CNN Interactive - Almanac - December 4, 1998

My preference would be to get it over with this year. If the Judiciary Committee doesn't complete its work next week it would be pretty certain it would have to be carried over.

-- House Speaker-elect Bob Livingston, referring to the Judiciary Committee impeachment inquiry

Western officials are scheduled to participate in a two-day donors conference in Zagreb, Croatia, organized by the Croatian government with the aim of gathering funds for the reconstruction of war-torn areas.
The launch of the Virgin Global Challenger hot-air balloon on a round-the-world record is scheduled today in Marrakech, Morocco. The crew includes Virgin boss Richard Branson and Chicago millionaire Steve Fossett.
The 75th annual Congress of Cities winter meeting is scheduled to be held in Kansas City, Missouri. Vice President Al Gore is expected to speak.

On Saturday, December 5, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are scheduled to play in the Carlos Baerga Celebrity Softball Game in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
On Sunday, December 6, local elections are to be held in Russia.
On Monday December 7, the Presidents Golf Cup Tournament is to be held in Melbourne, Australia. South African President Nelson Mandela, and former U.S. presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George Bush expected to attend.
On Tuesday, December 8, President Clinton is scheduled to hold the first-ever White House conference on Social Security in Washington.
On Wednesday, December 9, a hearing for Dr. Jack Kevorkian is scheduled in Pontiac, Michigan. He's been charged with first-degree murder after the euthanization of a terminally ill man was aired on national television.

NEWSLINK:		NOTABLE:
Heading for the slopes? Click here.		Actor Max Baer, Jr. is 61. Model Tyra Banks is 25. Football player Jeff Blake is 28. Actor Jeff Bridges is 49. Actress Deanna Durbin is 77. Musician Chris Hillman is 56. Philanthropist Stewart Rollings Mott is 61. Actress Marisa Tomei is 34. Actress Patricia Wettig is 47.

In 1154, Nicolas Breakspear, the first and only Englishman to be elected pope, was crowned as Adrian IV.
In 1642, Cardinal de Richelieu, the French statesman, died. He was chief minister to King Louis XIII of France and, from 1629, first minister and actual ruler of France.
In 1791, Britain's Observer newspaper, the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world, was first published.
In 1795, the Scottish essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle was born.
In 1816, the Republican James Monroe was elected fifth president of the United States.
In 1829, Britain abolished the practice of "suttee" in India, by which a widow burns herself to death on her husband's funeral pyre.
In 1892, Gen. Francisco Franco, the Spanish dictator, was born.
In 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed, with Alexander I as prince regent.
In 1947, Tennessee Williams' play "A Streetcar Named Desire" premiered in New York.
In 1965, the United States launched Gemini VII into space for a link-up with Gemini VI.
In 1976, Benjamin Britten, the English composer, died. His first opera was "Peter Grimes" and he was also famous for "Billy Budd" and "Death in Venice."
In 1992, President George Bush ordered about 28,000 U.S. troops to Somalia to block warring gangs from intercepting food shipments.
In 1993, the Angolan government and its UNITA guerrilla foes formally adopted terms for a truce.