Historical Events in 2003

Events 1 - 200 of 253

• Jan 10 NBA announces Charlotte, N.C. is awarded an NBA expansion franchise to be known as the Charlotte Bobcats and start play in 2004-05; eventually changes to the Charlotte Hornets for the 2014-15 season

• Jan 16 The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.
• Jan 18 A bushfire kills 4 people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.
• Jan 23 Final communication between Earth and NASA space probe Pioneer 10 then 7.6 billion miles (12.23 billion kilometers) from Earth
• Jan 24 The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation

• Jan 26 Super Bowl XXXVII, Qualc:omm Stadium, San Diego, CA: Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Oakland Raiders, 48-21; MVP: Dexter Jackson, Tampa Bay, S

• Jan 29 Sally Clark cleared of murdering her 2 sons after more than 3 years of prison in what was a life sentence
• Jan 30 Belgium legally recognizes same-sex marriage.
• Jan 30 Richard Reid sentenced to life in prison for attempting to bomb an American Airlines flight with 197 on board
• Jan 31 The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia; 7 die when train driver has a heart attack and safety system fails
• Feb 1 Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

• Feb 2 Russian pop girl duo Tatu start a four-week run at #1 on the UK singles chart with "All The Things She Said"

• Feb 4 The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
• Feb 6 American rapper 50 Cent releases his album “Get Rich or Die Trying” (2003 Billboard Album of the Year)
• Feb 10 France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.
• Feb 15 An estimated 6-11 million people around the world take to the streets to protest against war with Iraq
• Feb 16 45th Daytona 500: Michael Waltrip wins for the second time in 3 years; race ends after 109 laps when rain pours on the track
• Feb 17 The London Congestion Charge scheme begins in London, England
• Feb 18 Comet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) makes perihelion, seen by SOHO.
• Feb 18 Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea
• Feb 20 Pyrotechnics display sets 'The Station' nightclub ablaze during a concert by rock band Great White; kills 100 and injuries over 300 others (West Warwick, Rhode Island)

• Feb 22 Pakistani pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar bowls the fastest ball recorded in cricket history at 100.2 mph (161.3 km/h)

• Feb 27 Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavsic is sentenced by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, to 11 years in prison
• Feb 27 Rowan Williams is enthroned as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury.
• Mar 1 Legendary Mount St. Mary's basketball head coach Jim Phelan wins final game of 49 year career as Mountaineers win 60-56 over Central Connecticut State; Phelan: 830 wins in NCAA record 1,354 games
• Mar 1 Management of the United States Customs Service and the United States Secret Service move to the United States Department of Homeland Security.
• Mar 1 Nashville's Barry Trotz sets NHL record for most games coached with an expansion team from inception as Predators score a 5-4 OT win over Chicago; his 392nd game, passing Terry Crisp (391 with Tampa Bay)
• Mar 1 World light heavyweight boxing champion Roy Jones Jr. wins a unanimous decision against champion John Ruiz to capture the WBA heavyweight crown in Las Vegas

• Mar 2 The first International Symposium on Taiwan Sign Language Linguistics is held at Chung Cheng University.
• Mar 5 In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed by a Hamas suicide bomb in the Haifa bus 37 massacre.
• Mar 10 "My Front Porch Looking In" single released by Lonestar (Billboard Song of the Year 2003)

• Mar 11 Nicholas Winton (93), former British stockbroker who helped 669 young Jews flee Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Nazi invasion in 1939, receives knighthood from Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace
• Mar 11 The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague.
• Mar 12 Elizabeth Smart found after having been missing for 9 months.
• Mar 12 Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.
• Mar 13 The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old footprints of an upright-walking human have been found in Italy
• Mar 14 Start of weekend of protests against war in Iraq that are attended by millions

• Mar 16 The largest coordinated worldwide vigil takes place, as part of the global protests against Iraq war.
• Mar 17 British Cabinet Minister Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for the war with Iraq.
• Mar 18 British Sign Language is recognised as an official British language
• Mar 18 FBI agents raid the corporate headquarters of HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama on suspicion of massive corporate fraud led by the company's top executives.

• Mar 23 ICC Men's Cricket ODI World Cup, Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa: Australia retain trophy with 125 run win over India; Player of the Match: Ricky Ponting (AUS) 140 no (121)
• Mar 23 In Nasiriyah, Iraq, 11 soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Company as well as 18 U.S. Marines are killed during the first major conflict of Operation Iraqi Freedom
• Mar 24 The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.

• Mar 28 In a "friendly fire" incident, two US A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from the 190th Fighter Squadron attack British tanks participating in the invasion of Iraq, killing British soldier Matty Hull

• Apr 5 The Kansas City Royals become the first MLB team to begin the season 5-0 after losing 100 games the previous year, beating the Cleveland Indians, 2 - 1
• Apr 7 U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later.
• Apr 9 Baghdad falls to US forces, ending the invasion of Iraq, resulting in widespread looting
• Apr 14 The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%
• Apr 14 U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner the Achille Lauro in 1985
• Apr 16 Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens, admitting 10 new member states to the European Union

• Apr 26 NFL Draft: USC quarterback Carson Palmer first pick by Cincinnati Bengals

• May 1 In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" on board the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of California
• May 3 New Hampshire's famous Old Man of the Mountain collapses
• May 7 Arsenal thrash Southampton, 6-1 at Highbury to start Gunners' amazing English Premier League record 49-game unbeaten streak; ends 24 October, 2004 with 2-0 defeat at Manchester United
• May 10 The May 2003 tornado outbreak sequence takes place.
• May 12 Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers bring the Texas Legislature to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan
• May 12 The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, 26 killed
• May 16 Calcutta high court rules Calcutta does not have a birthday and that British East India employee Job Charnock is not the city's founder as previously claimed
• May 16 In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in terrorist attacks

• May 21 An earthquake hits northern Algeria killing more than 2,000 people.
• May 22 In Fort Worth, Texas, Annika Sörenstam becomes the first woman to play the PGA Tour in 58 years.
• May 23 The Euro exceeds its initial trading value as it hits $1.18 for the first time since its introduction in 1999

• May 24 Super Rugby Final, Eden Park, Auckland: Auckland Blues beat defending champion Canterbury Crusaders, 21-17 for their 3rd title
• May 25 56th Cannes Film Festival: "Elephant" directed by Gus Van Sant wins the Palme d'Or
• May 25 Néstor Kirchner becomes President of Argentina after defeating Carlos Menem. He is the first elected President since the economic crisis.
• May 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.
• May 28 Patrick Roy officially announces his retirement from the NHL
• May 28 Peter Hollingworth becomes the first Governor-General of Australia to resign his office as a result of criticism of his conduct

• Jun 1 The People's Republic of China begins filling the reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam
• Jun 2 Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.

• Jun 5 A severe heat wave across Pakistan and India reaches its peak, as temperatures exceed 50°C (122°F) in the region
• Jun 8 57th Tony Awards: "Hairspray" (musical) & "Take Me Out" (play) win
• Jun 9 Stanley Cup Final, Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, NJ: New Jersey Devils beat Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-0 for 4-3 series win

• Jun 26 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that gender-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
• Jun 27 The United States National Do Not Call Registry, formed to combat unwanted telemarketing calls and administered by the Federal Trade Commission, enrolls almost three-quarters of a million phone numbers on its first day.

• Jul 1 Aerobie Pro thrown by Erin Hemmings sets world record for longest throw at 1,333 feet (406.3 meters) at Fort Funston

• Jul 5 French driver Sébastien Bourdais wins first-ever night road-course event in Champ Car history on Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport layout
• Jul 5 SARS is declared "contained" by the WHO after affecting 26 countries and resulting in 774 deaths
• Jul 6 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 in 2036, 2040, May 2044, September 2044 and 2049 respectively

• Jul 7 The United Communist Party of Armenia is formed
• Jul 8 Sudan Airways Flight 39, with 116 people on board, crashes in Sudan; the only survivor is a two-year-old boy who subsequently dies as a result of his injuries
• Jul 10 Neoplan bus, owned by Kowloon Motor Bus, collides with a truck, falls off bridge on Tuen Mun Road, Hong Kong, and plunges into the underlying valley, killing 21 people. Deadliest Hong Kong traffic accident.
• Jul 15 AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.

• Jul 20 France: Sixteen people are injured after two bombs explode outside a tax office in Nice.
• Jul 22 Members of US 101st Airborne, aided by Special Forces, attack a compound in Mosul, Iraq, killing Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein, sons of Saddam Hussein, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay's 14-year old son, and a bodyguard

• Aug 2 South African cricket batsman Graeme Smith blazes 259, fast bowler Makhaya Ntini has 5 wickets in each England innings as Proteas win 2nd Test by an innings and 92 at Lord's
• Aug 5 A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.
• Aug 10 The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK - 38.5°C (101.3°F) in Kent . It is the first time the UK has recorded a temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Aug 11 A heat wave in Paris results in temperatures rising to 112°F (44° C), leaving about 144 people dead.
• Aug 11 Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
• Aug 11 NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
• Aug 14 Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada.

• Aug 16 New Zealand beats Australia, 21-17 at Eden Park, Auckland to win their 5th Tri Nations Rugby Series; All Blacks have undefeated 4-0 record and regain Bledisloe Cup from Wallabies
• Aug 16 U.S. Representative from South Dakota Bill Janklow hits and kills a motorcyclist with his car at a rural intersection near Trent, South Dakota; he will eventually be convicted of manslaughter and will resign from Congress.
• Aug 19 A car-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees.
• Aug 19 A Hamas planned suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem kills 23 Israelis, 7 of them children
• Aug 22 Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building
• Aug 25 The Tli Cho land claims agreement is signed between the Dogrib First Nations and the Canadian federal government in Rae-Edzo (now called Behchoko).
• Aug 26 The Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final reports on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
• Aug 27 Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.
• Aug 28 An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.
• Aug 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.

• Sep 11 Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh dies after being assaulted and fatally wounded on September 10.
• Sep 11 The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety enters into effect.
• Sep 12 In Fallujah, US forces mistakenly shoot and kill eight Iraqi police officers.

• Sep 13 British rock singer Mike Smith (Dave Clark Five) fractures spine falling while trying to enter his home after locking himself out, becomes permanently paralyzed from the waist down
• Sep 14 Baltimore running back Jamal Lewis sets the NFL single-game rushing record when he runs for 295 yards and 2 touchdowns on 30 carries in the Ravens 33-13 victory over Cleveland
• Sep 14 Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
• Sep 14 Sweden rejects adopting the Euro in a referendum

• Sep 18 The United Kingdom's Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, receives Royal Assent
• Sep 20 A referendum is held in Latvia to decide the country's accession to the European Union
• Sep 20 Maldives civil unrest: the death of prisoner Hassan Evan Naseem sparks a day of rioting in Malé

• Sep 21 Galileo mission terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes
• Sep 22 David Hempleman-Adams becomes the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open-air, wicker-basket hot air balloon.

• Sep 23 Crime drama "NCIS" starring Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherley, Pauley Perrette and David McCallum premieres on CBS in the US
• Sep 25 A magnitude-8.0 earthquake strikes just offshore of Hokkaidō, Japan.
• Sep 27 Smart 1 satellite is launched by the European Space Agency from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, for a moon orbit.
• Sep 28 Final game played at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium, Atlanta Braves defeat Phillies, 5-2
• Sep 29 Hurricane Juan makes landfall in Nova Scotia.
• Oct 3 Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy is attacked by one of the shows tigers, canceling the show for good.
• Oct 4 Jockey Jerry Bailey surpasses his own single season record for North American purse earnings ($19,271,814) set in 2002; wins aboard Sightseek in Beldame Stakes & Birdstone in Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park
• Oct 4 Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: 21 Israelis, Jews and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded.
• Oct 4 Red Raiders' quarterback B.J. Symons sets a Big 12 Conference record with 8 touchdown passes, leading Texas Tech to a convincing 59-28 win over Texas A & M
• Oct 4 Ten thousand people participate in "Rites of Ancestral Return" the reinternment of African American ancestral remains at the African Burial Ground in Manhattan [1]
• Oct 4 Trainer Bobby Frankel saddles Sightseek to victory in the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park; Frankel's 23rd Grade I stakes winner of the year, breaking D. Wayne Lukas' 1987 record of 22
• Oct 5 Chicago Cubs win their first MLB postseason series since the 1908 World Series with 5-1 win v Atlanta Braves in Game 5 NLDS at Turner Field
• Oct 5 Kansas City wide receiver Dante Hall scores on game winning 93-yard punt return in Chiefs 24-23 victory v Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium; returns for score in an NFL-record 4th straight game

• Oct 12 FIFA Women's World Cup Final, Home Depot Center, Carson, CA: Nia Künzer scores winner in sudden death extra time as Germany beats Sweden, 2-1

• Oct 15 China launches Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission
• Oct 15 The Staten Island Ferry boat Andrew J. Barberi collides with a pier at the St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island, killing 11 people and injuring 43.
• Oct 17 Eunuchs in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh float the political party Jiti Jitayi Politics.
• Oct 17 Pinnacle fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 50 meters (165 feet) to become World's tallest high-rise
• Oct 18 Bolivian Gas War: President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, is forced to resign and leave Bolivia

• Oct 21 Images of the dwarf planet Eris are taken and subsequently used in its discovery by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz.
• Oct 24 Concorde makes its last commercial flight

• Oct 26 The Cedar Fire, the second-largest fire in Californian history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km²), destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego
• Oct 30 Stephen Schwartz's musical "Wicked", a re-telling of the "Wizard of Oz" from the Wicked Witch of the West's' point of view, starring Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, opens at the Gershwin Theatre, NYC; run is ongoing, wins 2 Tony Awards, 7 Drama Desk Awards, and a Grammy
• Oct 31 A bankruptcy court approves MCI's reorganization plans, essentially clearing the telecommunications company to exit bankruptcy

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