2003 Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council election
Elections to Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council were held on 1 May 2003. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party kept overall control of the council. Overall turnout was 20.7%.


2003 Kogi State gubernatorial election
The 2003 Kogi State gubernatorial election occurred in Nigeria on April 19, 2003. The PDP nominee Ibrahim Idris won the election, defeating Abubakar Audu of the All Nigeria Peoples Party.


2003 Kogi State gubernatorial election
Ibrahim Idris emerged PDP candidate. He picked Philips Ozovehe Salanu as his running mate. Abubakar Audu was the ANPP candidate with Patrick Adaba as his running mate.


2003 Kogi State gubernatorial election, Electoral system
The Governor of Kogi State is elected using the plurality voting system.


2003 Kogi State gubernatorial election, Primary election, PDP primary
The PDP primary election was won by Ibrahim Idris. He picked Philips Ozovehe Salanu as his running mate.


2003 Kogi State gubernatorial election, Primary election, ANPP primary
The ANPP primary election was won by Abubakar Audu. He picked Patrick Adaba as his running mate.


2003 Kogi State gubernatorial election, Results
A total number of 9 candidates registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission to contest in the election.


2003 Kogi State gubernatorial election, Results
The total number of registered voters in the state was 1,158,343. Total number of votes cast was 911,265, while number of valid votes was 878,857. Rejected votes were 32,408.


2003 Kolmonen – Finnish League Division 3
League tables for teams participating in Kolmonen, the fourth tier of the Finnish soccer league system, in 2003.


2003 Kolmonen – Finnish League Division 3, League tables 2003, Vaasa/Central Ostrobothnia Promotion Playoff Group
NB: Esse IK withdrew from Promotion Playoff and were replaced by Norrvalla FF.


2003 Kolmonen – Finnish League Division 3, League tables 2003, Division Two/Division Three Playoffs
PMP           0-3 KiffenHuima         4-2 FCVNorrvalla FF  awd KaIK [awarded 0-3 due to Norrvalla FF withdrawing]ÅIFK           2-1 MaPS


2003 Kolmonen – Finnish League Division 3, League tables 2003, Division Two/Division Three Playoffs
Kiffen        5-1 PMPMaPS          2-0 ÅIFKFCV           0-1 HuimaKaIK          n/p Norrvalla FF


2003 Kolmonen – Finnish League Division 3, League tables 2003, Division Two/Division Three Playoffs
Huima promoted, FCV relegated. Kiffen, MaPS and KaIK remain at third level.


2003 Konica V8 Supercar Series
The 2003 Konica V8 Supercar Series was an Australian motor racing competition held for V8 Supercars. It was the fourth V8 Supercar Development Series. The series began on 23 February 2003 at Wakefield Park and finished on 31 August at Mallala Motor Sport Park after sixteen races at six rounds held across three different states.


2003 Konica V8 Supercar Series
Series winner Mark Winterbottom won eight of the 16 races and four of the six rounds. The new points system placed an increased emphasis on finishing races and series runner up Matthew White scored just 58 points less than Winterbottom, despite taking only two race wins and six top three race finishes.


2003 Konica V8 Supercar Series, Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers competed in the 2003 Konica V8 Supercar Series. This was the last season that the Holden VS Commodore and Ford EL Falcon was eligible.


2003 Konica V8 Supercar Series, Points system
The series consisted of six rounds across three different states. Rounds 1 and 3–6 consisted of three races. The second race of each weekend saw the finishing order of race 1 reversed to form the grid, a 'reverse grid' race. Round 2 consisted of a single race. Points were awarded for all cars who finished each race in finishing order. Points may have been offered beyond the 29th position but at no point during the series did more than 29 cars finish a race. Round 2's single race carried three times the points of a single race elsewhere in the series. The pointscore also saw the worst round result deducted, although the worst result had to be a round the competitor had entered.


2003 Korean FA Cup
2003 Korean FA Cup, known as the Hana Bank FA Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 8th edition of the Korean FA Cup.


2003 Korean FA Cup, Results, Preliminary Round, Play-off
Play-off held between 2nd place team of Group 9 and 7th best 2nd place team among the other groups.


2003 Korean FA Cup, Results, Preliminary Final, Seed Decide Match
Winners go to Round of 32, Losers go to Second Round in Preliminary Final.


2003 Korfball World Championship
The 7th Korfball World Championship was held in the Netherlands on 2003, with the participation of 16 national teams.


2003 Kowloon City District Council election
The 2003 Kowloon City District Council election was held on 23 November 2003 to elect all 22 elected members to the 27-member District Council.


2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship
The 2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship was a women's professional golf tournament, held March 27–30 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. This was the 32nd edition of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, and the 21st edition as a major championship.


2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship
Patricia Meunier-Lebouc won her only major title, one stroke ahead of runner-up Annika Sörenstam, the two-time defending champion. Meunier-Lebouc was the leader by three strokes after 54 holes, but hit a tee shot out of bounds early in the final round, but regained the lead after a birdie at the 13th hole. Ahead by two strokes on the final hole, she played conservatively and three-putted for a bogey and the win.


2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship
The low amateur was 13-year-old Michelle Wie at even par, seven strokes back in a tie for ninth. After a 66 on Saturday to climb up to third place, she dropped back with a 76 on Sunday.


2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship
At this time, Sörenstam had won four of her ten major titles. In late May, she became the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event in 58 years. It was at the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, and she missed the cut by four strokes.


2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship, Final leaderboard
Amateurs: Michelle Wie (E), Virada Nirapathpongporn (+5), Lindsey Wright (+13).


2003 Kremlin Cup
The 2003 Kremlin Cup was a tennis tournament played on indoor carpet courts at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow in Russia that was part of the International Series of the 2003 ATP Tour and of Tier I of the 2003 WTA Tour. The tournament ran from 29 September through 5 October 2003.


2003 Kremlin Cup, Finals, Men's Doubles
Mahesh Bhupathi /  Max Mirnyi defeated  Wayne Black /  Kevin Ullyett 6–3, 7–5


2003 Kremlin Cup, Finals, Women's Doubles
Nadia Petrova /  Meghann Shaughnessy defeated  Anastasia Myskina /  Vera Zvonareva 6–3, 6–4


2003 Kremlin Cup – Men's Doubles
Roger Federer and Max Mirnyi were the defending champions but only Mirnyi competed that year with Mahesh Bhupathi.


2003 Kremlin Cup – Men's Doubles
Bhupathi and Mirnyi won in the final 6–3, 7–5 against Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett.


2003 Kremlin Cup – Men's Singles
Paul-Henri Mathieu was the defending champion but lost in the semifinals to Taylor Dent.


2003 Kremlin Cup – Men's Singles
Dent won in the final 7–6(7–5), 6–4 against Sargis Sargsian.


2003 Kremlin Cup – Women's Doubles
Defending champions Elena Dementieva and Janette Husárová did not compete together. Dementieva and Lina Krasnoroutskaya were third seed, but lost in the first round. Husárová and Patty Schnyder were unseeded; they lost in the second round to fourth seed Nadia Petrova and Meghann Shaughnessy. Petrova and Shaughnessy went on to reach the final, were they defeated the Russian wildcard team Anastasia Myskina and Vera Zvonareva (6–3, 6–4).


2003 Kremlin Cup – Women's Singles
Magdalena Maleeva was the defending champion, but lost to Dinara Safina in the first round.


2003 Kremlin Cup – Women's Singles
Anastasia Myskina won the title, defeating Amélie Mauresmo in the final 6–2, 6–4.


2003 Kremlin Cup – Women's Singles, Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated. The top four seeds received a bye to the second round.


2003 Kroger St. Jude International
The 2003 Kroger St. Jude International was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the Racquet Club of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee in the United States that was part of the International Series Gold of the 2003 ATP Tour and of Tier III of the 2003 WTA Tour. The tournament ran from February 16 through February 23, 2003.


2003 Kroger St. Jude International, Finals, Men's Doubles
Mark Knowles /  Daniel Nestor defeated  Bob Bryan /  Mike Bryan 6–2, 7–6(7–3)


2003 Kroger St. Jude International, Finals, Women's Doubles
Akiko Morigami /  Saori Obata defeated  Alina Jidkova /  Bryanne Stewart 6–1, 6–1


2003 Kroger St. Jude International – Men's Doubles
Brian MacPhie and Nenad Zimonjić were the defending champions but only MacPhie competed that year with Chris Haggard.


2003 Kroger St. Jude International – Men's Doubles
Haggard and MacPhie lost in the quarterfinals to Davide Sanguinetti and Sargis Sargsian.


2003 Kroger St. Jude International – Men's Doubles
Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor won in the final 6–2, 7–6(7–3) against Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.


2003 Kroger St. Jude International – Men's Singles
Andy Roddick was the defending champion but lost in the final 6–1, 6–4 against Taylor Dent.


2003 Kroger St. Jude International – Men's Singles, Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated.


2003 Kroger St. Jude International – Women's Doubles
Ai Sugiyama and Elena Tatarkova were the defending champions, but did not compete this year.


2003 Kroger St. Jude International – Women's Doubles
Qualifiers Akiko Morigami and Saori Obata won the title by defeating Alina Jidkova and Bryanne Stewart 6–1, 6–1 in the final.


2003 Kroger St. Jude International – Women's Singles
Lisa Raymond was the defending champion and successfully defended her title by defeating Amanda Coetzer 6–3, 6–2 in the final.


2003 Kroger St. Jude International – Women's Singles, Seeds
The top two seeds received a bye into the second round.


2003 Kuwaiti general election
General elections were held in Kuwait on 5 July 2003 to elect the 50 members of the National Assembly. As political parties are illegal in the country, all candidates stood as independents.


2003 Kuwaiti general election, Results
36 of the elected members were identified being as supporters of the government and Independents. Three as liberals and 21 as Islamists (Sunni and Shia).


2003 Kvalserien
The 2003 Kvalserien was the 29th edition of the Kvalserien. It determined two teams of the participating ones would play in the 2003–04 Elitserien season and which four teams would play in the 2003–04 Allsvenskan season.


2003 Kwai Tsing District Council election
The 2003 Kwai Tsing District Council election was held on 23 November 2003 to elect all 28 elected members to the 36-member District Council.


2003 Kwara State gubernatorial election
The 2003 Kwara State gubernatorial election occurred in Nigeria on April 19, 2003. The PDP nominee Bukola Saraki won the election, defeating Mohammed Lawal of the All Nigeria Peoples Party.


2003 Kwara State gubernatorial election
Bukola Saraki emerged PDP candidate. He picked Joen Afolabi Ogundeji as his running mate. Mohammed Lawal was the ANPP candidate with Simeon A.S. as his running mate.


2003 Kwara State gubernatorial election, Electoral system
The Governor of Kwara State is elected using the plurality voting system.


2003 Kwara State gubernatorial election, Primary election, PDP primary
The PDP primary election was won by Bukola Saraki. He picked Joen Afolabi Ogundeji as his running mate.


2003 Kwara State gubernatorial election, Primary election, ANPP primary
The ANPP primary election was won by Mohammed Lawal. He picked Simeon A.S. as his running mate.


2003 Kwara State gubernatorial election, Results
A total number of 8 candidates registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission to contest in the election.


2003 Kwara State gubernatorial election, Results
The total number of registered voters in the state was 995,882. Total number of votes cast was 628,020, while number of valid votes was 589,940. Rejected votes were 38,080.


2003 Kwun Tong District Council election
The 2003 Kwun Tong District Council election was held on 23 November 2003 to elect all 34 elected members to the 42-member District Council.


2003 Kyrgyz referendum
A double referendum was held in Kyrgyzstan on 2 February 2003. Voters were asked whether they approved of amendments to the constitution, and whether President Askar Akayev should be allowed to remain in office until 2005. Both were approved by wide margins.


2003 Kyrgyz referendum, Background
The proposed amendments to the constitution would increase the powers of the President, decrease the powers of the Supreme Council, and make several other changes to the Council, including making it unicameral and reducing the total number of seats in the two houses from 105 to 75 in a single house. They also reduced the role of the Constitutional Court, although gave it the power to oversee the constitutionality of political parties, social organisations and religious organisations.


2003 Kyrgyzstan League, Overview
It was contested by 18 teams, and Zhashtyk Ak Altyn Kara-Suu won the championship.


2003 L.League
Statistics of L. League in the 2003 season. Tasaki Perule FC won the championship.


2003 LA7
2003 LA7, also written as 2003 LA7, is a resonant trans-Neptunian object that goes around the Sun once for every four times that Neptune goes around. This means it is in a 1:4 orbital resonance with Neptune. Another example of such object in this resonance is 2011 UP411.


2003 LA7
2003 LA7 is in a 1:4 resonance with the planet Neptune. For every one orbit that a it makes, Neptune orbits 4 times.


2003 LA7
It is currently 43 AU from the Sun, and will come to perihelion around 2041.


2003 LA7
Assuming a generic TNO albedo of 0.09, it is about 231 km in diameter.


2003 LFF Lyga
Final tables of the Lithuanian Championship in 2003 are presented below. The Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) organized three football leagues: A Lyga (the highest), 1 Lyga (second-tier), and 2 Lyga (third-tier), which comprised four regional zones.


2003 LFF Lyga, LFF 2 Lyga, Final tournament
For the first time a one-round tournament was organized between the winners of each zone.


2003 LG Cup (Iran)
The LG Cup Four Nations is an exhibition association football tournament that took place in Iran.


2003 LG Cup (Nigeria)
The LG Cup Four Nations is an exhibition association football tournament that took place in Nigeria.


2003 LG Cup (Nigeria), Results, Third place match
Iran waited for 35 minutes on the pitch, while Ghana did not show up at all, apparently demanding prize money for the fourth place finishers (uncommon in LG tournaments). Eventually Iran left, without obtaining any information from the Nigerian 'organisers'. One day later, the Nigerian FA awarded Ghana third place (and the relevant prize money) because Iran had left the pitch (sic!). Iran have understandably protested.


2003 LG Cup (snooker)
The 2003 LG Cup was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 4 and 12 October 2003 at the Guild Hall in Preston, England.


2003 LG Cup (snooker)
Mark Williams won the 15th ranking title of his career by defeating John Higgins 9–5 in the final. In the 11th frame of the final, Higgins made his 3rd maximum in professional competition.


2003 LG Cup (snooker)
Chris Small came into the tournament as defending champion, however he lost 5–3 to John Parrott in the quarter-finals.


2003 LG Cup (snooker), Tournament summary
Defending champion Chris Small was the number 1 seed with World Champion Mark Williams seeded 2. The remaining places were allocated to players based on the world rankings.


2003 LG Cup (snooker), Qualifying
Qualifying for the tournament took place between 4 and 18 September 2003 at Pontin's in Prestatyn, Wales.


2003 LNBP season
The 2003 LNBP was the 4th season of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional, one of the professional basketball leagues of Mexico. It started on July 29, 2003 and ended on December 13, 2003. The league title was won by Panteras de Aguascalientes, which defeated La Ola Roja del Distrito Federal in the championship series, 4–2.


2003 LNBP season, Format
16 teams participate. The first 8 teams in the regular season standings qualify for the playoffs. The playoffs have quarterfinals (best-of-5), semifinals (best-of-7) and finals (best-of-7).


2003 LNBP season, Playoffs
The playoffs were played between November 18 and December 13, 2003.


2003 LNBP season, All-Star Game
In 2003, two All-Star Games were played. The first game was played in Fresnillo on September 21 and was won by the Foreigners team, 134–112. The second game was played in Matamoros and saw the Foreigners win, 117–90.


2003 LPGA Championship
The 2003 LPGA Championship was the 49th LPGA Championship, played June 5–8 at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware.


2003 LPGA Championship
Annika Sörenstam won in a playoff over Grace Park with a par on the first sudden death hole. It was the first of three consecutive LPGA Championships for Sorenstam and the fifth of her ten major titles.


2003 LPGA Championship
Two weeks earlier, Sörenstam played in a PGA Tour event, the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas.


2003 LPGA Championship
The DuPont Country Club hosted this championship for eleven consecutive seasons, from 1994 through 2004.


2003 LPGA Championship, Final leaderboard, Playoff
The sudden-death playoff began on the par-4 18th hole, where Park missed the green, chipped from the heavy rough to 12 feet (4 m) but failed to save par. Sörenstam had a 20-foot (6 m) for birdie, then tapped in for par to win.


2003 LPGA Tour
The 2003 LPGA Tour was the 54th season since the LPGA Tour officially began in 1950. The season ran from March 13 to November 23. The season consisted of 31 official money events. Annika Sörenstam won the most tournaments, six. She also led the money list with earnings of $2,029,506, becoming the first player to earn over $2,000,000 in a season.


2003 LPGA Tour
There were five first-time winners in 2003: Shi Hyun Ahn, Hee-Won Han, Candie Kung, Hilary Lunke, and Angela Stanford. Lunke's was most notable, as she won the U.S. Women's Open after enduring local and section qualifying for what would become her only LPGA Tour victory.


2003 LPGA Tour
The tournament results, leaders, and award winners are listed below.


2003 LPGA Tour, Tournament results
The following table shows all the official money events for the 2003 season. "Date" is the ending date of the tournament. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event. Majors are shown in bold.


2003 LSU Tigers football team
The 2003 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University (LSU) during the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. Coached by Nick Saban, the LSU Tigers played their home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Tigers compiled an 11–1 regular season record and then defeated the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship Game,  Afterward, LSU was invited to play the Oklahoma Sooners in the Sugar Bowl for the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) national title. LSU won the BCS National Championship Game, the first national football championship for LSU since 1958.


2003 LSU Tigers football team
The 2003 college football regular season ended with three one-loss teams in BCS contention: the LSU Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, and USC Trojans. USC ended the regular season ranked No. 1 and LSU No. 2 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll. Media controversy ensued when the BCS computer-based selection system chose LSU and Oklahoma as the participants in the BCS title game, largely based on an assessment of the relative difficulty of the three teams' 2003 schedules.


2003 LSU Tigers football team
During the bowl games, LSU beat No. 3 Oklahoma 21–14 in the Sugar Bowl (designated as the BCS National Championship Game for the 2003–04 season), while USC defeated the No. 4 Michigan Wolverines 28–14 in the Rose Bowl. LSU was ranked No. 1 in the final Coaches' Poll, and USC remained No. 1 in the final AP Poll.


2003 LSU Tigers football team, Game summaries, Western Illinois
Western Illinois was ranked No. 1 in I-AA and played the Tigers close, only down 13-7 in the 3rd quarter. The Tigers had fumbled twice in the red zone, missed an extra point and a field goal and botched a punt. QB Matt Mauck had a career game to extend the lead in the second half. He set career highs with 305 yards passing and four touchdowns, giving LSU its first 3-0 start in five years.


2003 La Flèche Wallonne
The 2003 La Flèche Wallonne was the 67th edition of La Flèche Wallonne cycle race and was held on 23 April 2003. The race started in Charleroi and finished in Huy. The race was won by Igor Astarloa of the Saeco team.


2003 Ladies European Tour
The 2003 Ladies European Tour was a series of golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world which took place from January through December 2003. The tournaments were sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET).


2003 Ladies European Tour, Tournaments
The table below shows the 2003 schedule. The numbers in brackets after the winners' names show the number of career wins they had on the Ladies European Tour up to and including that event. This is only shown for members of the tour.


2003 Lafayette Leopards football team
The 2003 Lafayette Leopards football team represented Lafayette College in the 2003 NCAA Division I-AA football season. The team was led by Frank Tavani, in his fourth season as head coach. The Leopards finished sixth out of eight in the Patriot League.


2003 Lafayette Leopards football team
The Leopards played their home games at Fisher Field in Easton, Pennsylvania. All games were televised on Leopard Sports Network (LSN).


2003 Lagos State gubernatorial election
The 2003 Lagos State gubernatorial election occurred on April 19, 2003. Incumbent Governor AD's Bola Tinubu won election for a second term, defeating PDP's Funsho Williams and four other candidates.


2003 Lagos State gubernatorial election
Bola Tinubu emerged unopposed in the AD gubernatorial primary after all the aspirants stepped down. He had Femi Pedro as his running mate.


2003 Lagos State gubernatorial election, Electoral system
The Governor of Lagos State is elected using the plurality voting system.


2003 Lagos State gubernatorial election, Results
A total of six candidates registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission to contest in the election. AD Governor Bola Tinubu won re-election for a second term, defeating PDP's Funsho Williams and four minor party candidates.


2003 Lagos State gubernatorial election, Results
The total number of registered voters in the state was 4,558,216.


2003 Lancaster City Council election
Elections to Lancaster City Council took place on 3 May 2003. The whole council was up for election and it remained in No Overall Control.


2003 Lancaster City Council election
Following the election, the composition of the council was as follows:


2003 Langerado Music Festival
The first Langerado was held as a single day festival and took place at Stadium Festival Fair Grounds, Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The show was held on March 8, 2003 and included three stages and fifteen bands. Approximately 3,500 fans were in attendance for the show.


2003 Langerado Music Festival, Lineup
The artists that attended the festival included moe., Medeski Martin & Wood, G. Love & Special Sauce, MOFRO, Charlie Hunter Trio, the Codetalkers feat. Col. Bruce Hampton, Reverend Jeff Mosier's Ear Reverents, raq, Moonshine Still, Perpetual Groove, Hashbrown, Almost Acoustic Band, Swayback, Kynda and DJ Le Spam.


2003 Lao League, Overview
MCTPC FC (Ministry of Communication, Transportation, Post and Construction), described in the source as Telecom and Transportation, won the championship.


2003 Las Vegas Bowl
The 2003 Las Vegas Bowl was the 12th edition of the annual college football bowl game. It featured the Oregon State Beavers and the New Mexico Lobos. Oregon State's 55 points scored remains a Las Vegas Bowl record. Their 41-point victory margin is also a record.


2003 Las Vegas Bowl, Game summary
Oregon State scored first after Derek Anderson threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to running back Steven Jackson to take a 7–0 lead. Both of those players went on the become notable in the NFL. Kirk Yliniemi's 21-yard field goal increased OSU's advantage to 10–0. New Mexico's quarterback Casey Kelly threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Hank Baskett to cut the margin to 10–7. Derek Anderson threw his second touchdown pass of the quarter to wide receiver Mike Hass, a 42-yarder to take a 17–7 lead at the end of one quarter of play.


2003 Las Vegas Bowl, Game summary
Steven Jackson provided the offense in the second quarter, scoring on touchdown runs of 3 and 11 yards, to increase Oregon State's lead to 31–7 at the half. Steven Jackson's third touchdown run of the game came in the third quarter, making it 38–7 OSU. Kirk Ylinmiemi added a 31-yard field goal in the third quarter, and Oregon State led 41–7 with one quarter remaining.


2003 Las Vegas Bowl, Game summary
In the fourth quarter, Steven Jackson scored his fifth touchdown of the game, a 1-yard run to stretch OSU's lead to 48–7. Backup quarterback Kole McKamey threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Dwight Counter to pull New Mexico to within 48–14. By then the game was already over, and backup quarterback Adam Rothenfluh threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Josh Hawkins to make the final margin 55–14. Oregon State finished with 540 yards of total offense.


2003 Las Vegas Desert Classic
The 2003 Las Vegas Desert Classic was the second major Professional Darts Corporation Las Vegas Desert Classic darts tournament. It was held in the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada in early July.


2003 Las Vegas Desert Classic
26 players competed in the tournament. Peter Manley defeated John Part 16-12 in legs in the final and won $22,000.


2003 Las Vegas Gladiators season
The 2003 Las Vegas Gladiators season was the 7th season for the franchise. Before the season started, the Gladiators moved from East Rutherford, New Jersey to Las Vegas, Nevada. They finished at 8–8, 3rd in the Eastern Division and lost in the first round of the playoffs. This was the Gladiators' only playoff appearance in Las Vegas.


2003 Las Vegas Gladiators season, Coaching
Frank Haege entered his second season as the head coach of the Gladiators.


2003 Las Vegas mayoral election
The 2003 Las Vegas mayoral election took place on April 8, 2003 to elect the mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada. The election was held concurrently with various other local elections, and was officially nonpartisan.


2003 Las Vegas mayoral election
Incumbent Mayor Oscar Goodman was reelected. With Goodman winning a majority in the initial round of the election, no runoff was needed.


2003 Latin Billboard Music Awards
The 2003 Billboard Latin Music Awards, produced and broadcast live on Telemundo, were held on Thursday, May 8, 2003. The award show aired on Telemundo at 7pm EST. The awards show was held at the Miami Arena in downtown Miami, Fl.


2003 Latin Billboard Music Awards, Performers
The following list are the 2003 Billboard Latin Music Award Winners


2003 Latvian European Union membership referendum
A referendum on European Union membership was held in Latvia on 20 September 2003. Latvia was the last of the states which would join the EU in 2004 to hold a referendum on the issue. Just over two-thirds of voters voted Yes and Latvia joined the EU on 1 May 2004.


2003 Latvian European Union membership referendum, Background
Latvia was invited to begin negotiations to join the EU in 1999 and was formally invited to join at a summit in Copenhagen in December 2002. On 27 December 2002 the Latvian government decided to hold a referendum on 20 September 2003 on joining the EU. In May 2003 the Parliament of Latvia amended the Constitution of Latvia to allow referendums on international matters. Campaigning began on 5 May 2003.


2003 Latvian European Union membership referendum, Referendum question
Do you support the membership of Latvia in the European Union?


2003 Latvian European Union membership referendum, Campaign
Latvia was seen as being one of the more skeptical countries on joining the European Union, but polls in the years before the referendum consistently showed an advantage for supporters of EU accession. Only one opinion poll in February 2002 showed opponents of membership in the lead. Support for membership rose during the campaign with over 50% expected to support membership as the referendum neared.


2003 Latvian European Union membership referendum, Campaign
Supporters of joining the EU included the coalition government and the business community. They argued that this would give access to EU markets and development aid. They also stressed that membership would provide protection from pressure from Russia. In the last few weeks the Yes campaign launched an advertising campaign with the slogan "Don’t stay aside!”


2003 Latvian European Union membership referendum, Campaign
The No campaign argued that Latvia should not surrender the sovereignty they had recently gained from the Soviet Union. They also suggested that Latvia would suffer economically as the poorest of the candidate countries. Generally opposition was higher among ethnic Russians and in the poorest regions of Latvia.


2003 Latvian European Union membership referendum, Results
The results saw the highest turnout of any of the Eastern European countries holding referendums in 2003 and well above the 35% required in order to make the referendum binding. The Yes vote was ahead in 30 of the 34 electoral districts with the highest Yes vote among Latvians abroad with over 90% supporting membership. The highest No vote was in the poorer east of Latvia, especially where there were significant numbers of ethnic Russians.


2003 Latvian European Union membership referendum, Reactions
The Prime Minister of Latvia, Einars Repše, celebrated the result with 2,000 young people in Riga. He put a blue EU t-shirt on and said that "Latvians understand this is a decisive moment!" The President of Latvia, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, described the result as "wiping out forever the divisions on the map of Europe that the odious Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 placed here."


2003 Latvian Higher League
The 2003 season in the Latvian Higher League, named Virslīga, was the thirteenth domestic competition since the Baltic nation gained independence from the Soviet Union on 6 September 1991. Eight teams competed in this edition, with Skonto FC claiming the title.


2003 Latvian presidential election
Indirect presidential elections were held in Latvia on 20 June 2003. The incumbent, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, was re-elected by the Saeima to serve a second four-year term with an overwhelming majority.


2003 Latvian presidential election, Election process and results
The 2003 presidential election is currently (as of 2019) the only election after the restoration of the independence of Latvia with only a single candidate fielded. Votes were cast by secret ballot, with each MP entering the voting room one by one. Vīķe-Freiberga received the necessary number of votes in the first round, receiving 88 votes, becoming the third president to be re-elected after Jānis Čakste and Guntis Ulmanis and having received the 2nd highest number of votes in the election since Čakste in the 1922 elections.


2003 Latvian presidential election, Election process and results
All members of parliament from the New Era Party, TB/LNNK, Union of Greens and Farmers, the Latvian First Party, People's Party and National Harmony Party, who had pledged support for the incumbent, took part in the vote. The fraction of the Socialist Party of Latvia had announced before that they will vote against the president, but the four deputies of For Human Rights in a United Latvia decided to be absent from the vote.


2003 Laurence Olivier Awards
The 2003 Laurence Olivier Awards were held in 2003 in London celebrating excellence in West End theatre by the Society of London Theatre.


2003 Laurence Olivier Awards, Productions with multiple nominations and awards
The following 21 productions, including one ballet and three operas, received multiple nominations:


2003 League of Ireland First Division
The 2003 League of Ireland First Division season was the 19th season of the League of Ireland First Division and the first to be played as a summer league.


2003 League of Ireland First Division, Overview
The First Division was contested by 12 teams and Dublin City won the division. Each team played the other teams three times, totaling 33 games.


2003 League of Ireland First Division, Promotion/Relegation Play-off
Four teams entered the promotion/relegation play-off. The second, third and fourth placed teams from the First Division were joined by the ninth placed team from the 2003 League of Ireland Premier Division.


2003 League of Ireland First Division, Promotion/Relegation Play-off, Final
Derry City win 2–1 on aggregate and retain their place in the Premier Division.


2003 League of Ireland Premier Division
The 2003 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 19th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division was made up of 10 teams. Shelbourne were champions.


2003 League of Ireland Premier Division, Regular season
The 2003 season would see the League of Ireland Premier Division change from a winter league to a summer league. Each team played four rounds of games, totalling 36 games each.


2003 League of Ireland Premier Division, Promotion/Relegation Play-off
Four teams entered the promotion/relegation play-off. The second, third and fourth placed teams from the 2003 League of Ireland First Division were joined by the ninth placed team from the Premier Division.


2003 League of Ireland Premier Division, Promotion/Relegation Play-off, Final
Derry City win 2–1 on aggregate and retain their place in the Premier Division.


2003 Leeds City Council election
The Leeds City Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough Council in West Yorkshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party stayed in overall control of the council.


2003 Leeds City Council election, Election result
The results saw Labour just keep a majority on the council with 52 of the 99 seats. They suffered a net loss of 5 seats, including the leader of the council for the past 7 years, Brian Walker, who was defeated by the Liberal Democrats in Rothwell ward. The Conservatives gained the most seats to become the second largest party on the council with 22 seats, after making 4 gains in Aireborough, Halton, Otley and Wharfedale and Roundhay wards. As well as the gain in Rothwell, the Liberal Democrats also picked up a seat from Labour in Burmantofts but lost seats in Bramley and Otley and Wharfedale to Labour and Conservatives respectively.


2003 Leeds City Council election, Election result
Elsewhere independent Tom Leadley gained a seat from Labour in Morley North, while the Greens held their seat in Wortley. Turnout in the election dropped to just over 30% with some wards seeing under 20% voting, while the lowest turnout came in Headingley at only 15%.


2003 Leeds City Council election, Election result
Following the election the deputy leader of the council, Keith Wakefield, became leader unopposed after a meeting of the Labour group on the council.


2003 Leeds City Council election, Election result
This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections:


2003 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics
The 2003 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics took place on May 31–June 1, 2003. The event was held at the A. O. Shirley Recreation Ground in Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. A detailed report was published.


2003 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics
A total of 44 events were contested, 22 by boys and 22 by girls.


2003 Leeward Islands Junior Championships in Athletics, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 164 athletes from 7 countries participated.


2003 Legg Mason Tennis Classic
The 2003 Legg Mason Tennis Classic was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Washington, D.C. in the United States and was part of the International Series of the 2003 ATP Tour.It was the 35th edition of the tournament and ran from July 28 through August 3, 2003. Tim Henman won the singles title.


2003 Legg Mason Tennis Classic, Finals, Doubles
Yevgeny Kafelnikov /  Sargis Sargsian defeated  Chris Haggard /  Paul Hanley 7–5, 4–6, 6–2


2003 Legg Mason Tennis Classic – Doubles
Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett were the defending champions but lost in the first round to Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Sargis Sargsian.


2003 Legg Mason Tennis Classic – Doubles
Kafelnikov and Sargsian won in the final 7–5, 4–6, 6–2 against Chris Haggard and Paul Hanley.


2003 Legg Mason Tennis Classic – Singles
James Blake was the defending champion but lost in the quarterfinals to Andre Agassi.


2003 Legg Mason Tennis Classic – Singles
Tim Henman won in the final 6–3, 6–4 against Fernando González.


2003 Legg Mason Tennis Classic – Singles, Seeds
All sixteen seeds received a bye to the second round.


2003 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team
The 2003 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team was an American football team that represented Lehigh University during the 2003 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Lehigh finished second in the Patriot League.


2003 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team
In their third year under head coach Pete Lembo, the Mountain Hawks compiled an 8–3 record. Mike Gregorek, Tom McGeoy, Jermaine Pugh and Michael Taggart were the team captains.


2003 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team
The Mountain Hawks outscored opponents 327 to 185. Their 6–1 conference record placed second in the eight-team Patriot League.


2003 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team
The Mountain Hawks were unranked in the preseason Division I-AA national poll. Two separate win streaks of three games each earned them spots in the top 25, but Lehigh only spent a total of four weeks in the poll. At the end of the year, Lehigh was ranked No. 23 in the final poll.


2003 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team
Lehigh played its home games at Goodman Stadium on the university's Goodman Campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.


2003 Lejay firefight
A skirmish occurred on the morning of February 10, 2003 outside Lejay, a small village in the northern, mountainous part of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The village is in the Baghran valley, and one of the few highways in Afghanistan passes through it. American intelligence analysts assert that the village is the focus of the Opium Trade.


2003 Lejay firefight
Vehicles approaching the village report being fired on. In response American forces mobilized hundreds of troops to comb the country surrounding the village in Operation Eagle Fury. The Operation mobilized dozens of coalition warplanes.


2003 Lejay firefight, Differing accounts of the skirmish
Colonel Roger King, a Department of Defense spokesman in Bagram offered daily briefings on the initial skirmish, and the on Eagle Fury.


2003 Lejay firefight, Differing accounts of the skirmish
In 2004 the Summary of Evidence memos prepared for the Combatant Status Review Tribunals of the captives apprehended following the initial shooting incident offered a different account.


2003 Lejay firefight, Differing accounts of the skirmish, Colonel King's 2003 account
The Summary of Evidence memos prepared for the villagers who were sent to Guantanamo, on the other hand:


2003 Letran Knights men's basketball team
The 2003 Letran Knights men's basketball team represented Colegio de San Juan de Letran in the 79th season of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the Philippines. The men's basketball tournament for the school year 2003-04 began on June 28, 2003, and the host school for the season was San Sebastian College – Recoletos.


2003 Letran Knights men's basketball team
The Knights finished the double round-robin eliminations at first place with 9 wins against 5 losses. They then eliminated the Mapúa Cardinals in the Final Four to advance to the finals and faced the hosts and two-time defending champions San Sebastian Stags.


2003 Letran Knights men's basketball team
The Knights went on to defeat the Stags in three games to capture their 15th NCAA championship, ending their three-year title drought. Ronjay Enrile was named Finals Most Valuable Player and member of the Mythical Five.


2003 Letran Knights men's basketball team, NCAA Season 79 games results
Elimination games were played in a double round-robin format. All games were aired on Studio 23.


2003 Lexmark Indy 300
The 2003 Lexmark Indy 300 was the eighteenth round of the 2003 CART World Series season, held on 26 October 2003 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, Queensland, Australia. A hail storm 20 minutes into the race caused an hour long red flag period and shortened the race to 47 laps from the scheduled 65.


2003 Lexmark Indy 300
Ryan Hunter-Reay won the race, his first victory in top-level American open wheel racing, and Reynard's final win in CART competition (sweeping the podium positions). Neither of the two drivers who could still win the season championship, leader Paul Tracy and second-place Bruno Junqueira, finished in the Top 12 points-paying positions (though Junqueira received two bonus points on the weekend: one for having the fastest lap in Friday qualifying, and the other for leading the most laps in the race), meaning Tracy had a big enough lead to clinch the championship with one race to go.


2003 Lexmark Indy 300, Final CART event
The event was to have been the penultimate race of the 2003 season, but it later became the final round after the 2003 King Taco 500 was canceled because of a wildfire near to the California Speedway venue. In December 2003 the CART World Series declared bankruptcy and as a result went out of business. Therefore, this race became the final completed CART sanctioned event, although the series would be reborn under new ownership as the Champ Car World Series in 2004.


2003 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election
The 2003 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election took place in February 2003, following the decision by the incumbent, Alan Beith to stand down as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, a political party in the United Kingdom. The post was voted on by the party's then 53 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons.


2003 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election
The election was expected to be contested by Simon Hughes, who had come second in the 1999 leadership election, but in the event he declined to run, instead running to be Mayor of London in the 2004 elections. In the event the candidates were Menzies Campbell, the party's foreign affairs spokesperson, and Malcolm Bruce, spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.


2003 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election
The 2003 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election ended on November 14, 2003, electing former Finance Minister Paul Martin as the party's new leader, replacing outgoing Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.


2003 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election
Stakes for the race were high as the winner would go on to become Prime Minister, in addition to leading a party that was high in the polls without a significant challenger.


2003 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election
Paul Martin spent the entire race as the front runner, as his supporters had secured a lock on the party executives of the federal and most provincial sections of the party. Because of Martin's apparent strength, several prominent candidates, such as Allan Rock, and Brian Tobin, did not go beyond the formative stages.


2003 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election
Martin's only serious challengers were John Manley and Sheila Copps, the former of whom withdrew before delegate selection began. Martin easily captured the leadership with 93.8% of the delegates.


2003 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election
The party would be beset by significant infighting afterwards, as he and his supporters moved to remove Chrétien supporters from cabinet and even from Parliament. Martin's initial tactics to secure the leadership were generally seen, in retrospect, as weakening his eventual tenure as prime minister.


2003 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, Candidates, Sheila Copps
MP for Hamilton East, Ontario (1984–2004)Deputy Prime Minister (1993–1996, 1996–1997)Minister of the Environment (1993–1996)Minister of the Multiculturalism and Citizenship (1996)Minister of the Communications (1996)Minister of Canadian Heritage (1996–2003)Minister of Amateur Sport (1996–1999)Copps, 50, was a candidate during the 1990 leadership election, finishing in third.


2003 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, Candidates, Paul Martin
MP for LaSalle—Émard, Quebec (1988–2008)Minister of Finance (1993–2002)Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec (1993–1996)Martin, 55, was a candidate during the 1990 leadership election, finishing in second. Martin's loss during the 1990 leadership election result and Jean Chrétien's slim win during the 1997 election led to a period of infighting within the party, with Martin leaving cabinet in June 2002, and Chrétien, in the face of a leadership review, announcing his intention to step down February 2004.


2003 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, Candidates, Withdrawn candidates, John Manley
MP for Ottawa South, Ontario (1988–2004)Deputy Prime Minister (2002–2003)Minister of Industry, Science and Technology (1993–1995)Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs (1993–1995)Minister of Industry (1995–2000)Minister of Foreign Affairs (2000–2002)Minister of Finance (2002–2003) Manley, 53, withdrew from the race on July 22, 2003 and endorsed Martin.


2003 Liberian Premier League, Overview
It was contested by 8 teams, and it was not finished.


2003 Liberty Bowl
The 2003 Liberty Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game played on December 31, 2003, in Memphis, Tennessee. The 45th edition of the Liberty Bowl was a matchup between the Utah Utes and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. The game was sponsored by the Axa Equitable Life Insurance Company and was branded as the AXA Liberty Bowl. Played in front of 55,989 fans, Utah shutout Southern Miss, 17–0.


2003 Liechtenstein constitutional referendum
A constitutional referendum regarding the Prince’s powers was held in Liechtenstein on 14 March 2003. The referendum had two questions; a "Princely Initiative" and a "Constitution Peace Initiative". The first question passed with 64.32% in favour and the second question was rejected by 83.44% of voters.


2003 Liechtenstein constitutional referendum
The Princely Initiative asked voters whether to approve an extension of the power of the Prince to dismiss the government, nominate judges and veto legislation.


2003 Liechtenstein constitutional referendum
The Constitution Peace Initiative asked voters whether to approve or disapprove of constitutional modifications, including modifications which would have restricted the Prince’s powers. The BBC stated that the referendum in effect made Liechtenstein into an "absolute monarchy". In December 2012 the Venice commission of the Council of Europe published  a comprehensive report analysing the amendments, opining that they were not compatible with the European standard of democracy. Prince Hans-Adam II had threatened to leave the country and live in exile in Vienna, Austria if the voters had chosen to restrict his powers.


2003 Liechtenstein local elections
The 2003 Liechtenstein local elections were held on 2 February to elect the municipal councils and the mayors of the eleven municipalities of Liechtenstein.


2003 Liechtenstein local elections, Electoral system
The municipal councils (German: Gemeinderat) are composed of an even number of councillors plus the mayor (German: Gemeindevorsteher). The number of councillors is determined by population count: 6 or 8 councillors for population 1,500, 8 or 10 councillors for population between 1,500 and 3,000, and 10 or 12 councillors for population over 3,000.


2003 Liechtenstein local elections, Electoral system
Councillors were elected in single multi-member districts, consisting of the municipality's territory, using an open list proportional representation system. Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. The mayors were elected in a two-round system. If none of the candidates achieved a majority in the first round, a second round would have been held four weeks later, where the candidate with a plurality would be elected as a mayor.


2003 Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito season
Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito's 2003 season was the club's 73rd year of existence, the 50th year in professional football, and the 42nd in the top level of professional football in Ecuador.


2003 Liga Indonesia Premier Division
The 2003 Liga Indonesia Premier Division (also known as the Liga Bank Mandiri for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of the Liga Indonesia Premier Division, the top Indonesian professional league for association football clubs, since its formation in 1994. It began on 12 January and ended on 15 September. Petrokimia Putra were the defending champions.


2003 Liga Indonesia Premier Division, Relegation play-offs
Perseden and Persib compete with Persela and PSIM in a round-robin play-off to secure two spots in next season's Premier Division. The matches were held in Solo.


2003 Liga Indonesia Premier Division, Awards, Top scorers
This is a list of the top scorers from the 2003 season.


2003 Liga Perdana 1
The 2003 Liga Perdana 1 season is the sixth and final season of Liga Perdana 1. A total of 13 teams participated in the season out of 14 as NS Chempaka FC withdrew from the league.


2003 Liga Perdana 1
The Liga Perdana 1 was introduced in 1998. It replaced the Liga Perdana (1994–97) as the top-tier football league in Malaysia.


2003 Liga Perdana 1
The season kicked off on 9 February 2003. Perak again dominated the season and ended up winning the title. Perlis's Phillimon Chepita was the season's top goalscorer with 23 goals.


2003 Liga Perdana 1
This season also the last season before the league was succeeded by the formation of Liga Super from 2004 season onwards while Liga Premier was formed to become the new second-tier league in Malaysian football league system. The teams from 2003 season undergoes a qualifying stage to be promoted into inaugural 2004 Malaysia Super League.


2003 Liga Perdana 1, Teams
A total of 13 teams will participate in the 2003 Liga Perdana 1 season. NS Chempaka FC pulled out of the league.


2003 Liga Perdana 1, 2004 Malaysia Super League playoffs
A total of 8 teams will participate in the 2004 Malaysia Super League season playoffs.


2003 Liga Perdana 2
The 2003 Liga Perdana 2 season is the sixth and final season of Liga Perdana 2. A total of 12 teams participated in the season.


2003 Liga Perdana 2
Kuala Lumpur and Negeri Sembilan were relegated from Liga Perdana 1 to join the Liga Perdana 2.


2003 Liga Perdana 2
The season kicked off on 10 February 2003. Public Bank won the title and the playoff for the newly formed top-tier league in Malaysia, the Malaysia Super League.


2003 Liga Perdana 2, Teams
12 teams competing in the sixth season of Liga Perdana 2.


2003 Liga Perdana 2, League table
1.Public Bank  - 53 PTS (2003 Liga Perdana 2 Champions)


2003 Liga Perdana 2, League table
2.Negeri Sembilan  - 42 PTS (Promotion Play-Off) (Stay in the league)


2003 Liga Perdana 2, League table
3.Johor  - 40 PTS (Promotion Play-Off) (Stay in the league)


2003 Liga Perdana 2, League table
4.MPPJ FC  - 39 PTS (Promotion Play-Off) (Stay in the league)


2003 Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano
The 2003 Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano season had 12 teams in competition. The Strongest won the championship.


2003 Limerick Senior Hurling Championship
The 2003 Limerick Senior Hurling Championship was the 109th staging of the Limerick Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Limerick County Board.


2003 Limerick Senior Hurling Championship
On 12 October 2003, Patrickswell won the championship after a 1-13 to 0-14 defeat of Adare in the final. It was their first title in three championship seasons and their 18th championship title overall which allowed them to draw level with Ahane at the top of the all-time roll of honour.


2003 Lithuanian Athletics Championships
The 80th 2003 Lithuanian Athletics Championships were held in S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium, Kaunas on 1–2 August 2003.


2003 Lithuanian European Union membership referendum
The 2003 Lithuanian European Union referendum took place from 10 May to 11 May 2003 to decide whether Lithuania should join the European Union (EU). Over 90% of those who voted supported membership and Lithuania joined the EU on 1 May 2004.


2003 Lithuanian European Union membership referendum, Background
Lithuania was invited to begin negotiations to join the EU in December 1999 at a European Council summit in Helsinki and was formally invited to join the EU in December 2002 at a summit in Copenhagen.


2003 Lithuanian European Union membership referendum, Background
In June 2002 and February 2003 the Lithuanian Parliament amended Lithuania's laws on referendums. Previously, for a referendum to pass, 50% of the voters had to vote and over 50% of all eligible registered voters had to support the proposal. After the amendment only a simple majority of participants in favour was required for the referendum to pass, while still having the requirement for turnout to be over 50%. To help reach the turnout requirement, the voting hours were extended, postal voting was allowed for 11 days before the referendum, and a second voting day was added. In January 2003 parliament then set the date for EU referendum to be the 10–11 May and set the question for the vote.


2003 Lithuanian European Union membership referendum, Referendum question
Lithuanian voters were asked to vote yes or no to the statement:


2003 Lithuanian European Union membership referendum, Campaign
An information campaign on the European Union was begun in 2000 and involved the Elderships of Lithuania and the Catholic Church. Opinion polls, which at the end of 1999 had only 29% supporters of the EU, showed a steady rise in support in the years leading up to the referendum.


2003 Lithuanian European Union membership referendum, Campaign
Virtually all of Lithuania's major political parties supported membership of the EU and opinion polls as the date approached showed about 65% of voters would vote yes. The President of Lithuania Rolandas Paksas, who once competed in aerobatics competitions, flew around Lithuania in his plane performing stunts to raise enthusiasm. The campaign was very one-sided with only a poorly organised No campaign based on milk producers, Russian speakers and right wing nationalists.


2003 Lithuanian European Union membership referendum, Turnout
The biggest concern for the yes campaign was whether turnout would reach the 50% required for the referendum to be valid. After the first day of voting turnout was only 30% and both the President Paksas and Prime Minister Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas appeared on TV to urge Lithuanians to vote. Main reason for worry was that turnout might be as low as in Hungary just month ago.


2003 Lithuanian European Union membership referendum, Turnout
There was a surge in voting on the Sunday with many people voting after church services. Lithuanian supermarkets also had a campaign on the second day of voting, offering cheaper beer, chocolate and soap to those who showed they had voted. In the end there were queues outside some voting booths and turnout was over 60%, safely over the required level.


2003 Lithuanian European Union membership referendum, Results
Celebrations were held in Lithuania's capital Vilnius following the referendum. A concert was held near the Presidential palace, President Paksas addressed the crowd saying "Hello Europeans!" and the Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas and parliamentary speaker Artūras Paulauskas cut a referendum cake. The European Commission President Romano Prodi congratulated Lithuania on the referendum result.


2003 Little League World Series
The 2003 Little League World Series took place between August 15 and August 24 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Musashi-Fuchu Little League of Tokyo, Japan, defeated the East Boynton Beach Little League of Boynton Beach, Florida, in the championship game of the 57th Little League World Series.


2003 Little League World Series, Notable players
The following LLWS players later appeared in Major League Baseball (MLB):


2003 Little League World Series, Qualification
Between five and twelve teams take part in 16 regional qualification tournaments, which vary in format depending on region. In the United States, the qualification tournaments are in the same format as the Little League World Series itself: a round-robin tournament followed by an elimination round to determine the regional champion.


2003 Little League World Series, Pool play
The top two teams in each pool move on to their respective semifinals. The winners of each met on August 24 to play for the Little League world championship.


2003 Little League World Series qualification
Qualification for the 2003 Little League World Series took place in sixteen different parts of the world during July and August 2003, with formats and number of teams varying by region.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, United States, Great Lakes
The tournament took place in Indianapolis, Indiana from August 1–10.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, United States, Mid-Atlantic Region
The tournament took place in Bristol, Connecticut from August 2–12.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, United States, Midwest
The tournament took place in Indianapolis, Indiana from August 1–10.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, United States, New England
The tournament was held in Bristol, Connecticut from August 2–11.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, United States, Northwest
The tournament was held in San Bernardino, California from August 2–11.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, United States, Southeast
The tournament took place in St. Petersburg, Florida from August 3–9.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, United States, Southwest
The tournament took place in Waco, Texas from August 4–10.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, United States, West
The tournament took place in San Bernardino from August 1–12.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, International, Asia
The tournament took place in Rota, Northern Mariana Islands from July 28–August 1.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, International, Canada
The tournament was held in Sydney, Nova Scotia from August 2–9.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, International, Caribbean
The tournament took place in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico from July 20–26.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, International, Europe, Middle East and Africa
The tournament took place in Kutno, Poland from July 15–22.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, International, Latin America
The tournament took place in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico from July 20–26.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, International, Mexico
The tournament took place in Hermosillo, Sonora from July 3–12.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, International, Pacific
The tournament took place in Rota, Northern Mariana Islands from July 28–August 1.


2003 Little League World Series qualification, International, Transatlantic
The tournament was held in Kutno, Poland from July 15–23.


2003 Liverpool City Council election
Elections to Liverpool City Council were held on 1 May 2003. One third of the council was up for election and the Liberal Democrat party kept overall control of the council. Overall turnout was 21.7%.


2003 Liège–Bastogne–Liège
The 2003 Liège–Bastogne–Liège was the 89th edition of the Liège–Bastogne–Liège cycle race and was held on 27 April 2003. The race started in Liège and finished in Ans. The race was won by Tyler Hamilton of the CSC team.


2003 London Broncos season
The 2003 London Broncos season was the twenty-fourth in the club's history and their eighth season in the Super League. The club was coached by Tony Rea, competing in Super League VIII and finishing in 5th place. The club also got to the fifth round of the Challenge Cup.


2003 London Broncos season, Super League VIII table
Sources: Classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference. Competition points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.


2003 London Broncos season, Super League VIII table
^ a: St Helens deducted two points for salary cap breaches^ b: Hull F.C. deducted two points for salary cap breaches^ c: Halifax deducted two points for salary cap breaches


2003 London Broncos season, 2003 Challenge Cup
For the fourth consecutive year, the Broncos were knocked out of the cup at the fifth round stage.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy
The 2003 London Champ Car Trophy was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on 5 May 2003 at the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England in front of a crowd of just under 40,000 spectators. It was the fourth round of the 2003 CART season, the first American open wheel car race at the track since 1978, and the first of two European races of the season. Sébastien Bourdais of the Newman/Haas Racing team won the 165-lap race after he started from the second position. His teammate Bruno Junqueira finished second and Mario Domínguez of Herdez Competition took third.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy
Paul Tracy won his first pole position in three years by posting the fastest lap in qualifying and he maintained the lead for the next 54 laps before entering the pit lane for fuel and tyres. Bourdais remained on the circuit for one extra lap because he had conserved fuel and had a faster pit stop than his teammate, who was delayed by the slower car of Rodolfo Lavín, to take the lead.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy
Bourdais and his teammate Tracy exchanged the fastest lap of the race as they stayed within a second of each other until Tracy's engine failed on the 118th lap. Bourdais was unchallenged for the remainder of the race as he scythed his way past slower traffic to achieve his first CART victory. There were two cautions and three lead changes amongst three different drivers during the course of the race.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy
The final positions meant Tracy still led the Drivers' Championship with 65 points but Junqueira lowered it to eleven points. Michel Jourdain Jr. maintained third position with fellow Mexican Adrián Fernández remaining in fourth place and Patrick Carpentier fifth. With 88 points, Lola increased their Constructors' Championship lead over Reynard to 54 points with 14 races left in the season.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Background
The 2003 London Champ Car Trophy was the start of a two-week European stretch for the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series; the German 500 was held at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Klettwitz, Germany one week later. It was the fourth round of the 2003 CART season and was held at the Brands Hatch circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent on 5 May 2003. Entering the race, Paul Tracy led the Drivers' Championship with 64 points, ahead of Bruno Junqueira with 38 points and Michel Jourdain Jr. with 34. Adrian Fernández was fourth with 28 points, and Jimmy Vasser was fifth with 20 points. With 66 points, Lola led their rivals Reynard in the Manufacturers' Championship by 36 points.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Background
CART had not visited Brands Hatch since 1978 when Rick Mears won for Team Penske. The series held two previous events in the United Kingdom at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, which was dropped from the season schedule in November 2002 because of poor attendance and inclement weather. Brands Hatch's return was publicly announced at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham on 9 January 2003, and it was held on the Indy configuration.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Background
CART president and CEO Chris Pook cited the track's proximity from London and the history of the Brands Hatch circuit as the primary reasons of hosting the race there. He also stated that the Brands Hatch Grand Prix configuration could not be used because of the high cost of upgrading it to CART standards. It was part of CART's desire to distance itself from the Indy Racing League by holding races outside the United States.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Background
Brands Hatch and CART invested $2 million in enhancing the track's safety standards; 2 miles (3.2 kilometres) of fencing was erected around each side of the Indy layout, around 38,000 tyres were used to construct barriers and the majority of the guard-railing alongside the circuit was reconstructed. The improvements were completed on the day before the official announcement of the race. Tim Mayer, CART's international and development liaison officer, admitted more efforts were needed to upgrade the track to obtain an FIA Grade 2 licence for a potential future event on the Grand Prix layout and noted that its history had to be regarded when altering it for increased space:


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Background
"We have garages here that are twenty-six feet long and we have cars that are sixteen feet long and each team brings two cars. So you figure out very quickly that the garages are not big enough. You look at the paddock and realize that it’s going to be tight getting all our equipment in there. And of course we’ve done a lot of work to get enough barrier protection around the track. A lot of people have worked very hard to get it done."


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Background
Championship leader Tracy said he was excited to race at Brands Hatch and felt the circuit would be challenging to drive. He had won the previous three races of the season, and aimed to secure his fourth consecutive victory, but said he was not thinking about his recent success. After starting from pole position in two of the three opening rounds of the season but retiring from the lead in both races, Sébastien Bourdais of Newman/Haas Racing said he wanted to win the race because of its proximity to his home country France. He felt the two qualifying sessions would be influential in deciding its outcome and believed overtakes would be sparse. Walker Racing's Darren Manning said that he hoped he would perform well at the circuit since Brands Hatch was the only track on the CART schedule he had previously raced on.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
Three practice sessions were held before the race: two 50-minute sessions on 3 May and a third 75-minute session on the morning of 4 May. Manning lapped fastest in the first practice session at 37.953 seconds, ahead of Junqueira and Tracy. Tiago Monteiro spun at Surtees corner but avoided damaging his car. Fernández caused the session to be suspended when he spun backwards into a tyre barrier at Surtees corner, which caused heavy damage to his car's rear; he was unhurt. Tracy led the second practice session, at 37.263 seconds.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
Bourdais finished with the second-fastest time with Alex Tagliani in third. Junqueira and Manning were fourth and fifth, their best times two thousandths of a second apart. Two red flags came out during the session: the first was for Tracy who spun exiting Druids hairpin, removing the front wing of his car in a collision with a tyre barrier, the second when Tagliani spun at the pit lane entrance midway through practice.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
Qualifying was split into two sessions; both sessions took place on Saturday and Sunday afternoon and lasted 60 minutes with one driver allowed on the track at any time. The Saturday qualifying order would be set in reverse of the day's earlier practice sessions with Sunday's running order based on Saturday qualifying results. Each driver was allowed four timed laps, and the starting order was determined by their fastest lap times. One championship point was available to the fastest drivers of both qualifying sessions. They were guaranteed to start on the front row of the grid for Monday's race.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
This was the first time this format was used on a road course in CART after drivers voiced concerns over their ability to achieve a lap time without encountering traffic. The first qualifying session had track temperatures lower than observed in the morning and drivers could not get the optimum tyre temperature. This meant they could only go faster on their final attempts.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
Tracy took provisional pole by recording the only lap close to 36 seconds with a new track record of 37.006 seconds on his last attempt, 0.016 seconds ahead of Junqueira who led until Tracy's time. Junquiera's performance was compromised as he drove in an altered car that had better straightline speed but was slower in the corners. Bourdais ended the session third with Oriol Servià fourth and Manning fifth. Following him were the Canadian duo of Patrick Carpentier in sixth and Tagliani seventh. Fernández switched to a back-up car for the rest of the race meeting.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
His team altered its setup, but he used too much kerb at Clearways corner and was left eighth. Two other Mexican drivers, Jourdain and Mario Domínguez, were ninth and tenth. Vasser in 11th was followed by Monteiro and Mário Haberfeld. Alex Yoong recovered from gear linkage issues from practice, but an error at Druids hairpin left him 14th. Patrick Lemarié, Rodolfo Lavín, Joël Camathias and Roberto Moreno were in the next four provisional positions. Ryan Hunter-Reay did not set a lap after spinning on the front straight before starting his first timed lap.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
He was sent to the rear of the qualifying line and could not manage a second run. Monteiro and Camathias made two outings because of a miscommunication between their respective teams and completed three timed laps on the first runs. Both drivers were allowed back on the track later in the session and warmed up their tyres to gain the optimum running temperature. Monteiro and Camathias ran four out-laps before their final attempt.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
In the third practice session, Fernández was quickest early on until Bourdais moved to the top of the time sheets. Tracy then took over the top spot, but Bourdais responded with a last minute lap of 37.379 seconds. Tracy was 0.120 seconds slower in second. Fernández and Servià were third and fourth and Junqueira fifth. Several incidents took place during the session. Lavin lost control under braking for Druids hairpin and was beached in the turn's gravel trap causing the session's first stoppage; he was imposed an eight-minute penalty. Yoong locked his brakes and struck the left-hand side tyre barrier at Druids hairpin, necessitating a second red flag. Camathias prompted the final stoppage after he spun at Clark Curve, which ended the session with two minutes left.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
"I'm really happy to get the pole because it's been a long time since I had a pole. It's a relief. I think the last pole I had was at the Michigan oval in 2000 and I can't even remember the last time I had a road course pole. I've been stuck on 13 poles for a long time so it's great to finally get off that number."


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
Paul Tracy, on taking his first pole position in CART for three years.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
The weather was hot and sunny with a slight breeze, and it was expected that lap times would improve, since teams were more knowledgeable of the track conditions and more rubber had been laid on the racing line. Bourdais looked set to challenge Tracy, but he ran wide leaving Paddock Hill bend on his last qualifying lap and put the left-hand side of his car into the gravel, creating enough decompression to pull his hand off his steering wheel. When Tracy learned of this, he went slower and used scrubbed tyres to save an additional set for the race.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
Tracy thus took the 14th pole position of his career, his first since the 2000 Michigan 500, and his first on a road course since the 1994 Grand Prix of Monterey. Third-placed Junqueira altered his car, but the changes created excess understeer he and could not push hard. Servia remained in fourth position while Tagliani made downforce changes to his back-up car and moved from seventh to fifth. Fernández was another driver to move up two positions from his Saturday qualifying result and started sixth. He was followed by fellow Mexican Domínguez in seventh.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Practice and qualifying
Manning elected to push harder than any other driver but was unable to better his time and fell to eighth. Carpentier and Jourdain were ninth and tenth. Haberfeld gained two places from first qualifying to begin eleventh. Moreno was the biggest mover as he gained six places to 12th while Yoong took 13th. Following him was Vasser, Monteiro, Hunter-Reay, Lemarié and Camathias. Lavín was slowest overall and was on a faster lap when he made a minor driving error heading towards Clark Curve and lost around three-tenths of a second.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Warm-up
The drivers took to the track at 10:00 British Summer Time (BST) (UTC+1) for a 30-minute warm-up session. Weather conditions were overcast, and a slight wind could be felt. Drivers used the session to practice pit stops and scrub their tyres. Carpentier was running faster than in the previous two days and lapped fastest at 37.885 seconds. Bourdais continued his strong form by going second-fastest, and Hunter-Reay was third. Lemarié drifted wide onto the left-hand grass between the McLaren and Clearways corners. Camathias caused the session's sole stoppage by going straight into a gravel trap at Druids hairpin after locking his brakes. He required extraction by marshals to enable his return to the pit lane.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race
The race started at 14:00 BST on 5 May. Just under 40,000 people were in attendance. Close to the start, weather conditions were partly cloudy with the air temperature ranging between 63–65 °F (17–18 °C). Former racing drivers Damon Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti commanded the drivers to start their engines. The first caution was triggered on the first lap when the drivers in the first two rows of the grid were not alongside each other. Competitive racing began at the start of lap two, and Tracy maintained his pole position advantage heading into the first corner.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race
Farther back, Fernández made contact with Tagliani and drifted wide to the left side of the track but managed to continue. Vasser drove into the pit lane and got out of his car to retire with left-front suspension damage caused by his front tyre turning in. Tracy began to pull away from the rest of the field, extending his lead to 2.088 seconds over Bourdais by the start of the eleventh lap. Junqueira maintained third position, followed by Tagliani in fourth and Servià in fifth. Four laps later, Carpentier slowed momentarily and was overtaken by Fernández on the backstraight for eighth place.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race
At the front of the field, Bourdais and Junqueira began catching Tracy. Junqueira lowered Tracy's lead to 1.401 seconds as the fastest lap of the race at the time was set by Carpentier who completed a circuit in 38.515 seconds on his 18th lap. The first round of green flag pit stops began on lap 49 when Tagliani, Monteiro and Lavín entered the pit lane for fuel and tyres. During this period, Manning ran off the circuit and into a gravel trap at Paddock Hill bend.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race
Haberfeld, caught out by his cold tyres, went wide into some grass at Graham Hill bend. Tracy ran more downforce than his nearest rivals and used more fuel as a consequence. He was delayed by the slower Lavín losing two seconds before he made his pit stop on the 55th lap. Bourdais spent one extra lap on the track with a low amount of fuel when he entered pit lane on the following lap.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race
The additional time Bourdais spent on the circuit, and his teammate Tracy being delayed, enabled him to assume the lead with a seven-tenths of a second advantage over Tracy after all pit stops had been completed. Bourdais and Tracy ran within about a half second of each other during the following 24 laps before a second caution was necessitated for an accident on lap 80.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race
Yoong was behind Moreno in 11th, and in front of Jourdain in 12th, when he locked his brakes on the run to Druids corner and drifted wide onto the dirty side of the track. He then ran into the left-hand side tyre barrier at the turn becoming the second retirement of the race. During the caution, Manning and Tagliani, made pit stops for fuel because they wanted to push harder than the rest of the field. Doing this, however, required them to make an additional pit stop due to the mandatory two pit stop regulation enacted by CART.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race
The safety car was withdrawn at the end of lap 85 and racing resumed. Bourdais led  and was followed by Tracy in second as the entire field went through Paddock Hill bend without incident. Bourdais and Tracy exchanged the race's fastest lap as the margin between the two drivers was consistently a second. Junqueira was a further five seconds adrift in third while Domínguez moved ahead of Servià and into fourth. On lap 107, Lemarié and Hunter-Reay began the second phase of green flag pit stops by entering the pit lane. A light spray of fluid was observed at the rear of Tracy's car as he made his pit stop on the 112th lap. Bourdais made his second pit stop five laps later and Tagliani led the field for the next 16 laps.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race
In the meantime on lap 118, Tracy's car caught fire at the rear because his gearbox failed after he crossed the start/finish line. He pulled over to the right-hand side of the track at Druids corner to become the last retirement of the event. On lap 132, Fernández and Hunter-Reay made contact, and debris was left just off the racing line. Fernández shattered his front wing while Hunter-Reay picked up a rear-right puncture. Tagliani made his final pit stop on the following lap, handing the lead back to Bourdais.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race
Unhindered in the final 33 laps, Bourdais maintained his lead while scything his way through slower traffic on the tight confines of the track to claim his first CART victory. Junqueira followed 7.835 seconds later in second, and Domínguez completed the podium in third. Off the podium, Servià finished fourth and Carpentier took fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Jourdain, Moreno, Tagliani, Haberfeld and Manning. The final finishers were Lemarié, Fernández, Camathias, Monteiro, Lavín and Hunter-Reay. There were two cautions and three lead changes amongst three different drivers during the course of the race. Bourdais led twice for a total of 95 laps, more than any other driver.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race, Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media at a later press conference. Bourdais said of his maiden success in the series, "We made it. It was difficult but we made it. We would probably have been the winner in two races already. It's been frustrating after the first events. The worm turned. Paul had trouble today and we got a bit lucky." He added that the victory satisfied him and his team after as be believed he could have won races earlier in the season.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race, Post-race
Second-placed Junqueira stated that he was pleased with advancing his position in the points' standings and spoke of his hope that the pit stop phase would fall in his favour during the race, "I am closer now but I know that if I want to win the championship I am going to have to pull a few wins out of the bag." Domínguez said that his team worked hard to produce his third-place result and spoke of his feeling that his performance at Brands Hatch was better than his victory at the 2002 Honda Indy 300.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race, Post-race
He revealed that he acquainted himself with the optimum line around the circuit's by trailing Manning during Saturday's free practice sessions, "He's got lots of little tricks. The guy's who've been here before, they know their way around. Even though it's a small track, it has a very particular driving style."


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race, Post-race
Tracy's retirement from a broken gearbox was his first of the season. He commented on the championship situation, "It's never good to give away points like this. Now we don't have a cushion. This DNF is very costly. It's disappointing to have a failure like that. We would have been content to finish on the podium, but the engine let go on us." Tracy said his gearbox shifted by itself three to four laps and heard noises and spoke emitting from his car before his retirement, "When I was rolling down the hill, I had no gearbox.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race, Post-race
Otherwise, the car was running good." Manning said a poor fuel mileage led to him making three pit stops during the race. He admitted that his team compromised the set-up of his car for the season's European leg and that he lost six seconds of time behind Monteiro and a group of slower cars, "We were running a weird kind of set-up for this track, which is not really an oval, but we always knew we would be compromised round here. We're also giving something away to the Lola chassis at the moment, but having said that, we expect to go better in Germany."


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race, Post-race
Media reaction to the race was largely negative. Derick Allsop of The Independent argued that the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit was too restrictive for Champ Cars with overtaking "virtually impossible", "A crowd of nearly 40,000 witnessed Cart's latest attempt to find a home in this country and could be forgiven for wondering why the series still claims to represent racing at its most thrilling. For two hours they watched the cars circulating the 1.2-mile Indy track, nestling in the natural amphitheatre here, and waited in vain for the much-vaunted spectacle to materialise."


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race, Post-race
The Guardian's Richard Polkey wrote the spectators were "entitled to feel let down" after fuel economy created a processional event, "It was hardly the way to help spread the gospel of Cart – Championship Auto Racing Teams – around the globe, which was the reason they were here – and at Rockingham in the past two years". The correspondent for The Times said, "It was never the pulsating spectacle the pre-race propaganda had promised", and argued that utilising the Grand Prix layout was give better racing to sustain interest from the public.


2003 London Champ Car Trophy, Race, Post-race
The result meant Tracy still led the Drivers' Championship with 65 points but his lead over Junqueira was reduced to 11 points. With 42 points, Jourdain kept third place as Fernández maintained fourth position with 29 points. Carpentier was fifth with 28 points. In the Manufactuers' Championship, Lola further extended their lead over Reynard to 54 points with 14 races left in the season.


2003 London Conservative Party mayoral selection
The London Conservative Party mayoral selection of 2003 was the process by which the Conservative Party selected its candidate for Mayor of London, to stand in the 2004 mayoral election. Former Member of Parliament Steven Norris was selected to stand.


2003 London Conservative Party mayoral selection, Selection process
The Mayoral candidate was selected via a postal ballot of London Conservative Party members.


2003 London Conservative Party mayoral selection, Result
Steven Norris, previously the Conservative Party mayoral candidate in 2000 and the former MP for Epping Forest, was reselected by a wide margin over Havering and Redbridge Assembly Member and Conservative spokesman for Transport Roger Evans on the 16 February 2003.


2003 London Marathon
The 2003 London Marathon was the 23rd running of the annual marathon race in London, United Kingdom, which took place on Sunday, 13 April. The elite men's race was won by Ethiopia's Gezahegne Abera in a time of 2:07:56 hours and the women's race was won by home athlete Paula Radcliffe in 2:15:25. Radcliffe's time was a marathon world record, improving on her own record by nearly two minutes.


2003 London Marathon
In the wheelchair races, France's Joël Jeannot (1:32:02) and Italy's Francesca Porcellato (2:04:21) won the men's and women's divisions, respectively. Jeannot's winning time broke the previous course record by over three minutes.


2003 London Marathon
A total of 111,000 people applied to enter the race (a record high): 45,629 had their applications accepted and 32,746 started the race. A total of 32,536 runners finished the race, including 7768 women.


2003 London blackout
The 2003 London blackout was a serious power outage that occurred in parts of southern London and north-west Kent on 28 August 2003. It was the largest blackout in South East England since the Great Storm of 1987, affecting an estimated 500,000 people.


2003 London blackout
Power went off at about 18:26 British Summer Time. Power returned after 34 minutes at 19:00 BST, but is reported to have taken about two hours to be restored fully in some areas.


2003 London blackout, Media coverage
Even before the blackout, the UK press were anticipating a UK equivalent of the Northeast blackout of 2003 in North America, which occurred two weeks earlier (August 14) and affected about 100 times more people. For example, on August 15, The Daily Express had reported that the National Grid might not be able to cope with predicted power surges within the winter of 2004.


2003 London blackout, Media coverage
On the day of the blackout the BBC reported major problems on transport including the London Underground.


2003 London blackout, Media coverage
Later it became clear to the press that the blackout might not be directly attributable to underinvestment, but this was still the main thrust of the stories: e.g. The Independent, 30 August: "Just admit it, Mr Urwin. National Grid needs to invest more".


2003 London blackout, Media coverage
On 8 September the London Evening Standard ran a story "Blackout report will take weeks". On 10 September National Grid published a 43-page report describing the causes of the blackout (and made it available on the internet). The national BBC TV evening news did not cover this.


2003 London blackout, Media coverage
In mid-October an anonymous National Grid engineer spoke to the BBC. It emerged that there may have been a maintenance problem not covered in National Grid's report (see below).


2003 London blackout, Causes
Initial reports were that there appeared to be a problem with a cable feed from the national grid in the Wimbledon area of south London. A spokesman for National Grid said it was "an unusual occurrence", but "not even vaguely on the scale of what happened in the U.S.", adding that there was a fault in the 275 kV system.


2003 London blackout, Causes
Later National Grid's report revealed that the second fault, and the ultimate cause of the blackout, was the fitting of a wrongly rated part in a backup system - a Buchholz protection relay had the wrong setting; similar to fitting a 1 ampere fuse instead of a 5 ampere fuse. The first fault was a problem with a different transformer. The impression was given that this first fault was in a sense routine - about 13 such faults happen in a year.


2003 London blackout, Causes
Normally it would be possible to switch the transformer that faulted first, out of the system and continue with power uninterrupted using spare capacity on the adjacent second transformer, also in Wimbledon, but in this case the switch over exposed the human error in using a part with the wrong setting on the second transformer.


2003 London blackout, Causes
On 17 October it emerged that the first transformer fault was due to an oil leak, spotted some weeks before the blackout. The oil had been topped up but the leak had not been cured. National Grid's Director Of Transmission admitted to a "small backlog" of maintenance checks.


2003 London blackout, Effects
The London Fire Brigade took around 400 calls and made 100 rescues of people stuck in lifts. All main rail services were at a standstill in south London and the south-east. Sixty percent of the London Underground was affected  (London Underground had shut down the last of their independent generators in favour of using Grid supplies in 2002) and people were stuck underground. 270 sets of traffic lights were hit. To relieve the transport problems, buses accepted train and Tube tickets. Thousands of people took to the rain-soaked streets. Pubs filled up with people sitting out the delays.


2003 Los Angeles Dodgers season
The 2003 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 114th for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 46th season in Los Angeles, California. It was a turbulent season as News Corporation (Fox) was seeking to sell the team. Nevertheless, the Dodgers fell just short of a Wild Card berth, winning 85 games while finishing second in the National League West. The Dodgers pitching staff led baseball in earned run average, Éric Gagné became the first Dodger to earn the NL Cy Young Award since 1988 as he converted all 55 of his save opportunities. Shawn Green set a new Dodger single season record with 49 doubles and Paul Lo Duca had a 25-game hitting streak.


2003 Los Angeles Dodgers season, Major League Baseball Draft
The Dodgers selected 50 players in this draft. Of those, 12 of them would eventually play Major League baseball.


2003 Los Angeles Dodgers season, Major League Baseball Draft
The first round pick was right handed pitcher Chad Billingsley from Defiance High School in Defiance, Ohio. He was a 2009 All-Star and pitched eight seasons with the Dodgers with an 81–61 record and 3.65 ERA in 219 games (190 starts) before missing most of 2013 and all of 2014 with serious arm injuries.


2003 Los Angeles Dodgers season, Major League Baseball Draft
The sixth round pick, outfielder Matt Kemp from Midwest City High School would lead the National League in Home Runs and RBIs in 2011 as well as finishing second in the MVP vote that year.


2003 Los Angeles Dodgers season, Major League Baseball Draft
The draft class also included catcher A. J. Ellis (18th round), who would become the Dodgers starting catcher in 2012.


2003 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
The 29th Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) on January 7, 2004, honored the best in film for 2003. The ceremony was originally called off because of the MPAA screener ban as members felt they could not see all the movies in time for their awards but when that was removed the show was back on.


2003 Los Angeles Sparks season
The 2003 WNBA season was the seventh season for the Los Angeles Sparks franchise. The Sparks reached the WNBA Finals for the third consecutive season, but fell to the Detroit Shock in three games.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup
The 6th Louis Vuitton Cup was held in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2003. The winner, Alinghi, went on to challenge for and win the 2003 America's Cup.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams
The Yacht Club Punta Ala was the challenger of record.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams, Alinghi
Founded by Swiss businessman Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi featured Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth who had both joined from Team New Zealand. Jochen Schuemann was also involved in the team.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams, GBR Challenge
Put together by Peter Harrison and New Zealander David Barnes, the team was skippered by Ian Walker and included Jim Turner. GBR 70 was known as Wight Lightning while GBR 78 was called Wight Magic.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams, Le Defi Areva
Despite 2000 skipper Bertrand Pace joining Team New Zealand, Le Defi returned in 2003 with Luc Pillot skippering FRA 79.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams, Mascalzone Latino
Headed by shipping magnate Vincenzo Onorato, Mascalzone Latino featured an all-Italian crew. The syndicate was only established in 2001 and Paolo Cian served as helmsman and the crew included Flavio Favini, Shannon Falcone, Giuseppe Brizzi, Davide Scarpa, and Pierluigi De Felice. and Francesco De vita


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams, OneWorld
Part-financed by Microsoft mogul Paul Allen, OneWorld was based in Seattle. Skippered by Peter Gilmour, the team was docked one Louis Vuitton point by an arbitration panel for being in possession of design secrets from another team.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams, OneWorld
The design team included Laurie Davidson, Bruce Nelson and Phil Kaiko and the sailing team included 10 Olympic medallists, three round-the-world winners, 60 world championship titles in various classes, and 16 America's Cup winners.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams, OneWorld
The crew included Kevin Shoebridge as a trimmer, Mark Mendelblatt as backup helmsman, Kevin Hall, Rick Dodson, David Endean, Grant Spanhake, Peter Waymouth, Matt Mason, Joey Newton, James Spithill, Jeremy Scantlebury, Alan Smith, Andy Fethers, Andrew Taylor, Scott Crawford, and Olympians Craig Monk, Don Cowie, Ben Ainslie, Kelvin Harrap, Charles and Jonathan McKee.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams, Oracle BMW Racing
Founded by Larry Ellison who bought the assets of 2000 syndicate AmericaOne. The team was skippered by Peter Holmberg and also featured Paul Cayard, Matt Welling, John Cutler, Phil Jameson, Brad Webb, Brian MacInnes, Cameron Dunn, and Chris Dickson. USA 71 and USA 76 were designed by Bruce Farr.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams, Prada Challenge
Founded by Patrizio Bertelli, Prada's crew included members of the 2000 Young America syndicate. They were again skippered by Francesco de Angelis and Rod Davis, Pietro D'Ali, Thomas Burnham, Hartwell Jordan, Piero Romeo, Gavin Brady, Francesco Bruni, Andrew Hemmings, Steven Erickson, Matteo Plazzi, Gilberto Nobili, Massimo Gherarducci, Alberto Barovier, and Torben Grael were in the crew.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams, Team Dennis Conner
Team Dennis Conner's USA 77 suffered a massive blow when it sank off the Californian coast in July before the Cup began. The helmsman was Ken Read and the team included Terry Hutchinson.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams, Victory Challenge
Principal backer Jan Stenbeck died of a heart attack in August 2002. This was Sweden's first America's Cup bid since 1992 and the crew included Magnus Holmberg, Lars Linger, Stefan Rahm, Mikkel Røssberg, Jesper Bank, Mats Johansson, Roger Hall and Olympian Magnus Augustson.


2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, The teams, Victory Challenge
Their boats were designed by Germán Frers and Cole (Skip) Lissiman was their coach.


2003 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team
The 2003 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team represented Louisiana Tech University as a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) during the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by fifth-year head coach Jack Bicknell Jr., the Bulldogs played their home games at Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston, Louisiana and Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech finished the season with a record of 5–7 overall and a mark of 3–5 in conference play, placing seventh in the WAC.


2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election
The 2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on November 15, 2003 to elect the Governor of Louisiana. Incumbent Republican Governor Mike Foster was not eligible to run for re-election to a third term because of term limits established by the Louisiana Constitution.


2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election
As of 2021, this is the most recent Louisiana gubernatorial election in which the winner of the first round did not win the runoff.


2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election, Background
Elections in Louisiana—with the exception of U.S. presidential elections—follow a variation of the open primary system called the jungle primary. Candidates of any and all parties are listed on one ballot; voters need not limit themselves to the candidates of one party. Unless one candidate takes more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, a run-off election is then held between the top two candidates, who may in fact be members of the same party. In this election, the first round of voting was held on October 4, 2003, and the runoff was held on November 15, 2003.


2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election, Campaign
Departing Governor Foster was disqualified from succeeding himself for a third term by Louisiana's constitution, so the 2003 race was perceived as wide open and saw a large number of candidates enter the campaign. The primary phase of the campaign was characterized by the large number of strong Democratic contenders. Ieyoub was seen as one of the strongest Democratic candidates throughout the campaign, and only narrowly lost a slot in the runoff to Blanco, who had a strong base of support in the Acadian parishes and among women voters. The efforts of Leach to appeal to the same base as Ieyoub led them to split the Democratic vote and to come in third and fourth.


2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election, Campaign
The leading Republican candidate, by contrast, was chosen fairly early on. Jindal took a commanding lead among Republican supporters early in the campaign, leaving Hunt Downer far behind.