WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO DECEMBER 1997
Find out what all happened April to December 1997

Digital Equipment Corporation files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel. (23. July 1997)

Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. (27. December 1997)

A 7.3 Mw earthquake strikes Iran's Khorasan Province, killing 1,567, injuring over 2,300, leaving 50,000 homeless, and damaging or destroying over 15,000 homes. (10. May 1997)

Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria; 53 killed. (19. September 1997)

Twenty-five are killed in the second Souhane massacre in Algeria. (27. November 1997)

Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation's 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain. (29. December 1997)

WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a $37 billion merger (the largest merger in US history at the time). (10. November 1997)

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. (25. October 1997)

In Ottawa, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign the Ottawa Treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines. The United States, People's Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty, however. (3. December 1997)

The Soufrière Hills volcano in Montserrat erupts resulting in the death of 19 people. (25. June 1997)

At least 98 villagers are killed by the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria GIA in the Rais massacre, Algeria. (29. August 1997)

SilkAir Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104. (19. December 1997)

A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A300 crashes near Medan, Indonesia, airport, killing 234. (26. September 1997)

Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country. (16. May 1997)

In the worst incident in Algeria's insurgency, the Wilaya of Relizane massacres, 400 people from four villages are killed. (30. December 1997)

The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of mass protests, riots and gun battles begin in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland. (6. July 1997)

Haouch Khemisti massacre in Algeria – 93 villagers killed. (22. April 1997)

The first supersonic land speed record is set by Andy Green in ThrustSSC (United Kingdom), exactly 50 years and 1 day after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Earth's atmosphere. (15. October 1997)

Miguel Ángel Blanco, a member of Partido Popular (Spain), is kidnapped in the Basque city of Ermua by ETA members, sparking widespread protests. (10. July 1997)

NASA's Mars Global Surveyor reaches Mars. (11. September 1997)