It's time to pick the top news stories of 1998. The Associated Press each year asks its international media subscribers editors and broadcasters to vote for their choices. In a separate poll AP's international media subscribers are asked to pick the year's top sports stories. Results are announced in stories transmitted toward the end of December. AP World Service media subscribers should submit their choices one ballot per publication or broadcast outlet by Tuesday Dec. 15. Ballots should be faxed to: 1998 Top Story Poll International Desk New York x-1-212-621-5449. Subscribers may also submit ballots to their local AP bureau for relay to the pollster. Votes are needed from all regions of the world to ensure a representative survey. Each ballot should give the subscriber's top 10 choices in order of importance with 1 being the most important and 10 the last choice. The ballot should include the name and location of the publication or broadcaster. The list of suggested stories below is in random order. Subscribers may give other choices if they wish. Reminder: Dec. 15 is the deadline for submitting ballots. -0- Ballot for AP's poll of top international news stories of 1998. Name of publication/broadcast subscriber: Location of subscriber: Stories in order of importance: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Suggested stories others may be submitted: -Economic turmoil spreads in Asia; U.S. stock market tumbles -President Clinton's fling with intern explodes into impeachment threat -Hurricane Mitch devastates Central America Georges rips Caribbean -Israeli-Palestinian land-for-peace deal -Northern Ireland accord recognized with Nobel Peace Prize -Bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania provokes U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan Sudan -Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba spotlights human rights -Two Afghan earthquakes kill 10000 -India and Pakistan conduct underground nuclear tests -Kosovo conflict draws NATO bombing threat -Iraq-U.N. standoffs over weapons inspections -Chile's ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet arrested in Britain -Indonesian unrest leads to President Suharto's resignation -John Glenn the first American astronaut returns to space at 77 -Viagra first effective pill against impotence sold worldwide -Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Anwar put on trial -Rwandan genocide trials executions -Russia's economic and political problems including Boris Yeltsin's health -Hajj stampede kills 180 in Mecca -Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot dies -North Korea's famine -Preparations for introduction of Euro currency -Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha dies sparking unrest -Swiss banks agree on restitution payments to Holocaust victims -Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi convicted of bribery corruption -AIDS spreads globally 33 million infected with HIV -France upsets Brazil in World Cup final -Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto resigns -Papua New Guinea tidal wave kills nearly 3000 -Cambodian elections trouble forming new government -Floods in China kill more than 2000 -Congo conflict flares up drawing in other countries -South Africa's truth commission gives amnesty for apartheid-era crimes -Lesotho mutiny; South Africa Botswana intervene -Helmut Kohl ousted as German chancellor after 16 years -Albania unrest -Nigerian oil pipeline blast kills at least 500 -Crash of Swissair flight off Canada kills all 229 aboard APW19981201.0807.txt.body.html APW19981201.0154.txt.body.html