1st January » Democratic Republic of the Congo known as Zaire officially joins the World Trade Organization.
1st January » Ghanaian diplomacy or diplomat Kofi Annan is appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations.
3rd January » China announces it will spend United States dollar called US$27.7 billion to fight erosion and pollution in the Yangtze River known as Yangtze and Yellow River valleys.
17th January » A Delta 2 carrying a Global Positioning System or GPS2R satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
19th January » Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.
21st January » The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.
23rd January » Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
23rd January » Greek Serial Killer Antonis Daglis is sentenced to thirteen consecutive life sentences, plus 25 years for the serial slayings of three women and the attempted murder of six others.
4th February » En route to Lebanon, two Israeli CH-53 Sea Stallion or Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters 1997 Israeli helicopter disaster known as collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
4th February » After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.
5th February » The so-called Swiss bank Major banks known as Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid The Holocaust e.g Holocaust survivors and their families.
11th February » Space Shuttle Discovery known as Space Shuttle 'Discovery' is launched on a STS-82 e.g mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
22nd February » In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly the sheep called Dolly has been successfully cloning named cloned.
25th February » Yi Han-yong, North Korean defector was murdered by unidentified assailants in Bundang, South Korea.
28th February » An 1997 Ardabil earthquake or earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths.
28th February » The North Hollywood shootout takes place, resulting in the injury of 19 people and the deaths of both perpetrators.
28th February » GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.
28th February » 1997 military memorandum (Turkey) e.g Military Coup in Turkey
9th March » Comet Hale–Bopp: Observers in China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia are treated to a rare double feature as an eclipse permits Hale-Bopp to be seen during the day.
13th March » The Phoenix lights are seen over Phoenix, Arizona by hundreds of people, and by millions on television.
18th March » The tail of a Russian Antonov An-24 charter plane breaks off while en route to Turkey causing the plane to crash and killing all 50 people on board and leading to the grounding of all An-24s.
22nd March » The Comet Hale-Bopp has its closest approach to Earth.
1st April » Comet Hale-Bopp is seen passing over perihelion.
3rd April » The Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but one of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
13th April » Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.
19th April » The Red River Flood of 1997 overwhelms the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Fire breaks out and spreads in downtown Grand Forks, but high water levels hamper efforts to reach the fire, leading to the destruction of 11 buildings.
22nd April » Haouch Khemisti massacre in Algeria 93 villagers killed.
22nd April » The Japanese embassy hostage crisis ends in Lima, Peru.
23rd April » Omaria massacre in Algeria: Forty-two villagers are killed.
29th April » The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of Chemical warfare known as chemical weapons by its signatories.
11th May » Deep Blue (chess computer) Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the Deep Blue – Kasparov, 1997, Game 6 last game of the rematch, becoming the first chess computer computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic m
15th May » The United States government acknowledges the existence of the Laotian Civil War e.g "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong people named Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
16th May » Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country.
17th May » Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo.
19th May » The Sierra Gorda biosphere, the most Ecosystem diversity named ecologically diverse region in Mexico, is established as a result of grassroots efforts.
25th May » A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.
27th May » The unusual 1997 Central Texas tornado outbreak called tornado outbreak in Jarrell, Texas.
27th May » The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Paula Jones can pursue her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton while he is in office.
2nd June » In Denver, Colorado, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy (crime) e.g conspiracy for his role in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing known as bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was exec
6th June » Prom Mom incident: While attending her senior prom in Lacey Township, New Jersey, Melissa Drexler gives birth in a bathroom stall, leaves the baby to die in a trash can and then returns to the prom.
12th June » Queen Elizabeth II reopens the Globe Theatre in London.
13th June » A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to Capital punishment e.g death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
25th June » An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
26th June » The Supreme Court of the United States known as U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Communications Decency Act violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
26th June » Bertie Ahern becomes Prime Minister of Ireland.
1st July » China resumes sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonialism called colonial rule.
6th July » The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree conflict e.g Drumcree dispute, five days of 1997 nationalist riots in Northern Ireland e.g mass protests, riots and gun battles begin in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland.
7th July » The Turkish Armed Forces withdraw from northern Iraq after Operation Hammer (1997) called assisting the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War.
10th July » In London scientists report the findings of the DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton which supports the "out of Africa theory" of human evolution placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
15th July » In Miami known as Miami, Florida, serial killer Andrew Cunanan guns down Gianni Versace outside his home.
19th July » The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army resumes a ceasefire to end their Provisional Irish Republican Army campaign 1969–1997 named 25-year campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland.
20th July » The fully restored USS known as Constitution (aka 'Old Ironsides') celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
22nd July » The second Blue Water Bridge opens between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario.
23rd July » Digital Equipment Corporation files Competition law called antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel.
3rd August » Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria; a total of 116 villagers killed, 40 in Oued El-Had and 76 in Mezouara.
6th August » Korean Air Flight 801 crashed at Nimitz Hill, Guam. (228 died, 26 lived)
20th August » Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people are killed and 15 kidnapped.
25th August » Egon Krenz, the former East German leader, is convicted of a Schießbefehl called shoot-to-kill policy at the Berlin Wall.
26th August » Beni-Ali massacre in Algeria where 60 to 100 people were killed.
29th August » At least 98 villagers are killed by the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria Armed Islamic Group named GIA in the Rais massacre, Algeria.
31st August » Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul Death of Diana, Princess of Wales e.g die in a car crash in Paris.
1st September » The death of Diana, Princess of Wales is announced by Buckingham Palace.
3rd September » Vietnam Airlines Vietnam Airlines Flight 815 called Flight 815 (Tupolev Tu-134) crashes on approach into Phnom Penh airport, killing 64.
6th September » The Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales takes place in London. Well over a million people lined the streets and 2.5 billion watched around the world on television.
11th September » After a Scottish devolution referendum, 1997 called nationwide referendum, Scotland votes to establish a Scottish Parliament named devolved parliament within the United Kingdom.
11th September » Fourteen Estonian soldiers die in the Kurkse tragedy, drowning in the Baltic Sea.
18th September » United States media magnate Ted Turner donates US$1 billion to the United Nations.
19th September » Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria where 53 people are killed.
26th September » A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A300 Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 named crashes near Medan, Indonesia, airport, killing 234.
27th September » Communications are suddenly lost with the 'Mars Pathfinder' space probe.
2nd October » Amsterdam Treaty on European Union is signed.
4th October » The 1997 Loomis Fargo Robbery in North Carolina named second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Wells Fargo named Loomis, Fargo and Company. A Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation eventually re
10th October » An Austral Líneas Aéreas known as Austral Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9 e.g DC-9-32 crashes and explodes near Nuevo Berlin, Uruguay, killing 74.
12th October » Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria; 43 killed at a fake roadblock.
15th October » The Cassini-Huygens Mission known as Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn.
25th October » After a brief civil war which has driven President Pascal Lissouba out of Brazzaville, Denis Sassou-Nguesso proclaims himself the President of the Republic of the Congo.
27th October » October 27, 1997 mini-crash: Stock markets around the world stock market crash named crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 554.26 points to 7,161.15.
29th October » Anton Lavey, founder of the Church of Satan, dies in San Francisco of pulmonary edema
3rd November » The United States of America imposes economic sanctions against Sudan in response to Human rights in Sudan its human rights abuses of its own citizens and its material and political assistance to Islamic extremism Islamic extremist groups across the Middl
10th November » WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a $37 billion merger (the largest merger in US history at the time).
12th November » Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
17th November » In Luxor, Egypt, 62 people are killed by six Islamic terrorism named Islamic militants outside the Deir el-Bahari named Temple of Hatshepsut, known as Luxor massacre (The police then kill the assailants).
27th November » Twenty-five are killed in the second Souhane massacre in Algeria.
1st December » In the Indian state of Bihar, Ranvir Sena attacked the Central Organising Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Party Unity e.g CPI(ML) Party Unity stronghold Lakshmanpur-Bathe, killing 63 lower caste people.
6th December » A Russian Antonov An-124 cargo plane crashes into an apartment complex near Irkutsk, Siberia, killing 67.
11th December » The Kyoto Protocol opens for signature.
15th December » Tupolev Tu-154 Incidents and accidents or Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183 crashes in the desert near Sharjah (emirate) called Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, killing 85.
17th December » The British Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 comes into force, banning all handguns with the exception of antique and show weapons.
18th December » HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide Web Consortium.
19th December » SilkAir Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River (Indonesia) called Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104.
22nd December » Acteal massacre: Attendees at a prayer meeting of Catholic Church Roman Catholic activists for Indigenous peoples of the Americas indigenous causes in the small village of Acteal in the Mexican state of Chiapas are Wiktionary:massacre massacred by paramil
22nd December » Hussein Farrah Aidid relinquishes the disputed title of List of Presidents of Somalia e.g President of Somalia by signing the Cairo Declaration, in Cairo, Egypt. It is the first major step towards reconciliation in Somalia since 1991.
24th December » The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50-100 people.
26th December » The Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat explodes, creating a small tsunami offshore.
27th December » Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright (loyalist) named Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.