- March 14
- In Northern Iran, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake occurs. Five people killed and 50 injured. Two thousand houses destroyed, 10,000 people left homeless. [19] [53]
- March 22
- 18th Golden Raspberry Awards: The Postman wins. [1]
- March 24
- The Jonesboro massacre: two young boys (aged 11 and 13 years) fire upon students at Westside Middle School while hidden in woodlands near the school. Four students and one teacher are killed, and ten are injured. [19]
- March 25
- In Balleny Islands Region, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake occurs. Believed to be the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in this area to date. [53]
- March 26
- Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria: 52 people are killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of 2. [19]
- March 27
- The US Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male sexual impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States. [19] [129]
- April 1
- Ukrainian serial killer Anatoly Onoprienko is sentenced to death for 52 murders. [19]
- April 5
- In Japan, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshu and costing about US$3.8 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world. [19]
- April 6
- Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of hitting India. [19]
- April 7
- Citicorp and Travelers Group announce plans to merge, creating the largest financial-services conglomerate in the world, Citigroup. [19]
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- April 8
- UNSCOM reports to the United Nations Security Council that Iraq's declaration on its biological weapons program is incomplete and inadequate. [19]
- A Force 5 tornado strikes the western portion of the Birmingham, Alabama area, killing 32. [19]
- April 10
- Eighteen hours after the end of the talks deadline, the Belfast Agreement is signed between the Irish and British governments and most Northern Ireland political parties, with the notable exception of the Democratic Unionist Party. [19] [141.62]
- April 12
- In Slovenia, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake occurs. Felt strongly throughout Slovenia, northeastern Italy, throughout Austria, and in parts of Croatia, Germany, and Hungary. [53]
- April 15
- Intel announces the 266 MHz Celeron processor with 32 kB Level 1 cache. The Celeron is a Pentium II processor with no secondary cache, making it cheaper and slightly less powerful, targeting home computer users. [4]
- April 16
- A Force 3 tornado passes through downtown Nashville, Tennessee - the first tornado in 11 years to directly hit a major city. An F5 tornado travels through rural portions south of Nashville. [19]
- April 22
- Disney's Animal Kingdom opens to the public at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. [5] [6]
- April 25
- A waste reservoir at the Los Frailes mine in Andalusia, Spain ruptures, discharging heavy metal waste into the Guadiamar River. The pollution threatens the sensitive ecosystem and endangered species of Doñana National Park, Spain's largest nature reserve, but is diverted into the Guadalquivir River. Up to 100 square km of farmland are ruined by the spill. [19]
- May 2
- The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the EU's monetary policy. [5]
- Dutch economist Wim Duisenberg is elected as the first president of the European Central Bank. [37]
- May 6
- Apple Computer introduces the iMac computer, with 233 MHz PowerPC G3 processor, 32 MB RAM, 4 GB hard drive, 15-inch monitor, for US$1300. [4]
- May 9
- Dana International, a singer from Israel, wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. [19]
- May 11
- India conducts three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including one thermonuclear device. [19]
- May 13
- India carries out two more nuclear tests at Pokhran. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India. [19]
- (to May 14) Riots directed against Chinese Indonesians break out in Indonesia. Indonesian natives destroy and burn Chinese Indonesian-owned properties and kill and rape more than 1,000 Chinese Indonesians. [19]
- May 15
- UNSCOM learns that an Iraqi delegation has travelled to Bucharest, to meet with scientists who can provide the country with missile guidance systems. [19]
- May 16
- First Global Street Party, with events in Czech Republic, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, USA, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, England. Total of 30 Reclaim The Streets events are held in 20 countries, on sections of public roads, by hundreds or thousands of people. [287.320]
- May 18
- The US Department of Justice and twenty state attorneys general file a lawsuit against Microsoft, charging the company with violations of the Sherman Act: exclusive dealing and unlawful tying, monopoly maintenance in the operating system market, and attempted monopoly of the browser market. [4]
- May 19
- The Galaxy IV communications satellite fails, leaving 80-90 percent of the world's newspagers without service. [19]
- May 21
- Suharto resigns after 32 years as President of Indonesia and his 7th consecutive re-election by the Indonesian Parliament (MPR). Suharto's hand-picked Vice President, B. J. Habibie, becomes Indonesia's third president. [19] [240.48]
- (to September 30) Expo 1998 is held in Lisbon, Portugal, with the title "Oceans, an Heritage for the Future". [19]
- Seagram Company of Canada announces it is buying the world's biggest music company, Polygram N-V, in a deal worth US$10.6 billion. [457]
- May 22
- Murray Gleeson is appointed Chief Justice of Australia, succeeding Sir Gerard Brennan. [19]
- In Central Bolivia, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake occurs. At least 105 people killed and 150 injured. Eighty percent of the buildings at Aiquile and seventy percent at Totora destroyed. [53]
- May 26
- At 23 years of age, Bear Grylls became the youngest British climber to scale the top of Mount Everest and back down. [19]
- May 28
- In response to a series of Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan explodes five nuclear devices of its own in the Chaghai hills of Baluchistan, prompting the United States, Japan and other nations to impose economic sanctions. [19]
- In Southern Xinjiang, China, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake occurs. Twenty-eight people injured, more than 2,000 buildings destroyed, an additional 3,000 damaged. [53]
- May 30
- Pakistan conducts a second nuclear explosion following its first test. [19]
- In the Afghanistan - Tajikistan border region, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake occurs. At least 4,000 people killed, many thousands injured and homeless. [19] [53]
- June 2
- The CIH virus is discovered in Taiwan. [19]
- June 3
- A German Federal Railway InterCityExpress high-speed train derails between Hannover and Hamburg, Germany, causing 101 deaths and 88 injuries. The train, ICE 884 "Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen", was traveling at 200 kilometres per hour when a wheel broke and it derailed and crashed into a bridge. [19] [37] [720.153]
- June 8
- President Sani Abacha of Nigeria dies of apparent heart failure. [19]
- June 13
- In Portales, New Mexico, USA a meteorite penetrates a barn roof. [521]
- June 25
- Microsoft releases the Windows 98 operting system. It features integrated Internet Explorer 4.0 Web browser, and Universal Serial Bus support. Code-name during development was Memphis. Total sales on the first day are 271,000 units. [4]
- June 27
- In Turkey, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurs. At least 145 people killed and more than 1,500 injured. At least six major buildings collapsed and about 17,000 houses destroyed. Felt in Cyprus, Israel and Syria. [53]
- German author Sibylle Lewitscharoff receives the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize for literature. [37]
- (month unknown)
- Heritage Rare Coin Galleries sells the Ed Trompeter US gold coin collection for $15 million in a private transaction, a record for a private transaction of coins. [764.1]
- A Sweden 1855 3-skilling banco stamp, error in yellow, only one known, sells for US$1.89 million in a private transaction, making it the world's most valuable postage stamp. [815.3]
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