• 1/3/99 Clinton pledges billions in defense spending. Wshington - President Clinton proposed a six-year infusion of $100 billion in new Pentagon spending, due to criticism of armed forces' readiness to satisfy commitments abroad. This is the largest military pay raise since 1982. The $12-billion increase is to improve aging weaponry and falling recruitment, anti-terrorism and overseas campaigns from Bosnia to Iraq and bring the total military spending to $268.2 billion.
• 1/3/99 New Age church leader announces retirement. Corwin Springs, Mont. -- Elizabeth Clare Prophet diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, will retire as spiritual leader of the Church Universal and Triumphant, a New Age sect head-quartered on the Royal Teton Ranch next to Yellowstone National Park. The church was founded in 1958 in Washington, D.C., and incorporates teachings of Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.
• 1/3/99 Europe gets new money; U.S. content. The Euro, 11 European nations set the rates for their common currency, taking a giant step toward creaating a united Europe. It will trade at about $1.17, 132.8 Japanese yen and 70 British pence when markets open. Analysts expect the euro to level the global trade playing field, challenging the dollar's position as the leading world currency.
• 1/4/99 Austria (13.7603 schillings), Belgium (40.3399 francs), Finland (5.94573 markka), France (6.55957 francs), Germany (1.95583 marks), Ireland (0.787564 pounds), Italy (1936.27 lire), Luxembourg (40.3399 francs), the Netherlands (2.20371 Dutch guilders), Portugal (200.482 escudos) and Spain (166.386 pesetas).
• 1/4/99 Fossil adds years to age of whales. Paleontologists digging in the Himalayan foothills have found a fossilized jawbone and teeth that suggest whales originated 3.5 million years earlier than scientists had thought. The new whales species named Himalayecetus subathuensis, is about 53.5 million years old, thus older than a species found in Pakistan.
• 1/7/99 Plutonium from test blast carried in groundwater. Traces of plutonium from a test blast in the Nevada desert (Yucca Mountain) migrated nearly a mile through groundwater, from a government study posed on an underground nuclear waste storage site. Check out this site http://www.ymp.gov or Yucca Mountain (NV Site Characterized) Project, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Secretary of Energy, Tunnel Boring Machine, Amargesa Valley, Nevada.
• 1/11/99 Israel fears extremist pilgrims, Millennium raises chances of violence. Due to a flock of born-again Christians moving to Israel to await the Second Coming of the Messiah, at the Mount of Olives, the biblical site of Jesus' ascension to heaven and prophesied point of return. These pilgrims believe the century changeover will herald the return of Christ and the end of the world. Israeli authorities arrested 14 alleged doomsday sect members of the Denver-based Concerned Christians who would provoke an incident that would trigger Armageddon and deported them to the United States. These were some of the seventy-eight members of the Concerned Christians who in October sold their belongings and left their jobs to go to Jerusalem. The sect was led by Monte Kim Miller, age 44.
• 1/12/99 1998 ranks as hottest year on record, 2 agencies say. Washington -- Last year was the hottest year on record, according to NASA researchers who say the rising temperatures are further evidence that the world is heating up. Global surface temperatures in 1998 averaged 0.34 of a degree Fahrenheit warmer than the previous record, in 1995. The NASA findings indicate a mean worldwide temperature of about 58.496 degrees in 1998; the 1995 record was 58.154. The 1998 warmth was associated partly with an El Nino, a periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean, that occurred in the first half of the year. Almost the entire world was warmer than normal in 1998.
• 1/17/99 Falwell: Second coming near, Antichrist a male Jew. The Rev. Jerry Falwell, claimed that the Antichrist may be alive today and he is a male Jew. He also believes the second coming of Christ probably will come within 10 years. Jerry open mouth, insert foot. Find another way to get publicity, or pick a subject that you know something about.
• 1/23/99 New microbes posing health risks to humans, marine life. Anaheim, Calif. -- Previously unknown bacteria and viruses in the oceans are killing some marine life and threatening human health. These ecological dangers are disturbing, since about 10 percent of the coral worldwide has died, said James W. Porter, an ocean studies specialist at the University of Georgia. If the present trends and conditions continue, another 20 to 30 percent of the coral could be lost. Corals are like the canary in the mine, telling us that the water where they live is becoming suboptimal for their existence. Vast colonies of human viruses migrate into coastal waters from septic tanks of populated areas. Porter believed the increase in the pathogens in the world's oceans may be linked to a 1.8 degree rise in sea surface temperature detected in many areas.
• 1/21/99 U.S. considers building an anti-missile defense system. To protect specific regions or troops in combat, attacks from North Korea, Iran or Iraq, or an accidental launch in Russia.
• 1/22/99 U.S. missile defense plan could scuttle arms pact approval. Nix on START II strategic arms treaty.
• 1/27/99 Pope visits U.S., Clinton greets him in St. Louis. Ho Hum.
• 1/27/99 Vatican issues new guidelines for exorcism. Vatican City -- The Vatican issued new guidelines for driving out devils, urging exorcists not to mistake psychiatric illness for diabolic possession. The new exorcism rite, in Latin and contained in a red, leather-bound, 84-page book, also reflects Pope John Paul II's efforts to convince the skeptical that the devil is real. The new guidelines are the first revision of the exorcism rite since 1614. They did not drastically change the words or the gestures used by exorcists, but they do provide optional texts for priests to use. However, exorcists must not think possessed by a demon someone who is suffering from some illness, above all psychic. Among the widely accepted signs of possession by the devil are speaking in unknown tongues and demonstrating physical force beyond one's natural capacity. The rite itself remains essentially the same. It involves making the sign of the cross, laying on hands, sprinkling holy water and ordering the devil to leave the possessed person. John Paul, in 1982 performed an exorcism during his papacy, according to the memoirs of the late Cardinal Jacques Martin, driving out the devil from a woman who was brought to him writhing on the ground.

Last updated February 19, 1999.