2003

January 2003	Israel Palestine [revolution]	In the Middle East, two Palestinian suicide bombers kill 22 people and injure more than 100 in an attack on Tel Aviv-Yafo in Israel. In response, the Israeli government bars Palestinian delegates from attending a diplomatic conference in London organized by British prime minister Tony Blair. Towards the end of the month, the Israeli army mounts its deepest punitive incursion into Palestinian Gaza City since 1994.
1 January 2003	England [Crimean War (1854–56)]	The killing of two teenage bystanders – Charlene Ellis and Latisha Shakespear – outside a New Year's party venue in Birmingham, England, in an apparent shootout between rival black gangs focuses attention on the growing problem of gun crime in UK inner cities.
12 January 2003	USA [births and deaths]	Maurice Gibb, musician and singer with the hugely successful British pop music trio the Bee Gees, dies in Miami, Florida (53).
23 January 2003	USA [painting]	Descent into Limbo, a rare painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna, sells for about US$28 million at auction in New York City. It is more than double the previous record for a work by the 15th century painter.
February 2003	Iraq [diplomacy]	Divisions emerge within the European Union (EU) and NATO over policy towards the disarmament of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. France and Germany reject the UK's and other countries' support for US-led military action against Iraq which would pre-empt ongoing United Nations (UN) investigations into Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, mass anti-war demonstrations are staged around the world. At the end of February the USA and UK table a new draft UN resolution to pave the way for an assault on Iraq. Other Security Council members, including Russia and China, remain unconvinced of the need for military action.
1 February 2003	[space exploration]	The US space shuttle Columbia explodes and breaks up on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The crew of six US and one Israeli are all killed in the disaster.
4 February 2003	Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro [law and government]	The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ceases to exist as the two remaining republics in the old Yugoslav federation officially become a new constitutional entity called Serbia and Montenegro. Both republics will have their own presidents and governments, but share a common central administration for defence and foreign affairs.
14 February 2003	England [theatre and dance]	At the Laurence Olivier awards for theatre in London, England, English director Sam Mendes becomes the first person ever to win three prizes. He takes the best director and best revival awards (for Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya) and a special award in honour of his ten-year artistic directorship of London's Donmar Warehouse theatre.
17 February 2003	England [motor vehicles]	The imposition of a £5-a-day charge on drivers bringing their cars into the centre of London, England, takes effect. The levy is intended to reduce congestion in the capital and improve the flow of traffic.
24 February 2003	China [natural disasters]	An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang kills over 260 people, injures about 1,000 more, and makes thousands homeless. It is the worst earthquake in China for more than 50 years.
26 February 2003	UK [political events]	In a parliamentary debate in the British House of Commons, Prime Minister Tony Blair's support for a military response by the international community to disarm the Iraqi regime led by President Saddam Hussein is rejected by more than 120 members of his own Labour Party. The Commons vote, although carried with support of opposition parties, is the biggest rebellion within a governing party in over a century.
27 February 2003	England [Protestantism]	Rowan Williams is officially enthroned as the 104th archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Church at Canterbury Cathedral, England.
March 2003	[plagues and epidemics]	A killer pneumonia-like virus identified as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), seemingly originating in China and south- east Asia and responsible for over 70 deaths so far, spreads more widely as cases are reported across Europe and North America.
2 March 2003	New Zealand [sailing]	Sailing's prestigious America's Cup is won by a European nation for the first time, as the Swiss-owned boat, Team Alinghi, secures the trophy with the completion of a 5–0 victory over the holders, Team New Zealand, in Auckland.
11 March 2003	[crime and punishment]	The International Criminal Court, the world's first permanent tribunal to provide justice in cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, is formally inaugurated in The Hague, Netherlands, as 18 judges are sworn in. The USA continues to reject the court's jurisdiction.
17 March - 18 March 2003	UK [political events]	Dissension within the UK's ruling Labour Party over Prime Minister Tony Blair's support for a military response to disarm the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq is reflected in the resignation from the cabinet of Robin Cook (leader of the House of Commons and a former foreign secretary) and another record rebellion of backbench Labour members of Parliament in a subsequent Commons debate on the international crisis.
20 March - 31 March 2003	Iraq [Second Gulf War (2003)]	Despite inconclusive inspections for weapons of mass destruction and failure to win United Nations Security Council backing for military action to forcefully disarm Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, the USA and UK launch air strikes on Iraqi strategic targets, particularly in the capital Baghdad. French and German opposition to the action causes serious friction in the Western alliance, and Russia similarly expresses dissent. By the end of March, as the Iraqi government remains defiant and reports of increasing civilian casualties provoke worldwide concern, US ground forces from bases in the Gulf advance on Baghdad to confront the elite troops of the Iraqi Republican Guard. Meanwhile, British forces surround Iraq's second city of Basra in the south of the country.
May 2003	[plagues and epidemics]	Concern over the international spread of the SARS virus (severe acute respiratory syndrome) continues as Taiwan reports an increase in cases and the virus unexpectedly resurfaces in Toronto, Canada, in a second outbreak.
12 May 2003	Saudi Arabia [terrorism]	Suicide bombers in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh target three compounds housing Western expatriate workers and their families, killing at least 34 people including themselves. About 190 are injured. The operation is believed to have been planned and executed by the al-Qaeda international terrorist network.
12 May - 14 May 2003	Russia [terrorism]	In two terrorist incidents in Russia's troubled republic of Chechnya, suicide bombers believed to be Chechen separatists target a government security service building and, two days later, attempt to kill the Moscow-backed head of the Chechen administration at a Muslim festival. Around 80 people are believed killed in the attacks.
16 May 2003	Morocco [terrorism]	In Casablanca, Morocco, 12 suicide bombers thought to be Islamic fundamentalists linked to the al-Qaeda international terrorist network kill about 30 other people and injure many more in five coordinated explosions at a hotel, a nightclub, a Jewish community centre and cemetery, and the Belgian consulate.
21 May 2003	Algeria [natural disasters]	A major earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale in northern Algeria kills at least 2,200 people and injures thousands more.
22 May - 31 May 2003	Iraq [Second Gulf War (2003)]	Contrasting with the deep divisions in the United Nations (UN) Security Council in the run-up to the US-led war in Iraq against the regime of Saddam Hussein, the 15-member body adopts a new resolution (by 14 votes to 0, with Syria not participating) granting wide interim governing powers over Iraq to the USA, including a role for a UN special representative, and lifting sanctions imposed on Iraq almost 13 years ago following the invasion of Kuwait. As the month ends, the failure to unearth conclusive evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction leads to increasing criticism of the US and UK's case for going to war.
28 May 2003	England [football]	In the European Champions League football cup final staged in Manchester, England, AC Milan beats Juventus of Turin in a penalty shoot-out following a goalless draw after extra time. It is the first occasion that two Italian clubs have met in the final of the competition.
2 June 2003	[space exploration]	The spacecraft Mars Express, built by the European Space Agency (ESA), takes off from a launch pad in Kazakhstan carrying the Beagle 2 lander on its way to Mars. It is Europe's first exploration mission to another planet.
12 June 2003	UK [political events]	In a controversial UK government reshuffle, Prime Minister Tony Blair abolishes the longstanding position of lord chancellor. Lord Falconer assumes the new post of constitutional affairs secretary. Former Leader of the Commons John Reid takes over the health portfolio from Alan Milburn (who had earlier resigned from the cabinet) to be replaced in that post by Peter Hain, who doubles as secretary of state for Wales. Transport secretary Alistair Darling takes on additional responsibility for Scotland. A new supreme court is planned to replace the current law lords.
12 June 2003	Ethiopia [archaeology]	A US-Ethiopian team of scientists reports in Nature magazine the discovery in the Afar region of Ethiopia of three skulls of Homo sapiens from 160,000 years ago, representing the oldest fossils yet found of modern humans and an important link in human ancestry.
12 June 2003	UK [industrial relations]	A damaging 10-month industrial dispute between the UK Government and the Fire Brigades Union finally ends in a compromise 16% pay deal tied to changes in work practices.
16 June 2003	England [physiology]	Labelled the UK's first ‘designer baby’, James Whitaker is born by Caesarean section in Sheffield, England, the first product of genetic-matching IVF treatment to be born in Britain. The procedure, performed in the USA after the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority refused to sanction it in August 2002, gives the parents hope of saving their other son from a rare form of anaemia.
21 June 2003	[fiction]	The English writer J K Rowling publishes her new book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth in a hugely successful children's series.
23 June - 24 June 2003	China Hong Kong [plagues and epidemics]	The spread of the deadly SARS virus (severe acute respiratory syndrome) is seemingly being brought under control as the World Health Organization (WHO) lifts warnings against travel to the two previously worst affected areas of Beijing and Hong Kong in China.
29 June 2003	USA [births and deaths]	Katharine Hepburn, US film star for more than fifty years and winner of four Academy Awards for Best Actress, dies in Old Saybrook, Connecticut (96).
July 2003	UK [political events]	Political controversy spirals over allegations by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) that the UK Government exaggerated intelligence information about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programmes to justify going to war in March 2003. Dr David Kelly, an adviser at the Ministry of Defence, is revealed as the source for the BBC reports, but commits suicide after giving evidence before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee and the Intelligence and Security Committee. In response, Prime Minister Tony Blair asks Lord Hutton, an appeal court judge, to hold a judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death.
7 July 2003	[space exploration]	Following a two-week delay due to bad weather and technical problems, the USA's latest Mars rover is launched from Cape Canaveral space centre aboard a Delta II rocket. Opportunity, and another rover vehicle Spirit which was launched the previous month, are due to land on the planet in early 2004.
8 July 2003	Singapore [surgery]	Despite a successful separation after about 50 hours of pioneering neurosurgery in the Raffles hospital, Singapore, Ladan and Laleh Bijani, conjoined Iranian twins sharing a skull cavity, die from massive loss of blood.
9 July 2003	UK [crime and punishment]	In the UK two rail companies and six of their executives are charged with manslaughter under the Health and Safety Act following a long police investigation into a train derailment near Hatfield in Hertfordshire, England, in October 2000 in which four people died.
20 July 2003	England [golf]	US golfer Ben Curtis, a 250–1 outsider making his debut in a major championship, wins the 132nd British Open tournament at Sandwich in Kent, England.
22 July 2003	Iraq [births and deaths]	Uday Hussein, fugitive son of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein renowned for violence and cruelty, is killed by US special forces in Mosul, northern Iraq (39).
22 July 2003	Iraq [births and deaths]	Qusay Hussein, fugitive son and heir apparent of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, is killed by US special forces in Mosul, northern Iraq (37).
27 July 2003	USA [births and deaths]	Bob Hope, British-born US comedian, one of the most enduring and best-loved figures of stage and screen, dies in Toluca Lake, California (100).
August 2003	Iraq [Second Gulf War (2003)]	In a continuing series of violent incidents in Iraq since the US-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, 11 people are killed as a bomb explodes outside the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, Iraq's oil export pipeline to Turkey is targeted by saboteurs, a bomb destroys the United Nations (UN) headquarters in the capital (killing 22 people including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the head of the UN mission), and a leading Shia cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad Bakr al-Hakim, and 100 others die in a bomb attack on a mosque in the holy city of Najaf.
August 2003	[terrorism]	Having agreed to pay US$2.7 billion in compensation to the families of the 270 people killed in the bombing in 1988 of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie in Scotland, the Libyan government accepts responsibility for the terrorist incident in a letter to the United Nations (UN) Security Council, paving the way for the lifting of UN sanctions. At the end of the month Libya also reaches agreement with France on reparations for the 1989 bombing of a French airliner over Niger.
August 2003	Liberia [political events]	Hopes of an end to Liberia's 14-year civil war increase during August following the arrival of West African peacekeeping forces, later supported by 200 US marines, and the resignation and departure into exile of President Charles Taylor. Rebel factions and government representatives sign a power-sharing agreement appointing Gyude Bryant, an industrialist and cleric, to lead a new transitional administration.
11 August - 13 August 2003	Afghanistan [War on Terrorism (2001– )]	In Afghanistan the international peacekeeping force in the capital, Kabul, is placed under the strategic command of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). It is the Western Alliance's first ground mission outside Europe. Two days later Afghanistan suffers its most violent day in several months, leaving at least 64 people dead in a series of incidents including clashes in Khost province between government forces and rebel supporters of the former Taliban regime and the terrorist bombing of a civilian bus in Lashkargah in the south of the country.
14 August 2003	USA Canada [energy]	One of the worst-ever power failures in North America blacks out the northeastern USA and Canada for hours, prompting government investigations into the US electricity supply system.
September 2003	Israel Palestine [terrorism]	Violence continues in the Middle East as Israeli forces target leaders of the militant Islamic Hamas organization and Palestinian suicide bombers kill 15 Israelis in attacks in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Yafo. Meanwhile Ahmed Qureia takes over as prime minister of the Palestine National Authority as Mahmoud Abbas resigns having lost a power struggle with President Yassir Arafat. With the peace process in tatters, the Israeli government threatens to exile or otherwise ‘remove’ the Palestinian president. A United Nations Security Council resolution rebuking Israel for the threat is vetoed by the USA.
14 September 2003	Sweden [banking and finance]	Swedish voters reject a proposal to adopt the European Union (EU) single currency, the euro, by 56% to 42% in a referendum, despite widespread support for the move among Sweden's political establishment and industrial sector. Of the EU's 15 current member states, only Sweden, the UK, and Denmark remain outside the euro zone.
18 September - 19 September 2003	USA [natural disasters]	Hurricane Isabel strikes the eastern seaboard of the USA, causing widespread destruction, power and transport disruption, and flooding, particularly in Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the federal capital of Washington, DC. At least 30 deaths are blamed on the storm.
26 September 2003	Japan [natural disasters]	The island of Hokkaido in northern Japan is struck by powerful earthquakes measuring up to 8.0 on the Richter scale, some of the strongest tremors in the world during 2003. Nearly 600 people are injured.
28 September 2003	Italy [energy]	A massive power failure across Italy brings the whole country with the exception of Sardinia to a standstill for hours. A breakdown of electricity lines from neighbouring Switzerland and France is thought responsible.
October 2003	Iraq [Second Gulf War (2003)]	In Iraq the search for ex-dictator Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction continues without significant result. After months of argument, the United Nations Security Council votes to provide a mandate for US-led occupation forces, and an international conference is held in Madrid, Spain, to raise finance for the reconstruction of Iraq. Meanwhile, Iraqi insurgents and suicide bombers maintain daily attacks on US and other targets, including the International Red Cross, killing and wounding dozens of people. By the end of the month more US soldiers have been killed since the official end of the war than before it.
October 2003	Israel Palestine Syria [terrorism]	In the Middle East a Palestinian suicide bomber kills 20 Israelis and Arabs in a restaurant in Haifa. Israeli military retaliation includes the first direct air attack on Syrian territory since 1973 and subsequent heavy assaults on Palestinian targets in Gaza. Palestinian militants launch a bomb attack on a US embassy convoy driving through Gaza, killing three US officials. Israel's army chief of staff is critical of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's policies towards the Palestinians.
10 October 2003	Australia [cricket]	Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden scores 380 runs in a Test match innings against Zimbabwe in Perth, breaking the previous record of 375 for the highest ever individual score in international cricket.
10 October 2003	[human rights]	Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and human rights campaigner, wins the Nobel Prize for Peace. She is the first Muslim woman to receive the award.
12 October 2003	Japan [motor-racing and rallying]	Germany's Michael Schumacher clinches a record sixth world formula one motor racing championship following the Japanese grand prix at Suzuka.
15 October 2003	[space exploration]	China becomes the third country to put a man in space after Russia and the USA as its first crewed spacecraft, navigated by Lt-Col Yang Liwei, touches down in inner Mongolia at the end of a 21-hour mission.
24 October 2003	[business and economics]	British Airways' fleet of supersonic Concorde jets retires from commercial service after nearly 28 years. The occasion is marked by a triple landing at London's Heathrow airport.
2 November 2003	USA [Protestantism]	The US Episcopal Church consecrates Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. The appointment of an open homosexual to the position sparks hostility within the worldwide Anglican communion, particularly among churches in Africa.
6 November 2003	UK [political parties]	Michael Howard is confirmed as the new leader of the opposition Conservative Party in the UK.
22 November 2003	Australia [rugby]	England wins the rugby union World Cup for the first time, beating the host nation Australia in the final in Sydney by 20–17 after extra time.
26 November 2003	Iran [weapons]	The United Nations (UN) International Atomic Energy Agency adopts unanimously a resolution condemning Iran for its 18-year cover-up of an illicit nuclear development programme. Despite Iran's recent assurances of co-operation and transparency, future breaches of its non-proliferation obligations could trigger referral to the UN Security Council and the imposition of sanctions.
December 2003	Iraq [Second Gulf War (2003)]	In Iraq, the fugitive former dictator Saddam Hussein is captured alive and without resistance by US troops near his home town of Tikrit on 13 December, although this fails to herald an end to guerrilla and suicide attacks against the US-led military occupation.
12 December - 13 December 2003	Belgium [international organizations]	European Union (EU) leaders at a summit meeting in Brussels, Belgium, fail to agree on countries' voting powers in the proposed new constitution for an enlarged EU from May 2004. The main protagonists are Poland and Spain on one side and Germany and France on the other.
19 December 2003	Libya [weapons]	Libya's leader, Moamer al-Khaddhafi, confirms that his regime has sought to develop weapons of mass destruction but, following negotiations with the USA and UK, plans to dismantle all covert programmes and open the country's sites to international inspection.
22 December 2003	USA [animal husbandry]	The USA confirms its first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) at a farm in the state of Washington, leading to a widespread ban by other countries on US beef imports.
25 December 2003	[space exploration]	Beagle 2, the small British space probe aboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express craft, is scheduled to touch down on the surface of the planet Mars but fails to return a radio signal, raising concerns that it may have crashed or malfunctioned.
26 December 2003	Iran [natural disasters]	An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale devastates the Iranian town of Bam in the southeast of the country. The death toll of at least 28,000 is expected to rise further.