McDonald’s, the maker of cookie cutter hamburgers and golden French fries, is set to clamp down on at least one human vice: smoking. McDonald’s Holdings Co. (Japan) Ltd., the largest restaurant chain in Japan, doesn’t plan to accommodate smokers, chain or otherwise, when it revamps a chunk of its some 3,500 stores over the next several years, according to Japanese daily Asahi, citing sources close to the matter. Most of the estimated 1,050 newly renovated or replaced stores will be subject to the ban, except for outlets that draw heavy smoker traffic, like stores within a plume’s dista ... Jump to full article >>

With the South Carolina 50-cent cigarette tax increase going into effect Thursday, many smokers are preparing to stock up on pre-tax hike cigarettes. At Southside Tobacco in Socastee, they have been keeping a close eye on the cigarette tax increase from the beginning. “I have been following this pretty closely,” Matt Sellers admitted. “It’s pretty much my way of life. I have to be able to support my family and this really hurts us.” He says the store stocked up a little bit to meet the demand for pre-tax hike cigarettes, but they are also hoping the shelves get sl ... Jump to full article >>

ISLAMABAD: The ministry of Health has directed the managements of hotels, restaurants and international food chains to properly implement anti-tobacco laws to protect the health of non-smokers. According to official sources, the ministry’s tobacco control cell has written a letter to the Pakistan Hotels Association Chairman and Pakistan Food Association President and asked them to impose complete ban on any form of smoking on the premises of hotels, restaurants and international food chains. The sources said they had also been asked to stop allocating designated areas for smokers within prem ... Jump to full article >>

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has accepted money from tobacco industry lobbyists while he has been campaigning for the U.S. Senate as an anti-tobacco crusader. The contributions are few and represent only several thousand dollars out of the $2 million-plus in individual contributions that the Democratic frontrunner’s campaign reported through May 1. The small handful of political donations stand out, however, because of the attorney general’s aggressive and high-profile stands against the industry. Blumenthal regularly accuses tobacco companies of selling addiction, disease a ... Jump to full article >>

Tom Szaky plans to turn his waste recycling company TerraCycle into a billion-dollar business. Tom Szaky wants to be the rag-and-bone man to the world, collecting the rubbish no one else wants – cigarette butts, razors, expired pills and plastic food wrappers – and turning an enormous profit by finding new uses for it. His US-based company TerraCycle already has rubbish collecting and re­cycling operations in six countries and expects to launch in 11 more (including Japan, Australia and Sweden) in the next year. He launched TerraCycle in Britain last September and in Ireland this month. & ... Jump to full article >>

Oil company executives are on the horns of a dilemma. Or, to be more specific, they are on the tusks of a dilemma. Congressional investigators looking into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill found that BP and three other oil companies had filed “oil spill safety response plans” for the gulf that made reference to protecting walruses. The problem is that “there aren’t any walruses in the Gulf of Mexico and there have not been for 3 million years,” as Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) pointed out. Markey, chairman of the energy subcommittee interrogating the oil bosses, turned ... Jump to full article >>

It’s high noon today in an Albany budget showdown that will decide if state government shuts down for the first time in New York history. The Senate is scheduled to go into session at noon and is expected to quickly take up the latest emergency spending bill designed to keep government operating for at least another week. New York’s budget is 75 days late, requiring the Legislature to approve weekly extenders to pay employees, cover costs – and keep government running. But a key Bronx Democratic senator continued to insist yesterday that he’ll vote against the latest bi ... Jump to full article >>

Auckland’s public health service wants courts to have the power to jail dairy owners and other retailers for six months for selling tobacco without approval under a proposed registration system. Health Minister Tariana Turia has revived the proposal to ban tobacco displays in virtually all shops, and the Ministry of Health is considering submissions from the public and interested groups. The Auckland Regional Public Health Service, which in February called for existing bans on smoking to be extended to beaches and other public places, has spoken out strongly in favour of banning the ret ... Jump to full article >>

In the opinion of Fire Department Lt. Thomas G. Paquin, a rubber duck should have nothing to do with fire. Such thinking is why the department is applauding the recent City Council adoption of an ordinance that makes the sale or distribution of novelty cigarette lighters illegal. “The intent of the ordinance is to save lives and property by trying to keep matches and lighters out of the hands of children,” Paquin said on Tuesday. The variety of guises lighters come in is almost limitless, from race cars and machine guns to guitars, tiny soda cans, footballs and, yes, yellow rubber ... Jump to full article >>

Termed-out Assemblywoman Audra Strickland has gotten about $250,000 in her bid to unseat the incumbent, fellow Republican Linda Parks, who has gotten about $25,000. Leafy Thousand Oaks is getting a taste of Sacramento-style politics with a partisan battle for a county supervisor’s seat that is attracting huge sums from the state GOP as well as development, oil, tobacco, insurance and Indian gaming interests. Termed-out Republican Assemblywoman Audra Strickland has received a $250,000 boost in outside spending in her bid to oust incumbent Supervisor Linda Parks, also a Republican. And mon ... Jump to full article >>

CEO of World Duty Free reveals plans to remove tobacco from stores as airport retail chain endures a £250,000-a-day sales hit from British Airways strike Cigarettes will disappear from Britain’s duty free cigarettes shops after a period of being sold from “behind closed doors” as the Government tightens anti-smoking laws. Mark Riches, chief executive of World Duty Free, Britain’s biggest airport shopping chain, expects to set up closed-off areas for cigarette sales from 2013, in which the brands won’t be on display. The company aims to replace its most profitabl ... Jump to full article >>