July 23, 2003 (Wednesday)
- Die Zeit, a German newspaper, publishes an opinion poll which claims that almost one in three Germans under the age of 30 believe the United States government "could have ordered the September 11 attacks [on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon] itself". 1000 people took part in the survey.
- California officials announce that over 110% of the required signatures to force a recall election of Governor Gray Davis are in setting the stage for what will be the first gubernatorial recall election in the United States in 82 years.[1]
- New York City Councilman from Brooklyn, James E. Davis is assassinated at City Hall by former political opponent Othniel Askew.
- Zahra Kazemi affair: Bill Graham, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, announces that Ms. Kazemi's body has been buried in Iran, contrary to her family's wishes. Consequently, Canada has recalled its ambassador to Iran.
- The Minister of Justice in Finland, Johannes Koskinen, said that there could be legalized brothels for example for handicapped people. He got very angry response of organizations for handicapped. 66% of people in Ilta-Sanomat newspaper's readers said that prostitution must be under state control.