2003

history

2003 (MMIII) was a common year that started on a Wednesday, according to the Gregorian calendar. It was the 2003rd year of the Common Era or the Anno Domini designation; the 3rd year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century; and the 4th of the 2000s decade.

2003 was designated as:

  • International Year of Freshwater.
  • European Disability Year.

Events

January

February

  • February 5 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addresses the UN Security Council on Iraq.
  • February 7 – An unsuccessful attempt is made to contact Pioneer 10.
  • February 9 – The Cricket World Cup begins in South Africa.
  • February 9 – BBC Choice closes for the final time at 12:30 a.m., being replaced with BBC Three at 7 p.m.
  • February 9 – War in Darfur begins.
  • February 15 – Global protests against Iraq war: More than 10 million people protest in over 600 cities worldwide, the largest to take place before a war occurs.
  • February 18 – An arsonist destroys a train in Daegu, South Korea, killing more than 190.
  • February 20 – The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island claims the lives of 100 people.
  • February 26 – An American businessman is admitted to the Vietnam France Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam with the first identified case of SARS. WHO doctor Carlo Urbani reports the unusual, highly contagious disease to WHO. Both the businessman and doctor later die of the disease.

March

  • March 12 – Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Ðindic is assassinated in Belgrade.
  • March 12 – The WHO issues a global alert on SARS.
  • March 13 – Human evolution: The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old upright-walking human footprints had been found in Italy.
  • March 15 – Hu Jintao becomes President of the People's Republic of China, replacing Jiang Zemin.
  • March 19 – Iraq War begins with the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and allied forces.
  • March 23 – The 2003 Cricket World Cup ends as Australia beats India by 125 runs in Johannesburg, South Africa.

April

  • April 3 – A passenger bus hits a remote-controlled land mine in the Chechen capital, killing at least 8.
  • April 3 – U.S. forces seize control of Saddam International Airport, changing the airport's name to Baghdad International Airport.
  • April 7- Syracuse wins the college basketball National Championship.
  • April 9 – U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein.
  • April 14 – The Human Genome Project is completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy.
  • April 17 – The Stevens Report concludes that members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and British Army cooperated with the Ulster Defence Association in the killings of Catholics in Northern Ireland.
  • April 29 – The United States announces the withdrawal of troops stationed in Saudi Arabia, and the redeployment of some at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

May

  • May 1 – U. S. president George W. Bush lands on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, where he gives a speech announcing the end of major combat in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. A banner behind him declares "Mission Accomplished".
  • May 2 – The Monkeyman superhero hoax begins in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK.
  • May 3 – The Old Man of the Mountain, a rock formation in New Hampshire, crumbles after heavy rain.
  • May 4–10 – A major severe weather outbreak spawns more tornadoes than any week in U.S. history; 393 tornadoes are reported in 19 states.
  • May 4 – Top Thrill Dragster opens in Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio as the world's tallest, fastest roller coaster.
  • May 11 – Benvenuto Cellini's Saliera is stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
  • May 12 – A suicide truck-bomb attack kills at least 60 at a government compound in northern Chechnya.
  • May 12 – In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 26 people are killed in the Riyadh Compound Bombings.
  • May 14 – A female suicide bomber blows up explosives strapped to her waist in a crowd of thousands of Muslim pilgrims, killing at least 18 people in Chechnya.
  • May 15 – The date predicted by Pana-Wave Laboratory, a Japanese cult, on which a close encounter with an unknown planet would result in the extinction of most of humankind.
  • May 16 – In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.
  • May 17 – Arsenal beats Southampton 1–0 to win the FA Cup.
  • May 19 – Pen Hadow becomes the first person to walk alone, without any outside help, from Canada to the North Pole.
  • May 19 – The Indonesian military begins an operation in Aceh province.
  • May 21 – F.C. Porto defeats Celtic 3–2 (AET) in the UEFA Cup Final in Seville, Spain.
  • May 21 – An earthquake in the Boumerdès region of northern Algeria kills 2,200.
  • May 22 – The Sheffield Winter Gardens are officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
  • May 23 – Dewey, the first deer cloned by scientists at Texas A&M University, is born.
  • May 24 – Sertab Erener wins the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 for Turkey with the song Every Way That I Can, in Riga, Latvia.
  • May 25 – After docking in Miami at 05:00, the SS Norway (old SS France) is severely damaged by a boiler explosion at 06:30, that kills 7, and injures 17 crew members. A few weeks later it is announced by NCL that she will never sail again as a commercial ocean liner.
  • May 26 – A draft of the proposed European Constitution is unveiled.
  • May 28 – Prometea, the first horse cloned by Italian scientists, is born.
  • May 28 – AC Milan defeats fellow Italian rival Juventus 3–2 on penalties after a scoreless tie to win the UEFA Champions League, their sixth European title.
  • May 31 – Eric Rudolph, suspected in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in 1996, is captured in Murphy, North Carolina.

June

  • June 1 – The 29th G8 summit opens in Évian-les-Bains, France, to tight security and tens of thousands of protesters.
  • June 1 – The People's Republic of China begins filling the lake behind the massive Three Gorges Dam, raising the water level near the dam over 100 metres.
  • June 4 – Martha Stewart and her broker are indicted for using privileged investment information and then obstructing a federal investigation. Stewart also resigns as chairperson and chief executive officer of Martha Stewart Living.
  • June 5 – A female suicide bomber detonates a bomb near a bus carrying soldiers and civilians to a military airfield in Mozdok, a major staging point for Russian troops in Chechnya, killing at least 16.
  • June 22 – The largest hailstone ever recorded falls in Aurora, Nebraska.
  • June 23 – Grutter v. Bollinger: The Supreme Court of the United States upholds affirmative action in university admissions.
  • June 26 – Lawrence v. Texas: The U.S. Supreme Court declares sodomy laws unconstitutional.
  • June 29 – A balcony collapse in Chicago kills 13.
  • June 30 – In Irvine, California, Joseph Hunter Parker kills 2 Albertsons employees with a sword, before being shot to death by the police.

July

  • July 1 – 500,000 Hong Kong people march to protest Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, which controversially redefines treason.
  • July 2 – At the International Olympic Committee session in Prague, Vancouver, British Columbia is declared the host city for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010.
  • July 5 – SARS is declared to be contained by WHO.
  • July 5 – A double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert kills the attackers and 15 other people.
  • July 6 – The 70-meter Eupatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message Cosmic Call 2 to 5 stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri, HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris, that will arrive at these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044, 2044 and 2049 respectively
  • July 7 – Corsica voters reject a referendum for increased autonomy from France by a very narrow margin.
  • July 7 – Canon Jeffrey John, the first would-be gay bishop in the Church of England, withdraws his acceptance of the post of The Bishop of Reading after discussions with church leaders.
  • July 8 – Sudan Airways Flight 39, with 117 people on board, crashes in Sudan; the only survivor is a 2-year-old child.
  • July 10 – A Russian security agent dies in Moscow, while trying to defuse a bomb a woman had tried to carry into a cafe on central Moscow's main street.
  • July 14 – CIA leak scandal: Washington Post columnist Robert Novak publishes the name of Valerie Plame, blowing her cover as a CIA operative.
  • July 18 – The Convention on the Future of Europe finishes its work and proposes the first European Constitution.
  • July 18 – The body of David Kelly, a scientist at the Ministry of Defence, is found a few miles from his home, leading to the Hutton inquiry.
  • July 21 – Eleven Support towers on Kinzua Bridge collapse after being hit by an F-1 tornado.
  • July 22 – Uday and Qusay Hussein, sons of Saddam Hussein, are killed by the U.S. military in Iraq, after being tipped off by an informant.
  • July 23 – Operation Warrior Sweep is the first major military deployment of the Afghan National Army.
  • July 24 – The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, Operation Helpem Fren, led by Australia, begins.
  • July 26 – The electorate of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma approves a new constitution redesignating the tribe "Cherokee Nation" without "of Oklahoma" and specifically disenfranchising the Cherokee Freedmen.
  • July 30 – The last Volkswagen Type 1 rolls off its production line in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.

August

  • August 1 – A suicide bomber rams a truck filled with explosives into a military hospital near Chechnya, killing 50 people, including Russian troops wounded in Chechnya.
  • August 2 – The United Nations authorizes an international peacekeeping force for Liberia.
  • August 10 – The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK; 38.5°C (101.3°F) at Brogdale near Faversham in Kent »Met Office: 2003 Monthly weather summary.
  • August 11 – NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
  • August 11 – Jemaah Islamiah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
  • August 11 – A heat wave in Paris causes temperatures up to 44°C (112°F).
  • August 14 – A widespread power outage affects the northeastern United States and South-Central Canada.
  • August 14 – A 6.4 Richter scale earthquake occurs near the Greek Ionian island of Lefkada; 24 are injured.
  • August 15 – Oil price increases since 2003: Global oil production begins a 4-year plateau (and subsequent decline) in the face of rising demand, causing new price increases.
  • August 16 – The 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire spreads quickly on the outskirts of Kelowna, British Columbia, threatening to engulf the largest town in B.C.'s interior.
  • August 22 – A rocket explosion kills 21 at the Brazilian rocket complex in Alcântara, Brazil, due to the premature ignition of a solid rocket booster.
  • August 25 – Two bomb blasts in Mumbai, India kill 52.
  • August 25 – The Spitzer Space Telescope was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, during Delta II.
  • August 27 – Perihelic Opposition: Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in over 50,000 years.
  • August 28 – Bank robber Brian Douglas Wells is killed when a time bomb around his neck explodes, allegedly in an act of betrayal by his co-conspirators.
  • August 28 – An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in southeast England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.

September

  • September 3 – The Hubble Space Telescope starts Hubble Ultra Deep Field.
  • September 4 – Europe's busiest shopping centre, the Bullring in Birmingham, is officially opened by Sir Albert Bore.
  • September 10 – Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh is stabbed in a Stockholm department store and dies the next day.
  • September 10 – Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
  • September 14 – Sweden rejects adopting the Euro in a referendum.
  • September 15 – The ELN kidnaps 8 foreign tourists in the Ciudad Perdida in Colombia; they demand a human rights investigation and release the last hostages 3 months later.
  • September 16 – Two suicide bombers drive an explosive-filled truck into a government security services building near Chechnya, killing 3 and injuring 25.
  • September 18 – Hurricane Isabel makes landfall as a Category 2 Hurricane on North Carolina's Outer Banks. It directly kills 16 people in the Mid–Atlantic area.
  • September 27 – Smart 1, a European Space Agency satellite, is launched from French Guiana.
  • September 28 – A power failure affects all of Italy except Sardinia, cutting service to more than 56 million people.
  • September 29 – Hurricane Juan lands at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada as a category 2 storm, killing 2 directly and 5 indirectly.

October

  • October 5 – Israeli warplanes strike inside Syrian territory.
  • October 7 – 2003 California recall: Voters recall Governor Gray Davis from office and elect actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to succeed him.
  • October 10 – Facing an investigation surrounding allegations of illegal drug use, American right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh publicly admits that he is addicted to prescription pain killers, and will seek treatment.
  • October 12 – Michael Schumacher wins the 2003 FIA Formula One World Championship in Suzuka, Japan, beating Kimi Räikkönen to the title.
  • October 15 – China launches Shenzhou 5, their first manned space mission.
  • October 15 – The 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash kills 11 after one of its ferries slams into a pier.
  • October 24 – The Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic travel to a close, at least for the time being.
  • October 25 – The Cedar Fire begins in San Diego County, burning 280,000 acres (1,100 km²), 2,232 homes and killing 14.
  • October 25 – The Florida Marlins defeat the New York Yankees to win their second World Series title.
  • October 31 – Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia after 22 years in power.

November

  • November 5 – Gary Ridgway, The "Green River Killer", confesses to murdering 48 women.
  • November 9 – A lunar eclipse is seen in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Central Asia.
  • November 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.
  • November 15 – Two car bombs explode simultaneously in Istanbul, Turkey, targeting 2 synagogues, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 300; Al-Qaida claims responsibility.
  • November 18 – U.S. President George W. Bush makes a state visit to London in the midst of massive protests.
  • November 18 – The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, rules anti-same-sex marriage laws unconstitutional in Massachusetts.
  • November 19 – At the end of a long public inquiry, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, John Prescott, gives planning approval to London Bridge Tower, set to become the tallest building in Europe.
  • November 20 – Several bombs explode in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC and the British consulate.
  • November 22 – 2003 Rugby World Cup: England defeats Australia 20–17 after extra time.
  • November 23 – The Georgian Rose Revolution ends in overwhelming victory; president Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over fraudulent elections.
  • November 23 – A total solar eclipse is seen over Antarctica.
  • November 24 – The High Court in Glasgow imposes a minimum sentence of 27 years for Al Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
  • November 28 – Kalev Ots succeeds to the presidency of the pre-WW II Republic of Estonia in exile, after the death of Mihkel Mathiesen.

December

  • December 1 – The use of hand-held cell phones while driving is made illegal in the United Kingdom.
  • December 1 – Boeing chairman and CEO Phil Condit resigns unexpectedly. He is replaced by Lewis Platt as non-executive chairman and Harry Stonecipher as president and CEO.
  • December 5 – A suicide bombing on a commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people. President Vladimir Putin condemns the attack as a bid to destabilize the country 2 days before parliamentary elections.
  • December 5 – The eighteenth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting opens in Abuja, Nigeria.
  • December 7 – Parliamentary elections are held in Russia.
  • December 7 – Australian schoolboy Daniel Morcombe disappears from a bus stop on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the country's highest profile mysteries.
  • December 7 – The new Government in Exile of the pre-World War II Republic of Estonia, headed by Ahti Mänd, assumes office.
  • December 8 – The Aso Rock Declaration is issued at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, outlining the Commonwealth's priority objectives.
  • December 9 – A female suicide bomber detonates outside Moscow's National Hotel, across from the Kremlin and Red Square, killing 5 bystanders.
  • December 12 – Paul Martin becomes the 21st Prime Minister of Canada.
  • December 12 – Olympic Airlines, Greece's new flag carrier, is launched.
  • December 13 – Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, is captured in Tikrit by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.
  • December 16 – The United Kingdom announces plans to build a new runway at Stansted Airport in Essex and a short-haul runway at Heathrow Airport, sparking anger from environmental groups.
  • December 18 – The Soham Murder Trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
  • December 20 – Libya admits to building a nuclear bomb.
  • December 22 – An earthquake in California kills 2.
  • December 22 – Parmalat is first accused of falsifying accounts to the tune of USD $5 billion, later admitted by founder Calisto Tanzi; observers call it "Europe's Enron".
  • December 23 – A PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion in Guoqiao, Kai County, Chongqing, China kills 234.
  • December 23 – WTO becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.
  • December 24 – A BSE (mad cow disease) outbreak in Washington State is announced. Several countries including Brazil, Australia and Taiwan ban the import of beef from the United States.
  • December 24 – At the request of the U.S. Embassy in Paris, the French Government orders Air France to cancel several flights between France and the U.S. in response to terrorist concerns.
  • December 24 – The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. on Christmas Eve inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.
  • December 25 – Beagle 2 is scheduled to land on Mars, but nothing is heard from the lander.
  • December 25 – President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan escapes the second assassination attempt in 2 weeks.
  • December 26 – A massive earthquake devastates southeastern Iran; over 40,000 people are reported killed in the city of Bam.
  • December 31 – David Bieber is arrested on suspicion of the Boxing Day police shootings in Leeds.
  • December 31 – British Airways Flight 223, a Boeing 747-400 flying from London Heathrow to Washington Dulles, is escorted into Dulles Airport by F-16 fighter jets after intelligence reports of terrorists trying to board the jet and use it in a terrorist attack.

Births

January

February

March

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April

May

  • May 11 – Noel Redding, English musician (b. 1946)
  • May 12 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French UN High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1933)
  • May 14 – Wendy Hiller, English actress (b. 1912)
  • May 14 – Robert Stack, American actor (b. 1919)
  • May 15 – June Carter Cash, American singer (b. 1929)
  • May 15 – Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgian cyclist (b. 1924)
  • May 26 – Kathleen Winsor, American writer (b. 1919)
  • May 27 – Luciano Berio, Italian composer (b. 1925)
  • May 28 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1917)
  • May 28 – Martha Scott, American actress (b. 1912)

June

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July

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August

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September

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October

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November

December

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Nobel Prizes

2003 in fiction

  • In the video game Freedom Fighters, the game is set in an alternate timeline from 1945 on where world power shifted towards the Soviet Union, the Soviets invades and conquers the United States, causing a rebel resistance.
  • In the TV series Stargate SG-1 the second alpha site is attacked by kull warriors.
  • In The Simpsons timeline, the events of take place between October 25 and October 31, with all seven levels taking place on one week.
  • The events of take place, before the last chapters of .
  • In the last chapters of , Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield are sent to an Umbrella Fortress in February 2003.
  • The Galactic Federation in the Metroid Backstory was formed in 2003.
  • The main character in Osamu Tezuka's manga Tetsuwan Atom (1951) or Astro Boy was "born" on 7 April 2003.
  • The 1981 arcade game Omega Race takes place in the year 2003.

References

External links

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