2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election, Campaign
In the runoff, Jindal received endorsements from the New Orleans Times-Picayune (the largest paper in Louisiana), New Orleans Mayor Nagin (who had supported Ewing in the primary but declined to endorse Blanco in the runoff), and outgoing Republican Governor Mike Foster. Some political analysts believe that his narrow loss was partly due to racism. Other political analysts have blamed Jindal for his refusal to answer questions about his record brought up in several ads, which the Jindal campaign called "negative attack ads", the most effective of which denounced his health care plan.


2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election, Campaign
Still others note that a significant number of conservative Louisianans remained more comfortable voting for a conservative Democrat than for a Republican. The runoff between Bobby Jindal and Kathleen Blanco brought two 'firsts' for Louisiana political history. If elected, Jindal would have been the United States' first Indian-American governor (which he did 4 years later). The victorious Blanco became Louisiana's first woman governor. She was also the second woman to have been lieutenant governor.


2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election, Results
The race was close, with Blanco prevailing by almost 4%. Blanco won a huge majority of Louisiana's parishes, however, Jindal was able to keep Blanco's margin of victory in the single digits with a strong performance in Jefferson Parish and St. Tammany Parish, plus a narrow win in East Baton Rouge Parish. It was ultimately Orleans Parish home of New Orleans that insured a Blanco victory, though her 68.3% victory here was much smaller than Al Gore's 76% in the 2000 presidential election. This was the closest gubernatorial election since 1979, and there would not be another close gubernatorial race in Louisiana until 2019.


2003 Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns football team
The 2003 Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns football team represented the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as a member of the Sun Belt Conference in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. They were led by second-year head coach Rickey Bustle and  played their home games at Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana.


2003 Louisiana–Monroe Indians football team
The 2003 Louisiana–Monroe Indians football team represented the University of Louisiana at Monroe in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A college football season. The Indians offense scored 239 points while the defense allowed 467 points.


2003 Louisville Cardinals football team
The 2003 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team, led by Bobby Petrino in his first year at the school, played their home games in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.


2003 Lower Austrian state election
The 2003 Lower Austrian state election was held on 30 March 2003 to elect the members of the Landtag of Lower Austria.


2003 Lower Austrian state election
The election was won by the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), who won an absolute majority in the Landtag for the first time since 1988. They achieved a strong swing of 8.4 percentage points. The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and The Greens also made gains; this was enabled by the collapse of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). The FPÖ lost almost three-quarters of its vote share and only narrowly passed the 4% electoral threshold, falling from nine seats to just two.


2003 Lower Austrian state election, Background
The Lower Austrian constitution mandates that cabinet positions in the state government (state councillors, German: Landesräten) be allocated between parties proportionally in accordance with the share of votes won by each; this is known as Proporz. As such, the government is a perpetual coalition of all parties that qualify for at least one state councillor. After the 1998 election, the ÖVP had five councillors, the SPÖ three, and the FPÖ one.


2003 Lower Austrian state election, Electoral system
The 56 seats of the Landtag of Lower Austria are elected via open list proportional representation in a two-step process. The seats are distributed between twenty-one multi-member constituencies. For parties to receive any representation in the Landtag, they must either win at least one seat in a constituency directly, or clear a 4 percent state-wide electoral threshold. Seats are distributed in constituencies according to the Hare quota, with any remaining seats allocated using the D'Hondt method at the state level, to ensure overall proportionality between a party's vote share and its share of seats.


2003 Lower Austrian state election, Contesting parties
The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag.


2003 Lower Austrian state election, Contesting parties
In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, three parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.


2003 Lower Saxony state election
The 2003 Lower Saxony state election was held on 2 February 2003 to elect the members of the 15th Landtag of Lower Saxony. The incumbent Social Democratic Party (SPD) majority government led by Minister-President Sigmar Gabriel was defeated. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) came up one seat short of a majority, and formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP). CDU leader Christian Wulff was subsequently elected Minister-President.


2003 Lower Saxony state election, Background
The election in Lower Saxony had larger significance than just in the state itself. Defeat for the Social Democrats in the election would mean they lost their slim majority in the upper house of the German parliament, the Bundesrat. It was thought this might cause the collapse of Gerhard Schröder's national coalition government between the Social Democrats and the Green Party.


2003 Lower Saxony state election, Campaign and issues
The economy was seen as the most important issue in the election, with the Social Democrats suffering as a result.


2003 Lower Saxony state election, Campaign and issues
Opinion polls in December 2002 showed the Christian Democrats in the lead with 43% as against 34% for the Social Democrats.


2003 Lower Saxony state election, Parties
The table below lists parties represented in the 14th Landtag of Lower Saxony.


2003 Lunar New Year Cup
The 2003 Lunar New Year Cup (aka Carlsberg Cup) was a football tournament held in Hong Kong over the first and fourth day of the Chinese New Year holiday (1 February 2003 and 4 February 2003).


2003 MAAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
The 2003 MAAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 5th and final championship in the history of the conference. It was played between March 15 and March 23, 2003. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final four games were played at the Hart Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, the home venue of the Army Black Knights. By winning the tournament Mercyhurst received MAAC's automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.


2003 MAAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
After the 2003 season, both the Fairfield Stags and Iona Gaels discontinued their hockey programs. The remaining 9 teams in the conference then formed Atlantic Hockey which began play in 2003-04.


2003 MAAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Format
The tournament featured three rounds of play with each round being single-elimination. The teams that finish below eighth in the standings are ineligible for tournament play. In the first round, the first and eighth seeds, the second and seventh seeds, the third seed and sixth seeds, and the fourth seed and fifth seeds played with the winner advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the highest and lowest seeds and second highest and second lowest seeds play with the winner advancing to the championship game. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.


2003 MAAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Conference Standings
Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against


2003 MAC Championship Game
The 2003 MAC Championship Game was played on December 4, 2003 at Doyt Perry Stadium in Bowling Green, Ohio. The game featured the winner of each division of the Mid-American Conference. The game featured the Miami RedHawks, of the East Division, and the Bowling Green Falcons, of the West Division. The RedHawks beat the Falcons 49–27. Miami quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw for a game-record 440 yards in the process.


2003 MAC Championship Game
To date, this is the last MAC Championship game to be hosted by one of the schools involved. Subsequent contests have been played at Ford Field in Detroit.


2003 MAC Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2003 MAC Men's Basketball Tournament, a part of the 2002–03 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, took place from March 10–15 at Gund Arena in Cleveland. Its winner received the Mid-American Conference's automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Tournament. It was a single-elimination tournament with four rounds and the three highest seeds received byes in the first round. All MAC teams were invited to participate. Central Michigan, the MAC regular season winner, received the number one seed in the tournament.


2003 MLS All-Star Game
The 2003 Major League Soccer All-Star Game was the 8th Major League Soccer All-Star Game, played on August 2, 2003 at The Home Depot Center, now known as StubHub Center, in Carson, California. The All-Star Game celebrated both the opening of the league's second soccer-specific stadium that season, as well as the announcement of the league's expansion with an eleventh team purchased by the owners of Mexico's Club Deportivo Guadalajara. Then-MetroStars head coach Bob Bradley was tapped to lead the MLS All-Stars against Guadalajara, commonly known as Chivas, and led by their head coach, Eduardo de la Torre.


2003 MLS All-Star Game
A scoreless first half was marked by a defensive effort for the All-Stars. The Los Angeles Galaxy's Kevin Hartman made several key saves, while a backline led by Carlos Bocanegra of the Chicago Fire weathered a persistent Chivas attack. The Fire's Ante Razov scored the first goal in the second half thanks in part to a feed by the San Jose Earthquakes' Landon Donovan past a beaten Oswaldo Sánchez. Jair Garcia broke away from the defense and beat Hartman to tie the game, but the All-Stars responded shortly thereafter with the eventual-game winner by the Galaxy's Carlos Ruiz. The Fire's DaMarcus Beasley tipped in the All-Stars' third goal, which Chivas contested because of an assistant referee's offside call, which was waved off by Kevin Terry. A sellout crowd at The Home Depot Center celebrated the win, as well as the awarding of MVP to local favorite Carlos Ruiz.


2003 MLS SuperDraft
The 2003 MLS Superdraft was held January 17, 2003 in Kansas City, Missouri. It was the fifth annual SuperDraft held by Major League Soccer.


2003 MLS SuperDraft, Player selection
Any player whose name is marked with an * was contracted under the Project-40 program.


2003 MLS Supplemental Draft
Before the 2003 season, Major League Soccer held Supplemental Drafts, in which players who had signed with the league after the 2003 MLS SuperDraft were made available for selection.


2003 MPSL season
The 2003 Men's Premier Soccer League season was the inaugural season of the MPSL.


2003 MPSL season
Arizona Sahuaros finished the season as national champions, beating Utah Salt Ratz in the MPSL Championship game


2003 MPSL season
Three of the teams who contested the first season - Arizona Sahuaros, Chico Rooks and Northern Nevada Aces - previously competed in the United Soccer Leagues, but left to form the breakaway MPSL in protest at the way the USL was being run.


2003 MPSL season, Final standings
Purple indicates regular season title clinchedGreen indicates playoff berth clinched


2003 MPSL season, Final standings
* Chico Rooks played only 14 league games as they represented the MPSL In the USASA National Cup.


2003 MTV Europe Music Awards
The 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards were held in Western Harbour in Edinburgh, Scotland. The awards ceremony was held in a 6,000-capacity big top arena constructed specifically for the main event.


2003 MTV Europe Music Awards
On the night, Justin Timberlake notably received a total of three awards, for Best Male, Best Pop and Best Album.


2003 MTV Europe Music Awards
Presenters included André 3000, Justin Timberlake, The Black Eyed Peas and Ludacris.


2003 MTV Europe Music Awards, Live technical difficulties
During the live performance of Beyoncé and Sean Paul's "Baby Boy" (near to Paul's rap), the back tracking of vocals ("Baby boy you are so damn fine") started to malfunction to repeat as well as losing the instrumental part of the song. Through the technical difficulties, Paul sang for a bit and Beyoncé asked the crowd how they were doing tonight in which received applause and cheers. The airing of the back tracking vocals were cut off from the live airing on TV, but was still being played through the venue.


2003 MTV Europe Music Awards, Live technical difficulties
Both artist and the dancers exited off the stage in which also then resulted confusion among the presenters in which Christina Aguilera walked on to the stage to continue the event, the track stopped playing. After Pink presented the award for Best Album, the duo was asked if they would like to do a re-take in which both agreed and performed with the correct run of what was supposed to happen.


2003 MTV Europe Music Awards, Live technical difficulties
The re-take would replace the original take on re-airings of the show, however it did not replace anything after the second take, the back tracking mistake was cut out completely, however, when Christina walked out. This also resulted the EMAs to be extended due to the second retake, which has never happened before.


2003 MTV Movie Awards
The 2003 MTV Movie Awards was held on May 31, 2003 in Los Angeles. It was hosted by Seann William Scott and Justin Timberlake and featured performances by t.A.T.u., 50 Cent, and Pink. Colin Farrell was presented an award for Trans-Atlantic Breakthrough Performance by Victoria and David Beckham, although this award was not broadcast in the United States. The show included a parody of The Matrix Reloaded, intercutting actual footage with new material from the hosts with appearances by Wanda Sykes as the Oracle and Will Ferrell as the Architect. The unedited version is featured in the DVD version of the film.


2003 MTV Movie Awards, Awards, Best On-Screen Team
Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, and Gollum – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers


2003 MTV Movie Awards, Awards, Best Virtual Performance
Gollum – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers


2003 MTV Movie Awards, Awards, Best Action Sequence
The Battle for Helms Deep – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers


2003 MTV Movie Awards, Awards, Best Fight
Yoda vs. Christopher Lee – Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones


2003 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2003 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on August 28, 2003, honoring the best music videos from June 1, 2002, to June 9, 2003. The show was hosted by Chris Rock at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The ceremony is best remembered for Madonna kissing Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera during the show's opening performance.


2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Nominations, Best Choreography in a Video
Beyoncé (featuring Jay-Z) – "Crazy in Love" (Choreographers: Frank Gatson and LaVelle Smith Jr.)


2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Nominations, Best Special Effects in a Video
Queens of the Stone Age – "Go with the Flow" (Special Effects: Nigel Sarrag)


2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Nominations, Best Editing in a Video
The White Stripes – "Seven Nation Army" (Editor: Olivier Gajan)


2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Nominations, International Viewer's Choice Awards, MTV Brasil
Charlie Brown Jr. – "Papo Reto (Prazer É Sexo, o Resto É Negócio)"


2003 MTV Video Music Awards Japan
The MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2003 were hosted by hip hop artist Zeebra and pop singer and actress Nana Katase


2003 Macau Grand Prix
The 2003 Macau Grand Prix (formally the 50th Macau Grand Prix) was a motor race for Formula Three cars that was held on the streets of Macau on 16 November 2003. Unlike other races, such as the Masters of Formula 3, the 2003 Macau Grand Prix was not a part of any Formula Three championship, but was open to entries from all Formula Three championships. The race was divided into two legs: the first leg was held in the morning and lasted ten laps. The second took place in the afternoon and lasted fifteen laps. The overall winner was the driver who completed all 25 laps in the shortest amount of time. The 2003 event was the 50th running of the Macau Grand Prix and the 21st for Formula Three cars.


2003 Macau Grand Prix
The Grand Prix was won by Signature Plus driver Nicolas Lapierre, having finished second in the first leg which was won by James Courtney of TOM'S. Lapierre took the lead four laps from the end when Courtney sustained a puncture running over carbon fibre debris and crashed into the wall at the Melco hairpin. Lapierre became the first rookie to win in Macau since David Coulthard in 1991. Second place went to the other Signature Plus car driven by Fábio Carbone and third was Prema Powerteam's Katsuyuki Hiranaka.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Background and entry list
The Macau Grand Prix is a Formula Three race considered to be a stepping stone to higher motor racing categories such as Formula One and has been termed the territory's most prestigious international sporting event. The 2003 Macau Grand Prix was the fiftieth running of the event and the twenty-first time the race was held to Formula Three regulations. It took place on the 6.2 km (3.9 mi) 22-turn Guia Circuit on 16 November 2003 with three preceding days of practice and qualifying.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Background and entry list
In order to compete in Macau, drivers had to compete in a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-regulated championship race during the calendar year, in either the Formula Three Euro Series or one of the domestic championships, with the highest-placed drivers given priority in receiving an invitation to the race. Within the 30 car grid for Macau, three of the four major Formula Three series were represented by their respective champions. Ryan Briscoe, the Formula Three Euro Series champion, was joined in Macau by All-Japan Formula Three series winner James Courtney and Italian champion Fausto Ippoliti.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Background and entry list
The highest ranked driver representing the British Formula Three Championship was Nelson Piquet Jr. and he was joined by the series' scholarship champion E. J. Viso. Five drivers from outside of Formula Three received invitations from race organisers to enter the race. They were Lewis Hamilton, the Formula Renault 2.0 UK champion, who was entered as a result of his improved performances at the British series round at Brands Hatch, World Series by Nissan driver Narain Karthikeyan and Macau natives Lei Kit Meng, Michael Ho and Jo Merszei.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Two one-hour practice sessions were held before the race on Sunday: one on Thursday morning and one on Friday morning. Courtney, a pre-race favourite, lapped fastest early in the first practice session with a time of 2 minutes, 14.724 seconds. He was 0.744 seconds quicker than Pierre Kaffer in second. Richard Antinucci, Tatsuya Kataoka, Karthikeyan, Fábio Carbone, Briscoe, Katsuyuki Hiranaka, Robert Kubica and Paolo Montin made up positions three through ten. Three incidents occurred during the session. Hamilton collided with Kataoka at Fisherman's Bend corner and spun into a barrier. Marco Bonanomi hit a wall at Dona Maria Bend corner and Fairuz Fauzy braked too late for Lisboa turn and struck the barrier.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Qualifying was divided into two 45-minute sessions; the first was held on Thursday afternoon, and the second on Friday afternoon. The fastest time set by each driver from either session counted towards their final starting position for the race on Sunday. The start of the first qualifying session was delayed by 35 minutes due to an incident during practice for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia race in which an unknown driver dented an Armco barrier at the exit of the pit lane and course officials had to repair it.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
When the session did start in overcast but warm weather, several drivers occupied provisional pole position, until Courtney avoided using new tyres to set a 2 minutes, 13.232 seconds lap and go quickest. Carbone was six-tenths of a second behind in second having held pole position for much of the session. Kaffer was consistently in the top four and was provisional third. Kataoka took fourth and Robert Doornbos fifth. Nicolas Lapierre corrected a ride height problem that slowed him in practice and was sixth after running strongly throughout. Lapierre was ahead of Montin and Piquet.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Karthikeyan and César Campaniço were ninth and tenth. Antinucci was the fastest driver not to enter the top ten; he was as high as provisional pole position early on. Following Antinucci were Nico Rosberg, Álvaro Parente and Hiranaka. Briscoe was an early pace setter; he could not replicate this form later on and was 15th. The rest of the order was completed by Fauzy, Pedro Barral, Andrew Thompson, Hamilton, Ronnie Quintarelli. Danny Watts, Viso, Naoki Yokomizo, Bonanomi, Ho, Rob Austin, Hiroki Yoshimoto, Kubica, Lei and Merszei.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
The session was disrupted with two red flags as some drivers ventured off the track. Viso spun on the approach to Police Bend and rested sideways on a narrow section of the track. Kubica was close by and tried to avoid Viso but hit the wall and ricocheted off his nose cone. The circuit became impassible as a result, and the session was stopped to allow officials to move the stricken cars. The second stoppage came after Barral spun entering the Melco hairpin and blocked the track. Yellow flags were later needed at the R-Bend turn after Piquet removed his left-rear wheel striking the wall.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
In the second half an hour practice session, Courtne posted a lap time of 2 minutes, 13.566 seconds to go fastest, three-tenths of a second ahead of Antinucci. Kataoka, Lapierre, Doornbos, Montin, Rosberg, Kaffer, Yoshimoto and Carbone placed third through tenth. The first stoppage of the session happened when Austin had an accident and Yokomizo crashed heavily at San Francisco Bend corner. Other drivers to sustain car damage were Piquet, Barral, Briscoe and Hiranaka.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
The start of the second qualifying session was delayed for 25 minutes due to multiple incidents and crashes in second practice and qualifying for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia race. When it did start, most drivers saved two sets of tyres for Sunday's race but nobody improved their laps early on. Although heavy traffic stopped Courtney from improving his time, he continued to hold pole position until Carbone took it with a time of 2 minutes, 13.016 seconds late on. However, Carbone's session ended early spinning into the wall at San Francisco Bend corner trying to improve his time.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Briscoe pushed hard and joined Carbone on the grid's front row despite replacing a wishbone on his suspension after spinning into a barrier at Fisherman's Bend early on. Courtney fell to third, attributing this to a gear ratio change that slowed him. Lapierre improved to fourth while Kaffer fell to fifth. Antinucci also improved his best time and gained five places to qualify sixth despite going off at Lisboa turn. Rosberg clipped the wall at Police bend but set a seventh-place lap. Kataoka was eighth and Montin ninth.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Doornbos had an accident at Lisboa corner and fell five places to tenth. Behind him, the rest of the field lined up as Parente, Fauzy, Piquet, Kubica, Campaniço, Watts, Karthikeyan, Hamilton, Yoshimoto, Quintarelli, Thompson, Barral, Hiranaka, Viso, Austin, Ho, Yokomizo, Bonanomi, Lei and Merszei. As other drivers went off the track, one other major incident occurred during the session: the unwell Karthiekyan could not control his car and pulled off at Police bend.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying, Qualifying classification
Each of the driver's fastest lap times from the two qualifying sessions are denoted in bold.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Warm-up
A twenty-minute warm-up session was held on the morning of the race. Antinucci drove faster than in all the prior sessions and led with a lap of 2 minutes, 14.048 seconds. Carbone was a tenth of a second behind in second and Piquet followed close behind in third. Placing fourth was Kataoka with Doornbos fifth and Kaffer sixth. Briscoe, Montin, Rosberg and Kubica rounded the session's top ten fastest drivers. After warm-up, but before the first leg of the race, the field was reduced to 29 cars as Karthikeyan was withdrawn due to him being diagnosed with glandular fever by the FIA medical delegate.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race
Sunday's race was divided into two aggregate legs lasting a total of 30 laps. The first 15-lap leg was held in the morning and the results of that leg determined the starting order of the second with the winner starting from pole position. Afterwards, a five-hour interval was observed to allow for the intervening support races to occur. The second 15-lap leg took place later in the afternoon. The overall winner of the Grand Prix was the driver who won the second leg provided they had completed all 30 laps in the shortest possible time.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 1
The first leg of the race began under overcast but dry weather at 09:15 Macau Standard Time (UTC+08:00) on 16 November. On the formation lap, one of Piquet's tyres shredded up into Moorish Hill. It then detached and Piquet shattered his front wing. Piquet stopped in the pit lane and ran to the grid to seek a mechanic from his team; repairs could not be completed before the start. Briscoe made a brisk start to draw alongside pole sitter Carbone on the inside into Reservoir Bend corner. Briscoe took the lead after touching wheels with Carbone.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 1
However, Briscoe kept the lead for a short while as he carried excess speed approaching Lisboa turn and ran wide, allowing Carbone back through. Lapierre and Courtney used the situation to claim second and third from Briscoe. Further down the order, Kaffer tried to pass Montin on the inside but hit a barrier on the outside. As Kaffer ricocheted across the track, Rosberg rolled over one of the stricken vehicles and rested upside down on the circuit. Parente also got caught up in the incident and retired. Watts then sustained front wing damage but returned to the pit lane for a replacement nose cone before retiring a lap later.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 1
Because of the wreckage, the safety car was deployed to allow a crane to remove all the stricken cars. The safety car remained on the circuit until the start of the third lap. Lapierre immediately challenged his teammate Carbone, which caused Carbone's right-side front wing endplate to break and launch into the air. Lapierre consequently took the lead new leader by passing Carbone into Lisboa corner and Courtney followed suit. Carbone then fell behind Briscoe who moved to fourth and Antinucci challenged him. In the meantime, Austin moved to 13th after starting 25th.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 1
Upfront, Lapierre withstood pressure from Courtney and responded by setting what was at that point the race's fastest lap, a circuit of 2 minutes and 15.704 seconds on the fifth lap. Courtney was not disconcerted by Lapierre and overtook him on the outside at Lisboa corner for the lead on lap six. Meanwhile, Kataoka passed Doornbos and Hamilton overtook Kubica.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 1
Katoka and Hamilton gained another position on lap seven when a frustrated Briscoe collided with Carbone in an attempt to pass for third due to Carbone braking 30 ft (9.1 m) earlier at Lisboa corner and spun. Carbone continued but Briscoe was stuck in Lisboa turn's escape road where he was trying to restart his car and Antinucci moved into third. Kataoka was now duelling Carbone but an error in traffic trying to overtake Carbone into Lisboa turn forced him to abandon the duel and driving onto the escape road to avoid hitting Carbone.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 1
Katoka was now pressured by Hamilton who overtook Doornbos on lap nine but re-passed him at Lisboa corner on the final lap before Doornbos' drive shaft broke and relinquished positions. Courtney extended his advantage to win by 4.6 seconds and began the second leg from pole position. He was joined on the grid's front row by Lapierre. The last of the finishers were Antinucci, Carbone, Hamilton, Kubica, Fauzy, Thompson, Quintarelli, Hiranaka, Austin, Viso, Yoshimoto, Doornbos, Briscoe, Ho, Bonanomi, Lei, Merszei and Barral. Other retirements included Campaniço, Kataoka and Piquet who damaged their cars through collisions with the wall.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 2
The race's second leg started later that day at 15:55 local time in cloudy weather and on a dry track. Yoshimoto removed his front wing and it was replaced before the second leg began. Courtney held the lead going into Reservoir Bend corner with Lapierre close by. Hamilton moved to third but could not advance any further as he was caught up in a multi-car accident. Hamilton was slow leaving the turn, causing him to run wide, and Kubica challenged him on the inside approaching San Francisco Bend. Kubica crashed into a tyre wall and ricocheted into the incoming field.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 2
Antnucci then drifted into a wall and his front wing broke Hamilton's front track rod following a minor collision with the latter's right-rear tyre. Antinucci's teammate Thompson also went into a barrier. The incidents necessitated the safety car's deployment for two laps as track marshals were required to remove the wrecked cars. Courtney remained first at the restart, followed by Lapierre and fended off a series of initial attacks from him for the lead. Under the safety car, Hamilton noticed he had a punctured tyre from the contact with Antinucci. He allowed Carbone through just before the start/finish line to make the puncture known to race officials; he retired in the pit lane at the end of lap three. Meanwhile, Viso retired on the lap with car damage caused by debris.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 2
Lapierre was underneath the rear of Courtney's car entering the Melco hairpin each time; Courtney pulled out a small advantage on the circuit's straights because his engine was more powerful than Lapierre's. This proved so until Lapierre drew closer to Courtney by setting the race's fastest lap and Courtney responded by doing the same lap after lap. It gave Courtney a small lead to negate the slipstream effect that Lapierre would have had if he was close by. In the meantime, Carbone incurred a drive-through penalty for a pass on Hamilton before the start/finish line.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 2
It was rescinded when race officials realised Hamilton's puncture prevented Carbone from backing out of the manoeuvre. Carbone responded by lapping faster than the top two but Lapierre reacted almost immediately and again began to draw closer to Courtney. Lapierre was soon close enough to attempt an overtake entering Lisboa turn but Courtney blocked him.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 2
Further back, an oil leak forced Parente to retire in the pit lane on lap seven. Meanwhile, Austin lost part of his front wing and led a group of cars that included Rosberg who sought a way past but Piquet was close by. Piquet then stopped attacking, allowing Rosberg to focus on Austin. He drew alongside Austin only for him to come back before the latter made a pit stop for a new front wing.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 2
At the front, Courtney focused on increasing his lead by recording the weekend's fastest lap of 2 minutes, 12.937 seconds on the tenth lap, and it appeared he would win the race comfortably. However, on lap 11, Courtney was two seconds ahead of Lapierre when stray carbon fibre debris lying on the circuit from an earlier incident punctured his right-rear tyre. That rendered Courtney unable to steer and he crashed against a barrier leaving the Melco hairpin. Courtney's front-right suspension was torn from his car and damaged the bodywork. Although Courtney was unhurt, Lapierre took the lead.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 2
Kaffer was hassling Kataoka for sixth but this became fifth when Doornbos' gearbox failed on lap 14. Doornbos' retirement promoted Hiranaka to third as Kaffer overtook Kataoka for fifth. On the final lap, Kataoka retired due to a crash into a wall alongside the circuit. On his maiden appearance in Macau, it was Lapierre's overall victory, completing the second leg in a time of 37 minutes, 0.078 seconds, and achieving the first win for a rookie in Macau since David Coulthard in the 1991 edition.


2003 Macau Grand Prix, Race, Leg 2
Lapierre was 5.416 seconds ahead of his teammate Carbone in second and Hiranaka completed the outright podium in third. Off the podium, Quintarelli had a quiet race in fourth and Briscoe finished fifth. Yoshimoto was sixth, Ho seventh, Austin eighth, Fauzy ninth and Barral tenth. The Macanese duo of Lei and Merszei were 11th and 12th. Bonanomi, Piquet, Kataoka and Doornbos were the last of the overall classified finishers after Lapierre lapped them. Of the 29 drivers, nine completed all 25 laps of the event.


2003 Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly election
Elections to the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly were held on 27 November 2003.


2003 Madrid City Council election
The 2003 Madrid City Council election, also the 2003 Madrid municipal election, was held on Sunday, 25 May 2003, to elect the 7th City Council of the municipality of Madrid. All 55 seats in the City Council were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.


2003 Madrid City Council election
The People's Party (PP) under President of the Community of Madrid Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, who was succeeding the retiring José María Álvarez del Manzano, managed to revert the near-tie situation predicted by opinion polls between his party and the PSOE-IU bloc. Gallardón went on to win a comfortable absolute majority both in votes and seats, reverting the 1999 result in which it had seemed that party's support had begun to decline. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) under Trinidad Jiménez obtained its best result since it was ousted from power in 1989, despite it not being enough to recover the mayoralty. United Left (IU) continued on its long-term decline and lost another seat, scoring its worst result since 1987.


2003 Madrid City Council election
A remarkable event for this election was that both main parties' contenders (Ruiz-Gallardón and Jiménez) were cousins, despite belonging to opposing parties.


2003 Madrid City Council election, Electoral system
The City Council of Madrid (Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Madrid) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Madrid, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly. Elections to the local councils in Spain were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years.


2003 Madrid City Council election, Electoral system
Voting for the local assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the municipality of Madrid and in full enjoyment of their political rights, as well as resident non-national European citizens and those whose country of origin allowed Spanish nationals to vote in their own elections by virtue of a treaty. Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each local council. Councillors were allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale:


2003 Madrid City Council election, Electoral system
The mayor was indirectly elected by the plenary assembly. A legal clause required that mayoral candidates earned the vote of an absolute majority of councillors, or else the candidate of the most-voted party in the assembly was to be automatically appointed to the post. In the event of a tie, the appointee would be determined by lot.


2003 Madrid City Council election, Electoral system
The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of a determined amount of the electors registered in the municipality for which they were seeking election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. For the case of Madrid, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 8,000 signatures were required.


2003 Madrid City Council election, Opinion polls
The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a given poll. When available, seat projections are also displayed below the voting estimates in a smaller font. 28 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Madrid (27 until 1 January 2003).


2003 Maidstone Borough Council election
The 2003 Maidstone Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Maidstone Borough Council in Kent, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.


2003 Maidstone Borough Council election, Background
Before the election no party had a majority on the council with the Liberal Democrats on 21 seats, the Conservatives 19, Labour 12 and 3 independents. The Conservatives stood in all 18 seats which were being contested, the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties each put up 17 candidates, the United Kingdom Independence Party 10 and there were 2 independent candidates.


2003 Maine Black Bears football team
The 2003 Maine Black Bears football team was an American football team that represented the University of Maine as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference during the 2003 NCAA Division I-AA football season. In their 11th season under head coach Jack Cosgrove, the Black Bears compiled a 7–5 record (5–4 against conference opponents) and tied for fifth place in the conference. Dennis Dottin-Carter and Michael Zyskowski were the team captains.


2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 74th midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and celebrated the 70th anniversary of the inaugural All-Star Game played in Chicago, Illinois in 1933.


2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The game was held on July 15, 2003 at U.S. Cellular Field, the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League. The game resulted in the American League defeating the National League 7–6, thus awarding an AL team (which was eventually the New York Yankees) home-field advantage in the 2003 World Series. This game was the first All-Star Game to award home-field advantage in the World Series to the winning league, a rule that stemmed from a controversial 7–7 tie in the previous year's edition.


2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
In the days leading up to the game, Fox advertised it with the tagline: "This time it counts." Subsequent editions altered the slogan to "This one counts" to reflect the new method of determining the World Series' home-field advantage; that arrangement ended with the 2016 edition, where the AL team (which became the Cleveland Indians) also won home-field advantage; the AL would win the next six years, as well as the last four. The winning league had a 9–5 record in the corresponding year's World Series, with the AL going 6–5 in the 11 years it won the All Star Game and the NL going 3–0 in the three years it won the All Star Game.


2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
This All-Star Game marked the seventh All-Star appearance for the Naval Station Great Lakes color guard from Waukegan, Illinois, who this year was joined by police officers from the Kane County Sheriff's Department who presented the Canadian and American flags in the outfield. Both the five-man color guard and the sheriff's department officers accompanied Michael Bublé, who sang O Canada, and Vanessa Carlton, who sang The Star-Spangled Banner. Bublé's performance of "O Canada" was not televised until after the game in the Chicago area, while Carlton's performance was followed by fireworks that shot off the U.S. Cellular Field scoreboard. This was also the last All-Star game to have the stadium's public address announcer announce the all-star rosters & coaches; the game's play-by-play announcer (in this case, Joe Buck) proceeds that custom starting the next year's game and onwards.


2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Rosters
Players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.


2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Game, Game summary
Starters Esteban Loaiza and Jason Schmidt were sharp early on, each throwing a scoreless couple of innings to start the game. In the third, Roger Clemens relieved Loaiza and threw a scoreless inning himself. Randy Wolf could not do the same, allowing Carlos Delgado to single home Ichiro Suzuki with the game's first run, and a 1–0 lead for the AL.


2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Game, Game summary
The lead would stand until the fifth inning, when Todd Helton gave the NL the lead with a two-run homer off Shigetoshi Hasegawa. The National League would go on to score three more runs that inning, on the strength of a two-run double from Andruw Jones and an RBI single from Albert Pujols, giving the NL a 5–1 lead.


2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Game, Game summary
In the sixth, Garret Anderson hit a two-run homer off Woody Williams to bring the AL back within two. Andruw Jones would get one of those runs back the next inning by hitting a solo shot off Mark Mulder. Jason Giambi got the run right back with a solo shot off Billy Wagner in the seventh.


2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Game, Game summary
In the eighth came Éric Gagné, who did not blow any saves in the 2003 regular season. The All-Star Game would prove to be the one blemish on his record for the year. Staked to a 6–4 lead, Gagne gave up a one-out double to Garret Anderson, who was replaced by pinch-runner Melvin Mora. Vernon Wells singled Mora home to make it a one-run game. Then Hank Blalock hit a dramatic, two-out go-ahead home run to put the AL up 7–6.


2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Game, Game summary
Keith Foulke came in the ninth to try to earn the save. Foulke closed the door and set the side down 1-2-3. Garret Anderson, who batted 3–4 with a double, home run and two RBI, was awarded the game's MVP honors, a night after winning the 2003 Home Run Derby.


2003 Major League Baseball draft
The 2003 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 3 and 4. It was conducted via conference call with representatives from each of the league's 30 teams.


2003 Major League Baseball draft, Background
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays selected Camarillo High School outfielder Delmon Young with the first overall pick.


2003 Major League Baseball draft, Background
Young (6-3, 205 pounds) batted .541 (33-for-61) with seven home runs, 28 RBI in 22 games as a senior this spring for Camarillo. He was named Baseball America's High School Player of the Year in 2002 and was one of only three juniors selected as first team 2002 All-Americans. He became the first junior to be named California State Player of the Year since Eric Chavez in 1995.


2003 Major League Baseball draft, Background
At the World Junior Championships in Sherbrooke, Quebec, he helped lead Team USA to a bronze medal while batting .513 with a tournament-record eight home runs and 19 RBI in 38 at-bats.


2003 Major League Baseball draft, Background
Young is the younger brother of retired MLB player Dmitri Young, who was an expansion draft pick of the Rays, but never played in the organization. They became the first set of brothers to be taken within the first five selections of the draft. Dmitri was the 4th player selected by the Cardinals in the 1991 draft.


2003 Major League Baseball draft, Background
Pitchers Ryan Wagner (Cincinnati), Chad Cordero (Montreal), David Aardsma (San Francisco) and infielder Rickie Weeks (Milwaukee) all reached the Major League level in less than a year.


2003 Major League Baseball draft, Background
Chad Cordero was the first 2003 draftee to be selected to an All-Star Game, selected in 2005. Abe Alvarez, drafted in the 2nd round, was the first 2003 draftee to win a World Series championship, although he was not on the 2004 Boston Red Sox postseason roster. Anthony Reyes, drafted in the 15th round, was the first to be on a winning World Series roster.


2003 Major League Baseball draft, Background
The Atlanta Braves selected Rick Sporcic SS Highlands HS (PA)  Round 50 Draft #1480 with the final pick of the 2003 MLB Draft. 2x Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the forty-eighth round (1,408 pick)


2003 Major League Baseball season
The 2003 Major League Baseball season ended when the Florida Marlins defeated the New York Yankees in a six-game World Series. The Detroit Tigers set the American League record for losses in a season, with 119, and the Marlins became the first team to win the championship twice as a wild card.


2003 Major League Baseball season, Postseason, Bracket
Note: Two teams in the same division could not meet in the division series.


2003 Major League Lacrosse season
The 2003 Major League Lacrosse season was the third season of the league. The season began on May 31 and concluded with the championship game on August 24, 2003.


2003 Major League Lacrosse season, General information
Baltimore moved their games to Homewood Field. Long Island moved theirs to Mitchel Athletic Complex and Rochester moved theirs to Bishop Kearney Field.


2003 Major League Lacrosse season, General information
August 17: The first-ever cancellation of an MLL game occurred when rains forced the Baltimore Bayhawks and Long Island Lizards to cancel their game at Mitchel Field.


2003 Major League Lacrosse season, Regular season
W = Wins, L = Losses, , PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against


2003 Major League Lacrosse season, Regular season
*The August 17 game between Baltimore at Long Island was canceled due to weather.


2003 Major League Lacrosse season, Awards, Weekly Awards
The MLL gave out awards weekly for the best offensive player, best defensive player and best rookie.


2003 Major League Soccer season
The 2003 Major League Soccer season was the 8th season of play for Major League Soccer.


2003 Major League Soccer season, Changes from 2002
Instead of a best-of-three series, the MLS Cup Playoffs changed their format so that the quarterfinal fixtures (or conference semifinals) would be a home and away aggregate over two matches, the team with the higher seed would have the home game in the second leg. The two semifinals (or conference finals) became one match fixtures instead of two legs. The Cup final remained one match.


2003 Major League Soccer season, Western Conference Semifinals
San Jose Earthquakes won 5–4 on aggregate after golden goal extra time.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix
The 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix (officially the 2003 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 23 March 2003 at the Sepang International Circuit. It was the second race of the 2003 Formula One season, and it was won by Kimi Räikkönen driving the MP4-17 for  McLaren-Mercedes. This was Räikkönen's first Formula One Grand Prix victory. As well, Fernando Alonso scored his first pole position and podium finish.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix
Before the race, McLaren's David Coulthard was leading the championship however the Scot retired on lap three, handing the championship lead to his teammate, Kimi Räikkönen who finished third in the previous race.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, Report, Background
David Coulthard was leading the championship after winning the first race of the season. Montoya was second. Kimi Räikkönen, Michael Schumacher and Jarno Trulli were in Third, Fourth and Fifth respectively.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, Report, Background
Before the race rain was predicted with the likelihood of heavy showers at 60 per cent. High humidity was also predicted by some people however, causing the teams to be split in terms of tactics.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, Report, Practice
The first Friday practice session saw Fernando Alonso fastest with a time of 1:37.693 and his teammate, Jarno Trulli, two tenths of a second slower putting him in third. Giancarlo Fisichella separated the Renault's with second fastest in the Jordan EJ13.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, Report, Practice
The second session saw Ferrari take over with Michael Schumacher completely eclipsing the efforts of Alonso in the previous session. He went fastest with a 1:34.980. His teammate, Rubens Barrichello, managed second with a 1:35.681 lap at the end of the session.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, Report, Race
Both the BAR of Jacques Villeneuve and the Toyota of Cristiano da Matta failed on the grid, causing them to start from the pit lane; however, this caused confusion after the warm-up lap, forcing Giancarlo Fisichella to reverse into his grid spot, the second-time the Italian took up the wrong position at this circuit. Alonso led the all-Renault front row and led the cars into the first corner, but Michael Schumacher, who started from third position, tangled whilst attempting to pass Jarno Trulli, knocking Trulli into a spin and dropping him to last. Schumacher was forced to pit for a new nosecone and after serving a drive-through penalty for the incident, dropped to the rear of the field. He later accepted blame for the incident.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, Report, Race
A chain reaction further back in the field caused Jaguar driver Antônio Pizzonia to rear-end Juan Pablo Montoya, removing the latter's rear wing. Montoya was forced to pit, losing two laps during a rear-wing replacement. As a result, David Coulthard of McLaren-Mercedes was left in second position, but his prospects were ended on the second lap with an electronics failure. He later criticised the team. His team-mate Räikkönen had moved into second place by passing the Sauber of Nick Heidfeld. On the tenth lap, Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello passed Heidfeld for third place.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, Report, Race
The podium positions stayed that way with Räikkönen cutting into the lead when Alonso pitted first out of the front three on lap 14, a sign that he was carrying a lighter fuel load during qualifying. Alonso did break the record for youngest driver to lead a race (the previous record having remained since 1951). Räikkönen circulated until lap 19, using the lighter fuel load to post faster lap times, and after his pit stop emerged ahead of Alonso.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, Report, Race
Barrichello also made up time before pitting on the 21st lap, but did not clear Alonso upon his return to the track, with a deficit of over three seconds. By this stage, Trulli had recovered to 6th place, challenging the BAR of Jenson Button for fifth position. Räikkönen gradually extended his lead, which reached 17.8 s by the 33rd lap. Button pitted on the 34th lap, allowing Trulli clean air to post faster lap times.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, Report, Race
Alonso then pitted on the 35th lap, freeing Barrichello, who did not pit until the 38th lap and re-entered the race ahead of Alonso. Räikkönen was the last of the contenders to pit, doing so on lap 40 and further extending his lead. Meanwhile, a delay with a fuel nozzle had denied Trulli the opportunity to jump Button in the pits. Michael Schumacher, with a light car at the end of his stint, passed Trulli and Button in quick succession before conceding his gains with a final pit stop.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, Report, Race
On lap 41  Justin Wilson pulled into the Minardi garage to retire, as the straps on his HANS device worked loose and pinched his shoulders, resulting in temporary paralysis of both his arms. It took the team nearly 10 minutes to ease Wilson out of the car before he was taken to hospital. He recovered before the next race.


2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, Report, Race
On the 51st lap, Trulli spun attempting to pass Button. He and Schumacher eventually passed Button on the final corner after the Briton made a mistake. Räikkönen eventually earned his maiden Grand Prix victory with a large margin of 39s.


2003 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2003 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix was the fourteenth round of the 2003 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 10–12 October 2003 at the Sepang International Circuit.


2003 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix, Championship standings after the race (motoGP)
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round fourteen has concluded.


2003 Maldives FA Cup
The 2003 Maldives FA Cup, was the 16th edition of the Maldives FA Cup.


2003 Maldives civil unrest
On Saturday September 20, 2003 civil unrest broke out in Malé, the capital city of the Maldives. This unrest was provoked by the death of Hassan Evan Naseem at Maafushi Prison - located on a separate inhabited island - and the subsequent shooting at the same prison, that killed 3 and injured 17 others.


2003 Maldives civil unrest
Many government buildings, vehicles and other public properties were set on fire, some were destroyed. The government controlled the unrest by around 23:00 and declared a State of Emergency in Malé and nearby islands. Late night curfews were enforced from 22:00 to 04:30 in Malé for more than a month following the rioting.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Naseem's death
On Friday September 19, 2003, Naseem, who was serving at Maafushi Jail for drug abuse related offenses, was beaten by the NSS personnel of the security unit in the jail. This led to Naseem's death the following day. The beating came about as punishment for the disturbances from complicated disputes between Naseem's inmates and "neighboring" prisoners. To control the disturbances caused by these disputes (and reportedly to investigate this incident) security personnel came with a list of "troublemakers". Though it is said that, Naseem was not involved in the above-mentioned incident his name appeared on the list.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Naseem's death
The security guards then had gone in to round-up the listed prisoners. Naseem had resisted and had refused to leave his cell, demanding reasons for his summoning. This resistance ended up injuring a security guard which led to numerous members of the security unit storming into the cell. Naseem was then moved to solitary confinement (referred to as "the range"). On the same night he was severely beaten up by 12 officers. He died in the early morning of September 20, 2003, largely due to injuries sustained to his lungs from the beating.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Shooting incident
Inmates of Naseem learned of his death at around 11:00 on 20 September 2003. On receiving this news, they demanded to meet with a Security officer from the Department of Corrections. There was no response to these repeated demands. Some of the prisoners refused to take lunch to reflect their concern about Naseem's death.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Shooting incident
Funeral prayers were performed by Naseem's inmates and many other prisoners, after mid-day prayers. Shortly afterwards a loud uproar came from Block C where Naseem's cell was located. Two inmates then jumped out of cell C3 after its corrugated iron sheets were pushed open. More prisoners followed them and attacked jail security unit personnel. They tried to calm the prisoners down for a while and then dispersed them when the prisoners refused to cease their attack. By now more inmates came out of the Block C and opened other Blocks, facilitating more prisoners to come out.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Shooting incident
Captain Adam Mohamed, in charge of security unit, was informed of this uprising. He issued instructions to block the premises. Upon Mohamed's instruction to block the premises, Jail Security Unit personnel were issued riot gear. Prisoners on the loose confronted with this unit. Since prisoners highly outnumbered them, security personnel in riot gear soon retreated.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Shooting incident
The angry mob then turned to Adam Mohamed himself. Mohamed Faseeh, a prisoner from the crowd, questioned him about Naseem's death, to which he did not respond reasonably. During this confrontation, Adam Mohamed ordered security units to take arms. Sergeant Shahid Ali Manik, shot the first shots into the air at 12:30. He then aimed and shot at Faseeh without further warning. Subsequently, Private Hassan Rifaau, Private Ahmed Mujuthaba Hussain and Private Mohamed Jinaah shot the prisoners. Some were shot from behind while retreating, others directly from the front.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Shooting incident
Twelve rifles were issued from the armory and 15 persons had possession of them during the rampage.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Shooting incident, Fatalities and casualties
A total of 20 people, including a security officer, were shot during the shooting incident at Maafushi prison. Fifteen of the 20 were shot above the knees and 9 of them were directly shot from behind while retreating. Six were shot from front and bullet entry points were not determinable in 5 persons. Abdualla Ameed died instantly due to being hit directly in the head. Two died in a Sri Lankan hospital while being treated.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Unrest
Naseem was taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, on September 20, 2003, in Malé. News of his death soon began to spread by word of mouth. By noon, many learnt about Naseem's death. People soon started gathering near the hospital to witness and to verify. Access was denied to the public and relatives, except for his mother and father.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Unrest
A large number of people gathered at his burial service. While people were at the cemetery, news of the shooting incident reached the already angry public. Civil unrest in Malé started with this news. Several police stations were set on fire, government buildings were attacked, and government vehicles were set on fire or destroyed by the angry mob. Among the key places target were The Elections Division office, the Majlis and the High Court.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Unrest
Tear gas drifted through the streets of Malé in the late evening and police used force to control the mob when as they reached Shaheed Hussain Adam Building. By 23:00, several people were arrested. President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom addressed to the nation soon after controlling the riot.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Investigation
Gayoom established a Presidential Commission on September 20, 2003 to investigate Naseem's death and the shooting incident at Maafushi Prison. The findings of the commission were released to the public with the title "Report on the Death of Hassan Evan Naseem" and "Investigative Findings on the Incident of Shooting at Maafushi jail" respectively. However, several sections from these public report were omitted due to national security concerns.


2003 Maldives civil unrest, Investigation
During the investigation, survivors were interviewed and investigation teams were sent to Nawaloka Hospital and Apollo Hospital in Colombo where those who survived were being treated. Members of the commission visited Maafushi jail on September 23 and October 6, 2003 and Girifushi training center (on November 30) to obtain information on the nature of weapons used in shooting.


2003 Maldivian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in the Maldives on 17 October 2003. The election took the form of a referendum on a single candidate nominated by the People's Majlis. Incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was nominated for a sixth term, and was approved by 90% of voters.


2003 Malmö FF season
Malmö FF competed in Allsvenskan, Svenska Cupen and The UEFA Cup for the 2003 season.


2003 Malmö FF season, Club, Other information
Updated to match played 19 OctoberSource: Malmö FF and Malmö Stadion


2003 Malta Open darts
2003 Malta Open is a darts tournament, which took place in Malta in 2003.


2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum
A referendum on European Union membership was held in Malta on 8 March 2003. The result was 54% in favour. The subsequent April 2003 general elections were won by the Nationalist Party, which was in favour of EU membership, the opposition Labour Party having opposed joining. Malta joined the EU on 1 May 2004.


2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum
The referendum saw the highest turnout in an EU membership referendum (91%) and the lowest support for joining of any of the nine countries that held referendums on joining the EU in 2003.


2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum, Background
Malta's first relations with the European Economic Community (EEC) saw the signing of an Association Agreement in December 1970. This agreement called for the creation of a customs union based on free trade between Malta and the Bloc.


2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum, Background
Malta submitted a formal application to join the European Community in July 1990, which was met with a positive opinion from the European Commission. However the application was suspended in 1996 with a new Labour government. After the Nationalist Party won the 1998 election, the new government reactivated Malta's membership application. Negotiations to join were finished at the Copenhagen summit in December 2002 and Malta was invited to join the EU in 2004.


2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum, Background
The government of Malta announced in January 2003 that a non-binding referendum on membership would be held on 8 March 2003 at the same time as local elections.


2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum, Campaign
In the run up to the referendum polls showed voters were evenly divided over EU membership. The Nationalist government argued that Malta would receive EU funds for the roads and tourist industry. They said that Malta needed the EU in order to cope with globalisation and accused the opposition of scaremongering.


2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum, Campaign
The Labour opposition feared that EU membership would cost jobs due to the lowering of trade barriers and jeopardise Malta's independence. They preferred that Malta should form a partnership with the EU rather than seeking membership and called on Maltese votes to either spoil their ballot papers, abstain or vote no. One billboard for the no campaign showed the Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami wearing a Diaper made of the flag of Europe.


2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum, Campaign
The largest trade union in Malta, the General Workers' Union opposed membership.


2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum, Referendum question
The question voted in on in the referendum was confirmed on 3 January 2003. It was "Do you agree that Malta should become a member of the European Union in the enlargement that is to take place on 1 May 2004?"


2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum, Aftermath
Supporters of the Nationalist party celebrated the result of the referendum but the Labour leader Alfred Sant did not concede defeat and said the issue would be settled at the upcoming general election. He argued that only 48% of registered voters had voted yes and that therefore a majority had opposed membership by voting no, abstaining or spoiling their ballot. The day after the referendum the Prime Minister called the election for 12 April as expected, though it was not required until January 2004.


2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum, Aftermath
The main issue in the 2003 election was EU membership and the Nationalist party's victory enabled Malta to join on 1 May 2004.


2003 Maltese general election
General elections were held in Malta on 12 April 2003. The result was a victory for the Nationalist Party, which won 35 of the 65 seats in Parliament.


2003 Malé League
The 2003 Malé League was the third season of the Malé League.


2003 Manchester City Council election
Elections to Manchester Council were held on Thursday, 1 May 2003. One third of the council was up for election as well as a vacancy in Benchill, with each successful candidate to serve a one-year term of office, expiring in 2004, due to the boundary changes and 'all-out' elections due to take place in that year. Turnout was down slightly to 22.2%, with Labour retaining overall control of the council. The election saw the Greens winning their first seat, and half a dozen Liberal Democrat gains resulting in Labour's majority being the lowest in twenty years. The three Independent Labour candidates stood as "Independent Progressive Labour".


2003 Manchester City Council election, Election result
After the election, the composition of the council was as follows:


2003 Manitoba general election
The 2003 Manitoba general election was held on June 3, 2003 to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the New Democratic Party, which won 35 seats out of 57. The Progressive Conservative Party finished second with twenty seats. The Liberal Party won two seats.


2003 Manitoba general election, Results
1 One of the two independent candidates is a member of the federal Christian Heritage Party, while the other was formerly a candidate of the Libertarian Party.


2003 Manitoba general election, Candidates by Riding
(x) denotes incumbent. Election expenditures refer only to candidate expenses.


2003 Mario Andretti Grand Prix at Road America
The 2003 Mario Andretti Grand Prix at Road America was the twelfth round of the 2003 CART World Series season, held on August 3, 2003 at the Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.


2003 Mario Andretti Grand Prix at Road America
The race was shortened to 34 laps from the scheduled 60 after the race was red-flagged twice because of rain. The first stoppage lasted 20 minutes after only 1 lap and the second lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes after lap 7. With darkness impending at the restart after the second red flag period, the race had to be shortened from its original length.


2003 Mario Andretti Grand Prix at Road America, Race cancellation and rescheduling
This race was canceled in March 2003 (along with the planned race for 2004) after a legal dispute developed between the Road America's owner George Bruggenthies and CART. However, Mario Andretti was able to negotiate an agreement between the parties and the race was restored to CART's schedule in April. The race was then named in Andretti's honor.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing
The 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing occurred on August 5, 2003 in Mega Kuningan, South Jakarta, Indonesia. A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the lobby of the JW Marriott Hotel, killing 12 people and injuring 150. Those killed including a white Dutch man while the rest were Indonesian. The hotel was viewed as a Western symbol, and had been used by the United States embassy for various events. The hotel was closed for five weeks and reopened to the public on September 8.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Prelude
Two weeks prior to the bombing, there was a tip call to senior Indonesian police officers from a militant captured during a raid in Semarang that two carloads of bomb-making materials were heading to the capital, Jakarta. During the raid, the police also discovered some drawings outlining specific areas in the city for possible attacks.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, The explosion
A Toyota Kijang, bought on July 20, 2003, from an Indonesian businessman for 25.75 million rupiah was loaded with explosives and driven through the taxi stand in front of the Marriott Hotel. The vehicle stopped briefly in front of the lobby and CCTV cameras show a security guard approaching the vehicle, briefly speaking to the driver. The security guard then turns and a detonation can be seen. It is still not clear if the explosion was accidental, set off by remote detonation or a timer exploding prematurely.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, The explosion
If the vehicle had kept a course heading straight for the lobby the damage would undoubtedly have been more severe. The blast radius was visible along with the shattered windows of nearby buildings. According to Indonesian police, one of the ingredients in the car bomb contained the same chemical used in the deadly 2002 Bali bombings. The bombs in both cases were made of the same mixture of explosives, mobile phones were used as detonators, and the attackers had tried to scrape off the identification numbers from the vehicle bombs.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, The explosion
The severed head of Asmar Latin Sani, aged 28, and from West Sumatra, was later found on the fifth floor of the building, The head was identified by two jailed members of the Jemaah Islamiyah group who said they had recruited him.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, The explosion
Investigators uncovered the charred remains of a battery used to power the bomb and said it was similar to the ones used in a series of bombings against Christian churches on Christmas Eve 2000, in which 19 people were killed.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, The explosion
The attack came two days before a verdict in the trial of the Bali nightclub bombers. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack and the perpetrators are known to have trained in al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
Six days after the bombing, on August 11 al-Qaeda claimed responsibility, via the Arab media Al Jazeera, and singled out Australia for special attention. The statement said


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
This operation is part of a series of operations that Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri has promised to carry out. [ It is] a fatal slap on the face of America and its allies in Muslim Jakarta, where faith has been denigrated by the dirty American presence and the discriminatory Australian presence".


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), an organisation affiliated with al-Qaeda, is alleged to have carried out the bombing. The al-Qaeda link has been backed by Indonesia's Minister of Defense, Matori Abdul Djalil who said the Marriott bombers had trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Each one of them has special abilities received from training in Afghanistan and Pakistan," Matori Abdul Djalil said on August 11, 2003. He also claimed that the bombers were linked to a group of people arrested in the eastern Indonesian town of Semarang during July 2004 and are alleged to be members of Jemaah Islamiah.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
There are many more Jemaah Islamiah members on the loose in Indonesia.... Because of this I am sure that JI is behind all of this.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
On May 5, 2006 the International Crisis Group released its  entitled Terrorism in Indonesia. It described the events leading up the attack;


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
The trigger for the Marriott bombing came in December 2002, when Indonesian police stepped up the hunt for Jemaah Islamiyah members while investigating the 2002 Bali bombings. Toni Togar, a JI member based in Medan, North Sumatra, was nervous, because his house stored all the explosives left over from JI's 2000 Christmas Eve bombings. He contacted Noordin Mohammad Top to tell him he was going to throw them out. Noordin had been part of the team that carried out the Christmas Eve bombings which was led by Hambali and included Imam Samudra and many of the other 2002 Bali bombers. He told Togar to hold on as he "saw good materials being wasted".


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
Abu Bakar Bashir approved of Hambali's activities, and Toni Togar was selected to take part in the new bombing plot. Hambali had already set a precedent for a secret team pursuing jihad on its own. This was in part because he controlled the separate funding from al-Qaeda. In January 2003, Muhammad Rais, Noordin and Azahari Husin moved to Bengkulu, where a group of JI members lived, including Asmar Latin Sani, who became the Marriott suicide bomber. The next stages of the operation took place in February 2003 when the explosives were transported from Dumai to Bengkulu via Pekanbaru,


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
Azahari secured the detonators with a new team member, Masrizal bin Ali Umar. also known as Tohir, another Pondok Ngruki graduate and a Luqmanul Hakiem teacher who was a close friend of Rais. After the explosives safely reached Bengkulu as unaccompanied baggage on an intercity bus, they were stored at the house of Sardona Siliwangi, another Ngruki student and JI member. At the time, Sardona, who was working with Asmar Latin Sani, opened a bank account in March 2003 to facilitate financial transactions for Noordin.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
In late April 2003, Mohamed Ihsan also known as Gembrot and Idris, who was involved in the 2000 Christmas Eve bombings transported the explosives again. In May, he and Toni Togar, robbed a bank in Medan on May 6 to raise funds for the project. "Ismail", a Luqmanul Hakiem student who had worked with Rais and Noordin in the shock absorber repair shop in Bukittinggi, then received an email from Noordin asking him to pick up some packages from a man in Dumai. Ismail obliged, and the package turned out to be cash in Australian dollars, sent by Hambali via a courier.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
A book that appears based in part on transcripts of Hambali's interrogation says Hambali arranged for A$25,000 to be sent: A$15,000 for operational expenses, A$10,000 for Bali bomber families. Conboy, op. cit., p. 229. Hambali's younger brother, Rusman Gunawan, who was arrested in Karachi in September 2003, testified Hambali had secured a promise of A$50,000 from an Noordin on how to bring the cash from Dumai to Lampung.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
On June 4, 2003, in Lampung, the final team was put together: Noordin, Azhari, Ismail, Asmar Latin Sani, and Tohir. Noordin assigned the tasks and explained that he was in charge, Azhari was field commander and Ismail his assistant. Asmar and Tohir would be in charge of renting the house, buying the vehicles and getting the explosives to Jakarta. Asmar had agreed to be the suicide bomber. When they got to Jakarta, they split into two teams to survey four possible targets.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
Azhari and Ismail examined the Marriott and a Citibank branch; Noordin and Tohir looked at the Jakarta International School and the Australian International School. Eventually they decided on the hotel because of the American brand name and the fact that it was easy to reach. The bombing took place on 5 August.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
They all drove back to Blitar with 25 kilograms of potassium chlorate and ten kilos of sulfur for bomb making, as well as a pistol and ammunition. Not long afterwards, another operative delivered 30 extra kilograms of TNT.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Investigation
Around this time a pamphlet was circulating in jihadist groups that was a translation from Arabic into Indonesian of an article that first appeared in the al-Qaeda on-line magazine Sawt al-Jihad. Entitled "You Don't Need to Go to Iraq for Jihad", it was written in 2003 by a Saudi jihadist, Muhammad bin Ahmad as-Salim.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Al-Qaeda connection
Stuart A. Levey, the former Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the United States, believes that the 2002 Bali bombing, and the Marriott Hotel bombing were financed by smuggling $30,000 in cash for each attack from al-Qaeda to allied terrorists in Asia. By contrast, the 9/11 Commission estimated the 11 September attacks in 2001 cost between $400,000 and $500,000 over two years—at least some of which was deposited in foreign accounts and accessed by the plotters in the USA.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Al-Qaeda connection
Then Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney said:


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Al-Qaeda connection
Hambali went to the training camps in Afghanistan that they ran back in the '90s, subsequently received funding from al Qaeda, went back then to Indonesia, and was behind some of the major attacks there. So you've got this sort of home-grown, but nonetheless affiliated, extremist operation going now in Indonesia. You'll find the same thing if you go to Morocco, where they had the attack in Casablanca; in Turkey, Istanbul, and so forth.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Al-Qaeda connection
It was the simultaneous presence at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan by militants from across South East Asia that facilitated many of the personal relationships that exist between JI and members of other violent Islamist groups. These include the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a secessionist movement fighting for a Muslim homeland in the southern Philippines, as well as several other Indonesian, Malaysian and Thai groups. The weight of evidence suggests that although some JI personnel might be inspired by the larger global mystique of figures such as Osama bin Laden, the South East Asian group remains operationally and organisationally distinct.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Effects
The Jakarta Stock Exchange market index tumbled 3.1 percent after the attack and its currency, the rupiah, lost as much as 2 percent of its value against the US dollar.


2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, Effects
Australia issued a warning for its citizens to avoid all international hotels in Jakarta after intelligence found the capital could be under the threat of further attacks.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team
The 2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team represented Marshall University in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. Marshall did not make a bowl game for the first time since 1997. The Thundering Herd's upset against sixth-ranked Kansas State highlighted the  season.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
Graham Gochneaur won a matchup of backup quarterbacks to give Marshall its first victory over a ranked BCS opponent.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
Marshall's Butchie Wallace rambles 45 yards in the first quarter.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
"Nobody can ever take this away from me -- the No. 6 team in the nation", Gochneaur said after throwing two touchdown passes in a 27–20 upset of Kansas State (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP).


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
But Gochneaur, who threw the winning 3-yard touchdown pass to Jason Rader and added a 2-point conversion with just over 3 minutes left, had plenty of help from his teammates.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
The Thundering Herd, known more for passing than for running or defense, rushed for 210 yards, forced four turnovers and made two goal-line stands in breaking Kansas State's 41-game home nonconference winning streak.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
Gochneaur, making his second start in relief of the injured Stan Hill, was 16-for-24 for 106 yards with one interception.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
Kansas State's Jeff Schwinn, another backup making his second start, was 14-for-26 for 241 yards, but also fumbled twice and threw an interception.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
Hill has a sprained left knee, and Kansas State quarterback Ell Roberson has an injured left wrist. Roberson could have played, coach Bill Snyder said, but the Wildcats did not want to risk him in a nonconference game.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
Kansas State had one last chance to force overtime, when Schwinn's 33-yard pass to Darren Sproles gave the Wildcats a first down at the Marshall 3 with 25 seconds left. The Wildcats were unable to get past the 2, though, and Schwinn's throw to Davin Dennis fell incomplete in the end zone as time ran out.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
The Thundering Herd got 112 yards rushing from Franklin Wallace and another 83 from Earl Charles.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
"I think they underestimated us, but we didn't have any doubt", Wallace said. "You can't just throw the ball and not run it."


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
And after giving up an average of almost 203 yards rushing in their first three games, the Herd held the Wildcats to 127 yards.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
They also held Sproles—who was averaging almost 120 yards on the ground—to 77 yards on 14 carries and stuffed Schwinn on fourth-and-2 from the 3 on Kansas State's first drive of the second half.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
Schwinn had 21 carries—far more than he or Snyder had envisioned—for 32 yards.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
Sproles scored on a 12-yard run with 8:22 left to put Kansas State up 20–19, after Marshall punter Klint Rose muffed a snap and Kevin Huntley recovered at the Herd 44.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
But Chris Royal returned the kickoff 31 yards to the Marshall 40. Ten plays later, Gochneaur threw the winner to Rader and added a 2-point conversion pass to Josh Davis.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
Kansas State's last drive came after Marshall's Nick Kelly missed a 45-yard field-goal attempt with 1:27 to go.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
Schwinn ran for a 1-yard touchdown that put Kansas State up 7–0 but undid his early success with fumbles that led to two touchdowns by the Thundering Herd.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
Bobby Jordan intercepted Gochneaur's pass on the first play after Schwinn's touchdown keeper, and Schwinn's 22-yard pass to Jermaine Moreira gave the Wildcats first-and-goal at the 10.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
But on second-and-goal from the 9, Schwinn pitched the ball straight to defensive end Johnathan Goddard, who returned it 84 yards for a 7–7 tie.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
"It's heartbreaking", Kansas State center Nick Leckey said. "It's just so frustrating, because you're right there -- and then mistakes happen."


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
After Joe Rheem's 42-yard field goal put Kansas State up 10–7, Schwinn fumbled as he was sacked by Jamus Martin. Reggie Hayes recovered at the Marshall 45, and the Herd converted with Gochneaur's 9-yard touchdown pass to Darius Watts for a 13–10 lead.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
After Ben Lewis missed the conversion, Martin recovered Meier's fumble at Kansas State 40 and Kelly's field goal put Marshall up 16–10 at the half.


2003 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, Team players drafted in the NFL
The following players were selected in the 2004 NFL Draft.


2003 Marshallese general election
General elections were held in the Marshall Islands on 17 November 2003. Although there are no legally incorporated political parties on the Islands, candidates to the Legislature stood either as supporters of President Kessai Note's government (constituting an informal "United Democratic Party"), or on an opposition platform (Aelon̄ Kein Ad).


2003 Marshallese general election, Results
The pro-government side increased its overall majority by one seat.


2003 Martiniquean autonomy referendum
A referendum on autonomy was held in Martinique on 7 December 2003, alongside an identical referendum in Guadeloupe. Voters were asked whether they wanted the island to become a territorial collectivity. The proposal was rejected by 50.48% of voters.


2003 Maryborough state by-election
A by-election was held in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland seat of Maryborough on 26 April 2003. It was triggered by the resignation of sitting member John Kingston.


2003 Maryborough state by-election
The by-election resulted in the baton passing from one independent to another when Chris Foley was elected as the new member.


2003 Maryborough state by-election, Background
John Kingston was first elected to state parliament as one of 11 One Nation candidates ushered in at the 1998 state election. All eleven members would eventually break with their party, with Kingston doing so in early 1999 to sit as an independent. He was re-elected in that capacity at the 2001 state election before resigning in 2003 due to ill health.


2003 Maryborough state by-election, Candidates
Kingston's retirement presented the Labor Party with an opportunity to win back the seat they had held prior to his 1998 victory. Labor preselected postal worker Doug Loggie.


2003 Maryborough state by-election, Candidates
The contest for National Party preselection—which had last held the seat from 1983 to 1989—saw Peter Andrews win endorsement over four other candidates. Ominously, one of those candidates, church pastor and financial advisor Chris Foley, chose to stand for the by-election in an independent capacity.


2003 Maryborough state by-election, Result
Chris Foley easily outpolled the candidate of his former party and, with the help of preferences, won the seat over Labor candidate Doug Loggie.


2003 Maryland Terrapins football team
The 2003 Maryland Terrapins football team represented the University of Maryland in the 2003 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the Terrapins' 51st season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Ralph Friedgen led the team for his third season as head coach, while Charlie Taaffe served as the third-year offensive coordinator and Gary Blackney as the third-year defensive coordinator. Maryland finished the season with a 10–3 record. The Terrapins received an invitation to the Gator Bowl, where they defeated West Virginia, 41–7, in what was a rematch of a regular season game.


2003 Maryland Terrapins football team, 2003 Terrapins in professional football
The following players were selected in the 2004 NFL Draft.


2003 Maryland Terrapins football team, 2003 Terrapins in professional football
This squad would be loaded with future NFL players on top of the prior names whom were drafted including


2003 MasterCard German Open
The 2003 MasterCard German Open was a women's tennis event that was played in Berlin, Germany from 5 May to 11 May 2003. It was one of two Tier I events that took place on red clay in the build-up to the second Grand Slam of the year, the French Open. Third-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne won the singles title and earned $182,000 first-prize money.


2003 MasterCard German Open, Finals, Doubles
Virginia Ruano Pascual /  Paola Suárez defeated  Kim Clijsters /  Ai Sugiyama, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4


2003 MasterCard Truck Series
The 2003 MasterCard Truck Series was the second and final season of MasterCard Truck Series. César Tiberio Jiménez was proclaimed champion. This series was replaced by Desafío Corona the next year.


2003 Masters (snooker)
The 2003 Benson & Hedges Masters was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 2 and 9 February 2003 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England.


2003 Masters (snooker)
Paul Hunter, who was aiming to complete a hat-trick of Masters titles, lost 3–6 to Mark Williams in the semi-final. Williams then beat Stephen Hendry 10–4 in the final to win his second Masters title. Hendry made the highest break of the championship with a 144 in his semi-final match against Ken Doherty, but missed out on a 147 during his quarter-final match against local favourite Jimmy White when he failed to pot the final pink.


2003 Masters (snooker)
This was the last Masters to be sponsored by Benson & Hedges after the ban on tobacco advertising which came into effect in summer 2003. Regal's sponsorship of the Scottish Masters, the Welsh Open and the Scottish Open also ended during the 2002/2003 season. However, Embassy continued to sponsor the World Championship until 2005.


2003 Masters (snooker)
A total attendance of 24,329 was the events highest since 1988.


2003 Masters (snooker), Field
Defending champion Paul Hunter was the number 1 seed with World Champion Peter Ebdon seeded 2. Places were allocated to the top 16 players in the world rankings. Players seeded 15 and 16 played in the wild-card round against the winner of the qualifying event, Mark Davis (ranked 37), and Steve Davis (ranked 25), who was the wild-card selection. Mark Davis, Quinten Hann and Joe Perry were making their debuts in the Masters.


2003 Masters (snooker), Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:


2003 Masters (snooker), Qualifying
The 2002 Masters Qualifying Event was held between 21 and 31 October 2002 at Pontin's in Prestatyn, Wales. The winner of this series of matches, who qualified for the tournament, was Mark Davis. Tony Drago made his first and to date only maximum break against Stuart Bingham.


2003 Masters Tournament
The 2003 Masters Tournament was the 67th Masters Tournament, held April 11–13 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Mike Weir won his only major title in a one-hole playoff over Len Mattiace. He was the first Canadian to win a major, and also the first left-handed player to win the Masters. He is also the only Canadian to win the tournament.


2003 Masters Tournament
The start of the first round was delayed until early Friday morning due to successive days of heavy rain; the second round was started on Friday afternoon and completed on Saturday morning.


2003 Masters Tournament, Field
Tommy Aaron, Seve Ballesteros, Charles Coody, Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Nick Faldo (10,11), Raymond Floyd, Bernhard Langer (16,17), Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize, Jack Nicklaus, José María Olazábal (10,14,16), Mark O'Meara (3), Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Vijay Singh (4,10,14,15,16,17), Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods (2,3,4,5,12,14,15,16,17), Ian Woosnam, Fuzzy Zoeller


2003 Masters Tournament, Field
Ángel Cabrera (16,17), Chris DiMarco (14,16,17), Brad Faxon (14,16,17), Sergio García (11,14,16,17), Pádraig Harrington (11,16,17), Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Shigeki Maruyama (14,16,17), Phil Mickelson (11,14,16,17), Colin Montgomerie (16,17), Adam Scott (16,17)


2003 Masters Tournament, Field
Tom Byrum, Scott Hoch (14,15,16,17), Jeff Maggert, Billy Mayfair, Nick Price (14,16,17)


2003 Masters Tournament, Field
Robert Allenby (16,17), Jonathan Byrd, K. J. Choi (16,17), John Cook, Bob Estes (16,17), Jim Furyk (15,16,17), Charles Howell III (16,17), Jerry Kelly (16,17), Steve Lowery (16,17), Len Mattiace, Scott McCarron (16,17), Rocco Mediate (16,17), Craig Parry (16,17), Pat Perez, Kenny Perry (16,17), Loren Roberts, John Rollins, Jeff Sluman (16,17), Kevin Sutherland, Phil Tataurangi


2003 Masters Tournament, Field
Michael Campbell (17), Darren Clarke (17), Niclas Fasth (17), Toshimitsu Izawa, Shingo Katayama, Peter Lonard (17), Eduardo Romero (17), Justin Rose (17), Toru Taniguchi, Scott Verplank (17)


2003 Masters Tournament, Field
All the amateurs were playing in their first Masters, as were Rich Beem, Jonathan Byrd, Chad Campbell, K. J. Choi, Thomas Levet, Peter Lonard, Pat Perez, Chris Riley, John Rollins, Justin Rose, and Phil Tataurangi.


2003 Masters Tournament, Round summaries, First round
With play canceled due to rain on Thursday, the first round started at 7 am Friday with players teeing off at the 1st and 10th holes. The round was dominated by Darren Clarke, who posted a six-under 66. The score was even more impressive considering only seven shot under par for the round. Sergio García shot 69 (−3), in a second place tie with 2002 U.S. Amateur champion Ricky Barnes. Three-time major champion, Nick Price, shot 70 (−2), for a fourth place tie with Canadian Mike Weir. Two-time defending champ and three-time Masters champion, Tiger Woods shot a disappointing 76 (+4), ten strokes back.


2003 Masters Tournament, Round summaries, Second round
Due to the postponement of play on Thursday, the second round started at 2 pm on Friday with players starting at the 1st and 10th tees. In what proved to be another very difficult round at Augusta, Weir took a four stroke 36-hole lead with a four-under 68 for 138 (−6). Only 16 of the 93 competitors finished with a round below par, and only four were under par at the halfway mark. First round leader Clarke came back to earth with 76 (+4) for solo second at 142 (−2).


2003 Masters Tournament, Round summaries, Second round
Phil Mickelson charged up the leaderboard with a two-under 70 into a tie for third place with amateur Barnes. (Two other amateurs also made the cut, Hunter Mahan and Ryan Moore.) Five were tied for fifth place at even-par 144, including two former Masters champions in Vijay Singh and José María Olazábal. The round was completed on Saturday morning and the 36-hole cut was set at 149 (+5). The biggest name to fail to make the weekend was Colin Montgomerie.


2003 Masters Tournament, Round summaries, Second round
Amateurs: Barnes (-1), Mahan (+1), Moore (+3), Larrázabal (+19), Zahringer (+23).


2003 Masters Tournament, Round summaries, Third round
Following the completion of the second round on Saturday morning, "Moving day" lived up to its name in the third round as Jeff Maggert charged to the 54-hole lead with a six-under 66 for 211 (−5). Second round leader Weir shot 75 (+3) to fall back to 213 (−3), in solo second place and the final Sunday pairing with Maggert. Singh moved into a tie for third with another major champion in David Toms at 214 (−2). Woods matched the round of the day with a 66 (−6) to ascend the leaderboard to keep his bid for three-straight Masters alive. Mickelson and Olazábal were tied with Woods at 215 for fifth place. Len Mattiace shot 69 (−3) to get to even-par 216, five strokes back in a tie for eighth. The third round was completed late on Saturday, and the tournament was finally back on schedule.


2003 Masters Tournament, Round summaries, Final round, Summary
Despite one of the largest major championship final round comebacks by Mattiace, Mike Weir bested him in a sudden death playoff for his first major title. Weir became the first Canadian ever to win a major championship, and also became the first left-handed player to win the Masters. The sudden death playoff at the par 4 10th was the only extra hole needed, as Weir's bogey was good enough as Mattiace double-bogeyed the hole. Weir recovered from his disappointing third round with his second 68 of the tournament to force the playoff.


2003 Masters Tournament, Round summaries, Final round, Summary
To get into the sudden death playoff, Weir made a 7-foot (2 m) putt for par on the 18th green. Mattiace's only bogey (besides the playoff hole) of his tournament-low 65 (−7) was at the 18th hole. He teed off forty minutes and four groups ahead of the final pairing, so Mattiace had about an hour between the completion of his round and the start of the playoff.


2003 Masters Tournament, Round summaries, Final round, Summary
Third round leader Maggert shot a disappointing 75 (+3) to finish in solo fifth place. Maggert had no bogeys or double bogeys, but made a triple bogey 7 on the third hole and a quintuple bogey 8 on the twelfth hole. Mickelson's 68 (−4) was only enough for solo third, two strokes behind Weir and Mattiace. It marked Mickelson's third straight third-place finish at the Masters (he would win the green jacket in 2004, 2006, and 2010). Jim Furyk also shot a four-under 68 for a fourth-place finish which equaled his best Masters finish at 284 (−4).


2003 Masters Tournament, Round summaries, Final round, Summary
(He would win the next major, at the U.S. Open in June.) Ernie Els and Singh rounded out the under par finishers at 287 (−1), in a tie for sixth. Toms shot 74 and fell back to even-par 288, in a five-way tie for eighth. Woods' bid for his third straight Masters victory came up well short with a disappointing 75 (+3) for 290 (+2), nine strokes back. Amateur Barnes was the low-amateur, after being near the top of the leaderboard the first two rounds.


2003 Masters Tournament, Round summaries, Final round, Summary
This was the last year the sudden-death playoff began on the 10th tee. Beginning in 2004, the playoff starting point was changed to the 18th hole, which then alternated with the 10th hole until a winner emerged; the first use was in 2005.


2003 Masters of Formula 3
The 2003 Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 was the thirteenth Masters of Formula 3 race held at Circuit Park Zandvoort on 10 August 2003. It was won by Christian Klien, for ADAC Berlin Brandenburg.