It is 2003 in Ethiopia! Want to know why?

It is because of their calendar...
The Ethiopic Calendar

Ethiopia has its own ancient calendar. According to the beliefs of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, God created the world 5500 years before the birth of Christ.
Ethiopic is not the only calendar in Ethiopia either. The works of Enoch (hnk) had been in Ethiopia and Egypt before the times of Moses and on through the times of King Solomon and Queen of Sheba. As has been the case for Israel, Egypt and Ethiopia have had important roles in Biblical History. An Enochian year is completed in 364 days, Enoch 82:4-7 and Jubilees 6:23-28. Ethiopians followed the Old Testament before the introduction of Christianity (1 Kings 10:1-9).

Ethiopic months
Meskerm 11 Sept
October Tikemet 11 Oct 12 Oct
November Hidar 10 Nov 11 Nov
December Tahesas 10 Dec 11 Dec
January Tir 9 Jan 10 Jan
February Yekatit 8 Feb 9 Feb
March Megabit 10 Mar -
April Miyaza 9 Apr -
May Ginbot 9 May -
June Sene 8 Jun -
July Hamle 8 Jul -
August Nehase 7 Aug -
Leap-year Pagume 6 S

Each Ethiopian year is dedicated to one of the four Evangelists according to the cycle: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The year of St. Luke is Leap Year, and therefore always has six days in the thirteenth month of the Ethiopian calendar.

From Wikipedia:

The Ethiopian calendar (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ዘመን አቆጣጠር yä'Ityoṗṗya zämän aḳoṭaṭär), also called the Ethiopian Ge'ez calendar, is the principal calendar used in Ethiopia and also serves as the liturgical calendar for Christians. It is based on the older Alexandrian or Coptic calendar, which in turn derives from the Egyptian calendar, but like the Julian calendar, it adds a leap day every four years without exception, and begins the year on August 29 or August 30 in the Julian calendar. A seven- to eight-year gap between the Ethiopian and Gregorian calendars results from alternate calculations in determining the date of the Annunciation of Jesus.

Like the Coptic calendar, the Ethiopian calendar has twelve months of 30 days each plus five or six epagomenal days, which comprise a thirteenth month. The Ethiopian months begin on the same days as those of the Coptic calendar, but their names are in Ge'ez. The sixth epagomenal day is added every four years without exception on August 29 of the Julian calendar, six months before the Julian leap day. Thus the first day of the Ethiopian year, 1 Mäskäräm, for years between 1901 and 2099 (inclusive), is usually September 11 (Gregorian), but falls on September 12 in years before the Gregorian leap year.

The current year according to the Ethiopian calendar is 2003, which began on September 11, 2010 AD of the Gregorian calendar. It has six epagonemal days and so the following year (2004) will begin on September 12, 2011


New Year's Day Enkutatash is the word for the Ethiopian new year in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. It occurs on September 11 in the Gregorian calendar, except for leap years, when it occurs on September 12.

Eras
To indicate the year, Ethiopians and followers of the Eritrean churches today use the Incarnation Era, which dates from the Annunciation or Incarnation of Jesus on March 25 of 9 AD (Julian), as calculated by Annianus of Alexandria c. 400; thus its first civil year began seven months earlier on August 29, 8 AD. Meanwhile, Europeans eventually adopted the calculations made by Dionysius Exiguus in 525 AD instead, which placed the Annunciation exactly eight years earlier than had Annianus. This causes the Ethiopian year number to be eight years less than the Gregorian year number from January 1 until September 10 or 11, then seven years less for the remainder of the Gregorian year.


SO... HAPPY 2011 or 2003, you choose! :)