On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
In 1997, the world population was approximately 5,924,787,816 people[†]
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of December 17, 1997, covering December 22, 1997.
Garth Brooks
Celine Dion
Barbra Streisand
LeAnn Rimes
2Pac
Spice Girls
Chumbawamba
Metallica
Shania Twain
Hanson
1997Sebastian Arcos Bergnes, Cuban-American dentist and activist (born 1931)[†]
Sebastian Arcos Bergnes was a Cuban human rights activist. A prominent Cuban dissident, he was openly adversarial to the dictatorships of Fidel Castro and Fulgencio Batista.
1997Acteal massacre: Attendees at a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic activists for indigenous causes in the small village of Acteal in the Mexican state of Chiapas are massacred by paramilitary forces.[†]
The Acteal massacre was a massacre of 45 people attending a prayer meeting of Catholic Indigenous townspeople, including a number of children and pregnant women, who were members of the pacifist group Las Abejas, in the small village of Acteal in the municipality of Chenalhó, in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Right-wing paramilitary group Máscara Roja murdered the victims on December 22, 1997, while the Government of Mexico first admitted responsibility for the massacre in September 2020.
1997Somali Civil War: Hussein Farrah Aidid relinquishes the disputed title of President of Somalia by signing the Cairo Declaration, in Cairo, Egypt. It is the first major step towards reconciliation in Somalia since 1991.[†]
The Somali Civil War is an ongoing civil war that is taking place in Somalia. It grew out of resistance to the military junta which was led by Siad Barre during the 1980s. From 1988 to 1990, the Somali Armed Forces began engaging in combat against various armed rebel groups, including the Somali Salvation Democratic Front in the northeast, the Somali National Movement in the Somaliland War of Independence in the northwest, and the United Somali Congress in the south. The clan-based armed opposition groups overthrew the Barre government in 1991.
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Joel I Klein, Assistant Attorney General in charge of Justice Dept's antitrust division, is chief architect of Government's case against Microsoft Corp; Klein's recent decision to escalate fight by asking judge to hold Microsoft in contempt, and to give him authority to review future Microsoft products in advance, has surprised some lawyers and antitrust experts; Klein's confirmation as Assistant Attorney General had been opposed by some Senate Democrats and some consumer groups, who said Klein was weak on enforcing antitrust law; Microsoft has arrayed impressive legal team to fight case, led by William H Neukom, company's senior vice president for law and corporate affairs; in addition to 70-member in-house legal department, Microsoft has retained Sullivan & Cromwell and Covington & Burling for antitrust case; photo (M)
Revitalization of downtown business district of Somerville, NJ, illustrates steps taken by towns across the state and nation to transform their downtowns and establish identities for them that will help them survive in the era of malls and big-box stores; revitalization efforts nationwide over the last decade have led to an increase of about 20 percent in jobs and in number of businesses; photo (M)
Growing body of research suggests that playing computer games may be good for young minds; researchers say computer and video games can help children develop their skills of visualization, concentration and problem solving, as well as help them acquire fluency in technology; some experts even point to games as possible contributing factor in steady rise in IQ scores in developed nations; computer games are seen as form of intellectual exercise; concerns about children being allowed to play violent adult games or spending endless hours hunched in front of computer are now seen mainly as matters best dealt with by parental guidance and common sene rather than as threats to mental health of young people; photo; diagram (M)
Article in occasional series Welfare Neighborhood reports on Roberto Caraballo, an 8-year-old child in Southside section of Williambsurg, Brooklyn, who has lost his Supplemental Security Income under provision of 1996 welfare law that sets new, stricter standards for impairment; loss of $507 a month in SSI cuts in half the household income of Justina Garcia, the boy's 72-year-old great aunt and sole caretaker; roughly 135,000 children have been ordered cut off over last five months for lacking 'marked or severe' disabilities; Roberto is not expected to be the estimated 35,000 of them that will be restored to rolls after reassessment that was recently announced; photo (M)
Interview with Mexican Atty Gen Jorge Madrazo Cuellar on his first year in office; he discusses efforts to reform criminal justice system amid battles with drug traffickers and other violent criminals (M)
Tensions rise in a station house after surveillance equipment is found. PAGE B3 A 14-year-old runaway is shot dead on a street corner in Queens. PAGE B3
Interview with Jan Morris, author of 30 books, including two memoirs; she talks about her new book, 50 Years of Europe: An Album, and books she will write in future; photo (M)
Pilar Rioja, billed as 'Queen of Spanish Dance,' will open three-week engagement at Repertorio Espanol's Gramercy Arts Theater; Miami City Ballet, under artistic directorship of Edward Villella, will present George Balanchine's The Nutcracker; more than 90,000 square feet of exhibition space is opened to public at Louvre in Paris, with completion of $16.95 million third stage of former French Pres Francois Mitterrand's four-stage grand design for renovation of museum; photos (M)
Bernard Holland reviews Metropolitan Opera revival of Mussorgsky opera Boris Godunov; photo of Samuel Ramey in title role (M)
Inquiry Into Insurer After investigating the Prudential Insurance Company of America, Florida officials concluded that the company set out to cheat clients for more than a decade. Page A20. Okinawa Rejects U.S. Base In the first referendum of its kind in Japan, Okinawa voters defied Tokyo and voted against plans to build an American military base. Page A3.
Jane Blasio, whose search for her biological mother exposed black market baby-selling ring run by McCaysville, Ga, doctor, Thomas Jugarthy Hicks, from 1951 to 1965, has discovered that she may be daughter of Kitty Self, who died in 1987; Self's friend spotted resemblance when Blasio appeared on television show about ring; photos (M)
Patrick Ewing, an 11-time All-Star and the cornerstone of the Knicks for the last 12 seasons, had surgery yesterday for a dislocated bone and torn ligaments in his right wrist and will not play again this season.