be recast. The U.S. says it will veto any such proposal. [19]
- December 26
- Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern "no-fly zones". [19]
- December 29
- Khmer Rouge leaders apologize for the genocide in Cambodia that claimed over one million in the 1970s. [19]
- December 31
- The first leap second since June 30, 1997 occurs. [19]
- In the eurozone, the currency rates of this day are fixed permanently. [19]
- Year
- US movie box office hits record $6.24 billion for the year. [1]
- Global mean surface temperature at highest point since accurate measurements in 1880. [58]
|