The new casino and the proposed smoking ban, two of Cape Girardeau’s biggest issues, are on a collision course, and the Cape Girardeau City Council plans to address them both. However, there may not be much the council can do other than watch the whole thing play out. On Nov. 2, the day Cape Girardeau voters were approving a proposal to allow Isle of Capri to build a $125 million casino, a group of residents were busy collecting enough sig ... Jump to full article >>

ISLAMABAD: Government has faced a revenue loss of Rs 45 billion during the last six years on account of tax evasion, smuggling and counterfeiting in cigarette industry due to failure of government’s authorities in taking concrete steps. According to industrial data, government had to face a revenue loss of Rs 7.5 billion in the current year, Rs 6.5 billion in 2009, Rs 6 billion in 2008, Rs 5.59 billion in 2007, Rs 5.48 billion in 2006 and Rs ... Jump to full article >>

The Health Ministry is reportedly planning to significantly soften a blanket smoking ban introduced in September following “tremendous pressure” from bar and restaurant owners who claim the changes, together with the impact of the economic crisis, are ruining them. According to sources, the ministry is considering permitting smoking in cafes and bars after 9 p.m. while keeping the blanket ban in place for restaurants. Cafes and bars that dec ... Jump to full article >>

It’s been four years to the day since Hawaii enacted a law that banned smoking from almost all workplaces, and still the law remains largely unenforced today. In the months leading up to Nov. 16, 2006, the day the law took effect, businesses statewide scrambled to put up signs and move benches and ash-tray covered trash bins 20 feet away from any entrance or window. The penalty for not complying: Hundreds of dollars in fines for business and p ... Jump to full article >>

PANAJI: Tourists sitting in shacks or strolling on the beach and blowing smoke rings of charas, ganja or tobacco had better beware. North Goa police have initiated a drive in the coastal belt and are booking persons smoking in public places in violation of the provisions of the Indian Tobacco Control Act, 2003, that aims at curbing smoking in public places in order to protect individuals from the hazards of second-hand tobacco smoke. Police are ... Jump to full article >>

The Annual Tobacco Sales Reporting Form is now available from the South Dakota Department of Revenue and Regulation for qualified business establishments that want to allow smoking on their premises. With the recent voter passage of Referred Law 12, licensed establishments meeting the requirements of SDCL 34-46-18 as a “cigar bar” must annually report the amount of revenue generated from sales of cigars as a percentage of annual gross income ... Jump to full article >>

Councilman Donald Huseman, R-1st, is still fuming about the recently passed clean air ordinance. On Monday he again asked the Democratic majority if they would consider talking about exemptions for the comprehensive smoking ban. “I have to bring up the clean air ordinance again,” Huseman said, adding the officials have opened a “can of worms” by passing such a comprehensive smoking ban without any exemptions. Huseman said ... Jump to full article >>

As President Obama toured a Mumbai classroom exhibit on ecological challenges, he heard a lecture about the dangers of smoking. The teenaged boy who delivered the lecture probably did not know that Mr. Obama is a longtime smoker. Using an earnest delivery he told the president, “Today about 1.3 billion people all over the world smoke. And when a person smokes he exhales harmful pollutants into the air. These pollutants add to the gases and ... Jump to full article >>

Bulgaria will continue in a course of gradual raise in the excise of raw cut tobacco with state budget 2011, which previews a rate of BGN 130 per kg. This was revealed by ruling GERB party MP Dimitar Glavchev, who said that the Parliamentary Budget Committee has fully consulted all stakeholders in tobacco production when determining the rate at which the excise will be increasing. The decision reached was to raise the excise with 20% and then to ... Jump to full article >>

Restrictions on smoking in public areas, which were introduced through amendments to the Health Act, will take effect at the beginning of 2011, according to a regulation on indoor smoking in public and working places approved by the Cabinet on November 3 2010. The decision comes several months after the Cabinet suspended a complete ban on smoking in public areas, which had been planned to come into effect in the middle of 2010. Smoking areas ins ... Jump to full article >>