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Salaried workers feeling cornered by the ever-expanding ban on smoking in Tokyo can rest easy at a recently opened cafe in the Shinbashi district that caters exclusively to smokers.
At Cafe Tobacco, smoking is allowed on all three floors, according to its operator, Towa Food Service Co.
The cafe, with 44 places, opened near JR Shinbashi Station in April. Towa Food Service has also opened a second Tobacco Cafe in the nearby Yurakucho business district.
A sign posted at the entrance advises people with children and those under 20 to refrain from using the cafe.
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Dutch bar owners won a new victory in their fight against a smoking ban on their premises when an appeal court cleared two of them of breaking the law and quashed a 1,200 euro fine.
"The law contains no formal obligation for landlords of cafes, restaurants and hotels without staff to implement a smoking ban," the appeal court at Leeuwarden in the northern Netherlands said in a statement.
It overturned the verdict handed down in a lower court against the pair from Groningen who became the first to be prosecuted following the introduction of the nationwide ban a year ago.
In May the appeals court of Den Bosch, in the southern Netherlands, upheld the acquittal of the two owners of the Victoria cafe in Breda, near the Belgian border.
"The court finds that the (ban) is partly non-binding, as it lacks legal grounding" regarding establishments with no staff, said a court statement.
With legislation to strengthen tobacco regulation now signed into law, public health groups are pushing for the Senate to ratify a treaty on tobacco control that has languished for five years.
Though the United States signed the treaty in May 2004, President George W. Bush never submitted it for approval by the Senate, the final step in the process.
The treaty requires a host of anti-smoking measures by the 164 signing nations. And it seeks to attack global issues such as cross-border advertising and tobacco smuggling.
Supporters say it is time for the Senate to act.
"There's no excuse, we really should," Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said in an interview in the White House Rose Garden after President Barack Obama signed the new law that allows the federal Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products.
Opponents, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., believe American participation in the treaty is unnecessary. . . .
The global treaty threatens the future of tobacco growers in Kentucky and other states, as well as around the world, said Roger Quarles, president of the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association.
"It's basically a pathway to eradicate tobacco consumption and production throughout the entire world," said Quarles, who is also president of the International Tobacco Growers Association.
CIGARETTES would cost more than $20 for a packet of 30 and come in plain wrapping under a radical proposal being considered by the Federal Government to fund a massive preventive health program.
The cigarette tax hike and ban on all remaining forms of tobacco advertising have been included in the Federal Government's yet-to-be-released Preventative Health Taskforce report.
The report, being examined by Health Minister Nicola Roxon, urges the Federal Government to slash smoking rates in the next decade to 9 per cent of the adult population, cutting the number of people 14 and older who smoke daily from 3 million to 2 million.
Under the changes cigarette packets would be generic with larger graphic health warnings . . .
The plan has been strongly backed by anti-smoking organisations such as the Public Health Association, the Cancer Council and the National Heart Foundation but has alarmed cigarette companies, which are claiming such changes could be unlawful.
Stop Smoking- the staunch slogan of the Croatian Government slammed against "Stop Smoking Ban" clamor of coffee shop owners after the Croatian government implemented its strict law against smoking on indoor public places on May 6, 2009.
The government is bent to execute strict "No Smoking" law to safeguard the physical health and well being of Croatian nationals from the hazards of smoking. Prior to the new law, the government's media propaganda against smoking apparently, did not create much of an impact- thus, had fallen into deaf ears.
Restaurants, coffee shops, ice-cream parlors and malls from run-of-the- mill to high end food service joints were filled with employees taking a break from work, friends engaging in a tête-à-tête, football aficionados, coffee drinkers including mothers with tag- along -babies in strollers. These coffee shops habitués either active or passive smokers, oblivious to the dangers of smoking frequent to the coffee shops at any time of the day as part of their daily routine schedule.
However, on the 6th of May 2009, the Croatian government blew its whistle and put a big stop sign to smoking. As the law stipulates -those who are caught smoking in an indoor public place shall be slapped with 1000 Kuna fine for smoker and 15,000 Kuna for business owner to ensure that Croatian public knows that the government means business this time (no pun intended.) Since the Croatian government guards public places keenly watching for smokers who consist of more than half of the coffee shops' costumers started to wane their regular visits to coffee shops for their daily fresh espresso and cigarette ritual.
Thereby, sudden drops of profit sales have recently been the cause of ire of food service entrepreneurs that consequently precipitated a protest among coffee shops owners and restaurateurs requesting the government to relax the smoking ban law.
Indonesian Industry Minister Fahmi Idris said Thursday that he will propose closing the cigarette industry for new foreign direct investment in order to protect existing producers.
"The ban will be directed toward new (foreign) investors," Idris told reporters.
Idris added that his ministry will also propose six other industries, such as sugar refinery and pulp-making, to be closed for foreign investors.
Such a proposal will be subject to approval by the president.
There are now around 8,000 local cigarette producers, Idris said, and they are mostly small companies.
Phillip Morris International and British American Tobacco Plc (BAT.LN) are the biggest foreign investors in the industry and have majority stakes in two large local producers.