fire at the Sealand Youth Training Center in South Korea. July July 1 – Europol (short for European Police Office) the European Union's criminal intelligence agency becomes fully operational. July 7 – In Rome, Hicham El Guerrouj runs the fastest mile ever recorded, at 3:43.13. July 10 – American soccer player Brandi Chastain scores the game winning penalty kick against China in the final of the FIFA Women's World Cup. July 11 – India recaptures Kargil, forcing the Pakistani army to retreat. India announces victory, ending the 2-month conflict. July 20 Mercury program: Liberty Bell 7 – piloted by Gus Grissom in 1961 – is raised from the Atlantic Ocean. Falun Gong is banned in the People's Republic of China under Jiang Zemin. July 23 NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is launched. Mohammed VI of Morocco becomes king upon the death of his father Hassan II. Fourteen Kosovar Serb villagers are killed by ethnic Albanian gunmen in the village of Staro Gračko. July 27 – Twenty-one people die in a canyoning disaster at the Saxetenbach Gorge near Interlaken, Switzerland. July 31 – NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the lunar surface. August August 7 – Hundreds of Chechen guerrillas invade the Russian republic of Dagestan, triggering a short war. August 10 – The Atlantique incident occurs as an intruding Pakistan Navy plane is shot down in India, sparking tensions between the two nations, coming just a month after the end of the Kargil War. August 11 – A total solar eclipse is seen in Europe and Asia. August 16 – State Duma approved Putin as Prime Minister August 17 – The 7.6 İzmit earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving more than 17,000 dead and around 50,000 injured. August 19 – In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Yugoslavs rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević. August 26 – The Second Chechen War begins August 30 – East Timor votes for independence from Indonesia (which had invaded and occupied it since 1975) in a referendum. September September 3 – 1999 Ontario Highway 401 crash occurs, involving 87 vehicles and killing 8. September 7 – The 6.0 Athens earthquake hits with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 143, injuring 800–1,600, and leaving 50,000 homeless. September 8 – The first