1998 CE
Bill Clinton is impeached after the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal; the Kosovo War begins as tensions escalate between Yugoslav forces and ethnic Albanian separatists; the 1998 FIFA World Cup is held in France, with the host nation emerging as champions; the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam and Nariobi kill over 200 people and injure 4,000, in retaliation, the United States launched strikes on Afghanistan and Sudan; the Second Congo War in Africa begins, becoming the deadliest conflict since World War II; the Good Friday Agreement is signed, bringing a major step toward peace in Northern Ireland; Google is founded, ushering in a transformative era for internet search; Hurricane Mitch devastates Central America, killing over 11,000 people; and Frank Sinatra dies, marking the loss of one of the 20th century's most iconic entertainers.
In the 1990s, the 20th century.
1998 at a glance
- World population
- about 6.01 billion Our World in Data
- United States
- Bill Clinton (President) Wikipedia rev. 1371751893
- United Kingdom
- Elizabeth II (Queen); Tony Blair (Prime minister) Wikipedia rev. 1371751893
- Russia
- Boris Yeltsin (President); Viktor Chernomyrdin, then Sergey Kiriyenko, then Yevgeny Primakov (Prime minister) Wikipedia rev. 1371751893
- People's Republic of China
- Jiang Zemin (General Secretary; Paramount Leader); Jiang Zemin (President); Li Peng, then Zhu Rongji (Premier) Wikipedia rev. 1371751893
- France
- Jacques Chirac (President); Lionel Jospin (Prime minister) Wikipedia rev. 1371751893
- Federal Republic of Germany
- Roman Herzog (President); Helmut Kohl (Chancellor of reunified Germany); Gerhard Schröder (Chancellor) Wikipedia rev. 1371751893
- $1 in 1998
- $2.07 in September 2026 dollars BLS CPI-U
- Gallon of gas (U.S. average)
- $1.06 ($4.48 in September 2026) BLS
- Most weeks at No. 1 in 1998
- “The Boy Is Mine” by Brandy and Monica, 13 weeks Wikipedia rev. 1363062923
Who led every country in 1998 →Born in 1998? What it cost, who led, what was No. 1 →
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- 29 January – 1998 Sri Lankan local elections: Local government elections are held in Sri Lanka for 17 local authorities in the Jaffna Peninsula, in the north of the country.Sri Lankasource
- February 20 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein negotiates a deal with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, allowing weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad, preventing military action by the United States and United Kingdom.source
- March 11 – 1998 Danish general election: Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is re-elected.source
- March 21 – The European Union announces an arms embargo against Serbia and Montenegro.source
- March 29 – 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary electionUkrainesource
- March 30 – Hungary begins European Union accession talks.source
- March 31 – Quett Masire voluntarily steps down as President of Botswana after 18 years in office.source
- April 10 – Good Friday Agreement: An hour 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. This would mostly put an end to the conflict known as The Troubles.source
- May 21 – Suharto (elected 1967) resigns after 31 years as President of Indonesia, effectively ending the New Order period. It is his 7th consecutive re-election by the Indonesian Parliament (MPR). Suharto's hand-picked Vice President, B. J. Habibie, becomes Indonesia's third president.source
- 21 May – Fall of Suharto: Suharto resigns as president.Indonesiasource
- June 18 - President of the Republic Arpad Göncz asks Viktor Orban to form the new Government.Hungarysource
- June 30 – Philippine Vice President Joseph Estrada is sworn in as the 13th President of the Philippines.source
- July 17 – Rome Statute: at a conference in Rome, 120 countries vote to create a permanent International Criminal Court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.source
- August 1 – Puntland State leaders in Somalia declare the territory an autonomous state; the capital is the city of Garoowe in the Nugal region.source
- 29 September – The Kurdish civil war officially ends with the signing of the Washington agreement.Iraqsource
- October 1 – Europol is established when the Europol Convention signed by all of its member states comes into force.source
- October 3 – 1998 Australian federal election: John Howard's Liberal/National Coalition government is re-elected with a substantially reduced majority, defeating the Labor Party led by Kim Beazley.source
- October 13 - Rebels say they have taken the government stronghold of Kindu.Democratic Republic of the Congosource
- October 20 – Boris Yeltsin announces he will not seek reelection in 2000.source
- December 1 – Ireland formally relinquishes its territorial claim over Northern Ireland and recognizes the United Kingdom's sovereignty there.source
- December 6 – Hugo Chávez, politician and former officer of the Venezuelan army, is elected President of Venezuela.source
- 6 December – Presidential elections were held in the country.Gabonsource
- December 19 – The U.S. House of Representatives forwards articles of impeachment against President Clinton to the Senate, making him the second president to be impeached in U.S. history.source
- December 19 – Lewinsky scandal: President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives. (He was later acquitted.)United Statessource
- The UN and the Taliban movement sign an agreement paving the way for the return of UN international staff to Afghanistan.Afghanistansource
Conflict & Security
- January 15 – U.N. peacekeepers return Eastern Slavonia to Croatian control; 80,000 displaced Croatians begin returning home, while 60,000 Serbs begin vacating the region. The area will remain under UNPSG supervision until October.source
- February 12 - Fighting between Nigerian troops and the military government of Sierra Leone now reach Freetown.Sierra Leonesource
- February 21 – King Hussein of Jordan imposes martial law in Ma'an to quell growing pro-Iraqi demonstrations.source
- February 28 – A massacre in Likoshane, FR Yugoslavia starts the Kosovo War.source
- April 17 – 1998 Australian waterfront dispute: Patrick Stevedores fires all 1,400 employees.source
- April 23 – The Yugoslav Army ambushes a group of Kosovo Liberation Army fighters attempting to smuggle weapons from Albania into Kosovo, killing 19.source
- May 5 - Congolese leader, Denis Sassou Nguesso, visits Angola for the second time since he overthrew the former president with the help of Angolan troops.Republic of the Congosource
- May 6 – A large Eritrean mechanized force enters Badme in Tigray Region, Ethiopia, resulting in the Eritrean–Ethiopian War.source
- May 13–14 – Riots directed against Chinese Indonesians break out in Indonesia, killing around 1,000 people. Maria Catarina Sumarsih holds Prabowo Subianto the responsibility for being involved in a series of human rights abuses during the riot.source
- May 15 – Argentina expels seven Iranian diplomats over their connections to the 1994 AMIA bombing.source
- May 19 – The wreck of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, sunk during the Battle of Midway in 1942, is found near Midway Atoll by a team led by former US Navy officer Robert D. Ballard.source
- May 28 – Nuclear testing: In response to a series of Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan explodes five nuclear devices of its own in the Chagai hills of Baluchistan, codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.source
- June 7 – Former Brigadier-General Ansumane Mané seizes control over military barracks in Bissau, marking the beginning of the Guinea-Bissau Civil War (1998–99).source
- June 10 – The Organisation of African Unity passes a resolution which states that its members will no longer comply with punitive sanctions applied by the UN Security Council against Libya.source
- 26 June – United Nations Security Council resolution 1177 was adopted unanimously and condemned the outbreak of war between the country and Ethiopia and demanded an immediate ceasefire in their border dispute.Eritreasource
- July 24 – Russell Eugene Weston Jr. enters the United States Capitol Building and opens fire, killing two members of the United States Capitol Police, Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson.source
- August 4 – The Second Congo War begins; 5.4 million people die before it ends in 2003, making it the bloodiest war, to date, since World War II.source
- August 7 – 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: 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.source
- August 8 – Afghan Civil War: The Taliban takes control of Mazar-i-Sharif.source
- August 10 – Voters in Nevis narrowly reject an independence referendum.source
- August 10 - Military experts from Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania are due in Kinshasa later this week to investigate allegations of Rwandan and Ugandan troops being sent across the border.Namibiasource
- August 29 - The rebels are reported to have evacuated the port city of Matadi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Angolan troops are reported to have arrived supporting Kabila without fighting in the city.Angolasource
- September 2 – 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.source
- September 5 – The Government of North Korea adopts a military dictatorship on its 50th anniversary. The constitution is amended, and the late Kim Il Sung is enshrined as the eternal President.source
- September 12 and 13 - 1998 Bosnian general election took place.Bosnia and Herzegovinasource
- September 14 - Failed coup attempt in Albania following the death of Azem Hajdari, a key leader of the Democratic Party of Albaniasource
- September 17 – Basque conflict: Basque Homeland and Liberty reaches a ceasefire agreement with the government of Spain, the second such agreement in two years.source
- September 18 – The United Nations condemns Libya, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for breaches against the UN's air embargo against Libya.Sudansource
- September 24 – Iranian President Mohammad Khatami retracts a fatwa against Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie that was in force since 1989 stating that the Iranian government will "neither support nor hinder assassination operations on Rushdie".source
- The rebels gain control over Goma, Kabila's home area.Democratic Republic of the Congosource
- December 14 – The Yugoslav Army ambushes a column of 140 Kosovo Liberation Army militants attempting to smuggle arms from Albania into Kosovo, killing 36.source
- December 29 – The Khmer Rouge's leaders apologize for the post-Vietnam War genocide in Cambodia that killed more than one million people in the 1970s.source
Exploration & Expansion
- March 23 - President Bill Clinton visits GhanaGhanasource
- Bill Clinton makes the first visit to South Africa by a U.S. president.source
- June 27 – Kuala Lumpur International Airport officially opens, becoming the new international gateway into Malaysia.source
- 27 June – Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang was officially opened as the main international airport in Malaysia, replacing Subang International Airport in Subang.Malaysiasource
- Libyan planes fly to DRC. The government of Libya says it is to evacuate Arab families who went to the Republic of the Congo from DRC.Democratic Republic of the Congosource
- September 19 - Kabila leaves Tripoli after a visit that violated the UN's embargo on air links with Libya. Again, the United Nations condemns the two countries for this.Libyasource
- September 25 – Benoit Lecomte finishes his 72-day swim across the Atlantic Ocean, but uncertainty over the exact route and distance covered prevent him from being recognized as the first person to swim across the Atlantic.source
- 3–13 October – 1998 ACC Trophy is held in Nepal.Nepalsource
- The Australian cricket team begin their first successful tourPakistansource
- Debtor states to Romania in 1998Romaniasource
- Mount Kumgang Tourist Region opened for tourists.South Koreasource
Religion & Belief
- January 21 - Pope John Paul II begins a 5-day visit to Cuba; Fidel Castro releases 300 political prisoners in a gesture of goodwill.source
- 25 January - Miss Chinese International Pageant 1998Hong Kongsource
- 10 March – Rabbi Hayim David HaLevi (born 1924), Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv.Israelsource
- 28 April – Construction starts on the Umm al-Qura Mosque, one of the largest mosques in Iraq.Iraqsource
- 24 May – Taça de Portugal FinalPortugalsource
- 1 August – The establishment of Fisheries Agency of the Council of Agriculture.Taiwansource
- Karl Sigurbjörnsson became the thirteenth Bishop of Iceland, succeeding Ólafur Skúlason in the position.Icelandsource
- Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan: Tunku Naquiyuddin (Regent)Malaysiasource
- Super 12 - was won by the Canterbury Crusaders who defeated the Auckland Blues 20–13 in the final. Season summaryNew Zealandsource
Economy & Finance
- January 17 – The Drudge Report breaks the story about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky, which will lead to the House of Representatives' impeachment of him.source
- 11 February – J. Soedradjad Djiwandono is dismissed from his office of the governor of the Bank of Indonesia.Indonesiasource
- February 25 – Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government: The SCOTUS rules against the Neets'aii Gwich'in Indian nation, who had been levying taxes on non-natives in order to fund a local airstrip; the Court ruled that only the federal and state governments may collect taxes.source
- Boris Yeltsin dismisses Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin in "an effort to make economic reforms more energetic and effective."source
- 17 April – The Chile–Mexico Free Trade Agreement is signed.Chilesource
- 23 April – The snacks maker Aprilia is founded in Târgu Jiu.Romaniasource
- May 11 – The first euro coins are minted in Pessac, France. Because the final specifications for the coins are not finished, they will have to be melted and minted again in 1999.source
- May 18 – The Department of Justice files an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, alleging its Windows operating system unfairly takes market share from Netscape's Navigator.source
- June 1 – The European Central Bank is established, replacing the European Monetary Institute.source
- 24 July – The Ministry of Finance announced the acquisition of POSBank by DBS Bank in a push to consolidate Singapore's banks into stronger banks, as well as cater to changing consumer profiles. The acquisition will make DBS Bank the largest Southeast Asian bank and largest retail bank in Singapore with S$93 billion in assets. The POSBank brand will be retained too. The acquisition is completed on 16 November 1998.Singaporesource
- August 17 – Russia's government devalues the ruble, defaults on domestic debt, and declares a moratorium on repayment of foreign debt. This marks the beginning of 1998 Russian financial crisis.source
- 2 September – Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the deputy prime minister was sacked from fifth Mahathir cabinet and parliament.Malaysiasource
- September 25–28 – 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 to avoid a wider collapse in financial markets.source
- December 16 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President Bill Clinton orders airstrikes on Iraq. UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq.source
- December 31 – In the Eurozone, the currency rates of this day are fixed permanently.source
- 31 December – The exchange rate between the Luxembourgian franc and the ECU at close of trading is 40.3399. This rate is then fixed as the level at which Luxembourg would join the Euro.Luxembourgsource
- The European Small Business Alliance organization is formed.source
- Bolsa de Valores de Cabo Verde (Cape Verdean Stock Exchange) established in PraiaCape Verdesource
- Japan and other nations to impose economic sanctions.Pakistansource
Technology & Infrastructure
- 2 February - All ferry routes from Jordan Road Ferry Pier were open.Hong Kongsource
- February 20 – The Nashville Banner publishes its last issue; the newspaper ceases operation after 122 years.source
- April 5 – In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshū and costing about US$3.6 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.source
- 8 April – the headquarters of BALTRON minesweeping squadron was opened in Tallinn.Estoniasource
- May 11 – Pokhran-II (Operation Shakti): India conducts three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including one thermonuclear device.source
- May 15 – The Windows 98 operating system is released to manufacturing.source
- June 12 – The 1995 Stock is used on the Northern line in London.source
- 23 June – Bangabandhu Bridge, the longest multipurpose bridge in Bangladesh, is inaugurated by the prime minister.Bangladeshsource
- 10 July – Caracol Televisión and RCN Televisión are both launched as television networks.Colombiasource
- July 21–September 5 – 1998 Sydney water crisis: suspected contamination by the microscopic pathogens cryptosporidium and giardia of the water supply system of Greater Metropolitan Sydney, Australia.source
- 23 September – Helios Airways, the first independent, privately owned airline in the country, was founded.Cyprussource
- October 17 – 1998 Jesse pipeline explosion: An oil pipeline explosion in Jesse, Nigeria results in 1,082 deaths.source
- 26 October – 1998 Indonesia Open starts.Indonesiasource
- November 19 – Valve Corporation releases their first-person shooter video game Half-Life to critical acclaim. The game would be deemed one of the most influential titles of its genre, and one of the greatest video games of all time.source
- 24 November – The Yasser Arafat International Airport opens.Palestinesource
- Cabo Verde Express airline establishedCape Verdesource
Science & Discovery
- 1 January – Visit Nepal Year 1998 begins.Nepalsource
- January 6 – The Lunar Prospector spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon's poles.source
- February 6 – Washington National Airport is officially renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.source
- March 2 – Data sent from the Galileo probe indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.source
- March 5 – NASA announces that the Clementine probe orbiting the Moon has found enough water in polar craters to support a human colony and rocket fueling station.source
- March 13 – The High-Z Supernova Search Team becomes the first team to publish evidence that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.source
- May 19 – The Galaxy IV communications satellite fails, leaving 80–90% of the US's pagers without service.source
- May 30 – A second nuclear test, codenamed Chagai-II, is conducted and supervised by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC).source
- May 30 – The second nuclear test — Codename Chagai-II — was conducted and supervised by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) on May 30, 1998.Pakistansource
- In May 1998, UNESCO issued a technical report on the Endless Column, part of the Sculptural Ensemble of Constantin Brâncuși at Târgu Jiu, which is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This document is stated to have represented a milestone in the history of the Endless Column. On its provisions, the Romanian Government commissioned new tests on the Column's spine, which revealed that it was more suitable to preserve it than to replace it.Romaniasource
- June 22: 1998 Sokcho submarine incidentSouth Koreasource
- July 5 – Japan launches the probe Nozomi to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as an outer space-exploring nation.source
- 30 August – SES launches its eighth satellite, Astra 2A.Luxembourgsource
- 12 September – The Argentina national rugby union team plays the first match in its tour of Japan and Europe.Argentinasource
- 16 October - John Hume and David Trimble are announced as the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.Northern Irelandsource
- November 17 – Voyager 1 overtakes Pioneer 10 as the most distant man-made object from the Solar System, at a distance of 69.419 AU.source
- November 20 – A Russian Proton rocket is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying the first segment of the International Space Station, the 21-ton Zarya Module.source
- December 4 – The Space Shuttle Endeavour launches the first U.S.-built component to the International Space Station, the 25,600 lb Unity module on STS-88. It docks with Zarya two days later.source
- December 31 – The first leap second since June 30, 1997, occurs.source
- The Taliban movement gives Afghans 15 days to get rid of their television sets, video players, and satellite receivers. The Taliban has anyway put a stop to television broadcasts in the two-thirds of the country it controls. But Maulvi Qalamuddin, the Taliban deputy minister in charge of its Department for Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue, said people continued to watch video tapes and foreign television channels received via satellite dishes. He said watching video tapes and satellite television broadcasts was inadmissible in Islam, damaging to morals, and caused mental disorders.Afghanistansource
Health & Medicine
- January 12 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.source
- 20 January – Zevulun Hammer (born 1936), Israeli politician.Israelsource
- 27 February – Party political films are banned after amendments to the Films Act are passed. The amended law also toughens penalties for distribution of pornography, protects minors from pornography and expands 'films' to cover digital films. Censorship procedures will be streamlined into Films and Publications Department in MITA from 1 April.Singaporesource
- February 28 – A study led by Andrew Wakefield is published in The Lancet suggesting an alleged link between MMR vaccine and autism. Now known to be full of data manipulation, the study was instantly controversial and fueled the nascent anti-vaccination movement. Although subsequent large epidemiological research found no link between vaccines and autism, the study contributed – in the following years and decades – to a sharp drop in vaccination rates and the resurgence of measles in several countries. The study, fully retracted in 2010, was later characterised as "perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the 20th Century".source
- February – El Nino phenomenon begins.Malaysiasource
- April – First case of Kali River goonch attacks is reported.Nepalsource
- October 4 – The World Bank praises Costa Rica for its remarkable success in raising life expectancy and lowering infant mortality.source
- October 6 – Supreme Court votes, 8–5, to acquit former First Lady Imelda Marcos and to reverse a 1993 Sandiganbayan verdict convicting her of graft in connection with the construction of the Philippine General Hospital.Philippinessource
- United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed. Some 250 people were killed in the blasts and thousands more wounded. Osama bin Laden was the primary suspect.Afghanistansource
- The villages of Durba and Watsa in Orientale Province are the center of an outbreak of Marburg virus disease among gold mine workers.Democratic Republic of the Congosource
- In 1998, the state accounted for 61.3% of Romania's fresh meat output. This was the only branch of the food processing sector still dominated by the state in 1998.Romaniasource
Crime & Justice
- January 23 - P.W. Botha appears in front of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to answer for apartheid-era policies; he refers to the hearing as a "circus".source
- February 26 – Oprah is cleared of slander in an Amarillo court after a highly publicized court battle with Texas beef moguls.source
- 18 March – death penalty was abolished in Estonia.Estoniasource
- April 24 – Rwanda executes 22 Hutus, including Froduald Karamira, for their roles in the 1994 genocide.source
- 28 April – Men claiming to be members of the Peasant Self-Defense Group of Córdoba and Urabá (ACCU) kidnap 6 previously displaced men in Bello, Antioquia, killing at least 4 (the other 2 being 'disappeared').Colombiasource
- May 27 – The United States requests that El Salvador reopen its probe into the 1980 murders of U.S. missionaries.source
- July 12: North Korean Raider incident, one frogman found dead on a beach at Donghae on South Korea's east coast.South Koreasource
- July 17 – In Saint Petersburg, Nicholas II of Russia and his family are buried in St. Catherine Chapel, 80 years after he and his family were killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.source
- August 16 - The Hungarian Grand Prix is won by Michael Schumacher at the Hungaroring, Mogyoród, PestHungarysource
- September 3 - South Africa now says it supports the intervention of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Namibia, Zimbabwe and Angola, supporting Kabila.Angolasource
- September 3 - South Africa now says it supports the intervention of DRC by Namibia, Zimbabwe and Angola, supporting Kabila.Democratic Republic of the Congosource
- September 12 – The Cuban Five intelligence agents are arrested in Miami, and later convicted of espionage. The agents claim they were not spying against the United States Government but against the Cuban exile community in Miami.source
- Jean Kambanda is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Rwandan genocide.source
- October 10 – Indictment and arrest of Augusto Pinochet: General Augusto Pinochet, Chilean dictator from 1973 to 1990, is indicted for human rights violations he committed in Chile by Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzón. 6 days later British police place him under house arrest during his medical treatment in the UK. This is a leading case in the law of universal jurisdiction.source
- United States President Bill Clinton signed an executive order freezing the accounts of Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was also placed on the FBI most wanted list, and a reward of US$5 million was offered for his capture. An Italian army officer working for the United Nations is shot dead in Kabul. All foreigners working for the UN in Afghanistan are evacuated.Afghanistansource
- Kozhaniy Olen', a ska-punk band from Simferopol, is created.Ukrainesource
Disasters & Accidents
- February 2 - Cebu Pacific Flight 387 crashes into a mountain, this crash marked deadliest aviation accident in Philippines until 2000.source
- February 4 – Western Pacific, a low-cost airline with headquarters at Colorado Springs Airport, ceases operations.source
- February 16 – China Airlines Flight 676 crashes upon attempted landing at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, killing 203, the second-deadliest air crash in Taiwan.source
- 16 February – The crash of China Airlines Flight 676 in Taoyuan County (now Taoyuan City).Taiwansource
- 15 May – 1998 Klender mall fire: A fire in the Klender Mall due to looting leaves at least 200 people dead.Indonesiasource
- June 3 – Eschede train disaster: an Intercity-Express high-speed train derails between Hanover and Hamburg, Germany, causing 101 deaths.source
- June 8 - The DeBruce Grain Elevator explosion in Wichita, Kansas kills 7.source
- July 2 - Bombing in Aranykéz utca, Budapest kills 4 peopleHungarysource
- 6 July - The Kai Tak Airport, which was the international airport of Hong Kong since 1954 was closedHong Kongsource
- August 5 Korean Air Flight 8702South Koreasource
- August 27 - United Nations Security Council Resolution 1192 is issued, stating that the sanctions in place against Libya since 1992 would be lifted if a tentative plan to try the suspects in the bombings of Pan Am Flight 103 and UTA Flight 772 is followed through upon.Libyasource
- September 10 – At midnight, a shooting occurs aboard an Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine of the Russian Navy docked in the northern Russian port city of Severomorsk.source
- September 28: a TACV de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter (registered D4-CAX) crash-landed at Francisco Mendes International Airport in Praia, killing oneCape Verdesource
- December 11 – Thai Airways International Flight 261 crashes upon attempted landing at Surat Thani International Airport, killing 101, the second-deadliest air crash in Thailand.source
- In Taloqan, Afghanistan, Taliban aircraft dropped several cluster bombs on a market, killing nine people, including a foreign journalist.Afghanistansource
Climate & Environment
- February 4 – The 5.9 Mw Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With up to 4,000 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.source
- April 20 – The alleged date the German Red Army Faction (created 1970) is dissolved.source
- May 5–6 - landslides in Campania, Italy kill 161source
- May 30 – A 6.5 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.source
- 27 June – The 6.3 Mw Adana–Ceyhan earthquake shook the area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving at least 145 dead and 1,500–1,600 injured.Turkeysource
- July 17 – The 7.0 Mw Papua New Guinea earthquake shakes the region near Aitape with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). This submarine earthquake triggered a landslide that caused a destructive tsunami, leaving more than 2,100 dead and thousands injured.source
- August 7 – Yangtze River Floods: in China the Yangtze river breaks through the main bank; before this, from August 1–5, peripheral levees collapsed consecutively in Jiayu County Baizhou Bay. The death toll exceeds 12,000, with many thousands more injured.source
- September 9 – Keiko the orca, captured in 1979, is released back into the wild off the coast of Iceland.source
- September 9 - Kinshasa is facing serious food shortages due to the war.Democratic Republic of the Congosource
- October 15 – Sudanese refugees flee DRC, bringing themselves to a famine in southern Sudan.Sudansource
- October 29 – Hurricane Mitch makes landfall in Central America, killing an estimated 11,000 people.source
- 1 November – 1998 Indonesia Open ends.Indonesiasource
- 15 November – The country's presidential elections are won in a landslide by Blaise Compaoré.Burkina Fasosource
- 28 November – Floods devastate rice fields, pushing Bangladesh's annual food shortfall to 4.3 million tons. Over 1000 people reportedly died in the floods.Bangladeshsource
- The 5.9 Mw Afghanistan earthquake shook the northeastern portion of the country with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). This strike-slip shock left 2,323 dead and 818 injured in the Takhar Province. A 6.5 Mw earthquake affected the same region on May 30, claiming 4,000 livesAfghanistansource
- 1998 South Korea Flood is the 3rd deadliest in South Korean history.South Koreasource
Culture & Society
- February 7–22 – The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano, Japan.source
- February 12 - The Flag of the Philippines gets a minor redesign, changing its blue and red shades.source
- February 20 – Rudy Giuliani kicks off his "quality of life" campaign in New York City, focused on increasing civility and reducing nuisances like littering and reckless driving.source
- March 23 – The 70th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted for the 6th time by Billy Crystal, is held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Titanic wins 11 Oscars including Best Picture.source
- 26 April - 17th Hong Kong Film AwardsHong Kongsource
- May 26 – Australia holds its first National Sorry Day.source
- June 10–July 12 – The 1998 FIFA World Cup in France: France beats Brazil 3–0 in the FIFA World Cup Final.source
- 26 June – The Colombia national football team plays England during the group stage (G) of the 1998 FIFA World Cup in Lens, France. England beats Colombia 2 to 0, which knocks Colombia out of the running.Colombiasource
- July 1 - Republic day celebrations held across the country.Ghanasource
- September 4 – Google, Inc. is founded in Menlo Park, California, by Stanford University PhD candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin.source
- October 18 - Local elections in HungaryHungarysource
- November 3 – South Carolina voters repeal the state's 103-year-old constitutional ban on interracial marriage, making Alabama the last U.S. state with such a ban in place.source
- November 24 – A declassified report by Swiss International Olympic Committee official Marc Hodler reveals that bribes had been used to bring the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City during bidding process in 1995. The IOC, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, the United States Olympic Committee and the United States Department of Justice immediately launch an investigation into the scandal.source
- CS Mindelense won the Cape Verdean Football ChampionshipCape Verdesource
- The University of Diyala is established.Iraqsource
- 6–20 December – Nepal won four total medals – one silver and three bronzes at the 1998 Asian Games.Nepalsource
- 4 to 11 October – The 1998 UCI Road World Championships took place in Valkenburg aan de Geul.Netherlandssource
Births
- January 23 – XXXTentacion, American rapper (died 2018)source
- 26 January – Bimal Gharti Magar, footballerNepalsource
- January 31 – Bradie Tennell, American figure skatersource
- February 15 – George Russell, British racing driversource
- February 19 – Chappell Roan, American singer and songwritersource
- 25 February – Rizky Febian, singer-songwriter, actor, TV presenter.Indonesiasource
- May 5 – Aryna Sabalenka, Belarusian tennis playersource
- May 6 – Luigi Mangione, perpetrator of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompsonsource
- May 7 – Maryna Piddubna, Paralympic swimmerUkrainesource
- August 9 – Panagiotis Retsos, Greek footballerGreecesource
- August 12 – Stefanos Tsitsipas, Greek tennis playersource
- August 18 – Nick Fuentes, American far-right political commentatorsource
- August 18 – Tenshin Nasukawa, Japanese kickboxer and mixed martial artistsource
- September 18 – Christian Pulisic, American footballersource
- September 21 – Tadej Pogačar, Slovenian cyclistsource
- October 7 – Trent Alexander-Arnold, English footballersource
- November 5 – Takehiro Tomiyasu, Japanese footballersource
- December 2 – Juice Wrld, American rapper and singer (died 2019)source
Deaths
- 23 January - Former president Hilla Limann dies after an illness.Ghanasource
- February 3 – Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying EA-6B Prowler severs the cable of a cable-car.source
- February 8 – Enoch Powell, 85, British politician, classical scholar, author and philologist, Parkinson's disease.source
- March 24 – Westside Middle School shooting: Five people are killed in Jonesboro, Arkansas.source
- April 6 – Tammy Wynette, 55, American country music singer-songwriter, heart arrhythmia, heart attack.source
- April 15 – Pol Pot, 72, Cambodian politician. General secretary of the CPKsource
- April 22 – Vadym Hetman, Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine 1992–1993Ukrainesource
- May 14 – Frank Sinatra, 82, American singer ("My Way", "That's Life") and actor (From Here to Eternity), Oscar winner (1954), heart attack.source
- May 29 – Barry Goldwater, 89, American politician and author, complications from a stroke.source
- June 3 – Douglas Gretzler, 47, American serial killer, execution by lethal injection.source
- 29 June – Nepalese politician Mirza Dilshad Beg is assassinated.Nepalsource
- July 21 – Alan Shepard, 74, American astronaut (Mercury-Redstone 3, Apollo 14), naval aviator and test pilot, complications from leukemia.source
- August 5 – Todor Zhivkov, 86, Bulgarian politician, president of Bulgaria, pneumonia.source
- August 15 – The Troubles: The Omagh bombing is carried out in Northern Ireland by the Real Irish Republican Army as a reaction to the Good Friday Agreement. 29 people are killed and 220 are injured. Shortly after these events, the group will call a ceasefire in response, signaling an end to the 30+ year conflict.source
- September 2 – A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliner (Swissair Flight 111) crashes near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, after taking off from New York City en route to Geneva; all 229 people on board are killed.source
- September 6 – Akira Kurosawa, 88, Japanese film director and screenwriter (Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Throne of Blood), stroke.source
- September 13 – George Wallace, 79, American politician and populist, Parkinson's disease.source
- 13 November – Semanggi I shooting: 17 people are killed and many injured after troops fired on protestors near the Semanggi intercharge. Maria Catarina Sumarsih held Prabowo Subianto responsibilities for involved during the event and in a series of human rights abuses.Indonesiasource