July 8, 2003 (Tuesday)
Disasters and accidents
- Sudan Airways Flight 139 crashes in Port Sudan, killing 116 passengers. A toddler of two or three years is the sole survivor but dies later of his wounds. (Reuters) (MSNBC)[permanent dead link]
Health
- Ladan and Laleh Bijani die during their unsuccessful separation operation in Singapore. (BBC)
Law and crime
- A worker at a Lockheed Martin aircraft parts factory in Meridian, Mississippi, shoots 13 co-workers, killing five, before committing suicide. Investigators are unsure of the motive. (Washington Post) Archived 2012-08-05 at the Wayback Machine
Politics and elections
- During a visit to the former slave-trading station on Goree Island, off the coast of Dakar, Senegal, U.S. President George W. Bush calls slavery "one of the greatest crimes of history", but stops short of an official apology. (Reuters)
- Same-sex marriage in Canada: A British Columbia court rules that same-sex couples may get married in that province, effective immediately. BC becomes the second Canadian province, and second political division in the Western Hemisphere, to legalize same-sex marriage. This decision is similar to the Ontario decision on June 10, 2003. (Canada News)