Kenya's British American Tobacco FY profit up 65 pct

The cigarette manufacturer said in a statement that total revenues rose to 20.14 billion shillings in 2011 from 13.54 billion, while earnings per share jumped to 30.98 shillings from 17.67 shillings.

BAT said it would pay a final dividend of 27 shillings, bringing the total dividend for the year to 30.50 shillings compared with 17.50 in the previous year.

"The exchange rate benefit on export revenues also contributed to revenue growth. Total domestic and export volumes grew over the previous year driven by higher contract manufacture volumes as well as good performance in the Kenya domestic markets," BAT Kenya said.

Cigarette firm bucks ‘sin’ tax increase plan

"If the government pursues a sharp increase in excise taxes, it will push up prices, especially among the low-priced brands. Smuggling will increase exponentially," Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC) President Chris Nelson said in media briefing yesterday.

The illicit trade could cost the government an estimated P170 billion in revenues annually, he projected, "more than the P60 billion the government will allegedly earn every year, although that claim is unsubstantiated."

Mr. Nelson urged the Aquino administration to focus first on tax administration, as promised at the start of its term. The government should not seek to increase taxes without first guaranteeing that it was capable of collecting the additional revenues, he added.

"We offered our help to the DoF (Department of Finance) and the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) since we have a tobacco tracing and tracking system. They never responded," Mr. Nelson claimed.

The assertion that higher prices would lead to a drop in tobacco consumption were rejected by Mr. Nelson, who said demand would not go down if illegal sources were available.

Reforms to the excise tax regime on alcohol and tobacco are currently being discussed by the House of Representatives ways and means committee. The leading proposal is House Bill (HB) 5727, authored by Rep. Joseph Emilio A. Abaya (1st district, Cavite) and patterned after a DoF proposal.

"We are not against the moves to reform the excise tax regime, but the tax increases must be gradual and reasonable," Mr. Nelson said.

PMFTC has backed a proposal penned by Rep. Eric G. Singson, Jr. (Ilocos Sur, 2nd district) that was shelved by the House ways and means committee.

The Singson bill retains the multiple tiers of the existing excise tax structure and prescribes tax increases every two years from 2013 to 2017. The Abaya bill, on the other hand, aims to move to a unitary tax structure and targets a more immediate schedule for tax increases.

Specifically, the PMFTC-backed measure proposed to charge cigarettes packed by hand a tax of P3 next year, increasing to P3.30 in 2015 and P3.63 in 2017. In comparison, HB 5727 pegged a tax of P14 per pack this year, increasing to P22 in 2013 and P30 in 2014.

The National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 (NIRC) currently imposes a tax of only P2.72 per pack.

Moreover, cigarettes packed by machine with a wholesale price below P11.50 will be taxed P3 starting 2013, P3.30 in 2015 and P3.63 in 2017 under the Singson proposal.

Those with a wholesale price of P11.50 to P14.95 will be levied P8 in 2013, P8.45 in 2015 and P8.93 in 2017. Meanwhile, those selling for P14.95 to P23 will be taxed P12.60, P13.23 and P13.90, respectively.

Lastly, cigarettes packed by machine sold for more than P23 will charged taxes of P29.49 in 2013, P30.73 in 2015 and P32.02 in 2017.

The Abaya bill, meanwhile, sets a tax of P10 this year to cigarettes packed by machine priced at P10 and below. This will increase to P22 in 2013 and to P30 in 2014. Those that cost over P10 will be levied a P30 tax this year until 2014.

Cigarettes packed by machine are currently taxed only P12 or P28.30 depending on the price of the pack.

Mr. Nelson denied claims made by Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima that the existing laws favored his company. PMFTC controls more than 90% of the tobacco market in the country after Philip Morris Phils. Manufacturing Inc. and Tan-led Fortune Tobacco Corp. merged a year ago.

"The fact that we have a high market share is not driven only by pricing but also product quality and distribution," Mr. Nelson said.

He also pointed out that the DoF even defended the current tax structure when it was questioned by competitor British American Tobacco (BAT) in 2008. BAT had argued that the structure of the NIRC -- levying higher taxes on cigarette brands that enter the market after 1996 -- was unconstitutional.

"The DoF defended that law, and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of it, 13-0," Mr. Nelson said.

Nevertheless, the PMFTC chief said he was "reasonably optimistic" that Congress would pass "something similar to the Singson proposal."

"If everyone just stands back, they will see that what the DoF and Secretary Purisima want is impossible," he said.

Malacañang has declared the excise tax reform as a priority measure. The Finance department is aiming to have a bill passed into law by June. Discussions began at the House ways and means committee yesterday.

Smoking ban headed for full Senate

A statewide smoking ban, with exemptions, is headed to the full Senate for the first time after a committee heard almost four hours of testimony Wednesday and approved the bill 8-2.

“This bill gets us not all the way there. The conundrum is how long do we wait?” said Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson. “If we wait until we have a perfect bill, I’m not sure we would ever get there.”

House Bill 1149 covers hotels, businesses, restaurants, bowling alleys and other public buildings. And it allows local ordinances to be more restrictive than state law.

It does include exemptions for the state’s casinos, cigar and hookah bars; retail tobacco shops; and private clubs that have voted to retain smoking provided minors aren’t allowed. It also gives bars and taverns an 18-month delay to prepare for implementation.

The drive behind the legislation is to protect employees in public places from working in conditions that are hazardous to their health.

Twenty-nine states have comprehensive smoking bans, and 22 of those cover bars and taverns.

Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, author of the legislation, said he would prefer a bill without exemptions but it isn’t politically possible.

“What I’ve concluded if we can’t protect 100 percent (of employees) then we can protect 95 percent or 90 percent,” he said. “Some will say it’s all or nothing. I would prefer to reach out and try to get 95 percent.”

Those who testified against the bill hammered on what they see as the inequality of the exemptions for private clubs and casinos but not local bars and taverns.

New Castle bar owner Jeff Viars said while major cities might have hundreds of bars to choose from, his town has 13 private clubs and six bars, including his own.

“If you make it to where the clubs, who are my biggest competition, are allowed to smoke and we’re not, you are putting us out of business plain and simple,” he said.

Veteran Charles Rogers said health hazards are everywhere.

“We can’t all walk around in a bubble,” he said. “I would like to reserve the rights of the people in this country to have a choice. We’re losing our choices. Everything is being taken away.”

Those supporting the ban argued the rights of a minority of smokers shouldn’t trump the rights of non-smokers to a healthy environment in a building open to the public.

Kevin O’Flaherty, co-chairman of the Indiana Campaign for Smokefree Air, said the ban is just one of many laws that every business must obey to ensure the health and safety of patrons, including labor laws, insurance, fire safety and wages.

He said the bar owners have expressed a fear of the unknown and increased regulation but evidence shows no mass closures. In some states, employment and revenue have increased.

“We’re ready to do this,” O’Flaherty said. “It represents real progress … and protects the vast majority of Hoosiers with an effective law.”

Indiana’s state health commissioner endorsed the bill on behalf of Gov. Mitch Daniels.

The two senators who voted “no” are among the most conservative in the caucus – Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, and Sen. Brent Waltz, R-Greenwood.

Waltz said by placing exemptions in the bill the legislature is saying the lives of some workers are worth more than others.

“I agree it’s the political reality,” he said. “But I think it’s very bad public policy.”

Marijuana hidden among limes and cukes

Authorities say a load of limes in South Texas has yielded more than a ton of marijuana

U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday announced the seizure of about $2.4 million worth of marijuana.

Investigators say an 18-wheeler hauling a commercial shipment of limes had a second inspection Tuesday at the Progreso International Bridge.

Officers discovered nearly 350 packages had been slipped into the shipment. Agents seized more than 2,400 pounds of marijuana.

Investigators say an unrelated bust a day earlier, in a commercial shipment of cucumbers, led to confiscation of more than 1,900 pounds of marijuana. The street value of the packaged marijuana has been estimated at $1.9 million.

Hookah lounge to withdraw request to transfer alcohol licenses

A Rapid City hookah lounge that has been the subject of recent legal troubles is withdrawing its request to transfer its beer and wine licenses.
A lawyer representing the owners of Ifrits Hookah Lounge notified the Rapid City Council by letter Monday of its intentions to withdraw the applications. The council was set to consider the requests at its meeting today.
"Understanding that the agenda has been set, I will appear at the City Council meeting to confirm these developments and to advise the City Council that no action should be taken on these agenda items," attorney Stephen J. Wesolick wrote Monday.
Both Police Chief Steve Allender and Mayor Sam Kooiker had recommended against allowing the transfer in light of recent problems with underage drinking and synthetic drug sales at the business.
Earlier this year, an employee of Ifrits and an owner received misdemeanor citations from police after photos of underage drinkers at a New Year's Eve party were posted on the business' website.
On Jan. 19, law enforcement served search warrants on Ifrits Hookah Lounge and another downtown business, Classified Hookah. Officers seized synthetic marijuana and bath salts.
No arrests were made, but the business remains under investigation by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation.
A Feb. 13 letter from Pennington County State's Attorney Glenn Brenner also indicates that the hookah lounge has been notified that it is in violation of the statewide smoking ban approved by voters in 2010, according to city documents.
Ifrits, 725 St. Joseph St., was seeking to transfer the alcohol licenses because owners Charles Desmond and Brian Winckel changed the name of their corporation from Charles J. Desmond General Partnership to B&C, Inc. State law requires such a transfer, according to documents submitted to the city council.
Ifrits can continue to sell alcoholic beverages under its current corporate designation, according to City Attorney Joel Landeen.

No more "light" and "mild" cigarettes

From March next year, words like "light', "low-tar" and "mild" will be banned from the packaging of tobacco products, while a new set of graphic warnings will replace current ones.

Also, the maximum tar and nicotine yield levels in cigarettes will be reduced, and current labels indicating tar and nicotine yield levels on cigarette packaging will be replaced with new ones that inform smokers of chemicals other than tar and nicotine in a cigarette.

These are among the changes that will come about following the amendments in 2010 to the Smoking (Control of Advertisements and Sale of Tobacco) Act.

Explaining the changes, Health Promotion Board (HPB) CEO Ang Hak Seng said: "There is no evidence that 'light' and 'mild' cigarettes are any less harmful. Yet many smokers, who want to quit the habit but found it challenging, tend to switch to cigarettes with these descriptors, because they think these cigarettes are less harmful."

A survey by the HPB in 2009 found that 63 per cent of smokers believed that "light" cigarettes were less harmful than "regular" cigarettes compared to 28 per cent of smokers who indicated no difference between the two.

"It is, therefore, imperative that Singapore bans such misleading descriptors. The ban on misleading labelling will affect about a quarter of the cigarette brands currently sold in Singapore," said the HPB.

The maximum tar and nicotine yield levels in cigarettes will be reduced from 15mg and 1.3mg to 10mg and 1.0mg respectively, with the HPB stressing that these are not "safety" limits and "no level of toxicity and addictiveness can be deemed to be safe in cigarettes".

The graphic health warnings on individual cigarette packs will also be extended to outer packaging such as carton packaging.

And cigarillos will have to be sold in packs of 20 instead of the current 10

The HPB said a briefing session was held this morning to communicate the amendments to the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry has until March next year to implement these changes.

Indiana smoking ban still in negotiation

Anti-smoking advocates aren't happy about an 18-month exemption for bars that's included in a bill for a statewide smoking ban, and said Thursday they are aiming to prevent the proposal from being watered down any more as it moves through the Indiana legislature.

A state Senate committee is expected to act within a couple of weeks on the bill that was approved by the House last week. The proposal prohibits smoking in nearly all public places and businesses while still allowing smoking at casinos, private clubs, retail tobacco stores, and cigar and hookah bars.
Opposition from health advocates last year to a House-approved bill that included a bar exemption without an end date contributed to its defeat in a Senate committee after its chairman argued the provision was needed to win Senate passage.

Danielle Patterson, co-chairwoman of the Indiana Campaign for Smokefree Air, described the current proposal as a "tad bit better" than last year's total exemption for bars.

"If we could have bars included without the phase-in that would ideal, just as long the bill doesn't get weaker at this point," she said. "It will be tough for us to support it if it gets any weaker than it currently is."

The bill would permit bars that currently allow smoking to keep doing so until September 2013. House members also added a broader exemption for the state's 13 casinos that would allow smoking anywhere on their property, not just on gambling floors as originally proposed.

The Indiana House has approved statewide smoking limits six times in recent years, but the Senate has never voted on those proposals.

Senate public policy committee Chairman Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, said he believes the current exemptions are needed for the bill to get through the legislature before this year's session ends by mid-March. He said adding other exemptions -- such as for nursing home residents -- could be considered by the committee.

"To think you're going to go nonsmoking throughout the entire state of Indiana without any exemptions, history has told us in the years that it's come out of the House that it has always had those exemptions," Alting said.

The House voted 62-35 in favor of the bill, although some legislators maintain the state shouldn't mandate smoking policies to business owners.

Republican Rep. Eric Turner of Cicero, who sponsored the ban in the House, said he believes growing public awareness of the dangers of secondhand smoke and support for a statewide ban from Gov. Mitch Daniels gives the proposal its best chance so far of making it through the General Assembly.

"My goal is to minimize the number of exemptions but maximize the number locations that would be smoke-free and still get a bill passed," he said.

Many kids still exposed to secondhand smoke in cars

A new government study reports that while fewer kids and teens are getting exposed to secondhand smoke while riding in the car, rates of exposure are still high enough to warrant concern.
The authors recommend that more parts of the country ban smoking in cars carrying kids—laws that are on the books in four states.
In a survey of middle and high school students, close to one-third said they'd driven in a car with someone who was smoking in the past week.
Researchers said parents and other drivers may not realize that even when the windows are down, smoking in a vehicle can create toxic levels of circulating smoke.
"The concentrations just get very high—they get as high as in a very, very smoky bar," said Dr. Ana Navas-Acien, who has studied secondhand smoke in cars at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
"It's important for children, definitely, but it's a problem for everybody," Navas-Acien, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health.
Even for smokers' own health, she added, "It's really important for them to realize that they should not smoke in such a small, confined space."
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that four states— Arkansas, California, Louisiana and Maine—have bans on smoking in cars carrying kids younger than 13 to 18, depending on the law. Puerto Rico also bars the practice.
Navas-Acien agreed with the authors that extending those laws to more of the country is necessary to protect kids from health problems linked to secondhand smoke, such as asthma and respiratory and ear infections.
For the new study, Brian King of the CDC and his colleagues analyzed data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, conducted nationwide in more than 20,000 kids in grades six through 12 every couple of years between 2000 and 2009.
Students were asked if they smoked themselves, as well as if they'd been in the car with someone who was smoking in the past week.
By 2009, almost nine in every ten youth said they didn't smoke.
During the study period, the number of participants who reported recently being exposed to secondhand smoke in the car dropped from 48 percent to 30 percent overall.
Among smokers, that rate fell from 82 percent to 76 percent, and in non-smokers, from 39 percent to 23 percent.
King's team speculated in its study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, that those declines may be due to more smoke-free laws and fewer people smoking in the United States in general, as well as a changing public attitude about the appropriateness of smoking near kids.
But more needs to be done, researchers agreed.
"The alarming fact of it is, there's about one in five (non-smoking kids) that are still exposed in this environment," King told Reuters Health.
"We have evidence that there's no safe level for exposure" to secondhand smoke, he added.
"People are recognizing the importance of protecting children in cars, and that the amount of tobacco smoke in cars reaches levels that are quite high," said Geoffrey Fong, a tobacco researcher from the University of Waterloo in Canada who didn't participate in the new research.
He said that most provinces in Canada have also passed laws prohibiting smoking while youth are in the car.
"I envision that we are going to be seeing these kinds of laws passed throughout North America... and throughout the world. It makes sense," he told Reuters Health.
"Smoking in cars constitutes a significant public health hazard—that's quite intuitive."

Newest Atlantic City casino to be virtually smoke-free

Atlantic City's newest casino, Revel, is opening six weeks earlier than planned -- on April 2 -- and will be virtually smoke-free throughout the premises.

That will mark the first time in the 34-year history of legalized gambling in the city that a casino has prohibited smoking without being forced to.

The casino, Atlantic City's 12th, will have a full-blown grand opening ceremony on May 25, but guests will be able to gamble and check into hotel rooms on April 2. Revel will start taking reservations online at its website, www.revelresorts.com, starting March 5.

Revel, a $2.4 billion resort, is widely being counted on to help revive the sagging fortunes of the nation's second-largest gambling market after Las Vegas.

"I think this is going to be a very good summer for the city," Revel CEO Kevin DeSanctis said. "There will be no lack of things to do."

As promised since plans were unveiled in 2007, Revel will ban smoking on the entire casino floor, in guest rooms and in virtually all indoor and outdoor areas of the hotel-casino complex. The sole exception will be a small area outside a nightclub where club patrons will be allowed to light up. No one will have to walk through that area to get anywhere else in the resort, DeSanctis said.

He said he was somewhat concerned about being the first Atlantic City smoke-free facility but decided the current city policy permitting smoking on 25 percent of the casino floor is difficult to enforce.

"We just took the plunge," he said.

That stance was instantly applauded by Global Advisors on Smokefree Policy, which has been fighting for five years for smoke-free casinos in Atlantic City.

Atlantic City officials tried to ban smoking in the casinos in 2008 but failed. Due to a technicality in the law the City Council passed, all smoking was banned for a month before the law could be repealed. During that time, no smoking at all was allowed on the casino floor, though gamblers could go inside specially enclosed smoking lounges that some casinos built.

In the first two weeks that smoking was prohibited, slot machine revenue plunged 20 percent at the four Atlantic City casinos operated by what was then known as Harrah's Entertainment Inc., now Caesars Entertainment Corp.

DeSanctis said Revel will gradually unveil its attractions between April and Memorial Day weekend, having consciously decided not to open all at once. He was blunt about expectations for what the very first Revel-ers might experience, despite the staff's best efforts.

"The worst possible thing you can do is open everything all at once with a big splash," he said. "This is a 6 million-square-foot facility, and lots of things are going to go wrong. It's all new staff, all new IT systems. You have to assume things are going to go wrong. We're expecting some issues."

Revel will have 1,898 hotel rooms and employ about 5,500 people. It will become the first casino to open in Atlantic City since the Borgata in 2003.

Attractions include Revelry, located 61 feet above sea level and named for its showcase restaurants, shops, nightclubs and day clubs, an intimate performance space for 700 people and its casino.

The Mezz, located 87 feet above sea level, includes a theater with a capacity for 5,500 people and 160,000 square feet of meeting space.

The Resort, starting at 114 feet above sea level, encompasses guest rooms and suites.

And The Lobby, also 114 feet above sea level, is nearly 2 acres of outdoor space anchored by SkyGarden and by InOut Pool, a pool that begins indoors and continues outside.

On April 2, seven of the casino's 14 restaurants will be open, with additional openings coming periodically before Memorial Day. There will be 500 hotel rooms open the first week, with an additional 500 the week after that.

All gambling facilities, including slot machines and table games, will be up and running on April 2. Its spa will open April 3.

DeSanctis said Revel will host play days for invited guests only, on March 29 and 30, mainly to test its casino games under the gaze of the state Division of Gaming Enforcement. Among the 5,000 people each night who will be invited are construction workers, electricians and carpenters who helped build the casino and neighborhood residents. People will not be able to walk in off the street on either of those days.

Proposed Ordinance May Ban Smoking in Housing Complexes

A City Council committee will receive a proposed ordinance this week to ban smoking in housing complexes if the smoker is asked to stop by another resident, according to documents displayed on the city's website.

The proposal comes from the San Diego Smoke-Free Housing Task Force, made up of groups such as Social Advocates for Youth San Diego (SAY), the American Lung Association, Communities Against Substance Abuse, the Environmental Health Association and a tenant advocacy group.

The task force was formed three years ago after SAY San Diego brought a similar proposal to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee.

The proposed ordinance has been reviewed by the City Attorney's Office, and is opposed by two landlord groups that also are part of the task force, according to a city report.

The draft text of the ordinance state the dangers of tobacco products and proposes to ban smoking in apartments and condos if it “substantially interferes with another person's use, comfort and/or enjoyment of that multifamily property.”

Complaints about violations would need to be made in writing to the landlord, who then would be required to issue as many as three verbal warnings and a written directive to stop smoking before beginning eviction proceedings, according to the proposal.

The law, if passed, would also allow residents and the city attorney to bring civil lawsuits.

The committee is scheduled to consider the item on Wednesday afternoon.

Purrfect time to kick the smoking habit and help pets

AN ANIMAL shelter is warning pet owners to be aware of the dangers of passive smoking to their beloved creatures.

Stubbington Ark is urging smokers who own pets to think before they light up in front of them.

And it is now asking animal lovers to quit the habit and help raise money for the charity at the same time.

Vanessa Eden, head of fundraising at the Ark said: ‘We have all heard about the risks humans run when inhaling second-hand smoke but animals suffer in silence.

‘Recent research has shown that a cat or dog that is in the same room as a smoker can develop breathing problems and could be at risk of heart disease, blood disorders and some types of cancer.

‘Smoke can penetrate into the animal’s fur and when the cat or dog lick themselves they are swallowing potentially dangerous nicotine.

‘Even pet fish do not escape as tar particles from the smoke can sink into the tank water causing long-term damage.’

In an effort to draw attention to the dangers, the charity is promoting a campaign dubbed Stub It Out, It Makes Purrfect Sense.

Housing Authority in Freeport going smoke free

People living in Freeport public housing won't be able to smoke in their apartments much longer. All units will be smoke free by June 1st.

The Housing Authority of the City of Freeport (HACF) says it had people fill out surveys about the smoking ban and most agreed with the idea.

"Honestly, I've been a smoker for 25 years and I agree totally with it,"

Katrisha Shultheis lives in HACF's Parkside Apartments Complex. She feels the new smoking ban will promote better health and keep units clean.

"Smoke...I've seen first hand what it can do to the apartments," said Shultheis. "We smoked in our old apartment and our walls were just so bad from smoking inside."

HACF's Larry Williams says limiting second hand smoke was one of the main motivations behind the ban. He says it's also expensive for the housing authority to fix up apartments after smoking tenants leave.

"The smoking actually is absorbed in the walls," said Williams. "You have to wash the walls 3 or 4 times and there's a special coat of paint we would use after we've turned around an apartment with a smoker."

"Now, smokers have to be at least 15 ft away from housing authority property before lighting up. While he's in favor of the smoke free policy, Parkside Apartment resident Kenneth Schultheis sees some problems.

"I really don't agree with going 15 feet away from my own door," he said. "I got six kids to watch. Makes it kind of difficult."

About 285 other housing authorities nationwide have similar policies. To residents like Mike Hoskinson, it's a move in the right direction.

"They're just trying to make the buildings better for everybody," he said. "I think this is a good step to do so."

ROK Premium Electronic Cigarettes Announce Local Recycling Initiative

ROK Universal has today announced details of the first major electronic cigarette battery local recycling initiative in conjunction with BatteryBack in the UK.
Greg Forster, Managing Director at ROK electronic cigarettes says "As a business we are totally committed to protecting our shared environment. This new initiative will provide our customers with a local & very convenient way of disposing of their spent electronic cigarette batteries, e cigarette tips & disposable electronic cigarettes.”
Working in conjunction with BatteryBack - the UKs leading battery recycling company - customers simply entering their full postal code into the BatteryBack website to find their nearest 20 BatteryBack recycling point bins located at the entry or exit points of Supermarkets, DIY stores and major high street retailers at 30,000 locations across the United Kingdom.
BatteryBack then recycle the magnetic (steel) and non-magnetic (zinc and brass) metal avoiding waste.
ROK Universal’s environmental commitment is clear not only with the announcement of the new initiative - ROK are also WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations) registered and registered with the Environmental Agency Battery Compliance scheme.

Merced police say man arrested for store break-in

Merced police have arrested a man they say smashed his way into a Rite-Aid store to steal cigarettes.
The robbery happened at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning near G and Olive Streets in Merced.

Police arrested 24 year-old Laban Charo, Jr. after a bystander said he was seen smashing out the glass to the front door and burglarize the Rite Aid.

Officers found the suspect after the witness wrote down his getaway car's license plate.

Police recovered two cartons of cigarettes stolen from the store.

China factory growth lifts mood; Imperial Tobacco issues update-China

The FTSE 100 is forecast to open up 10-20 points, tracking a recovery from lows on Wall Street and helped by better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data.
London's blue-chip index closed 10.52 points higher at 5,681.61 yesterday, notching up an advance of 2 per cent for January as a whole, the best performance for three months.
'Since bottoming at 5,075.20 on November 25, the FTSE gone on a nice rally, but throughout the move the market has found time to top and retrace. This "backing and filling" action has helped form main bottoms at 5,328.70 and 5,583.50,' said James A. Hyerczyk, analyst at Autochartist.
'Each time a bottom was formed, the trend remained up and the market followed through with a new high. This was a sign of value-based buying. In other words, traders were more interested in buying the breaks rather than chasing the rallies,' Hyerczyk added.
U.S. blue chips closed down 0.2 per cent yesterday, rallying from session lows seen around London's close but still depressed by weaker-than-expected U.S. economic reports that surprised investors after a stream of positive data in recent months.
Asian stock markets also struggled overnight as the weaker U.S. data offset the upbeat Chinese manufacturing surveys.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.7 per cent in a volatile session, while Japan's Nikkei average bucked the regional trend to close up 0.1 per cent.
China's factory sector expanded slightly in January, confounding expectations for a contraction and fuelling hopes the world's second-biggest economy will avoid a hard landing.
China's official purchasing managers' index rose to 50.5 in January from 50.3 in December, beating market expectations of 49.5 as new orders rose to a three-month high. A reading above 50 signals expansion and one below indicates contraction.
A similar HSBC survey showed the sector contracting the least in three months, further backing the view that a downturn in manufacturing may be bottoming out as the government adopts modest measures to support growth.
Brent crude rose above $111 a barrel, while London copper prices edged lower.
Eurozone debt concerns will likely continue to be a drag on overall sentiment as markets await a restructuring deal between Greece and its bond-holders - seen as essential to avoid a messy default.
Greece must accelerate structural reforms and slow down on the deficit, the chief of the IMF's inspection team for Greece Poul Thomsen was quoted as saying by a Greek newspaper on Wednesday.
On the economic front, data from lender Nationwide showed that British house prices unexpectedly fell for the second month in a row in January.
The monthly Markit/CIPS British manufacturing index is due out later and forecast to rise to 50.0 up from 49.6 in December.

Illegal tobacco is seized in police raid

Police have seized illegal tobacco from a Cornwall property following an investigation by Trading Standards.

Jack Yates, from Trading Standards, explained that officers posing as members of the public had visited the premises to buy a sample of the tobacco and check its authenticity.

"All the 12 items purchased were found to be illegal to supply in the UK," he said.

The seizure at the premisies in Carharrack, West Cornwall, was the second of its kind in Cornwall in the last six months.

Last year, illegal tobacco believed to have a street value of more than £25,000 was seized from a property in Mid Cornwall.

Mr Yates said: "We are advising smokers not to be tempted by cheap tobacco as they don't know what it contains.

"It is becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between counterfeit and genuine tobacco.

"The only way to ensure that the tobacco that you are smoking is legitimate is to purchase it through a trusted retailer."

According to Trading Standards, counterfeit tobacco is becoming increasingly prevalent, with criminals taking great care to ensure their product appears genuine.

Some criminals are fooling customers into believing they have bought non-UK duty-free tobacco by printing health warnings in foreign languages.

The money made from sales of illegal tobacco often funds serious organised crime, such as people trafficking and terrorism. And it can be lethal for smokers.

Lance Kennedy, Cornwall Council's Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Public Protection, said: "Illegal tobacco is thought to be responsible for four times as many deaths as drugs.

"By buying this tobacco you are increasing your chances of a terminal illness and also those of your family."