The December 18, 1997 was a Thursday under the star sign of ♐. It was the 351 day of the year. President of the United States was William J. (Bill) Clinton.
If you were born on this day, you are 28 years old. Your last birthday was on the Thursday, December 18, 2025, 201 days ago. Your next birthday is on Friday, December 18, 2026, in 163 days. You have lived for 10,428 days, or about 250,280 hours, or about 15,016,826 minutes, or about 901,009,560 seconds.
Date: 19 December 1997
By Nicholas D. Kristof
Nicholas
Man in the News profile of Kim Dae Jung, newly-elected President of South Korea; photos; 72-year-old son of poor farmer has had long and dangerous struggle with established elite; he became pro-democracy protester in 1950's and 1960's, ran for president several times, lived in America in 1970's and 1980's and was in prison awaiting execution as recently as 1980 (S)
Date: 19 December 1997
By Tim Weiner
Tim Weiner
CIA concludes, after interviewing nearly 400 people on four continents, that its officers had nothing to do with explosion of crack cocaine in US, as charged by some blacks; secret report finds no evidence that CIA coordinated or condoned drug trafficking, although separate probe continues into drug trafficking by CIA-backed rebels in Central America; issue was stirred by San Jose Mercury News articles, which editor Jerry Ceppos later disavowed; reporter Gary Webb resigned from paper last week after protracted dispute over Ceppos's disclaimer (S)
Date: 19 December 1997
By Celestine Bohlen
Celestine Bohlen
Salima Ghezali, editor of last independent journal published in Algeria until it was shut down, describes how she and colleagues circumvented censorship about civil war casualties by counting new graves in cemeteries; estimates that more than 100,000 people have died since 1992; accuses military-backed Government of promoting 'fictions' about violence that wrack country, noting that extremists are on secular side as well as among Muslim fundamentalists; Ghezali, former professor and co-founder of women's rights movement, comments in Rome, en route to Strasbourg to receive Sakharov Prize for democracy from European Parliament (M)
Date: 18 December 1997
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Board of Whitman Corp declares dividend of stock in Hussmann Corp and Midas International as part of planned spinoff of businesses as Whitman focuses on its Pepsi-Cola bottling operations (S)
Date: 19 December 1997
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Smithfield Foods Inc agrees to buy Schneider Corp for stock worth $119.4 million, outbidding Maple Leaf Foods Inc (S)
Date: 18 December 1997
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Winstar Communications Inc agrees to buy most of assets of Midcom Communications Inc for $92 million in cash; agreement must be approved by bankruptcy court where Midcom filed for Chapter 11 protection on Nov 7 (S)
Date: 18 December 1997
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Iteq Inc says it agreed to buy Matrix Service Co for about $95 million in cash and stock (S)
Date: 19 December 1997
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Time Warner Inc will buy Southern Satellite Services Inc, a Tele-Communications Inc affiliate, for $213 million; Southern Satellite transmits WTBS superstation signal (S)
Date: 19 December 1997
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Discount Investment Corp will sell 9.5 percent stake in IDB Holding Corp to Goldman, Sachs & Co for $79.2 million (US) (S)
Date: 19 December 1997
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Engelhard Corp will take fourth-quarter charges totaling $96 million to restructure joint venture and two businesses; in October, Engelhard said it was looking at ways to eliminate drag on earnings of its Paris-based Engelhard-CLAL joint venture; company plans to resume five-million-share repurchase plan (S)