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• Last of N.C. schools adopt no tobacco policies 

The last handful of North Carolina's school districts have adopted broad no-smoking policies in recent weeks - falling in line with the rest of the state's school systems in a move that supporters see as proof the state is shedding some of its loyalty to tobacco.

Now all 115 North Carolina school districts have adopted anti-tobacco policies which stretch beyond school grounds to off-campus events. School districts had until Aug. 1 to adopt policies that forbid smoking and tobacco use by students, teachers, family members and visitors. That means coaches will no longer be able to smoke at games and schools no longer can have designated smoking areas for faculty members.

"Adults, especially on school grounds, are seen as role models for young people, and so it was important for adults to be role models for young people throughout the school day," said Mark Ezzell, director of the state's Tobacco-Free Schools Program which helped school districts craft their plans.

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Eel drink for Japan's hot summer 

A canned drink called "Unagi Nobori," or "Surging Eel," made by Japan Tobacco Inc., hit the nation's stores this month just ahead of Japan's annual eel-eating season, company spokesman Kazunori Hayashi said Monday.

"It's mainly for men who are exhausted by the summer's heat," Hayashi said of the beverage, believed to be the first mass-produced eel drink in Japan.

Many Japanese believe eating eel boosts stamina in hot weather.

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Keys 'sorry' for tobacco adverts 

Alicia Keys has apologised to fans in Indonesia after discovering one of her forthcoming concerts was sponsored by tobacco firm Philip Morris.

Billboard posters for the Jakarta gig, which takes place on 31 July, featured a logo for the A Mild cigarette brand.

In a statement, Keys said she asked for "corrective actions" as soon as she learned of the advertisements.

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EDITORIAL: All-out war being waged on tobacco 

AT ALMOST the same time Barbadians were hearing that a project officer, Wayne Hunte, had been appointed through a grant from the Bloomberg Global Initiative in partnership with four non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to keep an eye on package warnings on tobacco products sold in CARICOM countries, the world was being told of an even . . .

It will be the job of Hunte to ensure tobacco products, particularly in Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, carry the appropriate warnings about tobacco being dangerous to health.

Four NGOs - the Heart Foundation of Jamaica, the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados, the Trinidad & Tobago Cancer Society and the Guyana Chest Society - are all partners in the Bloomberg-funded two-year project.

Hunte summed up his task as eventually getting the governments in targeted countries to speak with one voice about putting warnings on tobacco products.

It will be interesting to see if and how the Bloomberg-Gates anti-smoking campaign will reach us and how effective it might be.

A first step in this direction is to ban smoking in public places and calls have been growing for this throughout the world.

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VCU administrators resign from leadership posts 

Several Virginia Commonwealth University administrators are stepping down following an investigation into the improper awarding of a bachelor's degree to Richmond's former police chief.

University officials confirmed the resignations but aren't linking them to the diploma investigation. . . .

The resignations come in light of double controversies, the Monroe degree and a task force looking into the implications of the university's acceptance of research contracts from tobacco giant Philip Morris USA.

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The World's Heaviest-Smoking Countries 

While the smoking population is half what it was a generation ago in the U.S. and other industrialized nations, with only one in five using tobacco, it's different in Africa and East Asia, where time stands still when it comes to cigarettes. Smoking rates of 40% or more of the population are common in these regions, making for an extra-tough health hazard when medical services are as limited as filterless, hand rolled smokes are plentiful.

We assembled a list of the countries where the highest percentage of citizens smoke according to the most recent public health data available and ranked them based on that figure. But we also took it further, estimating the potential drain on each nation's potential income opportunity due to smoking deaths as compared to the nation's gross domestic product. . . .

Societal costs in those countries can't be calculated the same way they would be in the U.S., where most studies measure how much smokers burden taxpayers with extra Medicare and Medicaid payments. For poor countries, there is no Medicare-like program to fund. Nor is there enough data about the economic impact of other diseases to make real comparisons.

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Smoking banned in cars, at eventswith children  

SMOKING will be banned in cars carrying children in Victoria under new anti-smoking measures to make people butt out in public.

From early next year, it will be illegal for Victorians to smoke in cars carrying children under 16.

Offenders will face fines of up to $200 if they are caught.

The Brumby Government's crackdown is the key component of its soon-to-be released Tobacco Control Strategy.

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BAT May Say Profit Rose 6.5% on Emerging-Market Demand: Outlook  

British American Tobacco Plc, Europe's largest cigarette maker, may say this week second-quarter profit rose 6.5 percent after expanding emerging-market economies spurred demand for premium imported cigarettes.

Net income climbed to 622 million pounds ($1.2 billion) from 584 million pounds a year earlier, according to the median estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales gained 14 percent to 2.84 billion pounds, the survey shows.

Russia and Romania were among markets that contributed to a gain in cigarette shipments in the first quarter, when deliveries rose 6.2 percent under Dunhill and other premium brands while falling 8 percent under less expensive trademarks. London-based BAT bulked up in emerging markets during the latest period by closing its purchase of Turkish tobacco company Tekel.

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Gudang Garam Shares Surge on Takeover Speculation (Update2) 

PT Gudang Garam, Indonesia's second- largest cigarette maker, surged the most in more than nine years on speculation the company may be sold after its chairman died.

Gudang Garam jumped 19 percent to close at 6,200 rupiah in Jakarta, the biggest gain since Nov. 5, 1998. Rachman Halim, the company's chairman, died at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore at 5:16 a.m. local time yesterday, said Vidya Boediyanti, a spokeswoman for Gudang Garam. He was 60.

The decline in the company's market share, which followed Philip Morris International Inc.'s $5 billion acquisition of a local rival 2005, may prompt the Halim family to sell its stake, according to fund managers, including Mulia Santoso. Philip Morris' unit PT HM Sampoerna last year started selling clove- flavored Marlboro cigarettes.

The chairman's death ``opens the possibility of Gudang Garam being sold to an overseas buyer,'' said Santoso, a fund manager with Jakarta-based PT Syailendra Capital, which manages about $109 million in assets.

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• Halim, Chairman of Cigarette Maker Gudang Garam, Dies (Update1)  

Rachman Halim, the billionaire patriarch of one of Indonesia's richest families and chairman of the country's second-largest cigarette maker, died. He was 60.

He died at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore at 5:16 a.m. local time yesterday, said Vidya Boediyanti, a spokeswoman for his company, PT Gudang Garam. She didn't disclose the cause of death. Halim died after a week of intensive-care treatment for a coronary illness, Detik.com reported, citing company director Slamet Boediono. . . .

Halim's death ``opens the possibility of Gudang Garam being sold to an overseas buyer,'' said Mulia Santoso, a fund manager at Jakarta-based PT Syailendra Capital, which manages about $109 million in assets.

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• Washington Wire - McCain Veers Off Script, Talks About His Cancer Battle 

The original draft of John McCain's speech at the Livestrong Summit Thursday evening made no mention of his own struggle with cancer. The text made a jab at Barack Obama, emphasized the need for improved health care and vowed to take on the tobacco industry -- but excluded all references to the Arizona senator's bout with melanoma. . . .

McCain, true to form, offered his no-pandering “straight talk,” which inevitably led to a dance for many of his answers. When asked by the moderator, former CNN anchor Paula Zahn, about his support for an increase on the federal tobacco tax, McCain turned his answer into a condemnation of government corruption.

“I don’t think I would because I don’t think the money is being spent on the state taxes right now,” McCain said. “It would have to be proven and frankly, the constitution of this Congress, they couldn’t prove it to me, ‘cause I don’t believe them. I don’t. I’ve seen corruption in Congress, OK?”

McCain, who kicked a two-pack-a-day habit some 29 years ago, continued: “I’m not for raising anybody’s taxes. I think, right now, with these economic problems we have, lower taxes is what we need.”

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• McCain Addresses Cancer Summit, Goes After Congress  

The Arizona senator addressed the LIVESTRONG summit, a town hall sponsored by the Lance Armstrong Foundation that focused on all issues surrounding cancer: treatment, health insurance, funding, care and eradication of the disease.

McCain had prepared remarks, but left them to speak about his own battle with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer . . .

McCain told the crowd that he quit smoking after being a two-pack-a-day smoker and said that in the Senate he worked on legislation to curb the use of tobacco products. He said the tobacco lobby defeated him and that there was an agreement made with the tobacco companies and the administration to use cigarette tax money for cancer treatment and anti-tobacco advertising. But the funds are not being used properly.

The mention led Zahn to ask McCain several questions about his faith in the United States Congress.

Asked if he would support a federal tax on tobacco, McCain said he would not because he is not confident that the money would go to anti-tobacco advertising.

McCain said he does not trust Congress

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Loews Has $4.96 Billion Profit on Lorillard Split - Off 

Loews Corp <L.N> posted a second-quarter profit of $4.96 billion on Monday, reflecting the split-off of its Lorillard Inc tobacco unit.

Excluding special items, operating profit increased 20 percent to $575 million as improved results at its energy and drilling units offset weaker underwriting and higher catastrophe losses at the commercial insurer CNA Financial Corp <CNA.N>, Loews' largest unit.

Net income at New York-based Loews, a conglomerate run by the billionaire Tisch family, increased from $654 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 12 percent to $3.92 billion.

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• Former smoker McCain talks cigarettes, cancer with Lance Armstrong 

Republican John McCain added a pledge on Thursday to his list of goals if he wins the White House: help people quit smoking.

McCain, who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day before ceasing 29 years ago, told a summit organized by cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong that preventive measures were key to keeping people healthy.

“So as president, I will work with business and insurance companies in support of programs to help people quit smoking,” he said.

Armstrong pressed McCain on whether he would stop a trend seen during the Bush administration in which funding for the National Cancer Institute had decreased.

“We will reverse that trend,”

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UPDATE 2-Lorillard profit falls short of forecast 

Lorillard Inc, the No. 3 U.S. cigarette maker, posted lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday, hurt by higher-than-expected excise taxes and expenses from the national tobacco settlement agreement.

However, Lorillard, which separated from conglomerate Loews Corp in June, also continued to gain market share. Shares of the company, whose brands include Newport, Kent, True and Maverick, rose nearly 2 percent.

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