January •
January 1 – The
Emergency Alert System is introduced in the
United States. •
January 11 –
Turkey threatens
Cyprus on account of a deal to buy
Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the
Cypriot Missile Crisis. •
January 16 –
Murder of Ennis Cosby: Near
Interstate 405 in
Los Angeles,
Bill Cosby's son Ennis is shot in the head in a failed robbery attempt. •
January 17 – A
Delta II rocket carrying a military
GPS payload explodes, shortly after liftoff from
Cape Canaveral. •
January 18 – In northwest
Rwanda,
Hutu militia members kill 6 Spanish aid workers and three soldiers, and seriously wound another. •
January 19 –
Yasser Arafat returns to
Hebron after more than 30 years, and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled
West Bank city. (→
Hebron Agreement) •
January 23 –
Madeleine Albright becomes the first female Secretary of State of the United States, after confirmation by the
United States Senate. •
January 26 –
VJTI changes its name from Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute to Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute in Mumbai.
February •
February 4 • On their way to
Lebanon, two Israeli troop-transport helicopters
collide, killing all 73 on board. • After at first contesting the results,
Serbian President
Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections. • A
magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes
North Khorasan province, Iran, killing 88 people and injuring 1,948. •
February 10 –
Sandline affair: Australian newspapers publish stories that the government of
Papua New Guinea has brought mercenaries onto
Bougainville Island. •
February 13 –
STS-82: Tune-up and repair work on the
Hubble Space Telescope is started by
astronauts from the
Space Shuttle Discovery. •
February 28 •
North Hollywood shootout: Two robbers, wearing
kevlar body armor, and armed with illegally modified
Type 56S rifles with high-capacity magazines and other weapons, injure 20 police officers and civilians in a gun battle. The incident sparks debate on the appropriate firepower for United States patrol officers to have available in similar situations in the future. •
1997 Turkish military memorandum: As a result of a meeting held by the
National Security Council, the
Turkish Armed Forces issues a memorandum to adopt more secular criteria. Later on June 18, the
Turkish government resigns because of the pressure.
March •
March 4 – U.S. President
Bill Clinton bans federal funding for any research on
human cloning. •
March 7 – In
Sri Lanka, the
Tamil Tigers overrun a military base and kill over 100 Sri Lankan troops. •
March 9 – American rapper
The Notorious B.I.G. is
murdered in
Los Angeles. •
March 13 • India's Missionaries of Charity chooses
Sister Nirmala, to succeed
Mother Teresa as its leader. • The
National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China creates a new
Chongqing Municipality, out of part of
Sichuan. •
March 16 –
Sandline affair: On
Bougainville Island in
Papua New Guinea, soldiers of commander
Jerry Singirok arrest
Tim Spicer and his
mercenaries of the
Sandline International. •
March 18 – The tail of a Russian
An-24 charter plane
breaks off while en route to Turkey, causing the plane to crash, killing all 50 on board, and resulting in the grounding of all An-24s. •
March 21 – In
Zaire,
Étienne Tshisekedi is appointed prime minister; he ejects supporters of
Mobutu Sese Seko from his cabinet. •
March 22 – The
Comet Hale–Bopp makes its closest approach to Earth. •
March 24 – The
69th Academy Awards, hosted by
Billy Crystal, are held at the
Shrine Auditorium in
Los Angeles, with
The English Patient winning
Best Picture. During the event, the
DVD format is launched in the United States. •
March 24–
26 – In
San Diego, 39
Heaven's Gate cultists commit
mass suicide at their compound. •
March 26 –
Julius Chan resigns as prime minister of Papua New Guinea, effectively ending the
Sandline affair.
April •
April 3 – The
Thalit massacre in
Algeria: all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas. •
April 14 •
Fire breaks out in a pilgrim camp on the Plain of Mena, from
Mecca; 343 die. • Former SS Captain
Erich Priebke is retried; on
July 22 he is sentenced to fifteen years in prison. •
April 18 – The
Red River of the North breaks through dikes and
floods Grand Forks, North Dakota, and
East Grand Forks, Minnesota, causing US$2 billion in damage. •
April 21 – A
Pegasus rocket carries the remains of 24 people into earth orbit, in the first
space burial by
Celestis company. •
April 22 •
Haouch Khemisti massacre: 93 villagers are killed in
Algeria. • A
126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in
Lima,
Peru. •
April 23 – 42 villagers are killed in the
Omaria massacre in Algeria. •
April 29 • The
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW),
CWC treaty enters into force. •
Two trains crash at
Hunan, China; 126 are killed.
May •
May 1 –
Tony Blair becomes
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as the
Labour Party wins the
1997 United Kingdom general election and returns to government for the first time in 18 years. •
May 8 - Playhouse Disney launches. •
May 10 – The 7.3
Qayen earthquake strikes eastern
Iran with a maximum
Mercalli intensity of X (
Extreme). At least 1,567 were killed and 2,300 were injured. •
May 11 –
IBM's
Deep Blue defeats
Garry Kasparov in the
last game of the rematch, the first time a computer beats a
chess World champion in a match. •
May 12 • The
Russia–Chechnya Peace Treaty is signed. • An
F1-rated tornado strikes downtown
Miami, causing $525,000 in damages. Pictures and videos of this tornado made news headlines around the world. •
May 15 – The United States government acknowledges existence of the
"Secret War" in Laos (
1953–
1975) during the
Vietnam War, and dedicates the
Laos Memorial in honor of
Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans. •
May 16 •
First Congo War ends when president
Mobutu Sese Seko is exiled from
Zaire. • U.S. President
Bill Clinton issues a formal apology to the surviving victims of the
Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male and their families. •
May 17 – Troops of
Laurent Kabila march into
Kinshasa. •
May 21 –
Radiohead releases
OK Computer •
May 23 •
Mohammad Khatami wins the
1997 Iranian presidential election and becomes the first
Iranian
Reformist president. • A
riot in
Banjarmasin,
Indonesia breaks out, causing at least 137 deaths. •
May 25 – A
military coup in
Sierra Leone replaces President
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major
Johnny Paul Koroma. •
May 27 – The
fourth-deadliest tornado of the 1990s hits in
Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 people and causing extreme damage in the Double Creek Estates. •
May 31 – The 13-kilometer
Confederation Bridge, the world's longest bridge spanning ice-covered waters, opens between
Prince Edward Island and
New Brunswick, Canada.
June •
June 1 •
Socialist Party-led Centre-left coalition won the second-round in
1997 French legislative elections, began with the third
Cohabitation (1997–2002). •
Hugo Banzer wins the
Presidential elections in
Bolivia. •
June 2 – In
Denver,
Colorado,
Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995
Oklahoma City bombing. •
June 10 –
Khmer Rouge leader
Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief,
Son Sen, and 11 of Sen's family members, before Pol Pot flees his northern stronghold. •
June 11 – In the United Kingdom, the
House of Commons votes for a
total ban on
handguns. •
June 13 – A jury sentences
Timothy McVeigh to
death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. •
June 16 – About 50 people are killed in the
Daïat Labguer (M'sila) massacre in Algeria. •
June 21 – The Women's National Basketball Association (
WNBA) plays its first game at
The Great Western Forum in Los Angeles. •
June 25 • A massive eruption of the
Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of
Montserrat leads to evacuation and eventual abandonment of the capital,
Plymouth. • An uncrewed spacecraft
Progress M-34 collides with the Russian space station Mir. •
June 26 •
Bertie Ahern is appointed as the 10th
Taoiseach of the
Republic of Ireland and
Mary Harney is appointed as the 16th, and first female,
Tánaiste, after their parties,
Fianna Fáil and the
Progressive Democrats respectively, win the
1997 General Election. • Publication of
J. K. Rowling's first
Harry Potter novel, ''
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', in London by Bloomsbury Publishing, in an edition of 500 copies.
July •
July – The
1997 Central European flood occurs across Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. •
July 1 – The United Kingdom
hands sovereignty of the
British colony in
Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China. •
July 2 – The Bank of Thailand floats the
baht, triggering the
Asian financial crisis. •
July 4 –
NASA's
Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of
Mars. •
July 5 • In Cambodia,
Hun Sen of the
Cambodian People's Party overthrows
Norodom Ranariddh in a
coup. • The Egyptian
Islamic Group announces a
cessation-of-violence initiative. •
July 8 –
NATO invites the
Czech Republic,
Hungary, and
Poland to
join the alliance in
1999. •
July 10 – In London, scientists report their
DNA analysis findings from a
Neanderthal skeleton, which support the
out of Africa theory of
human evolution, placing an "
African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. •
July 11 –
Royal Jomtien Resort Hotel fire at
Pattaya,
Thailand's worst hotel fire, kills 90. •
July 13 – The remains of
Che Guevara are returned to
Cuba for burial, alongside some of his comrades.
Guevara and his comrades were executed on October 9
1967 in
Bolivia. •
July 15 –
Spree killer Andrew Cunanan shoots fashion designer
Gianni Versace dead outside Versace's
Miami Beach residence. •
July 17 – The
F. W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business. •
July 25 –
K. R. Narayanan is sworn in as India's 10th president and the first member of the
Dalit caste to hold this office. •
July 27 – About 50 are killed in the
Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria. •
July 30 – 18 people are killed in the
Thredbo landslide in the
Snowy Mountains resort in Australia.
August •
August 3 – Between 40 and 76 villagers are killed in the
Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria. •
August 3–
11 – Two of the three islands of the
Union of the Comoros –
Anjouan and
Mohéli – attempt to revert to colonial rule by France. The plan fails when the French government of President
Jacques Chirac refuses to recolonize them, resulting in the two islands being reintegrated into the Comoros over the next two years. •
August 4 –
Jeanne Calment, the verified oldest person to have ever lived, dies at 122 years and 164 days. •
August 6 –
Korean Air Flight 801 crash lands west of
Guam International Airport, resulting in the deaths of 228 people. •
August 13 –
Trey Parker and
Matt Stone's
animated television comedy
series,
South Park, started broadcasting with the first episode,
Cartman Gets an Anal Probe, on
Comedy Central. •
August 20 – More than 60 are killed, 15 kidnapped in the
Souhane massacre in Algeria. •
August 26 • 60–100 are killed in the
Beni Ali massacre in Algeria. • The
Independent International Commission on Decommissioning is set up in
Northern Ireland, as part of a
peace process. •
August 29 • Over 98 (and possibly up to 400) are killed in the
Rais massacre in Algeria. •
Netflix, Inc. is founded as a DVD-by-mail rental service. •
August 31 –
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales:
Diana, Princess of Wales, is taken to a hospital after a car accident shortly after midnight, in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris. She is pronounced dead at 4:00 am.
September •
September 1 –
Dublin Regulation on treatment of applications for
right of asylum under
European Union law first comes into force. •
September 5 • Over 87 are killed in the
Beni Messous massacre in Algeria. • The
International Olympic Committee picks
Athens, Greece, to be the host city for the
2004 Summer Olympics. •
September 6 – The
funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, takes place at
Westminster Abbey, London, UK, watched by over two billion people worldwide. •
September 11 –
Scotland votes in favour of a
devolved Parliament, forming the
Scottish Parliament less than two years later. • Television series,
Melangkah di Atas Awan was aired by Indonesian private television station,
Indosiar. It was a final TV series of Ryan Hidayat, who died on 8 February 1997, before the TV series was broadcast. •
September 15 – The
Norwegian parliamentary election is held in
Norway. •
September 18 •
Al-Qaeda carries out a
terrorist attack in
Mostar,
Bosnia and Herzegovina. •
Wales votes in favour of
devolution and the formation of a
National Assembly for Wales. •
September 20 – 53 people are killed in the
Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria. •
September 21 • The
Islamic Salvation Army, the
Islamic Salvation Fronts' armed wing, declares a unilateral ceasefire in Algeria. •
St. Olaf's Church, a stone church from the 16th century in
Tyrvää,
Finland, is burnt down. •
September 26 •
Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 crashes while on approach to
Medan,
North Sumatra, during the
1997 Southeast Asian haze, killing all 234 people on board. This becomes the deadliest aviation accident in Indonesian history. • An
earthquake strikes the Italian regions of
Umbria and
Marche, causing part of the
Basilica of St. Francis at
Assisi to collapse. •
September 27 • The sports-fused entertainment TV program
SASUKE started on
TBS in Japan.
October •
October 1 –
Luke Woodham walks into Pearl High School in
Pearl, Mississippi and
opens fire, killing two girls, after killing his mother earlier that morning. •
October 2 – British scientists Moira Bruce and John Collinge, with their colleagues, independently show that the new variant form of the
Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is the same disease as
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy. •
October 3 – The
President of Paraguay,
Juan Carlos Wasmosy, orders the arrest of political opponent
Lino Oviedo. •
October 10 – Uruguay's worst air disaster occurs when
Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 2553 crashes near
Nuevo Berlín, killing all 74 on board. •
October 12 –
Sidi Daoud massacre: 43 are killed at a false roadblock in Algeria. •
October 15 •
Andy Green sets the first supersonic
land speed record for the
ThrustSSC team, led by
Richard Noble of the UK. ThrustSSC goes through the flying mile course at Black Rock Desert, Nevada at an average speed of 1,227.985 km/h (763.035 mph). •
NASA launches the
Cassini–Huygens probe to Saturn. •
October 16 – The first color photograph appears on the front page of
The New York Times. •
October 17 – The remains of
Che Guevara are laid to rest with full military honours in a specially built
mausoleum in the city of Santa Clara,
Cuba, where he had won the
decisive battle of the
Cuban Revolution 39 years before. •
October 22 – Danish escaped criminal
Steen Christensen robs the Hotel Palace in Helsinki, Finland, killing two police officers while evading capture. •
October 29 –
Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq says it will begin shooting down
Lockheed U-2 surveillance planes being used by UNSCOM inspectors.
November •
November 2 –
Severe Tropical Storm Linda devastates southern
Vietnam and
Thailand, killing 3,275 people. •
November 9 –
BBC News 24 has launched a new channel at 5:30pm, after the final closedown with the last national anthem of
God Save the Queen, which occurred at approximately 2:57am for
BBC One, following the
death of
Lady Diana Spencer. •
November 11 – Telecom companies
WorldCom and
MCI Communications announce a US$37 billion merger to form
MCI WorldCom, the largest merger in U.S. history. •
November 12 –
Mary McAleese is elected the eighth
President of Ireland in succession to
Mary Robinson, the first time in the world that one woman has succeeded another as elected
head of state. •
November 13 –
Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the
1993 World Trade Center bombing. •
November 17 – In
Luxor,
Egypt,
62 people are killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the
Temple of Hatshepsut. •
November 19 – In
Des Moines, Iowa, Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to
septuplets in the second known case where all seven babies are born alive, and the first in which all survive infancy. •
November 27 –
NASA's
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission is launched, the start of the satellite component of the
Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System.
December •
December 1 – In the Indian state of
Bihar,
Ranvir Sena attacks the
CPI(ML) Party Unity stronghold Lakshmanpur-Bathe,
killing 63 lower caste people •
December 3 – In
Ottawa (Canada) representatives from 121 countries sign a
treaty prohibiting the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel
land mines. However, the United States, the People's Republic of China, Russia, South Korea and 32 other nations do not ratify the treaty. •
December 10 – The capital of
Kazakhstan is moved from
Almaty to
Astana. •
December 11 – The
Kyoto Protocol is adopted by a
United Nations committee. •
December 15 – Microsoft releases
Windows 98 Beta 3. •
December 16 – In
Japan, over 700 children suffer
photosensitive epilepsy attacks after watching
an episode of the
Pokémon anime. •
December 19 •
Janet Jagan (widow of
Cheddi Jagan) takes office in
Guyana. •
SilkAir Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104. •
James Cameron's
Titanic is released in theaters in the United States. It will become the fourth
highest-grossing film of all time (adjusted for inflation). •
December 21 –
Brazil beats
Australia 6–0 in the
FIFA Confederations Cup final. •
December 24 – 50–1010 villagers are killed in the
Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria. •
December 27 –
Ulster loyalist paramilitary leader
Billy Wright is assassinated inside
Long Kesh prison in
Northern Ireland. •
December 29 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the chickens within its territory (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 strain. •
December 30 –
Wilaya of Relizane massacres of December 30, 1997: In the worst incident in Algeria's insurgency, 423 people from four villages in the
wilaya of Relizane are killed. == Births and deaths ==