THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WWW.KANSAN.COM News WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2008
A regular user of soft drugs smokes a joint with tobacco and marijuana in a coffee shop in Amsterdam, Netherlands, June 24.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
THIS WEEK IN NEWS Smoking ban vaporizes Dutch marijuana bars
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) This city's famed marijuana bars have weathered many challenges over the years and are still smoking. But now they face an unwelcome blast of fresh air: On July 1, the Netherlands will be one of the last European countries to ban smoking in bars and restaurants in compliance with EU law.
The Health Ministry says the ban will apply to cafes that sell marijuana, known as coffee shops. But this being Holland, which for centuries has experimented with social liberalism, there's a loophole: The ban covers tobacco but not marijuana, which is technically illegal anyway.
But that still leaves coffee shops and their customers in a bind. Dutch and other European marijuana users traditionally smoke pot in fat, cone-shaped joints mixed with tobacco.
Shops are scrambling to adapt. One alternative is "vaporizer" machines, which incinerate weed without smoke. Another is to replace tobacco with herbs like coltsfoot, a common plant that looks like a dandelion and that smokers describe as tasting a bit like oregano.
Credit card companies crunching credit limits
NEW YORK (AP) Just as Americans grow more reliant on credit cards to help pay monthly bills, they're being hit with a one-two punch: Card companies are reducing borrowing limits for tens of thousands of consumers, which then can lead to lower credit scores.
Those facing this predicament might not even know it until they apply for a loan or another credit card, and then get denied because their credit score has dropped.
This is an unintended consequence of the financial world's widespread ratcheting down of risk. Banks and other card lenders are trying to better protect themselves from more massive
losses like those they've seen from subprime mortgages.
As a result, they are looking for ways to reduce their exposure to cardholders more likely to default. That's why they are lowering credit limits, which means they are reducing the maximum amount of credit extended to an individual, along with boosting card interest rates and allowing fewer balance transfers.
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Obama, Clinton campaign for unity in New Hampshire
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took turns praising each other and urging party solidarity. She called the nominee-in-waiting a standup guy and he declared:"She rocks. She rocks."
UNITY, N.H. (AP) — Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Friday to turn the page on their bitter, history-making fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, declaring the next chapter is about beating Republican John McCain.
Choosing a small New Hampshire community aptly named Unity for their first joint appearance since the campaign ended, Obama and Clinton stood on a platform before thousands of cheering, shouting supporters and
They came together in this hamlet where each won 107 votes in January's primary. Body language rivaled campaign rhetoric as attention-getter of the day. And a pair rendered distant by a marathon campaign acted like teammates, alternately exhorting the rank-and-file to put any recriminations behind them.
Verne Troyer, aka 'Mini Me,' sues over stolen sex tape
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Verne Troyer has sued TMZ and a pornography distributor, seeking the return of a sex tape he says was stolen and more than $20 million in damages.
Troyer, who starred as "Mini Me" in two of the "Austin Powers" films, also wants the video removed from the celebrity gossip site.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, says the tape he made with a former girlfriend was stolen months ago.
St. Louis Archbishop named to Vatican court
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, a church law expert known for his tough stance that politicians who support abortion rights be denied Holy Communion, was named Friday to head the Vatican's supreme court.
Pope Benedict XVI's appointment of the American prelate was part of a small shuffle; the previous head of the court, Italian Cardinal Agostino Vallini, was named as the pontiff's assistant for the diocese of Rome.
Burke, who will move to Rome, will head the Apostolic Signatura — as the supreme court is called.
Associated Press, compiled by Ramsey Cox