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Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century; 21st century ; 22nd century;
Decades:	1980s; 1990s; 2000s ; 2010s; 2020s;
Years:	2000; 2001; 2002; 2003 ; 2004; 2005; 2006;
	v; t; e;

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2003 (MMIII) is the current year, and is 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.

Months: January - February - March - April

See also:

The International Year of Freshwater

Events

January 1 - Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of the Federative Republic of Brazil for the period (2003-2007)
January 1 - Pascal Couchepin becomes President of Switzerland
January 10 Angolan Christian rebel leader and founder of UNITA, Dr. Jonas Mahleiro Savimbi is assassinated by government forces.
January 21 - Convicted hacker Kevin Mitnick is finally allowed to use a computer again.
January 24 - The new United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
January - Iraq disarmament crisis: Facing worldwide criticism, a statement is released by the leaders of Britain, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Denmark and the Czech Republic showing support for the U.S.'s position on Iraq, saying that Saddam Hussein should not be allowed to violate U.N. resolutions.
February 1 - Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry killing all seven astronauts onboard.
February 5 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addresses the U.N. Security Council on Iraq.
February 15 - Global protests against war on Iraq - more than six million people protest in over 600 cities worldwide, one of the largest protests in history.
February 23 - New York City is the site of the Grammy Awards of 2003 with Nickelback, No Doubt, Foo Fighters, Britney Spears and some other bands and performers.
February 26 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush talks publicly about his vision of a post-invasion democracy in Iraq. Bush says it will be "an example" to other nations in Arabia.
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 Kuwait.
March 2 - 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.
March 2 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Bahrain becomes the third Arab country to call for Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to step down.
March 5 - The U.S. Supreme Court by a 5-4 margin upholds California's "three strikes and you're out" law.
March 6 - U.S. President George W. Bush holds a live, televised press conference on the latest developments in the War on Terrorism, the situation with North Korea and the disarmament standoff with Iraq.
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. Iraqi officials described the incident as a "technical mistake" by the U.N. inspectors. Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for UNMOVIC, said that Iraqi officials had been notified about the flight beforehand.
March 11 - Iraq disarmament crisis: According to Arab media, Saddam Hussein opens terrorist training camps in Iraq for Arab volunteers willing to carry out suicide bombings against U.S. forces, if a U.S. led attack takes place.
March 12 - Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated.
March 12 - 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 14 - U.S. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. stepped down as a regional Whip for the House Democrats for making what he called "insensitive" remarks about Jews pushing the nation into war with Iraq. At a March 3 anti-war rally in Reston, Virginia, Moran said, "If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this."
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 16 - Largest co-ordinated worldwide vigil, as part of the global protests against war on Iraq.
March 17 - U.S. President George W. Bush gives ultimatum to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his sons to either leave Iraq or face military action.
March 15 - Hu Jintao is elected president of the People's Republic of China, replacing Jiang Zemin.
March 19 - Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.) gives a speech in the Senate, saying "I weep for my country" as America discards its image of a strong, benevolent peacekeeper.
March 20 - 2003 Iraq war: Land troops from United States and 3 other countries invade Iraq, preceded by a surgical air strike on the suspected bunker of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.
March 22 - The United States begins its shock and awe campaign with a massive air strike on military targets in Baghdad.
April 9 - US forces sieze control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussien.
April 21 - Retired US General Jay Garner becomes Interim Civil Administrator of Iraq.

Predicted Events

May 24 - Eurovision song contest in Riga, Latvia
May 31 - Annular solar eclipse (Northern Scotland, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland with partial eclipse covering much of Europe and Russia)
June - first national elections in Afghanistan
June 9 through June 15, US Open (golf) at Olympia Fields CC in Illinois
June 20 through June 29, Special Olympics World Summer Games, Dublin, Ireland
November 23 - Total solar eclipse (Antarctica)
December 17 - Wright brothers first flight Centennial

years in topic

2003 in film
- Expected blockbuster movies predicted for the year include the second and third Matrix movies: The Matrix Reloaded in summer and The Matrix Revolutions in the fall. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is scheduled to be released in December.
2003 in literature
- publication of The Tailgating Spinster by Daniel C. Boyer
2003 in music
- The Ataris releases So Long, Astoria
2003 in politics
2003 in sports
2003 in television

Births

Deaths

January 1 - Giorgio Gaber, Italian singer
January 5 - Roy Jenkins, British politician
January 12 - Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine dictator
January 12 - Maurice Gibb, singer and bassist in the Bee Gees
January 18 - Richard Crenna, actor
January 24 - Gianni Agnelli, Fiat president
January 26 - Valeriy Brumel, Soviet athlete
February 1 - The crew of STS-107; Michael P. Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, Rick D. Husband, Willie McCool, Ilan Ramon
February 2 - Lou Harrison, composer
February 14 - Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal
February 19 - Johnny PayCheck, 64, country music singer
February 24 - Christopher Hill, 92, historian
February 27 - Fred McFeely Rogers, 74, "Mister Rogers" of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
February 28 - Roger Michael Needham, 68, professor of cryptography at Cambridge University
March 3 - Malcolm Williamson, composer
March 8 - Adam Faith, English singer and actor
March 9 - Stan Brakhage, filmmaker
March 12 - Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia
March 12 - Ronnie Burk, 47, surrealist and AIDS activist
March 26 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, United States Senator
April 1 - Leslie Cheung, 46, Hong Kong singer/actor
April 1 - Hyosuke Kujiraoka, 87, a former vice speaker of the House of Representatives
April 2 - Edwin Starr, 61, singer
April 17 - Dr. Robert Atkins, 72, developed the Atkins Nutritional Approach
April 21 - Nina Simone, singer and pianist
May 5 - Walter Sisulu, anti-apartheid activist]]

Nobel Prizes