Smoking Rihanna falls foul of farmer while filming video in Northern Ireland

The 23-year-old singer was spotted having the sneaky cigarette during a break in filming the video for We Found Love, her collaboration with dance music producer Calvin Harris.
And she also raised the ire of a local farmer, who deemed her choice of attire 'inappropriate' and said he'd never even heard of her.
The clip had been filmed in a field near Bangor, County Down, ahead of Rihanna's three concerts in Belfast later this week.
And she braved the autumn weather in some revealing outfits during the shoot - including a black cropped jumper and unbuttoned jeans, as well as a red bikini and oversized cowboy shirt plus a red and white striped bikini over a denim waistcoat with a US flag design.

Businesses targeted in underage tobacco sales sting

FIVE shops in Bassetlaw were caught selling tobacco to underage kids during a test purchase operation across the county.

Trading Standards officers from Notts County Council worked with volunteers aged 15 to 17 on the operation at newsagents, grocers, petrol stations and small supermarkets in Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, Broxtowe and Bassetlaw.

Of the 57 premises checked during week commencing 22nd August, sales were made to the young volunteers in nine.

Two further sales took place in Newark and Sherwood and two in Broxtowe. No sales to under-18s were made at the premises tested in Ashfield.

Owners at the nine shops will now be interviewed by officers and a decision will be taken on what, if any, action will be taken against them.

Shops can be fined up to £2,500 if found guilty of selling cigarettes to under-18s.

If a premises, person or company sells tobacco or cigarette papers to under 18s twice in two years, the county council can apply to ban sales for a period of up to a year.

Coun Mick Murphy, cabinet member for community safety, said it was ‘disappointing’ so many premises in the county have been willing to sell tobacco products to children without challenge, despite clear guidance to the contrary.

“Trading Standards work closely with local businesses who want to ensure that they do not sell tobacco to under-18s by giving advice on their legal responsibilities as well as tips on how to avoid selling all age-restricted products to young people.”

“But whilst we recognise that the majority of retailers are responsible, we will come down hard on those who flout the law,” he said.

Meanwhile, from 1st October, the law will change to make it illegal to sell tobacco products directly to the public from vending machines, regardless of age.

Under the change in law, businesses will still be allowed to have tobacco vending machines but they cannot be accessible to the public.

Imperial Tobacco sales rise but volumes fall

Emerging market demand boosts sales, but volumes fall as developed markets remain weak

--Weak Spanish trading likely to hit full-year operating profit by up to GBP70 million

--Global cigarette brand volumes rise 2%

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LONDON - Imperial Tobacco Group PLC (IMT.LN) said Tuesday emerging market demand boosted tobacco sales, but the maker of Gauloises Blondes and Davidoff cigarettes nonetheless recorded a fall in overall volumes as the slowdown in mature markets continued.

Imperial is focused on building its position in developing economies such as Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia to offset a weaker performance in developed markets where consumers are struggling with tough economic conditions.

Smokers in developed markets are switching to low-cost brands in the face of dented discretionary income as governments impose austerity measures such as tax hikes and public spending cuts to rein in borrowing.

The Bristol, England-based company has offset soft volumes with price rises which have helped maintain and build margins in markets like Western Europe and the U.S., where volumes are either in long-term decline or at best flat.

The world's fourth-largest global tobacco group by revenue said Tuesday it is trading in line with expectations and posted a 2% rise in tobacco sales in the nine months to June 30 on a constant currency basis. Sales were hit by falling tobacco prices in a difficult Spanish market in May and June, but total sales excluding Spain rose 4%. The company said the continued challenging economic environment in Spain is likely to hit full-year operating profit from the country by up to GBP70 million, which is better than previous forecasts of a GBP110 million hit.

Total stick volumes, or cigarette and fine cut tobacco combined, fell 2% in the nine-month period.

Still, Imperial, which sells its products in over 160 countries, said combined volumes of its global strategic cigarette brands grew 2%.

Davidoff volumes rose 6%, boosted by sales in Taiwan, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and Russia, while Gauloises Blondes volumes were up 1%. However, demand for West cigarettes in Eastern Europe was offset by declines in Poland and Turkey.

JPS cigarette volumes rose 15% boosted by trading in Australia, Germany and U.K.

Fine cut tobacco volumes rose 4%, while Cuban cigar volumes rose 1% and snus -- a smokeless tobacco product popular in Sweden and Norway -- saw volumes increase 26%.

"We are well placed to build on our sales growth momentum in the remainder of the year," said Chief Executive Alison Cooper.

Bulgaria's cigarette sales fell 23% in January-May

Bulgaria's legal cigarette market shrank 23 per cent in the first five months of 2011, with sales totalling 3.57 billion pieces, data by local tobacco companies show.

According to preliminary estimates, Bulgaria's shadow cigarette market reached about 40 per cent in the period.

May proved to be the single month so far in 2011 to stage a rise in official sales of cigarettes to 733 million pieces from 669 million pieces reported the previous year. The increase, however, was not attributed to higher sales in the period, but came as a result of the considerable decline registered in May 2010, prompted by the spike in prices of cigarettes following the rise in excise duty.

"In the five months through May there has been stabilisation and an upward trend in sales on the legal market of slightly more than seven per cent," major tobacco producer Bulgartabac said.

Bulgaria's official sales of cigarettes plunged to 10.4 billion pieces in 2010 from 19.1 billion pieces in 2009.

Capitol Hill tries to eliminate cigarette butts

Cigarette butts — the most-littered item in America — will soon become more scarce in the Capitol Hill area.

For the first time, the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District linked up with the Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program to help clear out tossed-away cigarettes left behind by smokers.

Three high-traffic areas on Capitol Hill were picked: the southeast corner of Eighth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE; on First Street SE in front of Bullfeathers and Tortilla Coast; and on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue between Third and Fourth streets SE.

In 2008, nearly 200 communities reported an average 46 percent reduction in littered butts as a result of implementing the program.

"Cigarette litter is not only unsightly and costly to clean up, but also harmful to waterways and wildlife. Simple actions like installing ash receptacles and distributing pocket ashtrays will make a big difference in decreasing litter and ultimately keeping Capitol Hill beautiful," said Patty Brosmer, BID president.

The nonprofit Keep America Beautiful has field-tested and expanded the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program for the last six years with support from Philip Morris USA, an Altria company.

UK cigarettes 'not spiked': Industry denies use of genetically-altered tobacco leaves

The Tobacco Manufacturers' Association said leaves from the altered plant were not used in Britain, where cigarettes are not blended as they are in the US.
The statement followed claims on Tuesday by the head of the American Food and Drug Administration that Brown and Williamson (a company owned by British American Tobacco) had genetically altered tobacco plants, called Y-1, to double the nicotine content. The chairman of Brown and Williamson is due to give evidence to the congressional hearing today, when he is expected to deny many of the points made by the FDA chief, David Kessler.
Mr Kessler told a congressional hearing on the tobacco industry that Brown and Williamson had grown the plants secretly in Brazil. He also claimed that some cigarette brands were 'spiked' with ammonia to double the amount of nicotine that entered a smoker's bloodstream. The association rejected this claim yesterday.
If the FDA can show that companies deliberately set out to manipulate nicotine content, this could strengthen its hand in calling for tobacco to be regulated as a drug - a move that could lead to a ban on cigarettes.
But a BAT Industries spokesman said: 'This is an agency with an agenda - and that is to acquire jurisdiction over tobacco so it can regulate it out of existence.'
BAT said the Y-1 tobacco plant was developed by the US Department of Agriculture in the search for a tobacco for low-tar cigarettes. Brown and Williamson continued development when the US Government stopped.
A spokesman for BAT said yesterday that Y-1 was a blending tool that delivered the same nicotine as products it replaced.

Stability for cigarettes sales in 2009

Higher federal taxes and more regulations are not predicted to damage the ratings of U.S. cigarettes manufacturers next year, Fitch Ratings analysts told investors on Tuesday.
Higher taxes would further lower demand for cigarettes, though. Sales volume has been falling by about 3 percent to 4 percent a year in the U.S.
But the Fitch analysts believe U.S. cigarette manufacturers such as Philiip Morris USA, Reynolds American Inc., and Lorillard would be relatively stable regardless.
“This outlook is supported by the companies’ significant liquidity positions and by their ability to continue to generate sizeable free cash flow as a result of their high operating margins,” analyst Wesley Moultrie II wrote in a note.
Moultrie claimed anlaysts predict an growth of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which could lead to a hike in the federal taxes.
Another hurdle for some cigarette manufacturers is the probable success of a bill to give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco. Analysts say a bigger Democratic majority in both houses of Congress make the passage of such a bill more likely.
Still, tobacco companies are seen as a defensive holding in a tumultuous market since consumers tend to buy cigarettes even when they cut back on other purchases.
Lorillard Chief Executive Martin Orlowsky on Tuesday reiterated the company’s predictation for revenue growth based on price rises. He claimed the company would report 5 percent to 7 percent growth of earnings per share.
Further, Orlowsky claimed he didn’t see any evidence that Lorillard was losing any of its cigarette busine $1.22, or 3.2ss to smokeless tobacco products such as moist snuff, chewing tobacco and teabag-like snus pouches. Lorillard’s bigger rivals, Altria Group-owned Philip Morris USA, and Reynolds American Inc. are aggressively pursuing smokeless products in the hope of finding new revenue streams as cigarettes decline.

Speaking at the same conference, Philip Morris International Chief Executive Louis Camilleri expressed confidence in the company’s earning potential going forward. He claimed earnings per share would grow by 10 percent to 12 percent next year as consumption held up in emerging markets outside the U.S.
“We are very confident we can meet our long-term targets next year and beyond, in terms of growth,” Camilleri claimed. “We are not witnessing any undue shift in consumer behavior. In one or two places, uptrading may have slowed down a bit.”
Shares of Lorillard fell 18 cents to $61 in afternoon trading while Altria shares rose 14 cents to $16.33.

Discarded cigarette caused £6m damage to Moreton Hall

A discarded cigarette has caused a £6 million blaze which gutted an historic college.
A smouldering fag-end casually flicked away by a worker, led to the inferno which wrecked Moreton Hall - Warwickshire College’s flagship building - last March. 
Plumbers contracted by the college to carry out regular maintenance checks were working in the Grade II listed mansion’s roof space. 
The college, which takes further education students from all over Coventry and Warwickshire, is near the village of Moreton Morrell in south Warwickshire. 
Ian Tonner, the fire service’s area risk manager for Rugby, said: “We’re not blaming anyone or putting anyone in the frame - it was an accident. 
“Though it was a non-smoking site, a worker had gone on to the roof for a sneaky cigarette. 
“He then dropped it down a hole that he thought was a drain pipe. It wasn’t, it was a hole in the roof’s lining. 
“A few seconds of thoughtlessness has cost millions of pounds, and just highlights the dangers of discarding cigarettes.” 
He refused to reveal the identity of the firm involved. 
As the blaze took hold staff were evacuated and smoke could be seen for miles around. 
More than 80 firefighters with 15 engines from two counties battled for three days to save the Edwardian gem, which is the campus’s HQ for agricultural and equine courses. 
The inquiry into the cause, which has just been completed by insurance experts, had been hampered by severe weather and the extent of the damage. 
A short while later Warwickshire Police ruled out foul-play. 
The blaze ripped out the roof, while the interior, including marble bathrooms and oak panelled walls, were severely damaged by smoke, fire and water. 
Insurers and builders are still working with conservation experts to restore the exterior to the property, which was built in 1906. 
The painstaking project should be completed by March 2010. 
The college’s principal, Ioan Morgan, said: “The investigators have said it was due to a discarded cigarette. 
“I think at the time plumbing was being looked at in the roof. 
“I can’t say too much about the investigation. All I can say is that we’re fully funded for the works that are needed, as we’re covered by our insurance. 
“Work is well underway so that the building can be restored to its former glory. 
“Our insurers, NFU Mutual, have been outstanding.”

Source: Coventry Telegraph