RALEIGH, N.C. — The manufacture of Camels and Lucky Strikes kept tax dollars flowing in North Carolina during Big Tobacco’s heyday. Now lawmakers are asking if they should take long-protected cigarette company settlement money – while possibly settling a humbling chapter in the state’s past. Their target is money in the Golden LEAF Foundation, a private nonprofit organization chartered by the Legislature in 1999 to manage ... Jump to full article >>

Japan Nov Core CPI -0.5% Y/Y, 21st Drop In Row, But Above Oct -0.6% Japan Nov Total CPI +0.1% Y/Y, 2nd Y/Y Rise in Row Central Tokyo Dec Core CPI -0.4% Y/Y Vs Nov -0.5%, 20th Drop In Row Japan CPI Shows Nov Energy Costs +3.9% Y/Y Vs Oct +4.0% Japan’s national core consumer prices fell 0.5% in November from a year earlier, posting the 21st straight y/y drop and indicating that the economy is still mired in deflation, data releasedTuesday ... Jump to full article >>

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled this week that Ohio’s transfer of $230 million that had been set aside for tobacco prevention programs was legal. But that doesn’t mean Ohio should have done so. The Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Fund was established in 2000 after a landmark settlement was reached between states, including Ohio, and tobacco companies sued over the effects of smoking. Ohio’s share was $10.1 billion, accordi ... Jump to full article >>

Tobacco production is booming in Zimbabwe as small farmers attempt to cash in on high prices worldwide. Farmers have also been spurred on by Zimbabwe’s adoption of the US dollar following the collapse of its own currency, with 99 per cent of all tobacco grown in the country now exported. Operators of a farm outside Zimbabwe’s capital Harare are harvesting a fine crop of lush 16 leaf plants to be smoked dry – the Virginia method ... Jump to full article >>

In the hard economic times all states now face, it’s easy to cut state spending that helps people stop smoking. But according to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, it’s also wrong. “We should view this as an investment,” Blumenthal said. Instead, Blumenthal — now a U.S. Senator-elect — will end his career as attorney general knowing that one of his greatest accomplishments — the 1998 settlement with Bi ... Jump to full article >>

British American, the maker of Dunhill cigarettes, Kent, and Lucky Strike cigarettes, said volumes fell in the third quarter as the economic downturn forced smokers to cut back. The world’s second biggest cigarette maker reported a 1pc decline in volumes to 526bn, with Europe, the US, Africa and the Middle East hardest hit. Organic volumes were 3pc lower than last year as a result of market size declines and an increase in illicit trade ... Jump to full article >>

Bank governor forced to write to new Chancellor Rising cost of food places most pressure on prices inflation figures make gloomy reading for savers Inflation likely to fall back to its 2% target within a year The economic nightmare confronting the new coalition government got worse today after inflation rose to a 17-month high in April – placing further pressure on interest rates. The rise triggers an open letter from Bank of England gov ... Jump to full article >>

If leader Caroline Lucas makes the breakthrough to Westminster, she says, anything could be possible for the Green party It’s the day before the Greens launch an election manifesto tilted heavily towards economic issues and Caroline Lucas, the party leader, wants to talk to potential constituents in Brighton about jobs. There’s a problem. The somewhat Stalinist outlines of the concrete Jobcentre Plus she is trying to visit have clear ... Jump to full article >>

The Leaders of Seneca Tribal Nation declared that the recently passed PACT (Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking) Act as an outrageous violation of their rights. In case the Act is legally signed by President Barack Obama, it will ban Tribal cigarette business from shipping tobacco by the U.S. Postal Service, what would result in laying off more than 1.000 tribal and non-tribal workers. Barry Snyder, Seneca Nation Leader claimed that the PACT Act i ... Jump to full article >>