Top news of 2003: here are our choices for the most important news stories of 2003. Do you agree? Cast your vote for the year's top story on scholastic.com/juniorscholastic.

Space Shuttle Columbia

On February 1, 2003, a routine mission for the space shuttle Columbia turned deadly. As the craft re-entered Earth's atmosphere, it turned into a fiery ball and then broke apart over Texas and Louisiana. All seven astronauts on board died.

What went wrong? Experts think that a loose piece of insulating foam hit Columbia's left wing during takeoff. The fast-moving foam made a hole in the shuttle's heat shield. During re-entry, hot atmospheric gases seeped into the hole, burning up the wing.

Columbia's breakup was the worst space disaster since the space shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986. NASA has grounded its three remaining shuttles until it is sure they are safe.

WAR IN IRAQ

On March 20 (March 19 in the U.S.), U.S.-led forces launched an air attack against government forces in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. The attack came about four months after the United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously agreed that Iraq had defied UN weapons resolutions. The resolutions were created after the 1991 Gulf War to ensure that Iraq would not pose a threat to international peace.

President George W. Bush said the military campaign was intended to overthrow President Saddam Hussein's regime and to halt Iraq's suspected development of chemical and biological weapons programs.

The U.S. led a coalition (group) of 29 countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia, in attacking the Middle Eastern nation. On May 1, President Bush declared a coalition victory, saying that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." Much has happened in Iraq since then. (See News Special, page 3.)

Election 2004

Getting elected President isn't easy. Nine Democrats spent 2003 crisscrossing the country, trying to win voter support for the Democratic Party nomination. Among these hopefuls, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean holds the lead in fund-raising and prevails in some state polls. But no votes have been cast yet. The Democrats will compete in primary elections and caucuses (party meetings) that begin on January 19 in Iowa.

Whoever wins those races is almost sure to get the nomination at the Democratic Convention next summer in Boston, Massachusetts. The winner will run against President George W. Bush in the November 2 general election.

Middle East Road Map

Palestinians and Israelis have fought over the lands that make up Israel since its founding in 1948 as a homeland for Jews. In June, the U.S., the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations laid out a new "road map," or plan, for achieving peace in the Middle East.

The road map lists 14 obligations (requirements) for the Palestinians, most of whom are Muslim. Chief among them: stop suicide bombings and other attacks. Palestinians would also have to clearly accept Israel's right to exist.

The Israelis, most of whom are Jewish, have 12 obligations. The most important is to stop building Jewish settlements in the West Bank and on the Gaza Strip and to dismantle those built since March 2001.

But the peace process has stalled. Radical Palestinians have refused to stop terror bombings. Israel also continues to build new settlements and has moved its forces into Palestinian areas in an effort to stop terrorism.

Potter Mania

Harry Potter still has a lot to learn before he can beat the evil wizard Voldemort. But nobody's a bigger wiz at selling books than Harry.

Copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth novel by author J.K. Rowling, hit bookstores at midnight on June 21. That same day, a record 5 million copies flew off the shelves, faster than you could say "Expelliarmus!"

Doctors caution that young people should not read too much of the 870-page book in one sitting. Why? Some readers have come down with Hogwarts headaches!

Scholastic Inc., the owner of Junior Scholastic, publishes the Harry Potter books in the U.S.

Global Terrorism

After September 11, 2001, President Bush declared a war on terrorism. The chief U.S. enemy remains Al Qaeda, the radical Muslim group responsible for the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and Pennsylvania (Flight 93) attacks.

Since late 2001, terrorist bombings have continued around the world. In November, suicide bombers attacked two synagogues, the British consulate, and a bank in Istanbul, Turkey, over the course of five days. At least 50 people died. Terrorists also staged bombings last year in Indonesia, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia, killing at least 100 people and wounding more than 1,000.

Has progress been made in stopping terrorism? No one is sure. Says U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: "We lack metrics [ways to measure] to know if we are winning or losing the global war on terror."

The Blackout

The Great Blackout of 2003 began at 4:06 p.m. ET on August 14, after power lines in Ohio malfunctioned. A computer error allowed the outage to spread. Within two hours, lights had gone out in parts of eight Northeastern states and most of Eastern Canada, leaving 50 million people in the dark for several hours.

In November, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who heads a U.S.-Canadian task force, called the blackout "largely preventable." He blamed FirstEnergy Corp. of Akron, Ohio, for violating several industry standards.

The nation's worst power outage cost roughly $1 billion and raised questions about the aging U.S. power grid (network). Replacing it could cost $100 billion or more.

California Recall

Arnold Schwarzenegger usually blows away his opponents in the movies. On October 7, he did it in real life. The "Terminator" defeated 134 other candidates in a special election to become California's Governor.

Many Californians were unhappy with former Governor Gray Davis, a Democrat. They blamed him for the state's budget crisis and for raising car taxes. Voters signed a petition to hold a recall election, to decide if Davis should be removed from office.

After a whirlwind campaign, voters threw Davis out and elected Schwarzenegger, a Republican. Davis is only the second Governor in U.S. history to be recalled, the first since 1921.

California Wildfires

Last fall, about 15,000 firefighters in Southern California battled a record 14 wildfires--the state's worst-ever. The fires scorched a total area about the size of Rhode Island. They also destroyed more than 4,836 homes and buildings and caused about $2 billion in damages. At least 22 people died, and 225 were injured.

Dry weather and strong Santa Ana winds helped spread the fires, which began on October 21 and raged for nearly two weeks. Eventually, cold and rainy weather helped put out the flames. In December, President Bush signed the Healthy Forests Restoration Act to help reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires.