By: (AP) By a large margin, the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq was judged the top news story of 2003, according to an annual survey of Associated Press subscribers around the world.
The war that toppled Saddam Hussein from power amid U.S. and British claims that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction received 51 first-place votes from the 67 newspapers, news agencies and broadcasters in 28 countries outside the United States that cast ballots.
The SARS outbreak garnered the second most votes, while the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict tied for third.
Iraq was clearly judged a dominating story, as two other Iraq-related stories were among the journalists' top five picks: the diplomatic crisis at the United Nations over a possible war tied for third, while Iraqi resistance to the U.S. occupation ranked fifth.
Saddam's capture on Dec. 13 was not included in the poll.
The other top stories included the Columbia space shuttle disaster on Feb. 1, which killed seven astronauts including India-born Kalpana Chawla, at the sixth spot, and the appointment of Hu Jintao as Chinese President in March at seventh place.
Terrorist acts and the war on terrorism came in eighth, followed by the European Parliament's ratification of the EU's expansion eastward, paving the way for 10 new members to join in 2004.
At tenth place was China's space mission which made it the third country to send a person into orbit.
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