May 12, 2003 (Monday)
- Riyadh Compound Bombings: Four simultaneous car bombs detonate in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at various Western enclaves there, killing at least 35 people. U.S. and Saudi officials speculate that the bombs are the work of al Qaeda.
- A truck bomb explodes at FSB headquarters in Znamenskoye, Chechnya, killing 59 and wounding some 200 more, in an apparent suicide attack. Official Russian sources blame the incident on Chechen separatist rebels. [1][2]
- Rihab Rashid Taha, the alleged Iraqi biological weapons chief known as "Dr Germ", is taken into custody. She is not on the U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqis because she has been out of power for several years.[3]
- Clare Short resigns from the UK cabinet, saying that Tony Blair had reneged on promises about the role of the United Nations in the future of Iraq. Her successor as International Development Secretary, the Baroness Amos, is the UK's first black woman cabinet minister.
- The Today Show co-host Katie Couric replaces Jay Leno as a substitute host on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Leno replaced Couric on The Today Show, hosting alongside Matt Lauer.
- ^ "Russian Compound Bombed in Chechnya". The Washington Post.
- ^ "Many killed in Chechen blast". BBC News. May 12, 2003.
- ^ "US forces arrest Iraq's 'Dr Germ'". The Guardian. London. May 12, 2003.