Days Gone By-July 3

Today is Friday, July 3, the 184th day of 2009. There are 181 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:
1999, In their first matchup in three years, world chess champion Garry Kasparov bests his key rival, Anatoly Karpov, to win the Siemens Giants chess tournament.
2000, Opposition candidate Vicente Fox is declared the winner in Mexico’s presidential elections in a stunning victory that ends the ruling PRI party’s 71-year lock on the presidency.
2001, Fifteen female Falun Gong followers allegedly hang themselves at a labor camp in northeastern China after being tortured by the camp staff. The Chinese government outlawed the spiritual movement in 1999.
2002, A U.S. gunship flying over Oruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan fires on civilian targets after mistaking celebratory gunfire at a wedding for hostile fire. The incident leaves at least 40 Afghan civilians dead and wounds 100 others.

2005 - Saudi anti-terror forces kill al-Qaida’s top leader in the kingdom in a dawn gun battle. But despite the Moroccan terrorist Younis Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hayari’s death, the number of extremists has grown despite a two-year crackdown on militants.

2006 - At least 5,000 villagers in the southern Philippines flee their homes in nearly a week of sporadic clashes between Muslim guerrillas and pro-government militiamen.

2007 - A 10-year-old Nepalese girl is stripped of her title as a living goddess because she traveled overseas to promote a documentary about the centuries-old tradition. Because of popular support, Sajani Shakya’s position is reinstated, but she retires in March 2008 at the age of 11.

2008 — Qdauebec City, Canada, celebrates its 400th birthday.