2003

2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2003rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 3rd year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 4th year of the 2000s decade.

2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Freshwater^[1]

In 2003, a United States-led coalition invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War.

The world population on January 1, 2003, was estimated to be 6.272 billion people and increased to 6.353 billion people by January 1, 2004.^[2] An estimated 134.0 million births and 52.5 million deaths took place in 2003.^[2] The average global life expectancy was 67.1 years, an increase of 0.3 years from 2002.^[2] The rate of child mortality was 6.85%, a decrease of 0.27pp from 2002.^[3] 25.54% of people were living in extreme poverty, a decrease of 1.31pp from 2002^[4]

There were approximately 10.6 million global refugees at the beginning of 2003, and the number was reduced to 9.7 million refugees by the end of the year.^[5] Afghanistan was the largest source of refugees, with a total of 2.1 million at the end of the year.^[5]

There were 29 armed conflicts affecting 22 countries in 2003. This was a net decrease from 31 conflicts in 2002.^[6]: 625 The deadliest conflicts were in Iraq, Kashmir, Liberia, Nepal, and Sudan.^[6]: 627

The Colombian conflict against two Marxist militant groups—the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army—escalated in 2003.^[7]: 101 The government negotiated an agreement for the right-wing militant group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia to disband as a means to deescalate the conflict.^[7]: 102

The First Ivorian Civil War was halted in 2003 amid a ceasefire while France and the states of ECOWAS intervened. Peace talks fell apart on March 7 until the ceasefire was restored on May 3, only to be broken again on September 23. The war was left in a frozen state at the end of 2003 with rebels controlling parts of the country.^{[7]: 115–116} The Second Liberian Civil War against Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy escalated when the Movement for Democracy in Liberia split off as its own faction.^[7]: 116 President Charles Taylor resigned on August 2, allowing a peace agreement to take place on August 18.^[7]: 118

The Indonesian insurgency in Aceh escalated when a demilitarization agreement failed and the government renewed its offensive in May.^[7]: 126 The Moro conflict in the Philippines deescalated when the Philippine government agreed to peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in July, though conflicts with other groups continued.^[7]: 129

The Sri Lankan Civil War continued in 2003 as peace talks failed, and long-running civil wars in Burundi and in Uganda both escalated.^{[7]: 107–112} The Second Sudanese Civil War escalated as new militant groups joined the conflict,^[6]: 628 though a security agreement was reached between the National Islamic Front and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement on September 25.^[7]: 119 The Second Chechen War continued in Russia: the Russian government held a referendum for a new Chechen constitution and offered amnesty for Chechen rebels, but terror attacks continued.^[7]: 125

Only two inter-state conflicts took place in 2003: the Iraq War and the Kashmir conflict. The Kashmir conflict saw progress toward resolution in 2003 as negotiations began and a ceasefire took effect on November 23.^[7]: 95 A coalition of countries led by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia led an invasion of Iraq beginning on March 20, warning that Iraq had been operating a program to develop weapons of mass destruction. The subsequent Iraq War became the most publicized conflict in 2003.^{[6]: 627–628}

The Second Intifada continued into 2003 as conflict between Israel and Palestine killed 400 people in suicide bombings by Palestinians and military strikes by the Israel Defense Forces.^[7]: 104

The highest-grossing films globally in 2003 were The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Finding Nemo, and The Matrix Reloaded. The highest-grossing non-English film was Bayside Shakedown 2 (Japanese), the 39th highest-grossing film of the year.^[8] Critically acclaimed films from 2003 include Finding Nemo,^{[9][10][11][12]} Lost in Translation,^[9][11][13] and Master and Commander.^[9][10][13]

Music sales in 2003 amounted to about 2.7 billion units, a decline of 6.5% from 2002. DVD music video thrived in 2003 at the expense of singles and cassettes.^[14] Globally, the best-selling albums of the year were Come Away with Me by Norah Jones, Get Rich or Die Tryin' by 50 Cent, and Meteora by Linkin Park. No non-English albums were among the global top fifty albums sold in 2003.^[15]

Golf saw an upset when Ben Curtis defeated some of the sport's top players in his first major competition at the 2003 Open Championship. Tennis players Roger Federer and Andy Roddick won their first Grand Slams in 2003.^[16]

The global economy improved in the second half of 2003 as it recovered from the early 2000s recession, brought about by low interest rates and expansionary fiscal policy. The United States led the recovery, while China and Japan also made significant contributions. The economic situation improved in Latin America and Africa, while Western Europe saw slower recovery. The gross world product increased by 2.5% in 2003, and international trade increased by 4.75%. The prices of non-fuel commodities, such as metal, minerals, and agricultural materials, increased during the year.^[17]

2003 tied with 2002 as the second hottest year on record, behind only 1998. The year began during an El Niño period that continued until April. A major heatwave occurred in Europe during the summer, causing approximately 70,000 deaths, 14,000 in France alone.

Severe cold weather affected Asia, North America, and Peru. 2003 saw low precipitation, causing droughts in Australia, the United States, and Zimbabwe. The previous year's droughts in Asia were alleviated by heavy precipitation in the region.^[18]

Major earthquakes in 2003 included a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Algeria on May 21 that killed over 2,200 people and a magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Iran on December 26 that killed about 50,000 people.^[19]

The 2003 Atlantic hurricane season was above average in activity, including sixteen named storms of which seven were hurricanes. The most severe hurricanes were Hurricane Fabian, Hurricane Isabel, and Hurricane Kate. Tropical Storm Ana was the first recorded North Atlantic tropical storm to occur in April, and 2003 was the first year since 1887 to have two tropical storms occur in December.^[20] The 2003 Pacific typhoon season was slightly more intense than average, though the overall number of tropical storms was below average with 23 total storms. The most destructive typhoons were Typhoon Dujuan, which made landfall in Guangdong, China, on September 2, and Typhoon Maemi, which made landfall in South Korea on September 12.^[21]

The World Health Organization set "shaping the future" as its health focus for 2003, seeking to improve health systems and primary health care for the poor.^[22]

• January 5 – Tel Aviv central bus station: Two Palestinian suicide bombers attack a neighborhood in Tel Aviv, killing at least 23 people and injuring 103.^[23]
• January 8 – Air Midwest Flight 5481 crashed into a hangar upon takeoff in Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 passengers and crew.^[24]
• January 10 – North Korea announces its withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.^[25]
• January 22
  • The last signal from NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft is received, some 12.2 billion kilometers (7.6 billion mi) from Earth.^[26]
• January 29 – Riots break out in Phnom Penh, Cambodia targeting Thai nationals after false reports that a Thai actress made comments about a temple. Thailand severs diplomatic relations with Cambodia in response.^[27]

• February 1 – At the conclusion of the STS-107 mission, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts on board.^[28]
• February 4 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is renamed to "Serbia and Montenegro" (after its two constituent states) after its leaders reconstitute the country into a loose state-union between Montenegro and Serbia, marking an end to the 73-year-long use of the name "Yugoslavia" by a sovereign state.^[29][30][31]
• February 5 – U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell speaks to the United Nations presenting the case for a military invasion of Iraq. It will later be discovered that the Bush administration misled him when preparing his testimony.^[32]
• February 7 – 2003 El Nogal Club bombing: A car bomb goes off in the garage of the El Nogal club in Bogotá, Colombia, killing 36 people and injuring hundreds.^[33]
• February 9–March 23 – The 2003 Cricket World Cup is held in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya with Australia defeating India in the final.
• February 15–16 – Antwerp diamond heist: An Italian gang steals loose diamonds, gold and jewellery valued at more than $100 million from a Belgian vault, one of the largest robberies in history.^[34][35]
• February 15 – Millions of people worldwide take part in massive anti-war protests in anticipation of the United States and its allies invading Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime.^[36]
• February 18 – An arsonist sets fire to a subway train in Daegu, South Korea, killing 192 people.^[37]
• February 19 – An Ilyushin Il-76 plane crashes near Kerman Airport in Iran, killing 270 military personnel.^[38]
• February 20 – A pyrotechnics accident during a Great White concert causes a fire at a nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, killing 100 people.^[39]
• February 24 – 2003 Bachu earthquake: A 6.8 M_w earthquake strikes in Xinjiang, killing 257 people.^[40]
• February 26 – The War in Darfur begins after rebel groups rise up against the Sudanese government.^[41]
• February 27 – Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavšić is sentenced by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to 11 years in prison for war crimes committed during the Bosnian War.^[42]

• March 8 – Malta approves joining the European Union in a referendum.^[43]
• March 12
  • Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić is assassinated in Belgrade by a sniper.^[44]
  • The World Health Organization issues a global alert on severe acute respiratory syndrome when it spreads to Hong Kong and Vietnam after originating in Mainland China.^[45]
• March 15 – Former General François Bozizé seizes power through a military coup in the Central African Republic.^[46]
• March 17 – U.S. President George W. Bush presents a 48-hour ultimatum for Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to resign.^[47]
• March 20 – The Iraq War begins with the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and allied forces.^[48]
• March 21 – The world's largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2 is launched.^[49]
• March 23
  • 2003 Nadimarg massacre: Islamist militants gather and execute citizens of a Hindu village in Kashmir, killing 24 of the 54 residents.^[50]
  • Slovenia approves joining the European Union and NATO in a referendum.^[51]

• April 9 – U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the rule of Saddam Hussein.^[48]
• April 12 – Hungary approves joining the European Union in a referendum.^[52]
• April 14 – The Human Genome Project is completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy.^[53]
• April 16 – The Treaty of Accession^[54] is signed in Athens between the European Union and ten countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia), concerning these countries' accession into the EU, leading to the 2004 enlargement of the European Union.
• April 17 – Anneli Jäätteenmäki takes office as the first female prime minister of Finland.^[55]
• April 18 – Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visits Kashmir and expresses support for peace negotiations with Pakistan.^[7]: 95
• April 20 – Tropical Storm Ana becomes the first recorded North Atlantic tropical storm to occur in April.^[20]
• April 21 – The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam end peace talks in the Sri Lankan Civil War.^[7]: 107
• April 27 – Nicanor Duarte Frutos is elected president over Julio César Franco in the 2003 Paraguayan general election.^[56]
• April 29 – The United States announces the withdrawal of its troops stationed in Saudi Arabia, and the redeployment of some at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.^[57]

• May 1
  • 2003 Bingöl earthquake: A 6.4 M_w  earthquake strikes in Bingöl, Turkey, killing 177 people.^[58]
  • U.S. President George W. Bush declares an end to the invasion of Iraq in the Mission Accomplished speech. Hostilities would continue for several years during a period of Iraqi insurgency.^[59]
• May 11
  • Benvenuto Cellini's Cellini Salt Cellar table sculpture is stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.^[60]
  • Lithuania approves joining the European Union in a referendum.^[61]
  • 2003 Sri Lanka cyclone: A cyclone makes landfall in Sri Lanka, killing 260 people and causing the country's worst natural disaster in 50 years.^[62]
• May 12
  • In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, over 30 people are killed in multiple bombings at a housing compound, mostly foreign expatriates.^[63]
  • 2003 Znamenskoye suicide bombing: Chechen suicide bombers attack a government office in Znamenskoye, Russia, killing at least 59 people.^[64]
• May 15 – 2003 Argentine general election: Néstor Kirchner becomes president-elect of Argentina after Carlos Menem withdraws from the runoff election.^[65]
• May 16 – 2003 Casablanca bombings: Islamist militants affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb carry out a series of suicide bombings in Casablanca, Morocco, killing at least 41 people.^[66]
• May 17 – Slovakia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.^[67]
• May 21 – The 6.8 M_w  Boumerdès earthquake strikes in Algeria, killing over 2,200 people.^[19]
• May 23 – Dewey, the world's first cloned deer is born, at Texas A&M University.^[68]
• May 24 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 takes place in Riga, Latvia, and is won by Turkish entrant Sertab Erener with the song "Everyway That I Can".^[69]
• May 26 – A constitutional referendum is held in Rwanda.^[70]
• May 28 – Prometea, the world's first cloned horse, is born.^[71]

• June 2 – Mars Express launches, containing the Beagle 2 lander.^[72]
• June 8
  • Poland approves joining the European Union in a referendum.^[73]
  • Major Saleh Ould Hanenna leads a failed coup in Mauritania, leading to violence.^[74]
• June 14 – The Czech Republic approves joining the European Union in a referendum.^[75]
• June 15 – Operation Desert Scorpion: U.S. forces in Iraq facilitate searches for Ba'athist forces, distribution of humanitarian aid, and engineering programs to repair damaged infrastructure.^[76]
• June 21 – Declaration of Thessaloniki: The European Union encourages accession of states of the western Balkans.^[77]
• June 30 – Warring parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo sign a peace accord, bringing an end to the Second Congo War, which left millions dead.^[78]

• July–August – 2003 European heat wave: Europe experiences its hottest summer in over five centuries.^[79]
• July 1 – Tesla Inc., the American electric car company, is founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in San Carlos, California.^[80][81]
• July 2 – The International Olympic Committee awards Vancouver the right to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.^[82]
• July 4 – 2003 Quetta mosque bombing: Islamist militants attack a Shia mosque in Quetta, Pakistan, killing at least 44 people.^[83]
• July 5 – Severe acute respiratory syndrome is declared to be contained by the World Health Organization.^[84]
• July 6
  • The 70-meter Eupatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message Cosmic Call 2 to five stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri, HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris, that will arrive at these stars in 2036, 2040, May 2044, September 2044 and 2049 respectively.^[85]
  • Dennis Schmitt discovers the island of 83-42, a candidate for being the northernmost point of land.^[86]
• July 9 – Pirates of the Caribbean debuts with The Curse of The Black Pearl. It would produce 5 movies until 2017.^[87]
• July 10 – The existence of PSR B1620−26 b, the oldest known exoplanet in the galaxy, is confirmed using observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.^[88]
• July 13 – The Iraqi Governing Council is created by the United States as an ethnically diverse provisional government of Iraq.^[89]
• July 14 – Robert Novak identifies Valerie Plame as a covert CIA agent, initiating a scandal known as the Plame affair.^[90]
• July 15 – The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia agrees to disband.^[7]: 102
• July 16 – Major Fernando Pereira leads a failed coup in São Tomé and Príncipe.^[91]
• July 18 – The Convention on the Future of Europe finishes its work and proposes the first European Constitution.^[92]
• July 24 – The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, led by Australia, begins after ethnic violence engulfs the island country.^[93]
• July 27 – Oakwood mutiny: Philippine military officers lead approximately 300 soldiers a failed coup.^[94]

• August 1 – Social networking service Myspace is launched.^[95]
• August 2 – President Charles Taylor of Liberia resigns, effectively ending the Second Liberian Civil War.^[7]: 118
• August 11
  • The Second Liberian Civil War comes to an end after President Charles Taylor resigns and flees the country.^[96]
  • NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.^[97]
• August 14 – The Northeast blackout of 2003 cuts electricity to the northeastern United States and parts of Canada.^[98]
• August 19
  • In the Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad 22 people are killed, among them United Nations' Special Representative in Iraq Sérgio Vieira de Mello.^[99]
  • Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills at least 18 people in a bus bombing in Jerusalem.^[100]
• August 25
  • The Spitzer Space Telescope is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.^[101]
  • Car bombs explode at Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar in Mumbai, claiming 54 lives and injuring 244 others. Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba is blamed for the attack.^[102]
• August 27
  • Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in over 60,000 years.^[103]
  • The first six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.^[104]
• August 29 – Imam Ali mosque bombing: A bomb kills at least 125 people, including Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, at a Shia mosque in Najaf, Iraq.^[105]

• September 2 – Typhoon Dujuan makes landfall in Guangdong as a category 1 typhoon with sustained winds of 90 mph.^[21]
• September 5 – Hurricane Fabian strikes Bermuda.^[20]
• September 12 – Typhoon Maemi, makes landfall in South Korea as a category 3 typhoon with sustained winds of 125 mph.^[21]
• September 14
  • General Veríssimo Correia Seabra leads a bloodless coup in Guinea-Bissau. He steps down to create a new civilian government days later.^[106]
  • Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.^[107]
• September 15 – ELN rebels kidnap eight foreign tourists at Ciudad Perdida, Colombia, being freed 100 days later following negotiations with the Colombian government.^[108]
• September 18 – Hurricane Isabel makes landfall in North Carolina.^[20]
• September 20 – Latvia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.^[109]
• September 24 – The Hubble Space Telescope starts the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, making 800 exposures, until January 16, 2004.^[110]
• September 27 – SMART-1, an ESA spaceprobe and ESA's first mission to the moon, is launched from Kourou, French Guiana.^[111]
• September 28 – 2003 Italy blackout: Power goes out across the Italian Peninsula for approximately 12 hours, affecting nearly all of the country's 57 million people.^[112]

• October 1 – The popular and controversial English-language imageboard 4chan is launched.^[113]
• October 4 – Maxim restaurant suicide bombing: A Palestinian suicide bomber attacks a restaurant in Haifa, Israel, killing at least 19 people.^[114]
• October 5 – Israeli warplanes strike alleged Islamic jihad bases inside Syrian territory, the first Israeli attack on the country since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.^[115]
• October 15 – China launches Shenzhou 5, their first human spaceflight.^[116]
• October 24 – Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic travel to an end.^[117]
• October 27 – 27 October 2003 Baghdad bombings: A series of car bombings occur in Baghdad, Iraq, targeting multiple police stations and a Red Cross headquarters. Approximately 40 people are killed.^[118]
• October 31 – Mahathir Mohamad steps down as Prime Minister of Malaysia after 22 years in power. He is succeeded by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.^[119]

• November 12 – A suicide bombing at an Italian military police headquarters in Nasiriyah, Iraq, kills 17 Italian military police officers and nine Iraqi civilians.^[120]
• November 14 – The dwarf planet Sedna is discovered by a team of astronomers led by Michael E. Brown from the Palomar Observatory.^[121]
• November 22 – England became the first team from the northern hemisphere to lift the Rugby World Cup after beating Australia 20–17.
• November 23
  • Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze resigns after widespread protests engulf the country following a disputed parliamentary election.^[122]
  • A ceasefire takes place at the Line of Control in Kashmir.^[7]: 95
• November 26 – The supersonic passenger jet, Concorde, makes its last ever flight from Heathrow Airport in London to Bristol Filton Airport.^[123][124]

• December 5 – 2003 Stavropol train bombing: A suicide bomber attacks a train in Stavropol Krai, killing 46 people.^[125]
• December 12 – Paul Martin becomes the 21st Prime Minister of Canada.^[126]
• December 13 – Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, is captured in the small town of Ad-Dawr by the U.S. Army.^[127]
• December 19
  • Libya agrees to eliminate all of its materials, equipment, and programs aimed at producing weapons of mass destruction.^[128]
  • The Beagle 2 Mars lander deploys, but contact is lost.^[129]
• December 23
  • The World Tourism Organization becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.^[130]
  • PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, Guoqiao, Kai County, Chongqing, China, killing at least 234.^[131]
• December 26 – The 6.6 M_w  Bam earthquake shakes Iran, killing approximately 50,000 people.^[19]
• December 29 – The last known speaker of the Akkala Sámi language dies, rendering it extinct.^[132]
• December 29 – A world-record ground-level UV index of 43.3 is detected at Bolivia's Licancabur volcano.

• Chemistry – Peter Agre, Roderick MacKinnon
• Literature – J. M. Coetzee
• Peace – Shirin Ebadi
• Physics – Alexei Abrikosov, Vitaly Ginzburg, Sir Anthony James Leggett
• Physiology or Medicine – Paul Lauterbur, Sir Peter Mansfield

• anti-cultural
• baby bump
• Big Rip
• binge-watch
• botnet
• darmstadtium
• electronic cigarette
• flash mob
• iraimbilanja
• manscaping
• MERS
• muffin top
• netroots
• SARS
• unfriend^[133]

• Media related to 2003 at Wikimedia Commons
• 2003 Year in Review – comprehensive listing of 2003 reviews and lists
• 2003 Year-End Google Zeitgeist – Google's Yearly List of Major Events and Top Searches for 2003