Seizure of British sailors sparks diplomatic tension
The British government demanded the immediate and safe return of 15 Royal Navy sailors seized at gunpoint by Iranian warships in Iraqi territorial waters.
Big News Network 2h and 29m ago
Bill to ban smoking closer to O'Malley
By Kristen WyattASSOCIATED PRESSMarch 24, 2007 ANNAPOLIS -- A statewide smoking ban that would force all bars to go smoke-free cruised through the Maryland legislature yesterday and is close to the go...
Big News Network 3h and 16m ago
WHO to launch large-scale anti-tobacco campaign in Bangkok
The World Health Organization ( WHO) plans to launch an international anti-smoking public campaign in Bangkok to mark the World No-Tobacco Day, which falls on May 31, Thai News Agency reported on Satu...
Big News Network 3h and 25m ago
US and UK fail to find smoking gun
Although British and US military and diplomats often complain of Iranian support for insurgents in Iraq, there is no "smoking gun" to prove it, a senior British officer in Basra admitted yesterday.Lt ...
Big News Network 6h and 1m ago
England begins 100-day countdown to public smoking ban
LONDON England yesterday began a 100-day countdown to a smoking ban in enclosed public places, as concerns emerged in Scotland about a sharp dip in trade since restrictions were introduced there a y...
Big News Network 7h and 21m ago
Smoking Ban Gets Preliminary OK In Legislature
Earlier today, the State Senate approved the ban in a preliminary vote. This morning's voice vote came after senators defeated an amendment that would have stripped any smoking ban language from the b...
Big News Network 9h and 25m ago
Women smokers face higher lung-cancer risk
SYDNEY, March 23 The risks of dying from lung cancer are about 20 times higher among female smokers than male smokers, Australian researchers report.The study of 500,000 adults, published in the Ameri...
Big News Network 12h and 7m ago
Alcohol and tobacco more dangerous than some illegal drugs
LONDON – New “landmark” research finds that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than some illegal drugs like marijuana or Ecstasy and should be classified as such in legal systems...
Big News Network 13h and 8m ago
Trio of Brain Regions Involved in Nicotine Dependence
Researchers from Duke University Medical Center have used brain PET scans to identify three regions of the brain that seem to control nicotine dependence and craving.
Join Together 14h and 28m ago
Quitting Smoking Helps Loosen Arteries
Just as smoking causes hardening of the arteries, quitting smoking can improve arterial health, although recovery from arterial stiffness may take up to a decade.
Join Together 14h and 26m ago
U.S. Senate backs tobacco tax increase
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate approved a measure on Friday calling for an increase in the federal tobacco tax to provide money for a children's health care program.
Big News Network 14h and 30m ago
Police say 7-year-old set bulletin board fire with borrowed cigarette lighter
PORT ST. LUCIE -- A 7-year-old boy is facing an arson charge after allegedly setting a bulletin board on fire at Port St. Lucie Elementary School, according to a police report obtained Friday. A se...
Big News Network 15h and 19m ago
Alcohol, tobacco more harmful than cannabis and ecstasy
London, Mar 23 : A new study has proposed that since alcohol and tobacco are significantly more dangerous than the present class A drugs, the socially accepted drugs should be placed in the upper half of the league table that classifies drugs in the A, B and C category in the UK Misuse of Drugs Act.
Big News Network Fri, 23 Mar 2007 04:00:57 -0400
Bush Officials Undermined Tobacco Racketeering Case, Lead Lawyer Says
Bush administration political appointees interfered with the Justice Department's racketeering case against the tobacco industry during the trial's final weeks, the government's lead attorney says, undermining the prosecution and asking witnesses to change their testimony.
Join Together Thu, 22 Mar 2007 13:46:00 EDT
Tobacco Ingredient May Protect Against Parkinson's
Smokers have a lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease than nonsmokers, and the protective effects appear to decline when smokers quit, according to researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Join Together Thu, 22 Mar 2007 13:40:12 EDT
Smokeless Tobacco Use Declines Among Baseball Players
Baseball players have long been the dubious poster boys for chewing tobacco, but today fewer than one in three major leaguers uses smokeless tobacco -- down from 46 percent in 1987.
Join Together Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:36:36 EDT
Smoking Causes Widespread Damage to Skin
The skin damage caused by smoking may be written all over smokers' faces, but researchers say that smoking affects skin all over the body.
Join Together Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:59:15 EDT
Neb. State Lawmakers Want to Give Cities an 'Out' on Smoking Bans
Lawmakers in Nebraska are proposing legislation that would allow cities to opt out of statewide smoking bans either through a city-council vote or voter referendum.
Join Together Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:56:50 EDT
'Low Tar,' 'Light' Labels Barred Worldwide, Judge Says
The judge in a U.S. racketeering case has ordered tobacco companies to stop marketing cigarettes using terms like 'low tar' and 'light' not just in the United States but overseas as well.
Join Together Mon, 19 Mar 2007 14:59:04 EDT
House Votes to Double Maryland's Tobacco Tax
The Maryland House of Representatives has approved a bill that would double the state's cigarette tax to $2 per pack and use the revenues to expand Medicaid eligibility.
Join Together Mon, 19 Mar 2007 14:58:26 EDT
N.J. to Require 'Fire Safe' Cigarettes
Lawmakers in New Jersey have voted to require that only cigarettes designed to self-extinguish if left unattended should be sold in the state.
Join Together Mon, 19 Mar 2007 14:57:54 EDT
Exercise Curbs Smoking Urges, Study Says
Exercising for as little as five minutes reduces craving for cigarettes for smokers, according to British researchers who reviewed a series of previously published studies.
Join Together Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:56:29 EDT
Congress Probes DOJ Meddling in Tobacco Case
As if President Bush and Alberto Gonzales didn't have enough trouble dealing with the continuing attorney firings controversy, a whole new front has opened up in the emerging battle between Congress and the Justice Department over executive branch authority.Thursday evening Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who chairs the House Government Oversight committee, sent the Attorney General a letter asking for all kinds of records concerning the Bush Administration's handling of a recent federal case against the tobacco industry. . . Whatever the outcome of Waxman's new attack on Gonzales and Bush, another scandal is exactly what the old Texas friends didn't need right now. Granted, the embattled Attorney General has bucked the beltway odds-makers, leveraging solid support from Bush to hang onto his job in the face of Democratic accusations about the firing of eight attorneys general late last year. Bush, in turn, has stood firm before the looming threat of Congressional subpoenas for his top advisor, Karl Rove, in a battle over presidential power. But Hill Republicans are getting tired of political trouble from Justice and the White House. "What the heck is going on over there?" asked one frustrated senior Republican aide. "It's something new every day." Bush can stand by Gonzales for a while, but the way things are going on Capitol Hill, he may soon be the AG's only friend in Washington.
Tobacco.org
Full Text of Waxman Documents
Below is the full text of:1. Rep. Waxman's 3/22/07 Letter to Attorney General Gonzales, as posted on the House Oversight Committee websitehttp://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070322152608-58148.pdf2. Justice Department Emails from June 8, 2005, as posted on the House Oversight Committee websitehttp://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070322155525-87147.pdf . . .Ms. Eubanks has also indicated to my staff that she had concerns about the role that White House ofEcials may have played in the case. She provided emails to the Committee indicating that the White House reviewed the Department's public response in June 2005 to allegations of political interference in the litigation. According to these emails, the Justice Department was directed to "hold up" sending an op-ed to USA Today explaining the Justice Department's position because "the White House wanted some changes."' 2A revised draft was prepared within a half hour of the White House objections. The revised draft made a number of changes to the op-ed, including inserting as the lead sentence of the op-ed: "President Bush and his Administration have proven time and again a strong commitment to holding the tobacco indushy accountable for past fraud and abuse." 3 According to a subsequent email, the White House said this version was "good to go." 4To assist the Committee's inquiry into whether there was political interference in the tobacco litigation, please provide the Committee with the following documents for the time frame from January 20, 2001 to the present:(1) All communications between the White House and the Department of Justice related to the Department's suit against the tobacco industry, U.S. v. Philip Morris;
Tobacco.org
Letter to Attorney General Gonzales
To assist the Committee's inquiry into whether there was political interference in the tobacco litigation, please provide the Committee with the following documents for the time frame from January 20,2001, to the present: (1) All communications between the White House and the Department of Justice related to the Department's suit against the tobacco industry, U.S. v. Philip Morris; (2) All notes, in any form, kept by political appointees at the Department related to White House involvement in the tobacco litigation; (3) An accounting of all contacts between the White House and the Department of Justice related to the tobacco litigation; and (a) The full report completed by the Office of Professional Responsibility related to its investigation into possible political interference in the tobacco litigation. Please provide the documents requested by the Committee by Apnl7,2007 .
Tobacco.org
Information Requested on Allegations of Political Interference in Tobacco Case
Following renewed allegations of political interference in the Justice Department's case against the tobacco industry, Rep. Waxman requests documents and communications between the Department and the White House relating to the litigation.Documents and Links* Letter to Attorney General Gonzales* Justice Department Emails
Tobacco.org
Scenes from a hijacking.: Today at the Senate, plus all the Justice Department scandals you aren't hearing about.
Other moves at DoJ, however, alarm lawyers of all stripes with their partisanship. In 2005, the Department of Justice was about to wind up its big racketeering case against the tobacco industry, which had begun during the Clinton presidency. The lead attorney on it, Sharon Eubanks, says that when John Ashcroft became attorney general, she laid out the options for him: drop the case, or some of the claims, or continue to pursue it. She was told to go ahead. But on the day of her summation at the trial, deputies for Gonzales, who'd since become attorney general, apparently had second thoughts. Over Eubanks' objection, they forced her to cut the government's claim for damages from $130 billion to $10 billion. She saw that as a big fat gift to the tobacco companies, and she subsequently resigned, after 22 years as a DoJ attorney. "The reason they went ahead with the case was that they did not think I was capable of leading a team of 30 to 35 lawyers to victory over 350 lawyers on the other side," Eubanks said when I reached her this week at home. "I'm a small black woman. I'd go over to the main building and I'd say we had a good day, and the political people didn't pay much attention. The moment the relationship changed was before my closing argument, when I went in and said we'd won the case. It was at that point that they came after us."There's more
Tobacco.org
Eubanks Speaks out on Tobacco Case, Attorney Firings
the NPR audio interview by John Ydstie with Eubanks has several noteworthy segments which should be written down for posterity:1. When asked if Gonzales was aware of administration appointees' interference with the tobacco case, Eubanks said that Kyle Samson was cc'd on their emails, so she was sure Gonzales was aware. ( Samson, who resigned Monday over the fired-attorneys scandal, had been Gonzales' chief of staff.)2. As for the Office of Professional Responsibilty investigation, Eubanks flatly called it a "whitewash."--She said the OPD is not an independent office in the JD.--She said that she had called then-Associate Attorney General Robert D. McCallum about one of the OPD issues and he said that he'd just call the head of OPD and address the issue himself. "If it's an independent investigation, why would the subject of the investigation be in a position to call and to get changes made?"--She said that she had never been asked a single question about White House interference, though "I had submitted emails, communications between the White House officials and Justice Department officials. I was not questioned about those documents."3. When asked why she was coming forward now, Eubanks said that a tobacco appeal is about to be filed. The same JD is in place now, she said, and various administration officials are still at Justice--including Peter Keisler, who is still the head of the Civil Division. These are the people who will be making decisions about the case and about what issues are going to be appealed.Eubanks said there were many parallels between the tobacco case and the current fired-attorneys issue. As a 22-year career attorney--not a political appointee ("I did not serve at the 'pleasure of the President'")--she fears for the career attorneys at Justice. It is important, she said, to insure that career people can do their jobs, so that there is continuity at the JD.
Tobacco.org
U.S. Attorney Claims Pressure on Tobacco Case
A key Justice Department attorney in the lawsuit against big tobacco says she was pressured by the office of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to weaken the government's case. Former federal prosecutor Sharon Eubanks talks with John Ydstie about what she says she was asked to do.
Tobacco.org
EDITORIAL: Gonzales and Tobacco
The Washington Post quoted the leader of the Justice Department team, Sharon Y. Eubanks, as charging that " Bush loyalists in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's office began micromanaging the team's strategy in the final weeks of the 2005 trial, to the detriment of the government's claim that the industry had conspired to lie to U.S. smokers."Let us just say that this is one allegation of politicization of the Justice Department on which these columns can speak with some authority, because we were urging it. . . .If there was any error in the handling of the tobacco case, it was that Mr. Bush failed to exercise sufficient political control over the Justice Department. He allowed a politicized Clinton administration racketeering prosecution of tobacco executives to go forward at great expense to the government and the economy even though it had little if any legal basis and even though it contradicted the president's compact with the voters at the polls.
Tobacco.org
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