There was nothing simple about the biggest events and their ramifications. Iraq, North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, the war on terrorism, divisions over global trade, the gap between rich and poor nations, and diseases such as Sars and Aids remain as unresolved now as they did the previous year.

Most far-reaching, though, were the events at the United Nations Security Council leading up to the first American air raids on Baghdad on March 20. The decision by the US and Britain to go against popular opinion and wage war against Iraq posed the biggest threat to global unity since the abrupt end of the cold war with the collapse of the Soviet Union 14 years ago.

The world remains divided and the UN's political worth unclear. As much as Mr Bush has tried to patch differences with western Europe, Russia, China, Muslim-dominant countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, the gaps have not narrowed.

Questions about the validity of the war on Iraq are unanswered. Hussein's capture earlier this month and the killing or arrest of dozens of leading members of his Ba'ath ruling party have been widely applauded, even by those against the war, yet doubts remain.

The allegation, especially in Arab countries, that the US has embarked on a new era of imperialism has yet to be vindicated by the Bush administration. Its cast-iron grip on Iraq's reconstruction has only fuelled claims that Hussein's ouster was aligned more to a desire for control of the nation's rich oil and gas reserves than with the stated aim of instilling democracy.

Rather than bringing about stability, the removal of Hussein has created a focus for terrorists and alarmed the region's autocrats and dictators. The war was declared over in April, yet allied troops are enduring dozens of attacks each day. More soldiers have died since the conflict was declared ended than during the war.

Mr Bush's calls for a democratic Middle East have heightened speculation that Iran and Syria will next be targeted. The sceptics doubt the resolve, though, given that his much-heralded efforts to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians have failed.

Although Hussein was accused of sponsoring terrorism, his overthrow has exacerbated rather than lessened the global threat. Suicide bombers took hundreds of lives during the year from Indonesia to Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Turkey.

Acclaimed UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello was the highest-profile victim. His death, along with 22 other UN staff at the organisation's headquarters in Baghdad on August 19, left deep scars.

Two weeks earlier and eight months after the Bali bombings, terrorists struck again in Indonesia. A dozen people died along with the driver of a bomb-laden car at the American-owned JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta.

The attack was blamed on the Muslim extremist group Jemaah Islamiah, Southeast Asia's version of al-Qaeda. Its alleged top leaders - Abu Bakar Bashir, Riduan Isamudin, better known as Hambali - and the leading suspects behind the Bali attacks, were arrested and jailed during the year.

These developments were not mirrored in Afghanistan, where the ousted Taleban regime made a resurgence along with al-Qaeda, threatening interim President Hamid Karzai's fragile hold on power. Iraq deflected attention from the Central Asian country's financial and security needs.

Washington's long-running disputes with North Korea and Myanmar led to widely perceived breakthroughs in Asian diplomacy.

China's taking of a front-seat mediating role in negotiations with North Korea has been seen as the surest sign yet of its determination to be a major diplomatic player on the world stage.

Confirmation came at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meeting in Cambodia, where a timetable for a free trade zone was put in place. India also signed up to work towards a similar arrangement with Asean.

Just as far-reaching, analysts agreed, was the regional body's criticism of Myanmar's military regime for arresting pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the top leadership of her National League for Democracy political party. It was the first time in Asean's 35-year history that it had broken its pledge of non-intervention in the internal affairs of member states. The impetus has since waned, although Thailand has now taken up the baton of mediating with Myanmar's regime.

Political eras ended with the stepping down of China's president Jiang Zemin and Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad. Brazil's first left-wing leader, former trade unionist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office while Georgia's long-time president, former Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze, was forced from power by popular protests.

The US and Japan suffered setbacks in space exploration. The American shuttle Columbia disintegrated over the southern US on its return to Earth on February 1, killing all seven astronauts on board, including the first Israeli in space. A US$500 million Japanese H-2A rocket carrying two spy satellites was destroyed shortly after liftoff in November after developing mechanical problems.

But China reversed the failures on October 15, becoming only the third nation to put a person into space and making jet fighter pilot Yang Liwei a national hero.

Liberians also rejoiced as dictator Charles Taylor fled the West African country and African-led UN peacekeepers moved in. Libya's Muamar Gaddafi renounced terrorism and allowed UN inspections.

Iran, included in the Bush administration's 'axis of evil', was accused of trying to make nuclear weapons. Ms Ebadi's award heightened pressure, but last week's earthquake, believed to have killed up to 50,000 people, appears to have opened a new dialogue.

Natural disasters aside, the world's developing nations believed the collapse of the latest round of world trade talks in the Mexican resort of Cancun in September also rated as a catastrophe. The ideal of global free trade has seemingly been abandoned in favour of bilateral and regional agreements.

Rich nations were accused of putting greed before improving the lives of those in developing nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Nowhere was the push for an alternative more evident than in Asia.

Mr Bush's rushed seven-nation swing through the region in October sealed new bilateral trade deals and put others in place. Like China, India and Japan, Southeast Asia sees its economic future with neighbours and the world's biggest trading powers.

Debate rages among experts over whether multilateralism is dead. The UN remains wounded, while Asean and the European Union scramble to shore up identities.

Exacerbating the uncertainty is concern about the mammoth US budget deficit, the weakness of the American dollar and the Bush administration's foreign policy.

Experts agree 2003 was a landmark year in many ways, but the ramifications of the momentous events are still being determined.