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Amsterdam, Netherlands (AHN) – A new plan by the Dutch government to issue special passes only for locals to enter neighborhood shops that allow smoking of marijuana is drawing criticism as encouraging more crime by visiting foreign marijuana users.

Tilburg University researcher Nicole Maalsté sees no positive effect on the government’s plan of issuing nationwide special passes to a select few, preferably Dutch locals, to enter coffee shops where marijuana is legally consumed.

The Netherlands has been experiencing drug and marijuana related crimes by tourists who patronize these coffee shops, as coffee shop owners now get most of their marijuana supply from organized crime sources.

Dutch police have conducted a series of raids on Dutch residents who privately grow their own marijuana. This kind is considered by many to be organically “safe” and free of additives.

Maalsté also criticized the measure as promoting the spread of large-scale and “unsafe” marijuana to be sold in the coffee shops, which are largely patronized by tourists who are reported to later commit drug related crimes and violence.

With the proposal to issue special passes, Maalsté expects tourists to instead buy their marijuana from the streets. She also expected few Dutch locals would come forward and be publicly registered as an official marijuana user.

Meanwhile, the European court of justice will rule on Dec. 16 whether it is legal under EU law to ban foreigners from entering Dutch marijuana shops.

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Dublin, Ireland, United Kingdom (AHN) – Ireland’s debt crisis and austerity plan has fueled uncertainty among traders, causing the euro to continue its slide in value against the dollar.

The European Union’s common currency is now down to two-month lows at $1.3314; it has fallen by more than three cents this week alone. News of the proposed bailout had caused the euro to rise in trading on Monday; however, it dropped again in trading on Tuesday and has continued to drop.

Ireland’s four-year austerity plan relies on a combination of spending cuts and tax increases to save $20 billion (15 billion euros) and reduce that nation’s government deficit.

However, currency traders are skeptical, fearing that the Irish government is too optimistic and that the plan will not work. In addition, traders also fear that the debt crisis will spread to other nations within the euro zone that have high government deficits.

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Yonkers, NY, United States (AHN) – A new Consumer Reports holiday shopping poll has found that the average American expects to spend about 42 hours buying, wrapping, and returning gifts, as well as partying and traveling to visit family and friends during the 2010 holiday season.

“When you break down the numbers you really get an idea of how much so many of us have invested in the holidays,” said Tod Marks, Consumer Reports senior editor and resident shopping expert. “And it’s nice to see that it’s not all about shopping, but it’s also about coming together.”

According to the findings Americans will spend the next few weeks doing the following:

Gifts

• Consumers will spend lots of time gift-shopping, 15 hours on average. Women plan to spend twice as long as their male counterparts, 20 hours versus 10 hours respectively.

• Shoppers estimate they will wait on checkout lines in stores for about three and a half hours, on average; one in four expect to stand in line four hours or more.

• Once they get home, Americans plan to spend about three hours, on average, wrapping gifts; one in four expect to spend four or more hours doing so.

• Americans anticipate that they will devote about an hour, on average, to returning holiday gifts; half say they won’t spend any time making returns.

Entertainment

• About 15 hours, on average, will be spent attending holiday parties, gatherings or events with friends or family; a quarter (24 percent) of Americans plan to will spend 20 hours or more.

The poll also found that Americans estimate that they will spend 7.4 hours on average traveling to or from their holiday destinations. Nearly a quarter say they will spend 10 hours or more travelling.

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Seoul, South Korea (AHN) – Leaders of the G20 nations concluding a two-day summit in Seoul, Korea, on Friday agreed to avoid an all-out currency war and monitor trade balances but failed to come up with a plan to stabilize the world economy.

Finance ministers from the G20 nations will work on a guideline set of indicators to identify large trade imbalances and develop ways to deal with correcting such imbalances. The International Monetary Fund will assist in working out the guidelines next year.

Leaders said in a statement that large imbalances and uneven growth were tempting nations to diverge from coordinated global solutions to economic problems.

The goal of the G20 is to avoid a global economic crisis, such as the 2008 worldwide financial crisis, as well as preventing the world from sliding into another economic slump.

G20 leaders agreed to avoid “competitive devaluation” of currencies, but did not agree to avoid the competitive undervaluing of currencies that China has engaged in for years. U.S. leaders accused China of manipulating its currency to keep it low in relation to the dollar in order to keep Chinese exports cheap. The situation makes American products more costly in world markets. In addition, it has propped up the continued outsourcing of U.S. jobs, critics charge.

For the first nine months of 2010, China has a $201 billion trade surplus with the U.S. That amount is more than the combined U.S. trade deficit with the next seven-largest trading partners.

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London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – Members of the Fire Brigades Union in London are set to strike for 47 hours on one of the busiest periods in their calendar. The job walk-off is set to run from Nov. 5 -7 during two holiday celebrations traditionally marked by fireworks and flame.

The 47-hour window covers bonfire night and the Hindu festival of Diwali. Bonfire night is held every Nov. 5 to remember the infamous Gunpowder Plot in November 1605 when a group of Catholics planned to blow up the English Parliament and King James I over the bad way they were treated by the monarch. The Diwali festival, which originated in India, is held between mid-October to mid-November during which small clay lamps are lit to symbolize the triumph of good over evil.

Negotiations are scheduled Wednesday between government and the union in a bid to stop the industrial action, which was triggered by a planned change in shift patterns. Firefighters struck for eight hours Saturday and plan to hold another eight-hour strike on Monday. During the Saturday strike, contract crew manned the 27 fire engines instead of the usual 150 firefighters assigned to the vehicles.

Fire Service Minister Bob Neill criticized the industrial action because its schedule appears to have been deliberately timed to result in London residents being exposed to maximum risk.

FBU General Secretary Matt Wrack said London firefighters do not want to engage in industrial action, but they have not much choice because they do not want to be bullied by officials.

Fire authorities stressed there are no budget cuts or job losses, but a planned reduction in the firefighters’ 15-hour night shift that would be added to the firemen’s day shift and more hours for community safety work and fire fighting training.

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