National Aeronautics and Space Administration|382000|up039803
Norodom Ranariddh|824297|up039818
Nuclear energy|396440|up039814
Pole vault|436970|up039801
Sierra Leone|509740|up039805
Spock, Benjamin McLane|525870|up039809
Suicide|538460|up039815
Triple jump|567230|up039801
Volkswagen|588010|up039816
up039801|New athletics records set|<STRONG>New athletics records set</STRONG><P>In March 1998, two new women's athletics world records were set at the European Indoor Athletic Championships held in Valencia, Spain. Anzhela Balakhonova of Ukraine pole-vaulted 4.45 metres, and Ashia Hansen of the United Kingdom set an indoor record with a triple jump of 15.16 metres.</P>
up039802|Computer hacker causes chaos in U.S.A.|<STRONG>Computer hacker causes chaos in U.S.A.</STRONG><P>In March 1998, an Israeli computer hacker known only as "The Analyser", caused thousands of Windows-based computers in the United States to crash. Computers in many government departments and universities were affected, as well as more than ninety per cent of NASA's field offices. The F.B.I. later detained the 18-year-old youth in Israel. </P>
up039803|Scientists discover water on Moon|<strong>Scientists discover water on Moon</strong><p>In March 1998, American scientists announced the discovery of flecks of ice within craters on the moon's surface. The ice particles were discovered by NASA's Lunar Prospector robot space probe. Experts believe there are large quantities of frozen water at each of the moon's lunar poles. They hope it can be used to refuel future space missions, and thus allow for deeper exploration of the solar system.</p>
up039804|Pinochet steps down as Chile's army commander|<strong>Pinochet steps down as Chile's army commander</strong><p>In March 1998, General Augusto Pinochet retired as commander of the Chilean army, and became a senator-for-life. Hundreds protested against the honours given him in spite of his human rights abuses while in power as military dictator. Anti-Pinochet demonstrations were broken up by police armed with tear gas and water cannon.</p>
up039805|Kabbah returns to Freetown from exile|<strong>Kabbah returns to Freetown from exile</strong><p>President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah returned to Freetown, Sierra Leone, after ten months in exile in March 1998. Kabbah was welcomed by thousands of people as he returned from Guinea to take back control of his country.</p>
up039806|South Korean president grants 5.5 million prisoners amnesty|<strong>South Korean president grants 5.5 million prisoners amnesty</strong><p>In the biggest amnesty since the founding of South Korea, President Kim Dae Jung freed 74 political prisoners in March 1998. He also pardoned a further 5.5 million offenders with convictions for lesser offences such as driving under the influence of alcohol.</p>
up039807|Sonia Gandhi takes over as leader of Congress Party|<strong>Sonia Gandhi takes over as leader of Congress Party</strong><p>Sonia Gandhi, widow of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, took over as president of the Congress Party in March 1998.</p>
up039808|India has new prime minister|<strong>India has new prime minister</strong><p>Following an indecisive election result, President Kocheril Narayanan invited Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, to head a new coalition government in March 1998.</p>
up039809|Dr Benjamin Spock dies|<strong>Dr Benjamin Spock dies</strong><p>Dr Benjamin Spock died on March 15, 1998, at his home in California, U.S.A. He was 94 years old.</p>
up039810|Amazonian fires destroy large areas of rainforest|<strong>Amazonian fires destroy large areas of rainforest</strong><p>In March 1998, the worst Amazonian fires for more than thirty years destroyed large areas of the rainforest in Roraima state, Brazil. The fires, which were fuelled by high winds and a long spell of drought, seriously threatened the reservation of the Yanomami people. The fires were eventually quelled when heavy rains fell at the beginning of April, extinguishing ninety per cent of the flames.</p>
up039811|China has new prime minister|<strong>China has new prime minister</strong><p>In March 1998, Zhu Rongji was elected prime minister of China after securing 98 per cent of votes from the National People's Congress in a one-candidate contest. </p>
up039814|Police deployed to disperse antinuclear protest in Germany|<strong>Police deployed to disperse antinuclear protest in Germany</strong><p>In March 1998, the biggest deployment of police in postwar Germany was undertaken to oversee the journey of a train carrying nuclear waste. Protesters chained themselves to the tracks in an attempt to block the train, which was travelling from southern Germany to Ahaus, in the north.</p>
up039815|Woman dies in lawful doctor-assisted suicide|<strong>Woman dies in lawful doctor-assisted suicide</strong><p>A woman in her eighties became the first person to die under the controversial doctor-assisted suicide law in March 1998. The law was brought into effect in Oregon, U.S.A., in November 1997.</p>
up039816|Ferdinand Porsche dies|<strong>Ferdinand Porsche dies</strong><p>Ferdinand Porsche died at his home in Austria in March 1998. He was 88 years old.</p>
up039817|Pro-cannabis march in London attracts thousands|<strong>Pro-cannabis march in London attracts thousands</strong><p>In March 1998, more than 15,000 people marched through the streets of London in the city's biggest pro-cannabis (marijuana) demonstration for thirty years. Many were protesting that the drug is less dangerous than such legalized substances as tobacco and alcohol. Others argued that marijuana had medicinal benefits for sufferers of diseases such as multiple sclerosis.</p>
up039818|Prince Ranariddh returns from exile|<strong>Prince Ranariddh returns from exile</strong><p>On March 30, 1998, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, former prime minister of Cambodia, returned to his country after nine months in exile. In his absence, Prince Ranariddh had been convicted of illegally importing arms. After a pardon from his father, King Sihanouk, he returned to rebuild his political party, Funcinpec, in time for elections scheduled for July, 1998.</p>
