WHAT HAPPENED IN 1998.
Look what happened the 1998.

The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide. (2. September 1998)

Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University. (4. September 1998)

Opening ceremony for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia is the first Asian country to host the games. (11. September 1998)

Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom. (14. September 1998)

With the landmark merger of WorldCom and MCI Communications completed the day prior, the new MCI WorldCom opens its doors for business. (15. September 1998)

ICANN is formed. (18. September 1998)

The Google internet search engine retrospectively claims this as its birthday. (27. September 1998)

Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is found tied to a fence after being savagely beaten by two young adults in Laramie, Wyoming. (7. October 1998)

A Lignes Aériennes Congolaises Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 41 people. (10. October 1998)

Eric Rudolph is charged with six bombings including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia. (14. October 1998)

Former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a warrant from Spain requesting his extradition on murder charges. (16. October 1998)

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a "land for peace" agreement. (23. October 1998)

Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission (24. October 1998)

An Air China jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan. (28. October 1998)

Apartheid: In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities. (29. October 1998)

Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space. (29. October 1998)

ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with the launch of STS-95 space shuttle mission. (29. October 1998)

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 tricked the hijacker into thinking that he is landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel. (29. October 1998)

Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, makes landfall in Honduras. (29. October 1998)

The Gothenburg nightclub fire in Sweden kills 63 and injures 200. (29. October 1998)