WHAT ALL HAPPENED JULY TO AUGUST 2003
Find out what all happened July to August 2003

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

Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. (11. August 2003)

The highest temperature ever recorded in the United Kingdom – 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in Kent, England. It is the first time the United Kingdom has recorded a temperature over 100 °F (38 °C). (10. August 2003)

A Neoplan bus, owned by Kowloon Motor Bus, collides with a truck, falls off a bridge on Tuen Mun Road, Hong Kong, and plunges into the underlying valley, killing 21 people. This is the deadliest traffic accident to date in Hong Kong. (10. July 2003)

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 as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program. (27. August 2003)

An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt. (28. August 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)

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)

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

The 70-metre Eupatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message (Cosmic Call 2) to 5 stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri (HD 75732), HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris (HD 95128). The messages will arrive to these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044 and 2049 respectively. (6. July 2003)

Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, is assassinated in a terrorist bombing, along with nearly 100 worshippers as they leave a mosque in Najaf. (29. August 2003)

While being towed across the Barents Sea, the de-commissioned Russian submarine K-159 sinks, taking 9 of her crew and 800 kg of spent nuclear fuel with her. (30. August 2003)

Members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attack a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay's 14-year old son, and a bodyguard. (22. July 2003)

Delta Goodrem diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. (8. July 2003)

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building. (22. August 2003)

A Hamas planned suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem, Israel kills 23 Israelis, seven of them children, in the Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing. (19. August 2003)

The Tli Cho land claims agreement is signed between the Dogrib First Nations and the Canadian federal government in Rae-Edzo (now called Behchoko). (25. August 2003)

In an effort to discredit U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, who had written an article critical of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Washington Post columnist Robert Novak reveals that Wilson's wife Valerie Plame is a CIA "operative". (14. July 2003)

NASA Opportunity rover, MER-B or Mars Exploration Rover – B, was launched into space aboard a Delta II rocket. (7. July 2003)

AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day (15. July 2003)