On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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Dave Anderson Sports of The Times column on Se Ri Pak, South Korean golfer who won US Women's Open, notes that she is eight strokes behind Penny Hammel after opening round of JAL Big Apple Classic in New Rochelle, NY; photo (M)
Nine judges on Federal appeals court in Washington, acting with unusual speed, unanimously reject last-minute effort by Clinton Administration to block testimony of Secret Service officials, including head of Pres Clinton's protective detail, in Lewinsky investigation; Justice Dept immediately responds with emergency petition forwarded to Chief Justice William H Rehnquist; sealed petition asks Rehnquist, who is in Europe, to delay any testimony by Secret Service officials until full Court can consider Administration's appeal; photo of Secret Service agent Larry L Cockell, head of Clinton detail (M)
Federal Communications Commission staff is close to recommending that big local telephone companies be allowed to build data systems that can deliver high-speed Internet access without having to resell their use to competitors; plan would represent FCC's biggest move in favor of Bell local telephone companies since telecommunications laws were overhauled in 1996; William E Kennard, FCC chairman, supports plan, which is expected to draw protests from nation's big long-distance carriers and from new local phone companies (M)
List of guidelines used by police officers to determine if driver may be drunk; photo (S)
Plight of dozens of deaf Mexicans who were smuggled into US and put to work selling trinkets in subways and airports of New York and other cities became public year ago; their tale of abuse and enslavement shocked city and attracted national attention; several of immigrants, in interviews conducted with help of sign-language interpreters, say they lived in crowded houses and were watched by abusive bosses who punished them if they did not make enough money; Mexican workers have been kept by Immigration and Naturalization Service in Astoria, Queens, motel; 35 have asked for permission to stay in US, and 14 have voluntarily returned to Mexico; 18 of their bosses have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to prison or deported to Mexico (M)
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of July 15, 1998, covering July 17, 1998.
Soundtrack
Def Squad
Maxwell
Soundtrack
Brandy
1998Rosana Serrano, Cuban rower[†]
Rosana Serrano is a Cuban rower.
1998Lillian Hoban, American author and illustrator (born 1925)[†]
Lillian Hoban was an American illustrator and children's writer best known for picture books created with her husband Russell Hoban. According to OCLC, she has published 326 works in 1,401 publications in 11 languages.
1998The 7.0 Mw Papua New Guinea earthquake triggers a tsunami that destroys ten villages in Papua New Guinea, killing up to 2,700 people, and leaving several thousand injured.[†]
The 1998 Papua New Guinea earthquake occurred on July 17 with a moment magnitude of 7.0 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). The event occurred on a reverse fault near the north coast region of Papua New Guinea, 25 kilometers (16 mi) from the coast near Aitape and caused a large submarine landslide which caused a tsunami that hit the coast, killing between at least 2,183 and 2,700 people and injuring thousands.
1998A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing the permanent international court in The Hague, to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.[†]
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998 and it entered into force on 1 July 2002. As of January 2025, 125 states are party to the statute. Among other things, it establishes court function, jurisdiction and structure.
In 1998, the world population was approximately 6,007,066,690 people[†]