WHAT ALL HAPPENED JULY TO SEPTEMBER 2003
Find out what all happened July to September 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)

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

In a referendum, Estonia approves joining the European Union. (14. September 2003)

Anna Lindh, the foreign minister of Sweden, is fatally stabbed while shopping, and dies the following day. (10. September 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)

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)

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)

Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada. (14. August 2003)

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

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)

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

Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant. (27. August 2003)

Maldives civil unrest: the death of prisoner Hassan Evan Naseem sparks a day of rioting in Malé. (20. September 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)

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

Iraq War: In Fallujah, U.S. forces mistakenly shoot and kill eight Iraqi police officers. (12. September 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)

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