On this day
Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
In 1998, the world population was approximately 6,007,066,690 people[†]
Cristina Bucșa, Moldovan-Spanish tennis player[†]
Cristina Bucsa Bucsa is a Moldovan-born Spanish professional tennis player. She has career-high rankings of world No. 56 in singles, achieved on 15 January 2024, and No. 19 in doubles, achieved on 10 June 2024. She won a bronze medal in women's doubles at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Edwuin Cetré, Colombian footballer[†]
Edwuin Steven Cetré Angulo, is a Colombian footballer who currently plays as a winger for Estudiantes de La Plata.
Enock Mwepu, Zambian footballer[†]
Enock Mwepu is a Zambian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Frank Onyeka, Nigerian footballer[†]
Ogochukwu Frank Onyeka is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Bundesliga club FC Augsburg, on loan from Premier League club Brentford, and the Nigeria national team.
1998Helen Wills, American tennis player and coach (born 1905)[†]
Helen Newington Wills, also known by her married names Helen Wills Moody and Helen Wills Roark, was an American tennis player. She won 31 Grand Slam tournament titles during her career, including 19 singles titles.
1998Following a currency reform, Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.[†]
Russia launched a monetary reform on January 1, 1998. Preparation started in August 1997. Replacement of the old banknotes occurred gradually, until 2002.
1998Argentinian physicist Juan Maldacena publishes a landmark paper initiating the study of AdS/CFT correspondence, which links string theory and quantum gravity.[†]
Juan Martín Maldacena is an Argentine theoretical physicist and the Carl P. Feinberg Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He has made significant contributions to the foundations of string theory and quantum gravity. His most famous discovery is the AdS/CFT correspondence, a realization of the holographic principle in string theory.
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Article on $15 million restoration of the Mount, the Berkshire, Mass, house of Edith Wharton, by Edith Wharton Restoration Inc; photos (L)
I.R.S. Inquiry Planned The Internal Revenue Service plans to investigate the disclosure of a 1993 agreement that had granted a tax-exempt status to the Church of Scientology and that had been kept secret under privacy laws protecting tax payers. Page A13.
Johnny Grant, honorary mayor of Hollywood, Calif, has compiled list of celebrities that US military personnel in Bosnia say they most like to chat with; largest exhibition of art by Winston Churchill is to go on display at Sotheby's in London on Jan 5; show coincides with 50th anniversary of Churchill's election to Royal Academy and publication in book form of his essay Painting as a Pastime; age and infirmity will prevent actress Deborah Kerr and science-fiction writer Arthur C Clarke from traveling to London to accept honors conferred on them in first New Year's Honors List of British Prime Minister Tony Blair; Kerr is to receive Order of British Empire; Clarke is to be named a knight; Export Music Sweden says 1995 export value of Swedish bands was $194 million; publicity department of Lake Superior State University releases suggestions for ridding 1998 vocabulary of cliches, euphemisms and slang; photo (L)
Scheduled execution of woman in Texas prompts unlikely array of sympathizers to lobby to save her life; case offers political quandary for Gov George W Bush and reflects society's reluctance--even in law-and-order state--to execute women; condemned inmate, Karla Faye Tucker, was convicted of pickax slayings of two people 14 years ago in Houston, when she was strung out on drugs; while in prison she converted to Christianity and started prison-based ministry aimed at keeping young people from becoming criminals; Tucker, who opposes death penalty, says she should not be given special consideration because of her sex; nationally, women account for one in every 8 people arrested for murder, but women make up only one of every 70 inmates on death row; queasiness about executing women is particularly striking in Texas, state responsible for half of all executions in country in 1997; photos (L)
Marv Levy, at 72 the oldest head coach in National Football League, retires after 12 seasons of leading Buffalo Bills; Associated Press, citing undisclosed sources, says Bills' owner Ralph Wilson wanted to dismiss several of Levy's offensive assistants, including Tom Bresnahan and Don Lawrence; Levy did not want to make changes; there is no indication when Bills will hire a successor; Levy comments; chart; photo (L)
Judge's Ruling Could Allow Baby Bells to Expand A Federal judge in Texas ruled yesterday that major sections of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 are unconstitutional, threatening the system created by Congress to deregulate the $200 billion telecommunications industry. If the decision by Judge Joe Kendall of the United States District Court in Dallas is upheld, it could eliminate barriers that up until now have prevented regional Bell telephone companies from offering long-distance service. [Page A1.]
Article on and interview with Matthew Bourne, choreographer who is artistic director of dance company called Adventures in Motion Pictures; says Bourne's unconventional approach to ballet and modern dance--putting them into Broadway-style theater with quirky, cinematic sensibility--has turned him and his company into unlikely theatrical force; photos (L)
Some rock and pop stars comment on their plans for New Year's Eve 1999 and beginning of millennium; photos (L)
Obesity increases the likelihood of premature death but not as much as many medical experts had suspected, according to the largest study ever conducted on the health risks of the condition.
News analysis of Asian financial crisis says international response to problem makes clear how far governments have moved away from dominant view of 1980's: that intervention hinders rather than helps in the marketplace; says new policy of quickly providing financial assistance is clearly evident in Asia where United States and other big nations have committed more than $100 billion to assist with debt-repayment problems of Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and others; contrasts response in Asia to economic problems in Latin American in 1980's; says during that troubled period it took eight years before US Government intervened directly (M)
Federal Judge Joe Kendall strikes down major sections of 1996 Telecommunications Act on grounds that law unfairly keeps regional Bell companies out of long-distance; ruling, if it stands, would allow Bell companies nationwide to offer long-distance service for first time since AT&T was broken up in 1984; state regulators and Bell companies have been battling long-distance carriers which, along with FCC, want Bells to show that their networks are wide open to competitors before they can offer long-distance service; SBC, parent of Southwestern Bell, filed suit after being denied access to long-distance market in Oklahoma; other local operators are allowed to sell long-distance service without same restriction (S)
Article by Barbara Flanagan on visiting some of Florida's state parks; focuses on Jonathan Dickinson State Park, John D MacArthur Beach State Park and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park; drawings (L)