Youtube Playlist (click top right icon for songtitles)
January
- January 22
- The last signal from NASA’s Pioneer 10 spacecraft is received, some 12.2 billion kilometers (7.6 billion mi) from Earth.
- A 7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes the state of Colima in southwestern Mexico, killing at least 29.
February
- 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.
- February 4 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is renamed to “Serbia and Montenegro” (after its 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 any sovereign state.
- 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.
- 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.
- February 18 – An arsonist sets fire to a subway train in Daegu, South Korea, killing 192 people.
- February 26 – The War in Darfur begins after rebel groups rise up against the Sudanese government.
- 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.
March
- March 8 – Malta approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
- March 12
- Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić is assassinated in Belgrade by a sniper.
- 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.
- March 20 – The Iraq War begins with the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and allied forces.
- March 23 – Slovenia approves joining the European Union and NATO in a referendum.
April
- April 9 – U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the rule of Saddam Hussein.
- April 12 – Hungary approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
- April 14 – The Human Genome Project is completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy.
- April 16 – The Treaty of Accession 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 27 – Nicanor Duarte Frutos is elected president over Julio César Franco in the 2003 Paraguayan general election.
- 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.
May
- May 4 – The amusement park Cedar Point opens Top Thrill Dragster, which is the first roller coaster in the world to surpass 400 feet in height, and until the opening of Kingda Ka, is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world.
- May 11
- Benvenuto Cellini’s Cellini Salt Cellar table sculpture is stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
- Lithuania approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
- May 12 – In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, over 30 people are killed in multiple bombings at a housing compound, mostly foreign expatriates.
- May 17 – Slovakia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
- May 21 – Algeria The 6.8 Mw Boumerdès earthquake shakes the suburb of the Algerian capital Algiers with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Violent), killing an estimated 2,266 people.
- May 23 – Dewey, the first deer cloned by scientists at Texas A&M University, is born.
- 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“.
- May 28 – Prometea, the world’s first cloned horse, is born.
June
- June 8 – Poland approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
- June 14 – The Czech Republic approves joining the European Union in a referendum.[
- June 21 – Declaration of Thessaloniki: The European Union encourages accession of states of the western Balkans.
- 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.
July
- July 1 – Tesla Inc., the American electric car company, is founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in San Carlos, California.
- July 2 – The International Olympic Committee awards Vancouver the right to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.
- July 5 – Severe acute respiratory syndrome is declared to be contained by the World Health Organization.
- 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.
- Dennis Schmitt discovers the island of 83-42, a candidate for being the northernmost point of land.
- July 14 – Robert Novak identifies Valerie Plame as a covert CIA agent, initiating a scandal known as the Plame affair.
- July 18 – The Convention on the Future of Europe finishes its work and proposes the first European Constitution.
- July 24 – The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, led by Australia, begins after ethnic violence engulfs the island country.
August
- August 5 – A car bomb explodes at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 12 people and injuring 150.
- August 11
- The Second Liberian Civil War comes to an end after President Charles Taylor resigns and flees the country.
- NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history
- August 14 – The Northeast blackout of 2003 cuts electricity to the northeastern United States and parts of Canada.
- August 18 – One-year-old Zachary Turner is murdered by his mother in Conception Bay South, Canada. She had controversially been bailed and granted custody of the toddler despite facing extradition and trial for the murder of Zachary’s father. The case inspired the movie Dear Zachary and prompted a change in Canadian law.
- 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, and over 100 are injured.
- August 25
- The Spitzer Space Telescope is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- 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.
- August 27
- Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in over 60,000 years.
- 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.
September
- September 12 – Typhoon Maemi, the strongest recorded typhoon to strike South Korea, made landfall near Busan.
- September 14 – Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
- September 15 – ELN rebels kidnap eight foreign tourists at Ciudad Perdida, Colombia, being freed 100 days later following negotiations with the Colombian government.[52]
- September 20 – Latvia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
- September 24 – The Hubble Space Telescope starts the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, making 800 exposures, until January 16, 2004.
- September 27 – SMART-1, an ESA spaceprobe and ESA’s first mission to the moon, is launched from Kourou, French Guiana.
- September 29 – Hurricane Juan makes landfall in Halifax. Causing over $265 million (2003 CAD) in damage.
October
- October 1 – The popular and controversial English-language imageboard 4chan is launched.
- 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.
- October 15 – China launches Shenzhou 5, their first human spaceflight.
- October 24 – Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic travel to an end.
- October 25 – The Florida Marlins win the World Series for the second time after defeating the New York Yankees by four games to two.
November
- November 12 – A suicide bombing at an Italian military police headquarters in Nasiriyah, Iraq, kills 17 Italian military police officers and nine Iraqi civilians.[60]
- November 23 – Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze resigns after widespread protests engulf the country following a disputed parliamentary election.[61]
- November 26 – The supersonic passenger jet, Concorde, makes its last ever flight from Heathrow Airport in London to Bristol Filton Airport.[62][63]
December
- December 13 – Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, is captured in the small town of Ad-Dawr by the U.S. Army.
- December 19 – Libya agrees to eliminate all of its materials, equipment, and programs aimed at producing weapons of mass destruction.
- December 23
- The World Tourism Organization becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.
- PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, Guoqiao, Kai County, Chongqing, China, killing at least 234.
- December 26 – The 6.6 Mw Bam earthquake shakes southeastern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing an estimated 30,000 people.
- December 29 – The last known speaker of the Akkala Sámi language dies, rendering it extinct.
Full date unknown
- Green Tomato Limited, mobile application service is founded in Hong Kong.
- Helpline Telecoms Nigeria Limited is founded.