THE TRADITIONALLY smoke-filled Paris bars face an identity crisis: Will the recent ban on indoor smoking clean up their air? The law requiring special sections to be set aside for smokers was enacted after official figures put the number of smoking-related deaths at 54,000 last year in France. However, restaurateurs are up in arms against the new law which imposes a fine on offenders of upto L155, the Guardian reports.
As the West closes its doors to tobacco, an alternate market is opening up for the tobacco industry in Eastern Europe. In Russia, cigarettes are a surrogate currency that unlike the rouble, does not depreciate. UK-based conglomerate BAT has initiated negotiations for a joint venture with Yava, Moscow's largest cigarette factory.