1998 News Headlines
January 1, 1998
In all California bars and restaurants, smoking is banned.
January 6, 1998
The ‘Lunar Prospector’ spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon. It later finds evidence for frozen water in the soil of the permanently shadowed craters near the Moon’s poles.
January 8, 1998
Ramzi Yousef is sentenced to life in prison for planning the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
January 28, 1998
Ford Motor Company announces the buyout of Volvo Cars for $6.45 billion.
February 3, 1998
Killer Karla Faye Tucker is the first woman executed in the United States and the first to be executed in Texas since the American Civil War for killing two people during a burglary.
February 4, 1998
An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale kills more than 5,000 people in northeast Afghanistan.
7-22nd February 1998
The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano, Japan.
February 10, 1998
Maine voters repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997, making Maine the first U.S. state to abandon such a law.
March 4, 1998
Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services takes place, with the Supreme Court ruling that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are of the same sex.
March 23, 1998
The 70th Academy Awards takes place and is hosted by Billy Crystal. Titanic wins a record 11 Oscars.
April 7, 1998
George Michael is arrested in a public toilet at Will Rogers Memorial Park, California, for committing a lewd act in front of a police officer. This incident leads to him coming out as gay following years of speculation.
April 22, 1998
Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World opens to the public for the first time.
May 14, 1998
Frank Sinatra, American entertainer (b. 1915) dies.
July 12, 1998
France defeats Brazil 3-0 to win the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
July 24, 1998
Saving Private Ryan premiers in movie theaters.
September 4, 1998
Google Inc. is founded by Stanford University Ph.D. candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
October 15, 1998
The Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas opens on the former grounds of the Dunes Hotel.
December 1, 1998
Exxon announces a $73.7 billion deal to buy Mobil, thus creating Exxon-Mobil; the second-largest company in the world on revenue.
December 29, 1998
Khmer Rouge leaders apologize for the genocide in Cambodia that claimed over one million lives in the 1970s.
There are many events of particular interest in this year to help you decide on a newspaper date to choose. Our 1998 headlines capture incredible moments throughout history as they were originally reported.
More from this Decade
