Timeline August 2003

Events in August 2003 12

• 1921 – 2003 Charles Bronson (1921-2003) Died 30 August 2003, aged 81 Charles Bronson was a film actor known for tough, laconic roles in Westerns, war films and thrillers, including 'The Magnificent Seven', 'The Dirty Dozen', 'Once Upon a Time in the West' and the 'Death Wish' series. He became a major draw in Europe before achieving top billing in the United States.
• 1937 – 2003 Herb Brooks (1937-2003) Died 11 August 2003, aged 66 Herb Brooks coached the United States ice hockey team that beat the heavily favoured Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics, a game known as the Miracle on Ice, and went on to win the gold medal. He later coached in the National Hockey League and died in a car crash in Minnesota.
• 1946 – 2003 Gregory Hines (1946-2003) Died 9 August 2003, aged 57 Gregory Hines was a tap dancer and actor credited with helping revive tap as a popular art form. He starred on Broadway and in films including 'The Cotton Club' and 'White Nights', and won a Tony Award for 'Jelly's Last Jam'.
• 1948 – 2003 Sergio Vieira de Mello (1948-2003) Died 19 August 2003, aged 55 Sergio Vieira de Mello was a Brazilian United Nations official who led transitional administrations in Kosovo and East Timor and served as High Commissioner for Human Rights. He was killed, with 21 others, when a truck bomb destroyed the UN headquarters in Baghdad.
• 2003 US Open 2003 Men: Andy Roddick · Women: Justine Henin
• 2003 European heatwave 2003 70,000 dead across Europe An unprecedented heatwave struck Europe in August 2003, with temperatures exceeding 40°C across France, Germany and Italy. An estimated 70,000 people died, mostly elderly.
• 2003 Myspace launched Social network briefly dominates the web Myspace launched in California and quickly became the leading social networking site, especially for music and self-styled profiles. By 2006 it was the most visited website in the United States, before being overtaken by Facebook.
• 2003 Charles Taylor goes into exile Liberian president resigns and flees to Nigeria Under pressure from rebel advances on Monrovia and a war crimes indictment, President Charles Taylor handed power to his deputy and flew into exile in Nigeria. His departure ended the Second Liberian Civil War and led to a large United Nations peacekeeping mission.
• 2003 Northeast blackout Cascading failure cuts power to 55 million people A software fault and untrimmed trees in Ohio triggered a cascading grid failure that cut electricity to about 55 million people across the north-eastern United States and Ontario. It was the largest blackout in North American history to that point. Most areas had power restored within two days.
• 2003 Canal Hotel bombing Truck bomb destroys UN headquarters in Baghdad A truck bomb devastated the United Nations headquarters at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, killing 22 people including the UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello. The attack prompted the UN to withdraw most international staff from Iraq and marked an escalation of the insurgency.
• 2003 Final recording sessions 21 August 2003 Recorded his final sessions on 21 August 2003 — including "Like the 309" (later released on "American V: A Hundred Highways") and "Engine 143", his very last completed recording, made for a planned Carter Family tribute album by his son John Carter Cash.
• 2003 Skype released Free internet voice calling reaches the public Skype released its first public beta, offering free voice calls between computers over the internet using peer-to-peer technology developed in Estonia. It rapidly became a standard tool for international and, later, video calling, and was acquired by eBay in 2005.