- October 20, 2003
=
October 20 ,2003 =* Canadian Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien indicates that during an informal meeting between him andVladimir Putin , theRussia n president indicated that he was tentatively in favour of signing theKyoto Protocol . Russia's signature is absolutely necessary for the protocol to acquire the force of law. [http://www.canada.com/news/world/story.asp?id=6C295231-46EB-48CF-A02B-1CCB901F2326]
*Public health in France : Cigarette prices inFrance go up by 20% today. Tobacconists (tobacco retailers) go on strike. [http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/10/20/france.tobacco.reut/index.html]
*United States deficit : TheUnited States posts a record budget deficit of $374.2 billion in thefiscal year ending September 30. The figure broke the previous record of $290 billion, set in 1992. The number was actually better than the U.S. government's own forecast of $455 billion. [http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/20/news/economy/budget.reut/]
*United States : The publicist ofRobert De Niro announces that the actor has prostate cancer. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3209434.stm]
*Politics of Switzerland : Early results in Swiss elections show larger-than-predicted gains for the right-wingSwiss People's Party . [http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/1020/switzerland.html]
*Archaeology -Early Art : An Italian archaeologist claims to have found a carved two-faced head over 200,000 years old. The carving is possible the work of "Homo erectus ". [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3197402.stm]
*Space Exploration - TheSoyuz TMA-3 spacecraft docked with theInternational Space Station bringing a new crew of three fromRussia , theUnited States , andSpain . [http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20031020_1017.html]
*Canada : A man survives a fall overNiagara Falls without any protective device. [http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--niagarafalls-surv1021oct21,0,262360.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire]
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