Aarushhh/wikipedia-simple-splitted huggingface dataset:
August 17 – 1999 İzmit earthquake: A 7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit and levels much of northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000. This is the first of a long series of unrelated but frequent earthquakes throughout the world during the years 1999 and 2000.
 August 19 – In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević.
 August 22 – Mandarin Airlines Flight 642 crashes in Hong Kong.
 August 22 – GPS Week Numbers Reset to 0
 August 30 – East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a referendum.
 August 31 – Apple Computer releases the Power Macintosh G4.
September 

 September 7 – A magnitude 5.9 earthquake hits Athens, killing 143 and injuring more than 2,000.
 September 7 – Viacom and CBS merge.
 September 8 – The first of a series of Russian apartment bombings occurs. Subsequent bombings occur on September 13 and 16, while a bombing on September 22 fails.
 September 9 – Sega releases the Dreamcast.
 September 12 – Under international pressure to allow an international peacekeeping force, Indonesian president BJ Habibie announced on 12 September that he would do so.
 September 14 – Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations.
 September 21 – The 921 earthquake, also known as the Jiji earthquake,(magnitude 7.6 on the Richter scale) kills about 2,400 people in Taiwan.

October
October – NASA loses one of its probes, the Mars Climate Orbiter.
 October 1 – Pudong International Airport opens in Shanghai, China, taking over all international flights to Hongqiao.
 October 5 – Thirty-one people die in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash, west of London, England.
 October 10 – Elections are held in Portugal.
 October 12 – Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attempts to dismiss Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf and install ISI director Ziauddin Butt in his place. Senior Army generals refuse to accept the dismissal. Musharraf, who is out of the country, attempts to return in a commercial airliner. Sharif orders the Karachi airport to not allow the plane to land. The generals lead a coup d'état, ousting Sharif's administration and taking over the airport. The plane lands with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and Musharraf takes control of the government.
October 12 – World population reaches 6 billion people, as the 6 billionth person (according to the UN) is born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 October 13 – The United States Senate rejects ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
 October 15 – A National Geographic Society press conference reveals the fossil of Archaeoraptor (which is later found to be a forgery).
 October 27 – Gunmen open fire in the Armenian Parliament, killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliament Chairman Karen Demirchyan, and 6 other members.
 October 31 – EgyptAir Flight 990, travelling from New York City to Cairo, crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on board. When the pilot leaves the cockpit, the co-pilot causes the Boeing 767 to enter a steep dive, resulting in impact with the Atlantic Ocean.
November 6 – Australians defeat a referendum proposing the replacement of The Queen and The Governor General with a President to make Australia a republic.
 November 9 – TAESA Flight 725, covering the route Tijuana–Guadalajara–Uruapan–Mexico City, crashes a few minutes after takeoff from Uruapan International Airport, killing 18 people on board. This event causes the bankruptcy of the Mexican airline a few months later.
 November 12 – A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes Duzce and northwestern Turkey, killing 845 and injuring 4,948.
 November 18 – The Aggie Bonfire collapses in College Station, TX, killing 12.
 November 19 – Mikhail Gorbachev proposes that the UN create an International Men's Day, which is now commemorated every year on this same date.
 November 19 – Every digit in this date is an odd number (19/11/1999). This hitherto common event will not happen again until the year 3111.
 November 20 – The People's Republic of China launches the first Shenzhou spacecraft.
November 26 – An earthquake and tsunami strike Vanuatu.
 November 27 – The left-wing Labour Party takes control of the New Zealand government, with leader Helen Clark becoming the second female Prime Minister in New Zealand's history.
 November 30 – The ExxonMobil Corporation merger is completed, forming the largest company in the world.
December 3 – After rowing for 81 days and 2,962 nautical miles (5486 km), Tori Murden becomes the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by rowboat alone, when she reaches Guadeloupe from the Canary Islands.
 December 3 – NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander, moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
 December 18 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform, carrying 5 Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
 December 20 – The sovereignty of Macau is transferred from the Portuguese Republic to the People's Republic of China after 422 years of Portuguese rule.
 December 22 – Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509, a Boeing 747-200F crashes shortly after take-off from London Stansted Airport due to pilot error. All 4 crew members were killed.
 December 31 – The U.S. turns over complete administration of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian Government, as stipulated in the Torrijos-Carter Treaty of 1977.
December 31 – Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting president.
 December 31 - Millennium celebration.
 December 31 - To most people, it was the last day of the 20th century and 2nd millennium, however there are some people who argue that both distinctions happened a year later, on December 31, 2000.
Deaths

January 

 January 4 – Iron Eyes Cody, American actor (b. 1904)
 January 11 – Fabrizio De André, Italian singer and songwriter (b. 1940)
 January 11 – Brian Moore, Irish-born writer (b. 1921)
 January 14 – Jerzy Grotowski, Polish theatre director (b. 1933)
 January 21 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (b. 1938)
 January 22 – Graham Staines, Australian missionary (b. 1941)
 January 25 – Ted Mallie, American radio and television announcer (b. 1924)
 January 25 – Robert Shaw, American conductor (b. 1916)
 January 28 – Markey Robinson, Irish painter (b. 1918)
 January 30 – Huntz Hall, American actor (b. 1919)
 January 31 – Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)

February
February 1 – Paul Mellon, American philanthropist (b. 1907)
 February 1 – Barış Manço, Turkish singer and television personality (b. 1943)
 February 5 – Wassily Leontief, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
 February 6 – Jimmy Roberts, American singer (b. 1924)
 February 6 – Don Dunstan, Australian politician (b. 1926)
 February 6 - Danny Dayton, American actor (b. 1923)
 February 7 – King Hussein of Jordan (b. 1935)
 February 8 – Iris Murdoch, Irish writer (b. 1919)
 February 12 – Toni Fisher, American pop singer (b. 1931)
 February 14 – John Ehrlichman, American Watergate scandal figure (b. 1925)
 February 14 – Buddy Knox, American singer (b. 1933)
 February 15 – Henry Way Kendall, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926)
 February 15 – Big L, American rapper (b. 1974)
 February 17 – Sunshine Parker, American actor (b. 1927)
 February 18 – Noam Pitlik, American actor and director (b. 1932)
 February 18 – Michael Larson, American game show celebrity (b. 1949)
February 20 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
 February 20 – Gene Siskel, American movie critic (b. 1946)
 February 21 – Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1918)
 February 22 – William Bronk, American poet (b. 1918)
 February 24 – Andre Dubus, American short-story writer (b. 1936)
 February 24 – Virginia Foster Durr, American civil rights activist (b. 1903)
 February 24 – Frank Leslie Walcott, Barbadian labour leader (b. 1916)
 February 25 – Glenn Seaborg, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
 February 26 – José Quintero, Panamanian director (b. 1924)
 February 28 – Bill Talbert, American tennis player (b. 1918)
March 1 – Ann Corio, American dancer and actress (b. 1914)
 March 2 – Dusty Springfield, English singer (b. 1939)
 March 3 – Gerhard Herzberg, German-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
 March 4 – Harry Blackmun, American judge (b. 1908)
 March 4 – Del Close, American actor, writer, and teacher (b. 1934)
 March 5 – Richard Kiley, American actor (b. 1922)
 March 6 – Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Emir of Bahrain (b. 1933)
 March 7 – Sidney Gottlieb, American Central Intelligence Agency official (b. 1918)
 March 7 – Stanley Kubrick, American movie director and producer (b. 1928)
 March 8 – Peggy Cass, American actress (b. 1924)
 March 8 – Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player (b. 1914)
 March 12 – Yehudi Menuhin, American-born violinist (b. 1916)
 March 13 – Garson Kanin, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1912)
 March 17 – Ernest Gold, Austrian-born composer (b. 1921)
 March 18 – Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine writer (b. 1914)
 March 18 – Rod Hull, British entertainer (b. 1935)
March 21 – Ernie Wise, British comedian (b. 1925)
 March 24 – Birdie Tebbetts, American baseball player and manager (b. 1912)
 March 25 – Cal Ripken, Sr., American baseball player and manager (b. 1935)
 March 29 – Joe Williams, American singer (b. 1918)
 March 31 – Yuri Knorozov, Russian linguist and epigrapher (b. 1922)
April 3 – Lionel Bart, English composer (b. 1930)
 April 4 – Faith Domergue, American actress (b. 1924)
 April 10 – Jean Vander Pyl, American television actress (b. 1919)
 April 12 – Boxcar Willie, American country music singer (b. 1931)
 April 14 – Ellen Corby, American actress (b. 1911)
 April 14 – Anthony Newley, English actor, singer and songwriter (b. 1931)
 April 20 – Rick Rude, American professional wrestler (b. 1958)
 April 20 – Señor Wences, Spanish ventriloquist (b. 1896)
 April 21 – Charles Rogers, American actor (b. 1904)
 April 25 – Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, 6th President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1914)
 April 25 – Herman Miller, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1919)
 April 27 – Al Hirt, American trumpeter and bandleader (b. 1922)
 April 27 – Cyril Washbrook, English cricketer (b. 1914)
 April 28 – Rory Calhoun, American television and movie actor (b. 1922)
 April 28 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1921)
May 

 May 2 – Oliver Reed, English actor (b. 1938)
 May 8 – Dirk Bogarde, English actor (b. 1921)
 May 10 – Shel Silverstein, American writer and poet (b. 1930)
 May 10 – Eric Willis, Australian politician, former Premier of New South Wales (b. 1922)
 May 12 – Saul Steinberg, Romanian-born cartoonist (b. 1914)
 May 13 – Gene Sarazen, American golfer (b. 1902)
 May 17 – Henry Jones, American actor (b. 1912)
 May 18 – Betty Robinson, American athlete (b. 1911)
 May 23 – Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1965)
 May 26 – Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor (b. 1906)

June
June 

 June 5 – Mel Tormé, American singer (b. 1925)
 June 6 – Anne Haddy, Australian actress (b. 1930)
 June 8 – Christina Foyle, British bookshop owner (b. 1911)
 June 9 – Maurice Journeau, French composer (b. 1898)
 June 11 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (b. 1920)
 June 16 – Screaming Lord Sutch, English politician (b. 1940)
 June 27 – Jorgos Papadopoulos, military ruler of Greece (b. 1919)
 June 29 – Allan Carr, American producer (b. 1937)

July
July 

 July 1 – Edward Dmytryk, Canadian-American movie director (b. 1908)
 July 1 – Guy Mitchell, American singer (b. 1927)
 July 1 – Sylvia Sidney, American actress (b. 1910)
 July 2 – Mario Puzo, American writer (b. 1920)
 July 6 – Carl Gunter Jr, American politician (b. 1938)
 July 6 – Joaquin Rodrigo, Spanish composer (b. 1901)
 July 8 – Charles Conrad, American astronaut (b. 1930)
 July 11 – Helen Forrest, American jazz singer (b. 1917)
 July 12 – Bill Owen, English actor (b. 1914)
 July 16 – John F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer and son of John F. Kennedy (b. 1960)
 July 18 – Meir Ariel, Israeli singer (b. 1942)
 July 20 – Sandra Gould, American actress (b. 1916)
 July 23 – King Hassan II of Morocco (b. 1929)
 July 26 – Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
 July 29 – Anita Carter, American singer (b. 1933)
 July 29 – Rajendra Kumar, Indian movie actor, producer and director (b. 1929)
August 
 August 1 – Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Bengali writer (b. 1897)
 August 3 – Leroy Vinnegar, American musician (b. 1928)
 August 4 – Victor Mature, American actor (b. 1913)
 August 11 – Hendrick Chin A Sen, 2nd President of Suriname (b. 1934)
 August 13 – Jaime Garzón, Colombian journalist and comedian (b. 1960)
 August 14 – Lane Kirkland, American union leader (b. 1922)
 August 14 – Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player (b. 1918)
 August 23 – Norman Wexler, American screenwriter (b. 1926)
 August 23 – James White, Irish writer (b. 1928)
 August 24 – Mary Jane Croft, American actress (b. 1916)

September
September 

 September 5 – Allen Funt, American television personality (b. 1914)
 September 5 – Alan Clark, English politician and diarist (b. 1928)
 September 6 – Lagumot Harris, Nauruan politician and former President (b. 1938)
 September 9 – Ruth Roman, American actress (b. 1922)
 September 10 – Alfredo Kraus, Spanish tenor (b. 1927)
 September 11 – Gonzalo Rodriguez, Uruguyan race car driver (b. 1972)
 September 12 – Allen Stack, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1928)
 September 14 – Charles Crichton, English movie director (b. 1910)
 September 20 – Raisa Gorbachyova, Soviet first lady (b. 1932)
 September 22 – George C. Scott, American actor (b. 1927)
 September 23 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter (b. 1910)

October
October 6 – Amália Rodrigues, Portuguese Fado legend (b. 1920)
 October 6 – Gorilla Monsoon, American professional wrestler and announcer (b. 1937)
 October 7 – Helen Vinson, American actress (b. 1907)
 October 8 – John McLendon, American basketball coach (b. 1915)
 October 9 – Akhtar Hameed Khan, Pakistani pioneer in microcredit and microfinance (b. 1914)
 October 9 – Milt Jackson, American musician (b. 1923)
 October 11 – Rafi' Daham Al-Tikriti, Director of the Iraqi Intelligence Service (b. 1937)
 October 12 – Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player (b. 1936)
 October 14 – Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania (b. 1922)
 October 18 – Paddi Edwards, American actress (b. 1931)
 October 19 – Harry Bannink, Dutch composer and musician (b. 1929)
 October 19 – James C. Murray, American politician (b. 1917)
 October 20 – Jack Lynch, Prime Minister of Ireland (b. 1917)
 October 21 – Lars Bo, Danish artist and writer (b. 1924)
 October 21 – John Bromwich, Australian tennis player (b. 1918)
October 24 – John Chafee, American politician (b. 1922)
 October 25 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (b. 1957)
 October 26 – Rex Gildo, German singer (b. 1939)
 October 26 – Hoyt Axton, American actor and singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
 October 26 – Abraham Polonsky, American screenwriter and director (b. 1910)
 October 27 – Frank De Vol, American composer (b. 1911)
 October 27 – Robert Mills, American physicist (b. 1927)
 October 27 – Wes Berggren, American musician (b. 1971)
 October 31 – Greg Moore, Canadian race car driver (b. 1975)
November 1 – Theodore Hall, American physicist and spy (b. 1925)
 November 3 – Ian Bannen, Scottish actor (b. 1928)
 November 9 – Mabel King, American actress (b. 1932)
 November 11 – Mary Kay Bergman, American actress (b. 1961)
 November 15 – Gene Levitt, American television writer, producer, and director (b. 1920)
 November 16 – Daniel Nathans, American microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1928)
 November 18 – Paul Bowles, American novelist (b. 1910)
 November 18 – Horst P. Horst, German-American photographer (b. 1906)
 November 18 – Doug Sahm, American musician (b. 1941)
 November 30 – Amintore Fanfani, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1908)
 November 21 – Quentin Crisp, English writer (b. 1908)
 November 21 – Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz, Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia. (b. 1910)
 November 24 – Hilary Minster, British Actor (b. 1944)
 November 29 – Gene Rayburn, American television personality (b. 1917)
November 29 – Iwamoto Kaoru, Japanese professional Go player (b. 1902)
 November 30 – Charlie Byrd, American Jazz musician and classical guitarist (b. 1925)
December 2 – Joey Adams, American comedian (b. 1911)
 December 3 – Scatman John, American musician (b. 1942)
 December 3 – Jarl Wahlström, Salvation Army general (b. 1918)
 December 3 – Madeline Kahn, American actress (b. 1942)
 December 4 – Rose Bird, American judge (b. 1936)
 December 8 – Péter Kuczka, Hungarian writer (b. 1923)
 December 10 – Rick Danko, Canadian musician (b. 1943)
 December 10 – Shirley Hemphill, American actress (b. 1947)
 December 10 – Franjo Tuđman, President of Croatia (b. 1922)
 December 12 – Paul Cadmus, American artist (b. 1904)
 December 12 – Joseph Heller, American novelist (b. 1923)
 December 17 – Rex Allen, American actor, singer, and songwriter (b. 1920)
 December 17 – Grover Washington, Jr., American saxophonist (b. 1943)
 December 18 – Robert Bresson, French movie maker (b. 1901)
 December 19 – Desmond Llewelyn, Welsh actor (b. 1914)
 December 19 – Robert Dougall, British newsreader (b. 1913)
 December 20 – Irving Rapper, American movie director (b. 1898)
December 20 – Hank Snow, Canadian musician (b. 1914)
 December 23 – John P. Davies, American diplomat (b. 1908)
 December 24 - Maurice Couve de Murville, Prime Minister of France (b. 1907)
 December 24 – João Figueiredo, President of Brazil (b. 1918)
 December 24 – Tito Guízar, Mexican singer and movie actor (b. 1908)
 December 26 – Shankar Dayal Sharma, President of India (b. 1918)
 December 26 – Curtis Mayfield, American musician and composer (b. 1942)
 December 27 – Leonard Goldenson, American television executive (b. 1905)
 December 28 – Clayton Moore, American actor (b. 1914)
 December 30 – Fritz Leonhardt, German structural engineer (b. 1909)
 December 30 – Sarah Knauss, American oldest living person (b. 1880)
 December 31 – Elliot Richardson, American Attorney General under Richard Nixon (b. 1920)
Movies released 
 8mm
 8 1/2 Women
 End of Days
 Eyes Wide Shut
 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 The Green Mile
 The Matrix
 Tarzan
 South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut
 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
 The World Is Not Enough
 Wild Wild West
 Office Space
 The Sixth Sense
 Notting Hill
 American Beauty
 Toy Story 2

Hit songs 
 ...Baby One More Time – Britney Spears
 Genie in a Bottle – Christina Aguilera
 Livin' la Vida Loca – Ricky Martin
 Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...) – Lou Bega
 I Need To Know – Marc Anthony
 Believe – Cher
 No Scrubs - TLC
 Angel – Sarah McLachlan
 Kiss Me – Sixpence None The Richer
 You'll Be in My Heart – Phil Collins
 Steal My Sunshine - Len
 New – No Doubt
 Smooth – Santana featuring Rob Thomas
 All Star – Smash Mouth
 That Don't Impress Me Much – Shania Twain
 Amazed - Lonestar
New books 
 All our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life – Winona LaDuke
 Atomised – Michel Houellebecq 
 Battle Royale – Koushun Takami
 Blind Eye – James B. Stewart
 The Century – Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster
 Le Chambre des Officiers (The Officers' Ward) – Marc Dugain
 Charlotte Gray – Sebastian Faulks
 Chocolat – Joanne Harris
 Cunt – Stewart Home
 Darwin's Radio – Greg Bear
 A Deepness in the Sky – Vernor Vinge
 Death du Jour – Kathy Reichs
 Dining with Peggy Guggenheim – Jane Turner Rylands
 Disgrace – J. M. Coetzee
 The Fifth Elephant – Terry Pratchett
 Florence Lawrence, the Biograph Girl: America's First Movie Star – Kelly R. Brown
 The Fortune Catcher – Susanne Pari
 The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – Stephen King
 Glamorama – Bret Easton Ellis
 Hannibal – Thomas Harris
 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J. K. Rowling
 Hearts in Atlantis – Stephen King
 High Time to Kill – Raymond Benson
 Holes – Louis Sachar
 In America – Susan Sontag
 Invisible Monsters – Chuck Palahniuk
Irresistible Forces – Danielle Steel
 A Lake Beyond the Wind – Yahya Yakhlif 
 The Mark of the Angel – Nancy Huston
 Miss Wyoming – Douglas Coupland
 One of the Guys – Robert Clark Young
 Paradise – Toni Morrison
 Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain – Jeffrey Moore
 Rulers Of Evil – F. Tupper Saussy
 Sick Puppy – Carl Hiaasen
 Single & Single – John le Carré
 Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson
 Star Wars: Episode 1, The Phantom Menace – Terry Brooks 
 Scattered Like Seeds – Shaw J. Dallal
 Soul Harvest – Jerry B. Jenkins & Tim LaHaye
 Survivor – Chuck Palahniuk
 Suzanne Valadon: The Mistress of Montmartre – June Rose 
 Syrup – Max Barry
 'Tis – Frank McCourt
 Tara Road – Maeve Binchy
 Temple – Matthew Reilly
 The Testament – John Grisham 
 The World Is Not Enough – Raymond Benson
 Through the Stones – Diana Gabaldon 
 Timeline – Michael Crichton
Video games released. 
 Final Fantasy VIII
 Silent Hill
 Superman
 System Shock 2

References
1998 (MCMXCVIII) was .

Events

January
January 1 – Smoking is banned in all California bars and restaurants.
 January 2 - Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
 January 2 - A gunman shoots Antario Teodoro Filho, Brazilian politician and radio presenter, in the middle of his broadcast.
 January 4-10 - A massive ice storm, caused by El Nino, strikes New England, southern Ontario and Quebec, resulting in widespread power failures, severe damage to forests, and a number of deaths.
 January 4 – Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 4 January 1998 in Algeria; over 170 killed in three remote villages.
 January 6 – The Lunar Prospector spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon and later found evidence for frozen water on the moon's surface.
 January 8 - Ramzi Yousef is sentenced to life in prison for planning the World Trade Center bombing.
 January 8 - Cosmologists announce that the expansion rate of the universe is increasing.
 January 11 – Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria; over 100 people killed.
January 12 – 19 European nations agree to forbid 1998 like a 1999 one human cloning.
 January 14 – Researchers in Dallas, Texas present findings about an enzyme that slows aging and cell death (apoptosis).
 January 15 – The stalker of Howard Stern, Lance Carvin, is sentenced to  years for threatening to kill Stern and his family.
 January 16 – NASA announces that John Glenn will return to space when Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off in October 1998.
 January 17 – Paula Jones accuses President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.
 January 22 – Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski pleads guilty and accepts a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
 January 26 - Lewinsky scandal: On American television, Bill Clinton denies he had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
 January 26 - Compaq buys Digital Equipment Corporation.
January 27 – American First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton appears on the Today show calling the attacks against her husband part of a "vast right-wing conspiracy."
 January 28 - Ford Motor Company announces the buyout of Volvo Cars for $6.45 billion.
 January 28 - Gunmen hold at least 400 children and teachers hostage for several hours at an elementary school in Manila, Philippines.
 January 29 – In Birmingham, Alabama a bomb explodes at an abortion clinic killing one and severely wounding another. Serial bomber Eric Rudolph is suspected as the culprit.
February 
 February 3 - A low-flying US military airplane cuts the cable of a cable car near Trento, Italy, killing 20 people.
 February 3 - President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosian resigns.
 February 4 - A magnitude 6.1 earthquake kills more than 5,000 people in Northeastern Afghanistan.
 February 7-22 - The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in 1998 like a 2000 one for Nagano, Japan.
 February 16 - China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a residential area near Chiang Kai-shek Airport in Taipei, killing 202 people, including 6 on the ground.
 February 20 - Saddam Hussein negotiates a deal with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, allowing weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad, preventing military action by the US and the UK.
 February 20-March 27 - The 1998 Auckland power crisis lasts five weeks.
 February 22-23 - The 1998 Kissimmee tornado outbreak strikes central Florida, including Orlando. Forty-two people are killed.
 February 26 - A solar eclipse is seen over the Caribbean Sea.
March 
 March 2 - Data sent from the Galileo probe indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
 March 2 - In Austria, Natascha Kampusch is kidnapped by Wolfgang Priklopil, being held in captivity until August 2006.
 March 11 - Prime Minister of Denmark Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is re-elected.
 March 24 - A cyclone hits Bangladesh.
 March 26 - In Algeria, 52 people are killed in the Oued Bouaicha massacre.

April 

 April 5 - The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge is opened to traffic in Japan, connecting Honshu and Shikoku.
 April 6 - Pakistan tests a medium-range missile.
 April 10 - In Northern Ireland the Good Friday Agreement is signed by the British and Irish governments and most political parties in Northern Ireland.
 April 29 - The Kyoto Protocol is signed.
May 
 May 11 - India conducts 3 underground nuclear tests.
 May 21 - Suharto resigns as President of Indonesia, with Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie succeeding him.
 May 26 - Bear Grylls becomes the youngest British person to climb Mount Everest.
 May 28 – Pakistan explodes 5 nuclear devices.
 May 30 - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake kills up to 5,000 people in Afghanistan.

June 
 June 3 - An ICE high speed train derails at Eschede between Hanover and Hamburg, killing 101 people.
 June 7 - The Guinea-Bissau Civil War begins.
 June 30 - Joseph Estrada becomes the 13th President of the Philippines.

July 
 July 5 - Japan launches a probe to Mars.
 July 6 - Hong Kong International Airport opens.
 July 12 - The France national football team wins the FIFA World Cup on home soil against the Brazil national football team, 3-0.
July 17 - At a conference in Rome 120 countries vote to create an International Criminal Court.
 July 17 - A tsunami is triggered by an undersea earthquake off Papua New Guinea, destroying  10 villages and killing thousands of people.
 July 17 - 80 years after being executed Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family are buried at the St. Catherine chapel in Saint Petersburg.
August 
 August 2 - The Second Congo War begins.
 August 7 - Andres Pastrana Arango becomes President of Colombia.
 August 7 - During major flooding the Yangtze River breaks through the main bank, with the death toll exceeding 12,000 people.
 August 7 - The US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania are bombed, killing 224 people. Al-Qaeda is believed to be responsible.
 August 10 - Jamil Mahuad becomes President of Ecuador.
 August 15 - The Omagh bombing is carried out by the IRA in Northern Ireland.
 August 17 - Bill Clinton admits having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
 August 24 - The first RFID human implantation  is tested in the United Kingdom.
 August 28 - Said Musa becomes Prime Minister of Belize.

September
September 

 September 2 - Swissair Flight 111, travelling from New York City to Geneva, crashes off the coast of Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada, killing all 229 people on board.
 September 4 - Google Inc. is founded in California by Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
 September 27 - After 16 years as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Helmut Kohl of the CDU is voted out, with the SPD's Gerhard Schroeder being elected to succeed him.
October 
 October 3 - John Howard is elected to a second term as Prime Minister of Australia.
 October 8 - Oslo Gardermoen Airport opens.
 October 14 - Eric Robert Rudolph is charged with four bombings in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996.
 October 16 - While receiving medical treatment in the UK, Augusto Pinochet is put under house arrest under an arrest warrant from Spain.
 October 17 - 1,082 people are killed when an oil pipeline in Nigeria explodes.
 October 27 - Gerhard Schroeder becomes Chancellor of Germany, officially succeeding Helmut Kohl.
 October 29 - Hurricane Mitch makes landfall in Central America, causing a large amount of destruction and killing over 18,000 people across Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.
November 
 November 3 - Hurricane Mitch weakens after leaving a trail of destruction across Central America.
 November 20 - A Russian Proton rocket is launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
 November 26 - Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to speak at the Irish Parliament.

December 
 December 6 - Hugo Chávez is elected President of Venezuela, taking office in February 1999.
 December 16 - Bill Clinton orders air strikes on Iraq.
 December 29 - Khmer Rouge leaders apologise for the genocide committed in Cambodia under Pol Pot's rule.
 December 31 - An extra leap second is added onto the end of the year.
Births 
 January 28 - Ariel Winter, American actress
 February 24 - Erica Parsons, American murder victim (d. December 17, 2011).
 February 25 – Brendon Baerg, American actor
 April 9 – Elle Fanning, American actress
 April 12 - Diana Quer, Spanish murder victim (d. 2016)
 May 3 - Ionuț Palade, Romanian singer (Trupa Muzicii Rock-The Jam Hendrix Experience)
 April 24 - Ryan Newman, American actress
 April 28 - Byron Ward, American Basketball Player
 June 15 – Rachel Covey, American actress
 July 1 - Hollie Steel, English singer
 July 8 - Jaden Smith, American actor
 July 24 – Bindi Irwin, Australian-American conservationist, singer & actress
 August 8 - Ronan Parke, English singer
 September 9 - Cristian Gabriel Dima, Romanian football player & bassist (Trupa Muzicii Rock-Fecal Matter)
 September 21 – Lorenzo Brino, American actor
 September 21 – Myrinda Brino, American actress
 September 21 – Nikolas Brino, American actor
 September 21 – Zachary Brino, American actor
October 6 - Mia-Sophie Wellenbrink, German actress and singer
 November 23 - Bradley Steven Perry, American actor and singer
 December 2 - Gabbi Garcia, Filipina actress 
 December 9 - Mika Dela Cruz, Filipina actress
Deaths

January 

 January 1 - Helen Wills Moody, American tennis player (born 1905)
 January 5 - Sonny Bono, American singer, actor and politician (born 1935)
 January 7 - Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist (born 1906)
 January 8 - Michael Tippett, English composer (born 1905)
 January 9 - Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist (born 1918)
 January 11 - Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (born 1926)
 January 19 - Carl Perkins, American guitarist (born 1932)
 January 21 - Jack Lord, American actor (born 1920)
 January 23 - Alfredo Ormando, Italian writer (born 1958)
 January 28 - Shotari Ishinomari, Japanese manga artist (born 1938)

February
February 

 February 6 - Falco, Austrian singer and musician (born 1957)
 February 6 - Carl Wilson, American musician (born 1946)
 February 8 - Halldor Laxness, Icelandic writer (born 1902)
 February 8 - Julian Lincoln Simon, American economist and writer (born 1932)
 February 8 - Enoch Powell, British politician (born 1912)
 February 17 - Ernst Juenger, German writer (born 1895)
 February 26 - Theodore Schultz, American economist (born 1902)
 February 27 - George H. Hitchings, American scientist (born 1905)
 February 28 - Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (born 1952)

March
March 

 March 3 - Fred W. Friendly, American television journalist and executive (born 1915)
 March 10 - Lloyd Bridges, American actor (born 1913)
 March 12 - Judge Dread, English musician (born 1945)
 March 12 - Beatrice Wood, American artist and ceramicist (born 1893)
 March 12 - Jozef Kroner, Slovakian actor (born 1924)
 March 15 - Benjamin Spock, American athlete, pediatrician and writer (born 1903)
 March 16 - Derek Harold Richard Barton, British chemist (born 1918)
 March 21 - Galina Ulanova, Russian ballerina (born 1910)
 March 25 - Daniel Massey, British actor (born 1933)
 March 27 - Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, Austrian automobile designer and businessman (born 1909)
 March 31 - Bella Abzug, American politician (born 1920)

April
April 

 April 1 - Gene Evans, American actor (born 1920)
 April 2 - Rob Pilatus, member of the pop group Milli Vanilli (born 1965)
 April 6 - Tammy Wynette, American singer (born 1942)
 April 15 - Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (born 1925)
 April 16 - Marie-Louise Meilleur, Canadian supercentenarian (born 1880)
 April 17 - Linda McCartney, American photographer and musician (born 1941)
 April 19 - Octavio Paz, Mexican writer (born 1914)
 April 23 - Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek politician (born 1907)
 April 23 - James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. (born 1928)
 April 25 - Christian Mortensen, Danish-born American supercentenarian (born 1882)
 April 27 - Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-American anthropologist and writer (born 1925)

May
May 

 May 1 - Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (born 1935)
 May 2 - Hide, Japanese musician (born 1964)
 May 2 - Justin Fashanu, English footballer (born 1961)
 May 2 - Kevin Lloyd, British actor (born 1949)
 May 7 - Allan McLeod Cormack, South African-born physicist (born 1924)
 May 14 - Frank Sinatra, American singer and entertainer (born 1915)
 May 19 - Sōsuke Uno, Prime Minister of Japan (born 1922)
 May 22 - John Derek, American actor and movie director (born 1926)
 May 28 - Phil Hartman, Canadian-born American artist, writer, actor and comedian (born 1948)
 May 29 - Barry Goldwater, American politician (born 1909)

June 
 June 2 - Junkyard Dog, American professional wrestler (born 1952)
 June 8 - Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria (born 1943)
 June 11 - Catherine Cookson, British writer (born 1906)
 June 13 - Birger Ruud, Norwegian athlete (born 1911)
 June 23 - Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish actress (born 1911)

July
July 

 July 3 - Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer (born 1949)
 July 19 - Elmer Valo, Slovakian baseball player (born 1921)
 July 21 - Alan Shepard, American astronaut (born 1923)
 July 30 - Buffalo Bob Smith, American children's TV host (born 1917)

August 

 August 1 - Eva Bartok, Hungarian actress (born 1927)
 August 3 - Alfred Schnittke, Russian-born composer (born 1934)
 August 4 - Yuri Artyukhin, Soviet cosmonaut (born 1930)
 August 5 - Todor Zivkov, Bulgarian Communist leader (born 1911)
 August 6 - André Weil, French mathematician (born 1906)
 August 9 - Frankie Ruiz, Puerto-Rican singer (born 1958)
 August 26 - Frederick Reines, American physicist (born 1918)

September
September 

 September 2 - Allen Drury, American writer (born 1918)
 September 5 - Leo Penn, American actor and director (born 1921)
 September 6 - Akira Kurosawa, Japanese screenwriter, producer and director (born 1910)
 September 13 - George Wallace, American politician (born 1919)
 September 14 - Yang Shangkun, Chinese politician (born 1907)
 September 21 - Florence Griffith-Joyner, American athlete (born 1959)
 September 26 - Betty Carter, American singer (born 1929)
 September 29 - Tom Bradley, American politician, Mayor of Los Angeles, California (born 1917)

October 

 October 3 - Roddy McDowall, British actor (born 1928)
 October 14 - Frankie Yankovic, American polka musician (born 1915)
 October 17 - Joan Hickson, British actress (born 1906)
 October 28 - Ted Hughes, British poet (born 1930)
November 
 November 3 - Bob Kane, American cartoonist (born 1915)
 November 8 - Jean Marais, French actor (born 1913)
 November 10 - Mary Millar, British actress (born 1917)
 November 25 - Nelson Goodman, American philosopher (born 1906)

December 

 December 2 - Brian Stonehouse, British painter and World War II secret agent (born 1918)
 December 7 - Martin Rodbell, American scientist (born 1925)
 December 8 - Aaron Hopa, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1971)
 December 16 - William Gaddis, American writer (born 1922)
 December 17 - Claudia Benton, Peruvian-born child psychologist (born 1959)
 December 20 - Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist (born 1914)
 December 28 - Robert Rosen, American biologist (born 1934)
 December 30 - Keisuke Kinoshita, Japanese movie director (born 1912)
 December 30 - George Webb, British actor (born 1911)
Nobel Prizes 
 Physics - Robert B. Laughlin, Horst L. Stroemer, Daniel Chee Tsui
 Chemistry - Walter Kohn, John Pople
 Physiology or Medicine - Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, Ferid Murad
 Literature - Jose Saramago
 Nobel Peace Prize - John Hume, David Trimble
 Economics - Amartya Sen

Movies released 
 Saving Private Ryan
 Armageddon
 There's Something About Mary
 A Bug's Life
 Doctor Dolittle
 Rush Hour
 Deep Impact
 Godzilla
 Patch Adams
 Antz
 The Big Lebowski
 Blade
 Chairman of the Board
 Dark City
 Elizabeth
 Enemy of the State
 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
 Human Remains Hurlyburly Lethal Weapon 4 Lost in Space The Mask of Zorro Mulan The Negotiator Pi Pleasantville Rushmore Shakespeare in Love Six Days Seven Nights Small Soldiers The Thin Red Line Very Bad Things The Waterboy The Wedding Singer The Parent Trap''
Hit songs 
 "Never Ever" - All Saints
 "Ray of Light" – Madonna
 "Cruel Summer" – Ace of Base
 "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It"- Will Smith
 "The Boy Is Mine" - Brandy Norwood and Monica (entertainer)
 "My Heart Will Go On" – Céline Dion
 "Goodbye (song)" - Spice Girls
 "Crush" – Jennifer Paige 
 "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" – The Offspring
 "The Dope Show"-Marilyn Manson
 "Dragula" - Rob Zombie
 "Time of Your Life (Good Riddance)" – Green Day
 "Iris" – Goo Goo Dolls
 "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" – Aerosmith
 "One Week"-Barenaked Ladies
 "The Way" – Fastball
 "Uninvited" – Alanis Morissette
 "You're Still the One" – Shania Twain
 "This Kiss" - Faith Hill
 "Nothin' But The Tailights" - Clint Black

New books 
 QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter

References
1997 (MCMXCVII) was .

Births
January 3 - Rahul Shah, Indian cricketer
 February 13 - Michael Jackson, American actor, singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, record producer and voice actor
 March 21 - Martina Stoessel, Argentina actrees & singer
 March 31 - Florin Pisică, Romanian ministry of education & guitarist (Trupa Muzicii Rock-The Jam Hendrix Experience)
 April 1 – Asa Butterfield, English actor
 April 15 - Maisie Williams, British actress 
 May 1 – Ariel Gade, American actress
 June 29 - Lucian Emanoil Onișor, Romanian doctor & bassist 
July 18 - Maria Nikka Feliselda, Filipina Bassist
 August 10 – Kylie Jenner, American television personality and founder of Kylie Cosmetics
 August 16 - Greyson Chance, American singer
 August 20 - Vlad Bușilă, Romanian guitarist (Trupa Muzicii Rock-Fecal Matter)
 September 1 
 Dragoș Leonte, Romanian keyboardist & guitarist (Trupa Filmului) (d. 2023)
 Jungkook, Korean singer (BTS)
 September 8 – Matthew Josten, American actor
 October 2 - Liezel Lopez, Philippine actress
October 8 - Bella Throne, American actrees & singer
 November 16 – Alex Polidori, Italian actress and younger sister of Gabriele Patriarca
 November 17 - Luca Raicu, Romanian keyboardist (Trupa Muzicii Rock-The Jam Hendrix Experience)
 November 19 – McCaughey septuplets, famous American set of septuplets
 December 16 - Zara  Larsson, Sweden singer
Deaths

January 

 January 8 – Melvin Calvin, American chemist (b. 1911)
 January 9 – Edward Osobka-Morawski, Polish politician (b. 1909)
 January 10 – Alexander R. Todd, Scottish chemist (b. 1907)
 January 10 – Sheldon Leonard, American producer (b. 1907)
 January 12 – Charles Brenton Huggins, Canadian cancer researcher (b. 1901)
 January 15 – Helenio Herrera, Argentine football manager (b. 1916)
 January 17 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (b. 1906)
 January 18 – Paul Tsongas, American politician (b. 1941)
 January 19 – James Dickey, American poet and novelist (b. 1923)
 January 21 – Colonel Tom Parker, Dutch-born American celebrity manager (b. 1909)
 January 25 – Jeane Dixon, American psychic (b. 1904)

February
February 

 February 1 – Herb Caen, American newspaper columnist (b. 1916)
 February 1 – Marjorie Reynolds, American actress (b. 1917)
 February 2 – Chico Science, Brazilian musician (b. 1967)
 February 5 – Pamela Harriman, U.S. Ambassador to France (b. 1920)
 February 16 – Bozorg Alavi, Iranian writer (b. 1904)
 February 17 – Asfaw Wossen, Emperor-in-exile of Ethiopia (b. 1916)
 February 19 – Deng Xiaoping, Leader of the People's Republic of China (b. 1904)
 February 21 – Josef Posipal, German footballer (b. 1927)

March 

 March 6 – Cheddi Jagan, President of Guyana (b. 1918)
 March 6 – Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1924)
 March 9 – The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (b. 1972)
 March 14 – Fred Zinnemann, American director (b. 1907)
 March 19 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch artist (b. 1904)
 March 21 - Wilbert Awdry, English writer (b. 1911)
 March 31 – Lyman Spitzer, American physicist (b. 1914)

April
April 

 April 5 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b. 1926)
 April 7 – Georgi Shonin, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1935)
 April 7 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese movie producer (b. 1910)
 April 11 – Wang Xiaobo, Chinese writer (b. 1952)
 April 12 – George Wald, American scientist (b. 1903)
 April 17 – Chaim Herzog, President of Israel (b. 1918)
 April 21 – Diosdado Macapagal, President of the Philippines (b. 1910)

May 

 May 2 – John Eccles, Australian neuropsychologist (b. 1903)
 May 4 – Wijeyananda Dahanayake, Prime Minister of Ceylon (b. 1902)
 May 16 – Giuseppe De Santis, Italian movie director (b. 1917)
 May 20 – Virgilio Barco Vargas, President of Colombia (b. 1922)
 May 22 – Alfred Hershey, American biochemist (b. 1908)
 May 29 – Jeff Buckley, American musician (b. 1966)

June
June 

 June 1 – Nikolai Tikhonov, Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1905)
 June 2 – Helen Jacobs, American tennis player (b. 1908)
 June 6 – Magda Gabor, American actress (b. 1914)
 June 14 – Richard Jaeckel, American actor (b. 1926)
 June 15 – Edmond Leburton, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1915)
 June 23 – Betty Shabazz, American widow of Malcolm X (b. 1936)
 June 24 – Brian Keith, American actor (b. 1921)
 June 25 – Jacques Cousteau, French underwater explorer (b. 1910)
 June 26 – Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, Hawaiian singer (b. 1959)
 June 29 – William Hickey, American actor (b. 1927)

July
July 

 July 1 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (b. 1917)
 July 2 – James Stewart, American actor (b. 1908)
 July 15 – Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (b. 1946)
 July 18 – Eugene Shoemaker, American astronomer (b. 1928)
 July 24 – Saw Maung, Prime Minister of Myanmar (b. 1928)
 July 24 – Frank Parker, American tennis player (b. 1916)
 July 28 – Seni Pramoj, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1905)
 July 30 – Bảo Đại, Vietnamese Emperor (b. 1913)

August 

 August 2 – William S. Burroughs, American writer (b. 1914)
 August 4 – Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian (b. 1875)
 August 8 – Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist (b. 1915)
 August 12 – Luther Allison, American musician (b. 1939)
 August 23 – John Kendrew, British molecular biologist (b. 1917)
 August 30 – Ernst Willimowski, Polish footballer (b. 1931)
 August 31 – Diana, Princess of Wales (b. 1961)
 August 31 – Dodi al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (b. 1955)

September
September 

 September 5 – Mother Teresa, Albanian nun and missionary (b. 1910)
 September 7 – Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire (b. 1930)
 September 9 – Burgess Meredith, American actor (b. 1907)
 September 11 – Matrika Prasad Koirala, Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1912)
 September 17 – Red Skelton, American entertainer (b. 1913)
 September 18 – Jimmy Witherspoon, American blues singer (b. 1920)
 September 29 – Roy Lichtenstein, American artist (b. 1923)

October 

 October 5 – Brian Pillman, American professional wrestler (b. 1962)
 October 12 – John Denver, American musician (b. 1943)
 October 16 – James A. Michener, American writer (b. 1907)
 October 16 – Audra Lindley, American actress (b. 1918)
 October 22 – Leonid Amalrik, Russian animator (b. 1905)
 October 30 – Samuel Fuller, American screenwriter and director (b. 1912)

November
November 

 November 8 – Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh, Iranian writer (b. 1892)
 November 22 – Michael Hutchence, Australian musician (b. 1960)
 November 25 – Hastings Banda, 1st President of Malawi (b. 1907)

December 

 December 1 – Stephane Grappelli, French violinist (b. 1908)
 December 7 – Billy Bremner, Scottish footballer (b. 1942)
 December 16 – Lillian Disney, American artist (b. 1899)
 December 18 – Chris Farley, American actor and comedian (b. 1964)
 December 20 – Juzo Itami, Japanese movie director (b. 1933)
 December 24 – Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor (b. 1920)
 December 27 – Billy Wright, Northern Irish paramilitary leader (b. 1960)

Events

January
January 1 – Kofi Annan becomes Secretary-General of the UN.
 January 8 – Mister Rogers receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
 January 9 – Yachtsman Tony Bullimore is found alive five days after his boat capsized in the Southern Ocean.
 January 18 – In north west Rwanda, Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound 1 other.
 January 19 – Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.
 January 20 – Bill Clinton starts his second term as President of the United States.
 January 21 – Newt Gingrich becomes the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct.
 January 22 – Madeleine Albright becomes the first female secretary of state after confirmation by the United States Senate.
January 23 – Mir Aimal Kasi receives the death sentence for a 1993 assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters that killed 2 and wounded 3 others.
 January 27 – It is revealed that French museums had nearly 2,000 pieces of art that were stolen by Nazis.
 January 28 – Clive Davis receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
February 
 February 22 – Scientists in Scotland announce the cloning of Dolly, born on July 5, 1996.
 February 23 – A small fire occurs on the Mir space station.
 February 27 – Divorce becomes legal in the Republic of Ireland.

March 

 March 6 – Guyana's President Cheddi Jagan dies in office.
 March 22 – At age 14, Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest figure skating world champion.
 March 24 – The movie The English Patient wins an Academy Award for best picture.

April 
 April 29 – 126 people are killed in a train crash in Hunan, China.
May 
 May 1 – Tony Blair of the Labour Party is elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in a landslide victory over the Conservatives, who lose all of their seats in Scotland and Wales, and lose power after 18 years in Government.
 May 3 – Katrina and the Waves win the Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom.
 May 10 – An earthquake in northeastern Iran kills 2400 people.
 May 16 – Mobutu Sese Seko leaves Zaire.
 May 17 – Laurent Kabila's troops enter Kinshasa, as Zaire changes its name to Democratic Republic of the Congo.
 May 23 – Mohammad Khatami is elected President of Iran.

June 
 June 13 – Timothy McVeigh is sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing.
 June 25 – The town of Plymouth on the Caribbean island of Montserrat is evacuated as the Soufriere Hills volcano erupts.
 June 26 – Bertie Ahern becomes Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland.
July 
 July 1 – The United Kingdom hands control of Hong Kong back to the People's Republic of China.
 July 15 – Fashion designer Gianni Versace is shot dead in Florida by spree killer Andrew Cunanan.
 July 25 – K. R. Narayanan becomes President of India.

August 
 August 4 – Jeanne Calment dies after a record human lifespan of 122 years and 164 days.
 August 6 – Korean Air Flight 801 crash lands on the island of Guam, killing 228 people.
 August 31 – Diana, Princess of Wales, Dodi Fayed and their driver Henri Paul are killed in a car crash in Paris.

September
September 

 September 5 – The 2004 Summer Olympics are awarded to Athens, Greece.
 September 6 – The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales takes place at Westminster Abbey in London. It is watched by over 2 billion people worldwide.
 September 11 – Voters in Scotland approve the creation of their own regional parliament in a referendum.
 September 18 – Voters in Wales approve the creation of their own Assembly in a referendum.
 September 26 – The regions of Umbria and Marche in Italy are hit by a strong earthquake.
 September 26 - An Airbus A300 of Garuda Indonesia Airlines crashes in Medan, Sumatra, killing all 234 people on board.

October 
 October 15 – NASA launches the Cassini-Huygens probe to Saturn.
 October 16 – The New York Times' first colour photographs appear.

November