WHAT HAPPENED IN 1997.
Look what happened the 1997.

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

After a nationwide referendum, Scotland votes to establish a devolved parliament within the United Kingdom. (11. September 1997)

14 Estonian soldiers die in the Kurkse tragedy, drowning in the Baltic Sea (11. September 1997)

United States media magnate Ted Turner donates USD 1 billion to the United Nations. (18. September 1997)

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

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

An earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and the Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse. (26. September 1997)

Communications are suddenly lost with the Mars Pathfinder space probe. (27. September 1997)

The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Loomis, Fargo and Company. A Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation eventually results in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the $17.3 million stolen cash. (4. October 1997)

An Austral Airlines DC-9-32 crashes and explodes near Nuevo Berlin, Uruguay, killing 74. (10. October 1997)

Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria; 43 killed at a fake roadblock. (12. October 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)

The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn. (15. October 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)

October 27, 1997 mini-crash: Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 554.26 points to 7,161.15. (27. October 1997)

Anton Lavey, founder of the Church of Satan, dies in San Francisco of pulmonary edema (29. October 1997)

The United States of America imposes economic sanctions against Sudan in response to its human rights abuses of its own citizens and its material and political assistance to Islamic extremist groups across the Middle East and Eastern Africa. (3. November 1997)

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

Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. (12. November 1997)

After nearly 18 years of incarceration, the People's Republic of China releases Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident, from jail for medical reasons. (16. November 1997)