1998
Israel accepts a UN resolution to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon.
1998 February
Saddam Hussein negotiates a deal with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Baghdad, defusing a crisis with the UN on weapons inspection, while managing to escape airstrikes by America and Britain.
1998 March 23
Yeltsin fires Chernomyrdin and reorganizes his cabinet.
1998 April 18
Official talks between South and North Korea end with the two sides failing to resolve a dispute over aid to the starving North and the reunion of separated families.
1998 April 24
Sergei Kirienko is finally confirmed as Russian prime minister.
1998 May
Singer Frank Sinatra dies at age 82 after a heart attack.
1998 May
The hit American TV series "Seinfeld" airs its final episode after nine years on NBC.
1998 May
The Associated Press (AP) commemorates its 150th anniversary.
1998 May 26
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Ellis Island - historic gateway for millions of immigrants - is mainly in New Jersey, not New York.
1998 May 27
A massive sell-off of Russian bonds, securities and rubles begins.
1998 May 27
Michael Fortier, the U.S. government's star witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case, is sentenced to 12 years in prison after apologizing for not warning anyone about the deadly plot.
1998 May 28
Pakistan matches India's five earlier nuclear tests with five nuclear blasts of its own, raising new fears of a nuclear arms race.
1998 May 28
Comic actor Phil Hartman of "Saturday Night Live" and "NewsRadio" fame is shot to death in his sleep at his home in Encino, California, by his wife Brynn, who then kills herself.
1998 May 29
Former Arizona senator and Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater dies in Paradise Valley, Arizona, at age 89.
1998 June 2
Voters in California pass Proposition 227, which effectively abolishes the state's 30-year-old bilingual education program by requiring that all school children be taught in English.
1998 June 4
A federal judge sentences Terry Nichols to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
1998 June 7
James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old black man, is chained to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas. Two white men are later sentenced to death for the crime, a third to life in prison.
1998 June 8
The National Rifle Association (N.R.A.) elects actor Charlton Heston as its president.
1998 June 12
A jury in Hattiesburg, Missississippi, convicts 17-year-old Luke Woodham of killing two students and wounding seven others at Pearl High School.
1998 June 15
The U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that state prison inmates are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
1998 June 24
AT&T Corporation strikes a deal to buy cable television giant Tele-Communications Inc. for $31.7 billion dollars.
1998 June 25
The U.S. Supreme Court rejects a 1997 line-item veto law as unconstitutional, and rules that those infected with HIV are protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act.
1998 June 26
The U.S. Supreme Court issues a landmark sexual harassment ruling, putting employers on notice that they can be held responsible for supervisors' misconduct even if they know nothing about it.
1998 June 27
During a joint news conference broadcast live in China, President Clinton and President
Jiang Zemin offer an uncensored airing of differences on human rights, freedom, trade and Tibet.
1998 June 28
The Cincinnati Enquirer apologizes to the Chiquita banana company and retracts stories questioning the company's business practices. The paper agrees to pay more than $10 million to settle legal claims.
