1997 January 1
A new Russian Criminal Code replaces the 1960 Soviet code.
1997 January 27
Chechen elections are held. Aslan Maskhadov wins with 65 percent.
1997 March 4
President Clinton bans federally funded human cloning research in the United States.
1997 March 21
Yeltsin and Clinton meet in Helsinki to discuss expansion of NATO.
1997 April 3
Union Treaty between Belarus and Russia is signed.
1997 April 19
The SS Sheng Da, a mainland China container freighter, steams into Kaohsiung Port on its maiden voyage, becoming the firstship to sail directly to Taiwan from the mainland in 48 years, andcompleting an historic crossing of one of the world's great political divides.
1997 May 9
Douglas "Pete" Peterson, the first U.S. ambassador to Vietnam since the fall of Saigon, arrives in the country. He is a former prisoner of war captured in Vietnam.
1997 May 25
A bloody military coup topples Sierra Leone's elected president.
1997 May 25
Senator Strom Thurmond, Republican of South Carolina, becomes the longest-serving senator in U.S. history, marking 41 years and 10 months in office.
1997 May 25
Polish voters adopt a constitution that removes the last traces of communism from Poland.
1997 May 26
Russian-Belarus Union Charter is signed by Lukashenko and Yeltsin.
1997 May 27
Yeltsin and Clinton sign "Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between NATO and the Russian Federation" which creates a permanent joint council including Russia in NATO decision-making.
1997 May 27
The Supreme Court rules Paula Jones can pursue her sex harassment lawsuit against President Clinton while he is still in office.
1997 May 30
Child molester Jesse K. Timmendequas is convicted in Trenton, New Jersey, of raping and strangling his 7-year-old neighbor, Megan Kanka, whose 1994 murder inspired ''Megan's Law,'' which requires that communities be notified when sex offenders move in. Timmendequas is later sentenced to death.
1997 June 1
Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, is fatally burned in a fire set by her 12-year-old grandson in her Yonkers, New York, apartment.
1997 June 2
Timothy McVeigh is convicted of murder and conspiracy in the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.
1997 June 9
Air Force General Joseph Ralston, who has admitted to an adulterous affair years earlier, gives up his fight to become chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
1997 June 11
The Russian-Belarus Union Charter goes into effect.
1997 June 12
American major league baseball teams begin interleague play.
1997 June 12
The U.S. Treasury Department unveils a new $50 bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant.
1997 June 13
A jury votes unanimously to give Timothy McVeigh the death penalty for his part in the Oklahoma City bombing.
1997 June 20
The U.S. tobacco industry agrees to a massive settlement in exchange for major relief from mounting lawsuits and legal bills.
1997 June 23
Civil rights activist Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, dies in New York of burns suffered in a fire set by her 12-year old grandson; she was 61.
1997 June 24
In Freehold, New Jersey, 18-year-old Melissa Drexler, who gave birth during her prom, is charged with murder in the death of her baby. She later pleads guilty to aggravated manslaughter and serves three years in prison.
1997 June 24
The U.S. Air Force releases a report on the so-called "Roswell Incident," suggesting that alien bodies witnesses reported seeing in 1947 were actually life-sized dummies. (NY Times)
