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Taiwan bans indoor smoking 

Taiwan Sunday banned smoking in all indoor public places, becoming the 17th country in the world and the second in Asia to take the move to protect people's health.The ban is a victory for anti-smoking campaigners and health workers, but is a nightmare for die-hard smokers who can now only smoke at home or in the open.

"Since Ireland banned indoor smoking in 2004, 14 countries and one territory - Bermuda - have followed suit, and Taiwan is the 17th worldwide to ban indoor smoking," the John Tung Foundation, the leader in Taiwan's anti-smoking campaign, said in a statement.

Taiwan is the second country in Asia to ban indoor smoking after the Himalayan Buddhist kingdom Bhutan, which banned the sale of cigarettes and smoking in 2005.

Under the new rule, smoking is banned in all offices and indoor facilities such as department stores, restaurants, cafes, cinemas, airports and railway stations.

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Ajay Devgun to be penalised for smoking at airport  

CHANDIGARH: Bollywood actor Ajay Devgun, who was found smoking at the city airport two days ago, will be penalised for his act.

"Yes, we will serve him a challan," Chandigarh's IGP S K Jain told reporters on Thursday.

Devgun and fellow actor Salman Khan are currently in the city for the shooting of "London Dreams". . . .

Ironically, the same NGO had on Wednesday moved another complaint with the Railway Police alleging that both Devgun and Salman had "smoked" at the Kurali railway station in Punjab, where the movie was being shot.

It sought immediate action against the two.

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Man denies attack near live rail track  

A man has denied assaulting a rail passenger who was allegedly pushed off a platform onto the track at a station.

Ionel Rapisca, of Joyce Green Lane, Dartford, entered not guilty pleas at Maidstone Crown Court to causing Linda Buchanan grievous bodily harm with intent and an alternative charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

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'Non-Secondhand Smoking' Campaigns Due at 2 Subway Stations in Seoul 

Smokers, who have been expelled out of most buildings, are likely to be driven from outdoor public places in Seoul in the near future due to no-smoking campaigns.

Seoul City said Tuesday that it will conduct a campaign on ``non-direct smoking'' at entrance of two subway stations ― Jongno 3-ga and Sadang ― on Dec. 10 and 11, respectively, under its program to discourage smoking in public places, which is unpleasant and harmful to passive smokers.

A moving no-smoking clinic will be open from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Jongno 3-ga Station on Dec. 10 and at Sadang Station on Dec. 11, a spokesman said.

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'Smokers' paradise' 

Train stations in the Tokyo area will ban smoking from April 1, in another dent to Japan's reputation as a smokers' paradise, the railway company said on Friday.

The Japan Railway Co. said it would eliminate most designated smoking sections at 226 stations along 17 major lines in the Tokyo region. The company already prohibits smoking inside local trains.

"Smoking bans are becoming the health trend in Japan," a company spokesperson said.

"Our company is making an effort to entirely separate people who smoke and don't."

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• Tokyo train stations to ban smoking 

Train stations in the Tokyo area will ban smoking from April 1, in another dent to Japan's reputation as a smokers' paradise, the railway company said Friday.

The Japan Railway Co. said it would eliminate most designated smoking sections at 226 stations along 17 major lines in the Tokyo region. The company already prohibits smoking inside local trains.

"Smoking bans are becoming the health trend in Japan," a company spokesman said. "Our company is making an effort to entirely separate people who smoke and don't."

However, a few stations will retain smoking areas in small rooms enclosed by glass.

"We are not worried about the smoking rooms, because there wouldn't be second-hand smoke and it prevents smoke from getting to non-smokers who don't like it," the spokesman said.

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• JR firms divided over smoking policies  

Should smoking at railway stations be banned or should the separation of smoking and nonsmoking areas remain in place? Railway companies are split over what to do about passengers who smoke.

All private railways in the Tokyo metropolitan area have already imposed a total ban on smoking in station compounds.

East Japan Railway Co., for its part, has embarked on a plan to phase out smoking areas, having removed them at four stations, including those on the Yamanote Line platform at Shibuya Station.

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Man openly smokes in LRT 

STOMPer Aylin spotted this video on the Internet and was shocked by this uncle's audacious behaviour. He was smoking in the LRT and still had the cheek to defend his actions.

In her email to STOMP today (Nov 10), the STOMPer wrote:

"I accidently saw this video on the Youtube website, and I just wanted to share it with everyone. "My first thought was that this Singaporean uncle is very ridiculous, and that he dares to smoke in the LRT.

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Sneaky cigarette sparked Eurostar fire  

A sneaky cigarette in a toilet on a Eurostar train started a fire and caused a four-hour delay for 700 passengers bound for Paris.

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37. Traveling at Home and Abroad.  

ON A CONTINENTAL TRAIN

Europeans usually prefer to ride backwards, and as an American prefers to face the engine, it works out beautifully. It is not etiquette to talk with fellow passengers, in fact it is very middle-class. If you are in a smoking carriage (all European carriages are smoking unless marked “Ladies alone” or “No smoking”) and ladies are present, it is polite to ask if you may smoke. Language is not necessary, as you need merely to look at your cigar and bow with an interrogatory expression, whereupon your fellow passengers bow assent and you smoke.

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2 DEAD, 3 DYING IN NEGRO FIGHT; Black Man's Smoking on Elevated Train Starts a Remarkable Riot Uptown.  

A negro on a Sixth Avenue elevated train undertook to smoke a cigarette on the platform of one of the cars when the train was between the Ninety-third and 104th Street stations just after 10 o'clock last night. A white man remonstrated with him when he paid no attention to the guard's request that he stop. [ END OF FIRST PARAGRAPH ]

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NCTD bans smoking at waiting areas 

NORTH COUNTY: Hoping to protect bus and train passengers from secondhand smoke, the North County Transit District board voted unanimously yesterday to ban smoking at all its outdoor transit centers and bus stops.

The Metropolitan Transit System, which provides public transit in other parts of the county, prohibited smoking last year.

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John Kelly - Minding the Cultural Gap Between London, Metro Subways  

You may be allowed to eat but you can't smoke, a message reinforced by an announcement that sounds as if it were recorded by the matron of a women's prison. In a voice that reeks of starched uniforms and cold scrubs with carbolic soap she barks, "Smoking is not permitted anywhere on the Underground."

Contrast this with Metro's half-hearted suggestions.

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Man pauses too long to light cigarette, struck by train  

Brandon Robles, 25, received non-life-threatening injuries when he was struck by a train just before 1 a.m. as he paused to light a cigarette while standing next to the Union Pacific railroad tracks on the city's northside, Benton Police Chief Mike O'Neill said.

"He admitted that he had been drinking heavily that night," O'Neill said. "After visiting several establishments, he decided to walk home along the railroad tracks. He said he heard a train coming as he stopped to light a cigarette but thought he had sufficient space between himself and the train. He was struck as the train went by."

Robles told police he was knocked to the ground, but was able to stand up and walk between two cars of the train that had come to a stop after UPac employees realized someone had been hit.

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No smoking row migrant 'pushed woman on to rails' 

A MAN appeared in court yesterday accused of pushing a mother on to a railway line when she told him to stop smoking on the station platform.

Ionel Rapisca, 30, an East European immigrant living in Dartford, Kent, came before magistrates in the town charged with grievous bodily harm.

The court heard how managing consultant Linda Buchanan, 58, was pushed on to the tracks at Farningham Road station in Dartford at 7am on August 6. . . .

Prosecutor Stacey Holland told the bench: "A member of the public doing her public duty asked the defendant to extinguish his cigarette. She was then pushed on to the live railway tracks causing injuries and shock which meant she would not have been able to get up if a train had been on the way."

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