News During 1998

James M Sandbrook

Press F5 to reload to see latest changes.

Email.

NZ Blue Light

Home

Disclaimer.

News During 1998 - 1999

Random News Collected by James M Sandbrook during these years.

President Clinton has paid tribute to the King Hussein of Jordan Sunday, praising him as a "partner and friend", Clinton also said "He was a magnificent man, and like so many, I loved and admired him".
Clinton promised support for Hussein's son and successor, King Abdullah.
Clinton will be leading the funeral delegation.

King Hussein dies; Abdullah the new monarch crowned. King Hussein died Sunday of cancer at the age of 63

Mike Tyson has been sent back to jail, for assaulting two motorists in what the judge called "potentially lethal road rage".

THE WAITANGI CEREMONY MOVES NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER Jenny Shipley the New Zealand Prime Minister was overcome with emotion during this year's Waitangi Day commemorations in the Bay of Islands. Titewhai Harawera says events so far signify a new beginning.
Jenny Shipley shed a tear as she and veteran protestor Titewhai Harawera held onto each other during this morning's dawn service.
Titewhai Harawera says it's the first time any Government has sat down and listened to Maori.

The 63 year old King Hussein remains on a life support system after returning back home from a bone marrow transplant operation in the United States. King Hussein has been pronounced clinically dead.

(Friday, 5th February) Today the Kiwi dollar soared to 55.24 American cents.

January 1999

Peter Hillary, Jon Muir and Eric Phillips are due to reach the South Pole late today, and Peter Hillary's father Sir Edmund Hillary who conquered the world's tallest mountain Mount Everest, in May 1953 and also set a record for the first overland trip to the Pole by tractor in 1958, is today waiting to hear the news that his son has made it to the South Pole. http://www.iridium-icetrek.orghttp://www.iridium-icetrek.org

(NZ) Thanks to the recent floods around two thousand school children in Pukekohe south of Auckland, get a few more days holiday.
Eleven kindergartens and schools in the region will remain closed until Tuesday, the 2nd of February.

(NZ) After 128 years in operation Christchurch’s disliked Addington prison will be closed by the end of the year.

Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world and melanoma is continuing to rise. Queensland reported the highest incidence rate for all cancers this includes melanomas.

Joe DiMaggio. DiMaggio is in grave condition at his home, he is permanently bedridden and using a ventilator.

DiMaggio had spent 99 days in intensive care at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., after contracting lung cancer.

A million Mexico people packed a dusty Mexico City racetrack Sunday to hear a call to arms from Pope John Paul II.

The crowd chanted "Mexico, always faithful!". The crowd was intent on showing the Pope that their affection hasn't diminished since his first trip in 1979.

The number of US people on welfare has fallen to its lowest level in 30 years.

The next crew to fly to the Mir space station have been cleared by Russian doctors. Russian cosmonaut Viktor Afanasyev, French astronaut Jean-Pierre Heignere and Slovak Ivan Bella are scheduled to blast off to the Mir on February 20.

Home Network a high-speed Internet service provider has confirmed plans to buy search engine Excite for $6.7 billion in stock. This deal is the largest ever in the Internet sector

Intel Corp plans to build encryption capabilities into its future computer chips. Intel is the world's largest chip maker.

Alaska had its hottest year in 1998 on record.

A 656-foot-wide, 3 mile long oil slick was floating down the Bulgarian stretch of the Danube River, this followed a 34-mile slick that came from the Yugoslavian section of the river Wednesday.
Some officials were quoted by Bulgarian media as suggesting that they may have come from Yugoslav ports or ships on the river.

Sarah Flannery who is 16, and is an Irish school girl is being hailed as a mathematical genius for devising a new code for sending electronic mail 10 times faster than the current data protection code, which was created by three students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977.

A missing Doctor Who episode has been found in New Zealand! About 470 episodes were made about the time-traveling Dr. Who. 109 - episodes are unaccounted for since the show was canceled by the BBC in the 1970s.

Ford is said to be interested in Volvo.

Michael Jordan has retired from the Chicago Bulls after 13 seasons, six championships and countless soaring dunks. This is a great loss to the sport, but what a great career Michael Jordan has had.

The volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat had an eruption that sent ash 20,000 feet into the air a day ago. But scientist believe the volcano is settling down.

Apple Computer Inc revenues grew 8% to $1.71 billion from $1.58 billion, they sold 519,000 iMac computers, which these days come in 5 colors, one for every room, huh! The iMac became the top-selling desktop machine sold at retail in November 1998. I guess Steve is doing a good Job :-)

Jack Nicklaus will have hip replacement surgery this month which puts him out of the Masters for the first time in 40 years.

U.S President Clinton has proposed a five-year, $6 billion package to fulfill his pledge to put 100,000 new officers on the beat nationwide.

http://www.iridium-icetrek.org is the web site for you to go to follow the great team of explorers led by Peter Hillary making its way to the South Pole.

The New Zealand January road toll is almost double the total at the same time last year, on a notorious stretch of road near Mercer south of Auckland a 21 year old man was killed in a smash last night. This January more than 35 people have died on the roads.

A U.S. F-16CJ fighter fired a Harm missile at an Iraqi radar site in the northern no-fly zone early on Tuesday. The aircraft returned safely to its base unharmed, it is not clear why the missile was fired. It could have been because the radar site had locked onto the F-16CJ fighter to fire at it.

A child Eight-week-old Tori Cameron was born with a rare and deadly skin disease that causes severe blistering with the slightest touch. She is receiving, patch by patch, a new set of "skin" that doctors hope will prolong her life. So far, her tiny body is 40 % covered with Apligraf, and it has blended so well doctors say they can't tell the new skin from Tori's baby skin.

The residents of a (New Zealand) Bay of Plenty settlement have been issued with eviction notices that are from a group of Maori activists who say the land is stolen.
They say Whakatane's Ohiwa Harbour was confiscated under the New Zealand Settlements Act in 1866 and no compensation has been received for it.
Around 400 households have been issued with the eviction notices and they have an invitation to meet with the groups and discuss their concerns.
The Maori activists claims that the area is traditionally used for food gathering.
Spokesman Tame Iti says there's no need for residents to panic just yet ..because they have twelve months to leave the area.

Ford Motor Co, General Motors Corp, DaimlerChrysler AG, Volkswagen AG, Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co and three more automobile manufacturers have formed a new trade group for automobile manufacturers. It will focus on issues of agreement among the world's auto makers rather than more contentious areas such as trade.

President Clinton has mailed a check for $850,000 to Paula Jones to settle her sexual harassment allegations on Tuesday.

During the filming of a dangerous car chase for an episode of the television show `Walker, Texas Ranger' a veteran stunt man died.
William Charles Skeen apparently suffered a fatal heart attack.
In a statement, Walker Texas Ranger star and executive producer Chuck Norris said: "We are grief-stricken over our friend's sudden and tragic death."
William Skeen apparently suffered a fatal heart attack when the GMC Suburban in which he was riding made a rough landing after hurtling 140 feet through the air in a state park, officials said.

Jonah Lomu has turned down an offer to play a bodyguard in the new James Bond movie. Jonah is a New Zealand Rugby player in the All Black team.

The word going around is that Michael Jordan will retire.

New Zealand's total sheep population is around 47,390,000 and that's a whopping 12.6 sheep per person.

Compaq is the worlds first computer company to reach the 50 Million PC milestone.
The computer a Deskpro was ordered by Cable & Wireless, and it came off the assembly line in Houston, Texas.

New Zealand Dairy farmers' could have a large drop in their income this year. The very hot weather with a lack of rain continues to dry up Waikato Milk production.
The Limited rainfall mixed with hot weather have stunted grass growth throughout the region, milk production has dropped 30% at some farms.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, is off to visit the USA and Canada.
The Prime Minister is not expected to meet with Mr. Clinton, but she will meet with top level U.S. government officials such as Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright and Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, while in Ottawa.
Mrs. Shipley said she would be looking to advance New Zealand's trade interests and its goals for this year's APEC summit when she visits Ottawa and Washington D.C. this week.
The Prime Minister's visit to Washington arose when vice-president Al Gore had invited her to be keynote speaker at an international forum on reinventing government. At the forum Mrs. Jenny Shipley said she would outline the successes and failures of New Zealand's reforms over the last 15 years.

Intel welcomes the Pentium(R) III processor brand to the Intel Inside(R) brand family! The new Intel(R) Pentium III name builds upon one of the world's most recognizable brands to convey a new
personal computing experience that takes multimedia to new levels of realism and makes the Internet come alive. Scheduled to be introduced later in Q1' 99, the new Pentium III processor will be Intel's most advanced and powerful processor for desktop PCs.

Rod Stewart is seeing Rachel Hunter everyday and they are working on getting their marriage back together.

Rod Stewart and New Zealand's Rachel Hunter have separated. The couple, who have two children, Renee, 4, and Liam, 6, have no immediate plans for a divorce.

Rod Stewart, who will turn 54 on January 10, was a member of the British pop group the Faces.
In 1971 he became a solo performer with his big hit "Maggie May."
Rachel Hunter is a former model from New Zealand.

William Jefferson Clinton on trial Thursday on charges of high crimes and misdemeanors in the first presidential impeachment in 131 years.

The Cadillac clings to luxury car lead in the U.S.
Cadillac just managed to outsell Lincoln by just 222 vehicles for the year.

Three New Zealand Te Kuiti men have set a new world lamb shearing record. After 17 hundred and 83 lambs were shorn over eight hours. The individual 8 hour world record, was taken by Shearer Dig Balme, shearing 621 lambs.
An Australian held the previous record of 460.

The New Zealand Green Party has suggested a decision to ban the use of four antibiotics used in pig and poultry feed should be adopted by New Zealand, just like the European Union decided to. Two of the banned antibiotics were in regular use here in New Zealand, though not necessarily in the same concentrations as used in Europe.

Cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev will spend another three to six months aboard the Mir space station.
Avdeyev, who blasted off into space last August with fellow cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.

Iron Eyes Cody who was in his 80s or 90s, died of natural causes Monday at his home in Los Angeles. Cody was well known as the 'crying Indian' in the Keep America Beautiful advertisements in which he is mourning, and sheds a single tear at the sight of landscape fouled by litter.

Fords sales in the US rose 2% for its best year since 1978.

The weather in the US is showing no mercy with a record cold reading of 36 degrees below zero to Illinois. Frigid conditions south to the Gulf Coast, and a foot of snow in upstate New York. These bad conditions are the cause of many traffic accidents, so please take care.

President Clinton's impeachment trial will begin Thursday.

A New Zealand National MP of Hamilton West, MP Bob Simcock says "This summer's riots at Mt Maunganui and Waihi Beach are totally unacceptable."
"The young people who appeared on television saying that it was all good fun need straightening out. Setting cars alight and attacking police with bottles is far more than good fun, it is serious criminal behavior and must not be tolerated, even from supposedly well brought up middle class kids.

Our millennium celebration next year will be a disaster if we do not respond to this year's incidents. All citizens whatever their age should be able to enjoy public celebrations without fearing for their safety."
Mr Simcock has said those responsible need to be charged, convicted and treated very firmly by the courts.

He also said "As the first country to see the new millennium we hope that the eyes of the world will be on us next year. But what will they see? A bunch of drunken louts attacking police? We must make sure that never happens."
Mr Simcock has a very good point, New Zealand needs to sort this problem out before next year.

Europe launches single currency: the euro.

Europe s changing its ways and moving away from nuclear power due to pressure from the Greens. This is a great move because Nuclear Energy produces lethal wastes that pose centuries of danger to future generations of all life on this planet.

More computer products are supposed to become available with the iMac translucent look.

Ford wants to bring back the 1950s Thunderbird. Ford will unveil its concept T-Bird Sunday at the North American International Auto Show's press preview.

Even though Chicago is experiencing a 10-year low in murders, Chicago is the U.S nation's 1998 murder capital with 698 homicides in 1998. New York - 629.

Chicago has had its worst snowstorm in 30 years. Public and Catholic school classes were canceled Monday.

For the 13th straight year Nevada is the U.S nation's fastest-growing state, boosting its population by 4.1%.

1998

Microsoft to FORCE Office Registration! Microsoft plans to use New Zealand and other countries for a trial of a new registration system this is retail versions of Office 2000. The software will fail after 50 launches, this will happen if the user has not registered the software with Microsoft.

A Florida firm has recalled more than 108,000 pounds of franks after the meat tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes, a potentially deadly bacteria.

The Deep Space 1 probe rode atop a Boeing Delta 2 rocket was launched. The probe only stands just 8.2 feet high.
This is an experimental NASA spacecraft that will test new technologies needed for the next generation of robotic
solar system explorers.

Russia has launched an unmanned spacecraft that is to carry supplies to the crew on the Mir Space Station.

In New Zealand there was a 3.3% increase in PC shipments over the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. PC shipments in the second quarter this year were 62,000 and last year in the second quarter 60,000 PC shipments. So it appears the Asian crises in not affecting New Zealand PC sales much at all.

The whitehouse and congressional negotiators is to work out final details of a $500 billion budget plan, Thursday.

The Bank of Japan said on Thursday that Japan's economy is still declining.

WBA and IBF heavyweight title holder Evander Holyfield and WBC world champ Lennox Lewis it is said have both given verbal agreements to fight, this would unify all the world heavyweight belts.
Holyfield is said to get $20 million for the fight and Lennox is to get 8 million.

John Glen and crew arrive back to Earth safe.

John Glen is to return to space after a long break, we hope his trip is a good one. After a 36-year absence from space, the former Mercury astronaut is 77 years old and would be the oldest man in space. Glen has mentioned that the press statements lack scientific information. It appears the press is focusing on Glen and not the whole mission.

The House launched the third presidential impeachment inquiry in U.S. history, this puts Bill Clinton's presidency into a new stage of crisis.

Diesel oil spill threatens New Zealand wildlife, a South Korean fishing vessel sunk and lots of diesel oil has been leaking threatening endangered wildlife on a remote coastline of New Zealand. This is not good news for the coast of New Zealand's southernmost island area, Stewart Island.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd has declared it is the first memory supplier to deliver early engineering samples of 1-gigabit synchronous DRAMs to major computer manufacturers. Those are pretty large DRAMs. Prototypes have been sent to IBM, and Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq and Dell. Samsung said the new device will be commercially available around the year 2000.

John Forster, the chairman of Datamatic New Zealand will shut up shop. Many are sad to lose the distributor.

John Hart to stay on as All Black coach, even after this years losses. It has been a hard year for the All Blacks and coach John Hart with many lost games of rugby.

Congratulations to the Waikato Rugby team for the win against Northland. Hopefully we will see more Waikato players in the All Blacks since John Hart was watching the game. Waikato played with speed and traditional Waikato dedication.

Astronomers said Friday they had found evidence of the most powerful magnetic field ever seen in the universe they called the magnetar, a neutron star that has a magnetic field billions of times stronger than the Earth's.

It appears a cure for the common cold has been found, but it will not be available for many years yet.

I was pretty amazed when I read that world-wide PC shipments reached an amazing 21.1 Million Units in the 2nd quarter this year (1998), this is up 13.9% over the same period last year. Most of these PC Systems would have a modem and all the software to connect to the Internet, expect the growth of users on Internet to grow at an enormous rate. Along with new users on Internet more money will be spent over Internet, more web sites will spring up giving us much more interesting web sites to look at, educate our children etc. the next few years are going to be Interesting on the "Net".

My prediction: The home PC System will be your only source for entertainment in the future, you will not need a stereo or a television or any other form of entertainment system, you will get it all on your home PC System.

The statement "Every home will have a computer" is will soon be true, old PC Systems are still selling second hand while many people are purchasing new PC Systems. And if you do not have a new PC System you are missing out on something because PC Software programmers are breaking new ground constantly, if you doubt this download a new latest release game.