WHAT ALL HAPPENED MAY TO DECEMBER 2003
Find out what all happened May to December 2003

Shanghai Transrapid sets a new world speed record (501 kilometres per hour (311 mph)) for commercial railway systems, which remains the fastest for unmodified commercial rail vehicles. (12. November 2003)

In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line. (30. July 2003)

The United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. (12. September 2003)

The first day of the 2003 Istanbul bombings, in which two car bombs, targeting two synagogues, explode, killing 25 people and wounding about 300. Additional bombings follow on November 20. (15. November 2003)

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules 4 to 3 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gives the state legislature 180 days to change the law making Massachusetts the first state in the United States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples. (18. November 2003)

Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II. (19. October 2003)

Michael Schumacher wins his 6th Formula One Drivers' championship at the 2003 Japanese Grand Prix to beat the 48 year old record held by Juan Manuel Fangio (12. October 2003)

French DGSE personnel abort an operation to rescue Íngrid Betancourt from FARC rebels in Colombia, causing a political scandal when details are leaked to the press. (13. July 2003)

Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: 21 Israelis, Jews and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded. (4. October 2003)

Iraq War: Operation Red Dawn – Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit. (13. December 2003)

NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history. (11. August 2003)

A car-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees. (19. August 2003)

A magnitude-8.0 earthquake strikes just offshore Hokkaidō, Japan. (25. September 2003)

The People's Republic of China begins filling the reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam. (1. June 2003)

Iraq war: In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base. (12. November 2003)

Over 500,000 people protested against efforts to pass anti-sedition legislation in Hong Kong. (1. July 2003)

2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended". (1. May 2003)

Galileo mission is terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes. (21. September 2003)

The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, kill 26 people. (12. May 2003)

The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. (10. June 2003)