2003 - What happened in 2003 ?

January 2003

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.

Friday 24:

The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.

Sunday 26:

Super Bowl XXXVII: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat the Oakland Raiders, 48-21, earning the Buccaneers their first Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Thursday 30:

Belgium legally recognizes same-sex marriage.

February 2003

Tuesday 04:

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.

Wednesday 05:

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

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 20:

In Rhode Island, in the USA, The Station nightclub fire kills about 100 and injures over 200.

Friday 21:

Over 100 concert goers die in a fire during a performance of the rock band Great White.

March 2003

Sunday 02:

2003 The first International Symposium on Taiwan Sign Language Linguistics is held at Chung Cheng University.

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.

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.

Thursday 27:

An explosion in the Nitrochimie dynamite factory in Billy-Berclau, France kills 4 people.

April 2003

Friday 04:

Sammy Sosa becomes the 18th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Sunday 13:

Mike Weir becomes first Canadian and first leftie to win the Masters Tournament

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.

Monday 28:

Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store launches, selling 1 million songs in its first week.

May 2003

Thursday 01:

War in Iraq: U.S. President George W. Bush announces the end of major combat operations in Iraq.

Friday 16:

In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.

Wednesday 21:

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

Sunday 25:

Néstor Kirchner becomes President of Argentina after defeating Carlos Menem. He is the first elected President since the December 2001 economic crisis.

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.

Monday 02:

Thousands of defeated Iraqi troops march on the U.S. occupation headquarters in Baghdad, demanding pay.

Tuesday 10:

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

Saturday 21:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth book in J.K. Rowling's hugely popular Harry Potter series, is published.

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.

Tuesday 15:

AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.

Wednesday 16:

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

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.

Thursday 14:

Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada.

Sunday 24:

US Spacecraft Voyager 2 is 71 astronomical units distant from Earth and escaping the solar system at a speed of about 3.3 AU per year (ca. 15 km/s). It will be approximately 40,000 years before Voyager 2 approaches another planetary system.

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

Sunday 14:

Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.

Saturday 20:

2003 Maldives civil unrest: the death of prisoner Hassan Evan Naseem sparks a day of rioting in Malé.

Sunday 21:

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

Saturday 27:

The Uniterran Church was founded in Victor, NY

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.

Saturday 18:

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

Thursday 23:

George W. Bush addresses a joint sitting of the houses of the Australian Parliament and is shouted down by Green Party senators Kerry Nettle and Bob Brown.

Friday 31:

Mahathir bin Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia after 22 years in power.

November 2003

Tuesday 04:

The largest-ever solar flare is recorded.

Wednesday 05:

The final installment of the Matrix Trilogy (The Matrix Revolutions) is released in theatres simultaneously around the world at 2:00 pm(GMT).

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.

Thursday 20:

2003 - Michael Jackson is arrested by police on charges of child molestation.

Wednesday 26:

Last flight of the Concorde.

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.

Sunday 14:

Celebration of the reopening of the Fenice Theater in Venice, Italy.

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.