2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and also:

• The International Year of Freshwater
• The European Disability Year

Events

January

• January 1 -
  • Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of Brazil.
  • Pascal Couchepin becomes President of the Confederation in Switzerland.
• January 8 - US Airways flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina killing all 21 people aboard.
• January 15 - The United States Supreme Court hands down its decision in Eldred v. Ashcroft allowing the extension of copyright terms in the U.S.
• January 24 - The new United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
• January 25 -
  • Central Line train crashes into the tunnel wall at Chancery Lane station in London, injuring 34 people.
  • An international group of volunteers left London and headed for Baghdad to act as voluntary human shields, hoping to avert a U.S. invasion.
• January 30 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The leaders of Britain, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Denmark, and the Czech Republic release a statement, the letter of the eight, demonstrating support for the United States' plans for an invasion of Iraq.

February

• February 1 -
  • The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry, killing all seven astronauts onboard.
  • In Northern Ireland, The Protestant UDA Belfast leader John Gregg is killed by a loyalist faction.
• February 5 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addresses the UN Security Council on Iraq.
• February 9 - Cricket World Cup begins in South Africa.
• February 15 - Global protests against war on Iraq - more than six million people protest in over 600 cities worldwide, the largest war protest to take place before the war occurred.
• February 26 - An American businessman is admitted to the Vietnam France Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. WHO doctor Carlo Urbani reports the unusual highly contagious disease to WHO. Both the businessman and Carlo Urbani die of SARS in March.

March

• March 1
  • Iraq disarmament crisis: The United Arab Emirates calls for Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to step down to avoid war. The sentiment is later echoed by Bahrain and Kuwait
  • The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the United States Customs Service, and the United States Secret Service moves to the United States Department of Homeland Security
  • Boxer Roy Jones Jr. beats John Ruiz to become WBA champion
  • War on Terrorism: Authorities in Pakistan capture Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks along with money man Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi.
  • Ohio celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
• March 5 - The Supreme Court of the United States by a 5-4 margin upholds California's "three strikes and you're out" law.
• March 11 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi fighters threaten two U.S. U-2 surveillance planes, flying missions for U.N. weapons inspectors, forcing them to abort their mission and return to base.
• March 12
  • Zoran Djindjic assassinated in Belgrade
  • WHO issues a global alert on SARS.
  • Iraq disarmament crisis: British prime minister Tony Blair proposes an amendment to the possible 18th U.N. resolution, which would call for Iraq to meet certain benchmarks to prove that it was disarming. The amendment is immediately rejected by France, who promises to veto any new resolution.
• 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 16
  • Iraq disarmament crisis: The leaders of the United States, Britain, Portugal, and Spain meet at a summit in the Azores Islands. U.S. President Bush calls Monday, March 17th, the "moment of Truth", meaning that the "coalition of the willing" would make its final effort to extract a resolution from the U.N. Security Council that would give Iraq an ultimatum to disarm immediately or to be disarmed by force.

• March 17 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush gives an ultimatum: Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his sons must either leave Iraq, or face military action at a time of the U.S.'s choosing
• March 19 - First American bombs dropped on Baghdad, Iraq. President Saddam Hussein and his sons do not comply with President Bush's 48 hour mandate demanding their exit from Iraq.
• March 20 - 2003 Iraq war: Land troops from United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invade Iraq.
• March 22 - The United States and the United Kingdom begin their shock and awe campaign with a massive air strike on military targets in Baghdad.
• March 23 - Cricket World Cup ends as Australia wins over India in Centurion, South Africa.
• March 29 - WHO doctor Carlo Urbani, who first identified SARS, dies of the disease.

April

• April 3 - Passenger bus hits remote-controlled land mine in the Chechen capital, killing at least 8.
• April 9 - U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, apparently ending the regime of Saddam Hussein.
• April 17 - The Stevens Report concludes that members of the RUC and British Army cooperated with the UDA against Catholics in Northern Ireland
• April 21 - Retired U.S. Army General Jay Garner becomes Interim Civil Administrator of Iraq.

May

• May 1 - George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in a Lockheed S-3 Viking, where he gave a speech announcing end of major combat in the Iraq war.
• May 12 - Suicide truck-bomb attack kills at least 60 at a government compound in northern Chechnya.
• May 14 - Female suicide bomber blows up explosives strapped to her waist in crowd of thousands of Muslim pilgrims, killing at least 18 people in Chechnya.
• May 19 - Pen Hadow becomes the first man to walk alone, without any outside help, from Canada to the North Pole
• May 23 - The birth of Dewey, the first cloned deer by scientists at Texas A&M University
• May 26 - A draft of the proposed European constitution is unveiled.
• May 28 - The birth of Prometea, the first cloned horse by scientists Italian scientists.
• May 31 - Eric Rudolph, the suspected person to have carried out the Centennial Olympic Park bombing is captured in North Carolina behind a Save-A-Lot store.

June

• June 1 - 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 meters.
• June 4 - Martha Stewart and her broker are indicted for using privileged investment information and then obstructing a federal investigation. Stewart also resigned as chairperson and chief executive officer of Martha Stewart Living.
• June 5 - Female suicide bomber detonates 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 people.
• June 15 - 2003 NBA Finals end. The San Antonio Spurs defeat the New Jersey Nets, 4 games to 2.
• June 22 - The largest hailstone ever recorded falls in Aurora, Nebraska, USA.
• June 23 - U.S. Supreme Court upholds affirmative action in university admissions in Grutter v. Bollinger
• June 26 - U.S. Supreme Court rules sodomy laws unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas

July

• July 1 - 500,000 Hong Kong people march to protest Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, which redefined treason controversially.
• July 2 - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is declared the Host City for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010.
• July 5
  • SARS is declared to be contained by WHO.
  • Double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert kills the female attackers and 15 other people.
• July 6 - Residents of Corsica reject a referendum for increased autonomy for the region from France by a very narrow margin.
• July 7 - Canon Jeffrey John, first would-be gay bishop in the Church of England, withdraws his acceptance of the post of The Bishop of Reading after discussions with the church leaders
• July 10 - 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 18 Convention on the Future of Europe finishes its work and proposes the first European constitution
  • The body of Dr. David Kelly's, a scientist at the Ministry of Defence, is found a few miles from his home, leading to the Hutton inquiry
• 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, lead by Australia, begins in the Solomon Islands
• July 30 - The last old-style Volkswagen Beetle rolls off its production line in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.

August

• August 1 - Suicide bomber rams 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 11
  • NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
  • Jemaah Islamiah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
• August 14
  • Widespread power outage affects northeast United States and Canada.
  • 6.4 Richter scale earthquake near the Greek Ionian island of Lefkada - 24 injured
• August 25 - 52 killed in two bomb blasts in Mumbai, India.
• August 27 - Perigee of Mars

September

• September 5 - Roller coaster accident at Disneyland injures 10 and kills one.
• September 10 - Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh is stabbed in a Stockholm department store and dies the next day.
• September 14
  • Sweden rejects adopting the Euro in a referendum. (Results.)
  • Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
• September 15 - ELN kidnaps 8 foreign tourists in the Ciudad Perdida - they demand a human rights investigation and release last of the hostages three months later
• September 16 - Two suicide bombers drive a truck laden with explosives into a government security services building near Chechnya, killing three people and injuring 25.
• September 27 - Smart 1 is launched.
• September 28 - a power failure affected all of Italy except Sardinia, cutting service to more than 56 million people.

October

• October 7 - 2003 California recall: Voters recall Governor Gray Davis from office and elect Arnold Schwarzenegger to succeed him.
• October 15 - China launches Shenzhou 5, their first manned space mission.
• October 18 - 2003 World Series stars Florida Marlins vs. New York Yankees.
• October 23 - Luis A. Ferre, the third Democratically Elected Governor of Puerto Rico, dies at age 99.
• October 24 - Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic travel to a close, at least for the time being.
• October 25
  • 2003 World Series ends Florida Marlins def New York Yankees 4 games to 2.
  • Cedar Fire begins in San Diego County burning 280,000 acres (1,100 km˛), 2,232 homes and killing 14
• 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 murders of 48 women
• November 9 - Lunar eclipse (the Americas, Europe, Africa, 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 two synagogues, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 300; Al-Qaida claims responsibility.
• November 18
  • US President George W. Bush makes a state visit to London in the midst of massive protests.
  • Goodridge et al. v. Department of Public Health rules anti-same-sex marriage laws unconstitutional in Massachusetts
• November 20
  • Several bombs explode in Istanbul, Turkey destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Holdings and the British consulate.
  • Michael Jackson is arrested by police on charges of child molestation, a charge that can carr