2003 - What happened in 2003 ?

January 2003

Wednesday 08:

US Airways flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina killing all 21 people aboard.

Thursday 16:

Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which will be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.

Saturday 18:

Canberra firestorm, kills 4 and destroyes 491 homes

Tuesday 21:

The terms of Kevin Mitnick's parole allow him to use a computer again.

Wednesday 22:

2003 - Last successful contact with the spacecraft Pioneer 10, one of the most distant man-made objects.

February 2003

Saturday 01:

Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry killing all seven astronauts onboard.

Wednesday 05:

U.S. plan to invade Iraq: Colin Powell addresses the UN Security Council on Iraq.

Friday 07:

Last contact with Pioneer 10.

Saturday 15:

Global protests against war on Iraq occur in over 600 cities worldwide. Estimates from 10,000,000-15,000,000 make this the largest day of protest in history.

Thursday 27:

Rowan Williams is enthroned as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury in the Anglican church.

March 2003

Wednesday 12:

Zoran ?in?i?, Prime Minister of Serbia, assassinated in Belgrade.

Monday 17:

British Cabinet Minister, Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for war with Iraq.

Wednesday 19:

The invasion of Iraq begins (with the time difference, it actually begins on March 20 at 0100 UTC)

Thursday 20:

2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries begin military operations in Iraq.

Sunday 23:

In Nasiriyah, Iraq, 18 U.S. Marines are killed during the first major conflict of Operation Iraqi Freedom

April 2003

Monday 07:

US troops capture Baghdad, Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later

Wednesday 09:

2003 invasion of Iraq: The Ba'ath regime headed by Saddam Hussein in Iraq is deposed.

Monday 14:

Jean Charest's Parti libéral du Québec defeats Bernard Landry and the Parti Québécois in Quebec's general elections.

Wednesday 16:

Makobo Modjadji is crowned the new Rain Queen of Balobedu.

Wednesday 23:

Beijing closes all schools for two weeks due to the SARS virus.

May 2003

Saturday 03:

Funny Cide becomes the first New York-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby.

Saturday 17:

Mozilla Firefox. Browser renamed from Phoenix to Firebird.

Wednesday 21:

An earthquake hits northern Algeria, killing more than 2,000 people.

Monday 26:

Only three days after a previous record, Sherpa Lakpa Gelu climbs Mount Everest in 10 hours 56 minutes. The tourism ministry of Nepal confirms this record in July that year.

Friday 30:

The final flight of an Air France Concorde takes place.

June 2003

Sunday 01:

The People's Republic of China begins filling the reservoir behind the massive Three Gorges Dam, raising the water level near the dam over 100 metres.

Tuesday 10:

The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission.

Monday 16:

The Hatfields and McCoys sign a formal truce.

Sunday 22:

Bill Clinton releases his memoirs, entitled My Life

Thursday 26:

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that sodomy laws are unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas.

July 2003

Wednesday 02:

International Olympic Committee session in Prague. Vancouver is declared the Host City for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010.

Sunday 06:

The Corsicans rejected a referendum for increased autonomy from France by a very thin majority: 50.98 percent against, and 49.02 percent for.

Friday 18:

2003 - David Kelly is discovered dead after committing suicide.

Wednesday 23:

Operation Warrior Sweep is the first major military deployment of the Afghan National Army.

Monday 28:

NPR broadcasts the first episode of Day to Day, a one-hour radio newsmagazine

August 2003

Sunday 10:

The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK, 38.1°C, occurs in Kent and and Greater London. It is the first time the UK has recorded a temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Monday 11:

Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.

Tuesday 19:

A car-bomb attack on UN headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employers.

Tuesday 26:

Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final reports on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

Friday 29:

Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, is assassinated in a terrorist bombing, along with nearly 100 worshippers as they leave a mosque in Najaf.

September 2003

Friday 12:

The United Nations lifted sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

Sunday 14:

Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.

Sunday 21:

Galileo mission terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes.

Thursday 25:

A magnitude-8.0 earthquake strikes just offshore of Hokkaido, Japan.

Monday 29:

Hurricane Juan makes landfall at Nova Scotia.

October 2003

Saturday 04:

Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: 21 Israelis, Jews and Arabs, were killed, and 51 others were wounded.

Tuesday 07:

California recall: California governor Gray Davis is recalled from office and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Thursday 16:

iTunes released for Windows XP and Windows 2000.

Saturday 18:

Bolivian Gas War: President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, is forced to resign and leave Bolivia.

Sunday 19:

Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II.

November 2003

Wednesday 12:

Occupation of Iraq: In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 Iraq war are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.

Friday 14:

Planetoid 90377 Sedna is discovered.

Tuesday 18:

The congress of the Communist Party of Indian Union (Marxist-Leninist) decides to merge the party into Kanu Sanyal's CPI(ML).

Saturday 22:

2003 - England defeat Australia to win England's first rugby union world cup.

Sunday 23:

Berkeley Breathed begins the comic strip Opus.

December 2003

Friday 12:

Paul Martin, Jr. is sworn-in as the 21st Prime Minister of Canada

Saturday 13:

The most-attended basketball game in history, between Michigan State University and the University of Kentucky at Ford Field.

Wednesday 17:

', the third and final film in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, opens in theaters.

Wednesday 24:

The Spanish police thwarts an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 PM inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.

Friday 26:

Major earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, with up to 43,300 killed, and 90,000 homeless; the citadel of Arg-é Bam destroyed.