MADRID: Spain’s minority left-wing government approved on Tuesday a proposal to ban smoking and vaping in outdoor spaces including bar terraces, parks and outside schools in a move to protect public health.
Smoking will also be outlawed at concerts, festivals, university campuses and outside medical centers and transport stations, the health ministry said in a statement.
The draft law also seeks to ban minors from consuming tobacco as well as preventing the advertising, promotion or sponsoring of tobacco products, which pose severe health risks including cancer.
The proposal must pass a consultation stage before being submitted to a vote in parliament and may never become law.
It is likely to spark a fierce backlash from the important hospitality sector in a country where outdoor dining is popular during searing summer heat.
Around 26 percent of Spain’s adult population smokes daily, according to 2024 data from the health authorities.
Spain moves to ban smoking in bar terraces, parks
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Spain moves to ban smoking in bar terraces, parks
- Smoking will also be outlawed at concerts, festivals, university campuses and outside medical centers and transport stations
- The draft law also seeks to ban minors from consuming tobacco
India plans AI ‘data city’ on staggering scale
- ‘The data city is going to come in one ecosystem ... with a 100 kilometer radius’
NEW DELHI: As India races to narrow the artificial intelligence gap with the United States and China, it is planning a vast new “data city” to power digital growth on a staggering scale, the man spearheading the project says.
“The AI revolution is here, no second thoughts about it,” said Nara Lokesh, information technology minister for Andhra Pradesh state, which is positioning the city of Visakhapatnam as a cornerstone of India’s AI push.
“And as a nation ... we have taken a stand that we’ve got to embrace it,” he said ahead of an international AI summit next week in New Delhi.
Lokesh boasts the state has secured investment agreements of $175 billion involving 760 projects, including a $15 billion investment by Google for its largest AI infrastructure hub outside the United States.
And a joint venture between India’s Reliance Industries, Canada’s Brookfield and US firm Digital Realty is investing $11 billion to develop an AI data center in the same city.
Visakhapatnam — home to around two million people and popularly known as “Vizag” — is better known for its cricket ground that hosts international matches than cutting-edge technology.
But the southeastern port city is now being pitched as a landing point for submarine internet cables linking India to Singapore.
“The data city is going to come in one ecosystem ... with a 100 kilometer radius,” Lokesh said. For comparison, Taiwan is roughly 100 kilometers wide.
Lokesh said the plan goes far beyond data connectivity, adding that his state had “received close to 25 percent of all foreign direct investments” to India in 2025.
“It’s not just about the data centers,” he explained while outlining a sweeping vision of change, with Andhra Pradesh offering land at one US cent per acre for major investors.
