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[†]
1998Michele Perniola, Italian singer[†]
Michele Perniola, known also as 3x3n, is an Italian singer, best known for representing San Marino at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with his song "O-o-O Sole Intorno a Me". He also represented San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with Anita Simoncini. They performed the song "Chain of Lights".
1998Akira Kurosawa, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1910)[†]
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dynamic style strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it. He was involved with all aspects of film production.
1998Ric Segreto, American-Filipino singer-songwriter, actor, and journalist (born 1952)[†]
Richard Vincent Macaraeg, better known as Ric Segreto, was an American-born Filipino singer, songwriter, actor, teacher, journalist and historian, who became popular in the Philippines.
1998Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Swedish actor (born 1928)[†]
Ernst-Hugo Alfred Järegård was a Swedish actor.
Investigators in the embassy bombing in Tanzania say they have learned who transported the bomb and what it was made of. Page 14.
Wave of young downtown Manhattanites is turning away from thrift-store fashions and long hours at coffee shops, and taking up more upwardly mobile, entrepreneurial life style; their taste for retro-future furnishings is aided and abetted by Wallpaper Generation, two-year-old design and life-style magazine; 1950's furnishings are especially popular; photos (M)
Home Depot has opened its first store outside North America, Santiago, just as global economic turmoil has hit Chile; plans to forge ahead with expansion into Latin America, holding slump will enable it to buy real estate for more stores at lower prices; move into Chile will serve as case study of whether highly successful American corporation can take its winning culture abroad; map; graphs; photos (M)
Walter Murch article on release of new version of Orson Welles's 1958 movie Touch of Evil, revivification that is seen closer to Welles's original concept; new movie is based on 58-page memo that Welles wrote in 1957; photos of Charlton Heston and Welles, and Marlene Dietrich (L)
New York is urged to adopt 12 ideas developed out of town; drawings; photos (M)
Clinton Administration officials say Central Intelligence Agency and United States special forces secretly planned raid last spring to seize Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan because of his links to series of anti-American terrorist attacks in recent years; say CIA Dir George Tenet and others shelved plan because of high risks of American and Afghani casualties; says US was working on broad range of other options against bin Laden when bombs exploded at Kenya and Tanzania embassies; seek to show missile attack against him was not hastily improvised because of domestic political calculations; photo (M)
Americans have grown used to feeling secure and comfortable, but risk analysts say this brings with it a greater sense of vulnerability; this higher level of risk has come home to Americans with the market havoc caused by faraway financial crises, the crash of a Swissair jetliner and the terrorists strikes; photo (M)
Fund-raising and public-awareness campaigns concerning ovarian cancer receive high-impact boost from celebrities like Liz Tilberis, fashion editor who has undergone treatment for disease; photo of Tilberis with Donna Karan at fashion garage sale for luminaries in New York's Hamptons; doctors and grass-roots organizers note that disease is diagnosed in about 24,500 American women every year, and three out of four die within five years; add that, sadly, not enough women survive to become advocates; breast cancer afflicts about 180,000 American women a year, but survival rates are higher (M)
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy publishes Green Guide to Cars and Trucks, which ranks all 1998 models for environmental friendliness; authors use data on tailpipe emissions and fuel economy, along with estimate of pollutants emitted during manufacturing process, to come up with environmental damage index; index is then converted to green score; tables show 10 best vehicles for environment, and 10 worst (M)
High-rolling Wall Streeters may be in line for life style correction to go along with market downturn; Range Rovers may give way to Ford Explorers or even Toyota Ravs, and double magnums may return to steakhouse cellars in exchange for 'comfort' wines; photo (S)
Advice on steps households should consider in face of highly unsettled stock market; stock investment strategies and alternatives to stocks discussed; drawings; photo (M)
Andrew Solomon article on people's fascination with puppets; brief history of puppeteering; preview of International Festival of Puppet Theater, opening Sept 9; nearly 500 puppets from 16 countries will be seen on 17 stages through Sept 27, when biennial festival ends; photos (L)