WHAT HAPPENED IN 1998.
Look what happened the 1998.

Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence. (1. January 1998)

The European Central Bank is established. (1. January 1998)

Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria: over 170 are killed in three remote villages. (4. January 1998)

A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction. (4. January 1998)

Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria. (11. January 1998)

Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning. (12. January 1998)

Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair on his website The Drudge Report. (17. January 1998)

During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands political reforms and the release of political prisoners while condemning US attempts to isolate the country. (25. January 1998)

A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth kills eight and injures 25 others. (25. January 1998)

Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. (26. January 1998)

In Birmingham, Alabama, a bomb explodes at an abortion clinic, killing one and severely wounding another. Serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph is suspected as the culprit. (29. January 1998)

Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral. (1. February 1998)

Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas, becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984. (3. February 1998)

Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States Military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy. (3. February 1998)

An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000. (4. February 1998)

Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport. (6. February 1998)

Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon such a law. (10. February 1998)

An oil tanker train collides with a freight train in Yaoundé, Cameroon, spilling fuel oil. One person scavenging the oil created a massive explosion which kills 120. (14. February 1998)

China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a road and residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan, killing all 196 aboard and seven more on the ground. (16. February 1998)

American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest gold-medalist at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. (20. February 1998)