LONDON – Auction houses are banking on a recovery at next week’s series of big Russian art sales in London, at which they expect to show that the market dominated by new money is through the worst of the recession.

With most at stake are Sotheby’s and Russian specialist MacDougall’s, who together offer works worth between 27 and 39 million pounds ($45-64 million). Christie’s the world’s largest auction house, has pre-sale estimates of 6.5-9.3 million pounds.

The figures are sharply down on a year ago, reflecting how financial turmoil and falling stock and property values have hit super-wealthy collectors from Russia and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union and deterred owners from selling their best pieces.

Sotheby’s, for example, expected its 2008 winter sales to fetch between 29 and 41 million pounds. The actual result was 25 million, marking a significant drop in values which had soared during the previous five years or so.

This year Sotheby’s estimates have halved to 15-21 million pounds, reflecting a more selective pool of buyers and limited supply, as sellers hold out for a return to the heady days of 2007 and early 2008.

“There are less lots on offer,” Jo Vickery, Sotheby’s senior director, told Reuters. “We’ve been much more selective in the current economic climate, looking particularly for works with a very good provenance.

“There is considerable demand out there but at the moment, supply is less.”

William MacDougall, director of MacDougall Arts Ltd., said he expected prices to continue to recover from recent falls.

“The general theme since April last year is that sellers are reluctant to sell at these levels, unlike, say, holders of equities who have been forced into doing so.

“But the results in October in New York were very good and so we’re expecting a continued healthy market next week.”

TOP LOT SEREBRIAKOVA’S “NUDE”

He said over 90 percent of buyers were born in the former Soviet Union, and, although London has become the global capital for Russian art, the majority of them were based elsewhere.

His company is selling art valued at 12.4-17.6 million pounds. MacDougall’s also boasts the most valuable single lot of “Russian Week” in London, with an oil painting of a nude female by Russian artist Zinaida Serebriakova expected to fetch 1.0-1.5 million pounds.

Close behind is Sotheby’s and another work by a leading 20th century female artist, Alexandra Exter, whose brightly-colored “Venice” is estimated at 0.9-1.2 million pounds.

The auction house is also offering a large collection of Faberge cigarette cases and cufflinks that had been hidden in a pair of pillowcases in a Swedish foreign office safe for over 90 years until their recent discovery.

The objects belonged to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and her husband Grand Duke Vladimir, brother of Czar Alexander III.

The sale is expected to raise around one million pounds, and a handful of the bejeweled cigarette cases still contain matches and period cigarettes. Estimates range from 80 pounds to up to 90,000 pounds.

The week of Russian sales kicks off with Sotheby’s and Bonhams holding their main auctions on Monday and wind up at MacDougall’s on Thursday.

A 2009 survey of 11,000 Vermont students in eighth through 12th grades found a change in attitude about the risks of smoking and marijuana that worries state health officials.

In the Department of Health’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey two years ago, 72 percent of Vermont school-age teenagers said they believed there was “great risk in people harming themselves” from smoking one or more packs of cigarettes a day. In this year’s survey, the percentage dropped to 67 percent.

Likewise, 51 percent of the students saw great risk of harm from smoking marijuana regularly, compared with 42 percent in the most recent survey.

“When we see the attitude more accepting and less perceived risk of harm, we are worried increased use will follow,” said Barbara Cimaglio, deputy health commissioner for alcohol and drug-abuse programs. “The harmful consequences of smoking tobacco and marijuana is a public-health message that must be delivered by parents and communities and understood by young people.”

The state has been conducting surveys of risky behavior among the state’s youth every other year since 1993. The survey asks students about use of bicycle helmets and seatbelts, fighting and abuse, sexual activity and use of contraceptive measures, nutrition and physical activity and whether they talk to their parents.

The changing view about the harmfulness of smoking reverses a 10-year trend in which more and more students saw risks in tobacco use.

The percentage of youth who smoke has remained at 16 percent since 2003 but had declined precipitously from 38 percent in 1995. Officials don’t want to see that trend reversed, Cimaglio said.

The survey found 22 percent of all students had used marijuana at least once in the past 30 days, down from 32 percent in 1997 — another trend officials would like to see continue rather than reverse.

Cimaglio noted two other disturbing indicators in the survey, although the data had changed little from 2007. Nearly one quarter of the students reporting riding in a vehicle with a drinking driver, and a nearly equal percentage said they had been in a vehicle when someone who had used marijuana was behind the wheel.

The imbibing or marijuana-smoking drivers could be parents or friends, Cimaglio noted. Regardless of who it is, the worrisome behavior “is something we want to focus on,” she said.

The Health Department plans a campaign in the spring to spotlight “how parents can support their children in making good choices,” Cimaglio said. The campaign will include radio and Internet messages along with initiatives developed by community organizations. The effort will be paid for under a $12 million, five-year federal Strategic Prevention Framework grant.

The campaign will build on some strengths identified in the survey, Cimaglio said, citing the fact that 77 percent of the students reported they talked with their parents, and 72 percent reported eating meals with their families at least three times a week. “Those are really protective factors,” she said.
By Nancy Remsen
November 29, 2009

PRESIDENT Arroyo has ordered the release of the P5.8-billion share of concerned local government units (LGUs) from excise-tax collections on locally manufactured Virginia-type cigarettes from 2002 to 2009.

The President issued the directive through Executive Order (EO) 846, dated November 16, authorizing the monetization of the unappropriated and unreleased share of Virginia tobacco-producing LGUs from the 15- percent excise-tax collection on locally manufactured Virginia-type cigarettes for calendar years 2002 to 2009.

In issuing EO 846, the President noted that “there are unreleased appropriations for the calendar years 2002, 2005 to 2008, and an unappropriated share of LGUs for CYs 2002-2004, accumulating to P5,810,192,796.”

She ordered the Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) to take “all the necessary steps to ensure that the beneficiary-LGUs get their respective shares from the unreleased and unappropriated portion of the 15 percent of the excise-tax collection on Virginia-type cigarettes for CYs 2002 to 2009 amounting to P5,810,192,796 through a monetization program [MP].”

Should beneficiary LGUs avail themselves of the fund, the MP will give the latter the option to collect in advance from the trustee banks their respective shares at a discounted value, net of interests and other charges.

The President ordered the Bureau of Internal Revenue to submit to the DBM a certification representing 15 percent of the excise-tax collection on Virginia-type cigarettes, to provide an appropriation cover.

The NTA will submit to the DBM a certification, duly approved by the NTA administrator, of Virginia tobacco production and Virginia tobacco acceptances by province, including congressional districts, cities and municipalities of each beneficiary-province.

The DBM will determine the share of each beneficiary-LGU from the unreleased portion of 15-percent excise-tax collection of volume and production and trade acceptances; issue the corresponding notice of payment schedule to inform the beneficiary LGUs of their share; and provide an annual appropriation cover.

The President also ordered the DOF to provide the letter confirmation of “the national government that the P5,810,192,796 constitutes an obligation of the Republic of the Philippines.”

The DOF will “favorably endorse to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, or other regulatory agencies as the case may be, the application to secure the necessary financial features for the investment certificates that may be issued to improve the net proceeds to the beneficiaries.”

At the option of the recipient LGU, the DOF will make an arrangement with the trustee bank on the requirements for opening a special trust account.

The DOF will also arrange with the Bureau of Treasury to make available its facilities, including the Registry of Scripless Securities, the Automated Debt Action Processing System, and others as may be required and necessary for the auctioning process and the implementation of the MP.

The government financial institution or institutions designated by the recipient-LGU shall serve as trustee bank or banks to monetize the shares of beneficiary-LGUs.

All MP-related transactions shall be undertaken according to existing accounting, auditing and budgeting rules and regulations. A list of the beneficiary- LGUs that availed themselves of the MP shall be submitted to the DBM.

The Commission on Audit shall provide guidelines in recording the obligation in the books of account of the national government.
EO 846 also provides that if any section or provision is declared unconstitutional or invalid, unaffected sections of the EO shall remain in full force and effect.

Under Republic Act 7171 and Memorandum Circular 61-A, LGUs producing Virginia tobacco shall have a 15-percent share from excise tax collected on locally manufactured Virginia-type cigarettes, to be spent on projects to “advance the self-reliance of Virginia tobacco farmers,” EO 849 stated.

BIR Revenue Resolution 12-2008 provides that Virginia-type cigarettes shall refer to cigarettes containing Virginia-type leaf tobacco, whether imported or locally produced.

In New York State, 25,000 adults die each year as a result of smoking, each losing 14 years of life on average. An additional half-million New Yorkers suffer from serious smoking-caused diseases, costing our citizens $22.4 million in medical expenses per day.

Happily, the number of smoking adults in New York State has dropped 28 percent since 2001. One important cause of this decrease has been the New York State Tobacco Control Program. Begun in 2000, its approach has proved to be effective, and it has a special focus on keeping kids from smoking. Bucking the national trend, here in the Empire State, adult smoking rates are the lowest on record.

Research shows that the amount states spend on comprehensive tobacco control programs is directly related to the number of smokers who quit.

Our Legislature is wielding the budget ax, as it should do, but it must be done thoughtfully. Preventing and reducing tobacco use are the most important public health actions that can be taken to improve the health of New Yorkers.

We must sustain this program. To do less is blowing more than smoke.

Anthony J. Cooper
President/CEO, Arnot Health

DAVID BECKHAM is today exposed as a secret smoker – who sneaks into his garden for a crafty cigar after wife POSH BARRED him from lighting up in their LA mansion.

The ex-SPICE GIRL, 35, was forced to ban him because he has acquired a taste for luxury hand-rolled Cubans while in America.

Last night a family friend said of the England soccer icon, 34: “He loves the taste. I think he likes the image too. Lots of Hollywood stars smoke them.”

The revelation comes barely a week after the superstar – who now plays for US team LA Galaxy – was pictured using an asthma inhaler.

Becks – famed for keeping himself superfit – has told friends it was nothing to do with his smoking. He was said by the pal to mistakenly see cigars as LESS harmful than ciggies.

The chum admitted: “It’s strange to see such an athlete as Becks smoking. But he doesn’t have any other vices.

“Of course, he only smokes the best – they’re usually fifty-dollar-a-pop Cohibas.”

His secret craving echoes the lyrics of the Spice Girls hit Wannabe – in which they sang: “I really really really wanna zig-a-zig-ahh.”

But Victoria – who famously used to smoke cigars HERSELF – does not want him puffing away in front of sons BROOKLYN, ten, ROMEO, seven, and CRUZ, four.

Becks is believed to have begun smoking soon after arriving in LA – where Cuban cigars are seen as a forbidden pleasure at glitzy parties.

They are outlawed under the US trade embargo on the island’s communist regime.

A friend of Becks said: “The smoking is just his way of relaxing as he nears the end of his career. There is no doubt he is very fit for his age and takes exceptional care of himself.”

The star’s spokesman tried to play down his love of cigars, saying it was “not true” to describe him as a smoker.

The aide claimed: “He may have had a puff on a cigar once or twice in the past to make a celebration but that is it.”
Ace’s academy shutting

DAVID Beckham’s flagship football academy is closing in January.

The multi-million pound centre’s five-year lease on its site in Greenwich, South London, is not being renewed.

Owners AEG, who also control Beckham’s US club LA Galaxy, are planning an Olympic training centre there.

Now Beckham, whose academy has taught 100,000 kids, will take the project on tour around Britain. He launched the academy in 2005 with Ј2million of his own money.

The 60 staff have been told it is closing but most have been promised new jobs.

Last night a spokesman for Beckham said: “We always knew the lease was coming to an end. The academy is now moving beyond one site to reach more children.”

The Rainbow Cactus Company in Virginia Beach was closed for business last Tuesday night, but that didn’t mean owner Shelly White wasn’t working.

Behind closed doors, the dance club looked like a home improvement show. Paint brushes and cans littered the floor next to the performance stage. A chop saw sat on a table beside several wood planks. In the next room, White stood on a ladder painting a wall “limolicious” green.

White and her staff were creating a smoking room at the nightclub to comply with the law that goes into effect Tuesday.

Businesses such as White’s that serve food have these options under Virginia’s new smoking ban: prohibit lighting up in their restaurants; designate outdoor areas for smoking; or set up a smoking room that is walled off and ventilated.

Private clubs are exempt from the ban.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine signed the legislation in March. According to the Virginia Department of Health, about 66 percent of the state’s bars and restaurants were smoke-free before the legislation was approved. After approval, the number rose to more than 70 percent.

Yet, some local businesses don’t want to take the risk of going totally smoke-free.

White would rather dish out $8,000 to create a separate smoking room than risk losing half her loyal customers.

The club already had two separate dance floors, so White decided to install wooden doors between the two areas. One side will become the smoking room.

“We thought about going totally smoke-free, but a lot of our patrons smoke,” said Alan Phillips, the club’s general manager. “We didn’t want to alienate them.”

“Well,” said White, who quit smoking about three years ago, “it will be good to be out of that ball of smoke that forms in here.”

Phillips, a smoker, shrugged his shoulders. He’s worried that this change could cause a loss in profits.

“Some people might want to light a cigarette while watching a show, but I’m going to have to tell them to go inside the smoking room,” he said. “They’re not going to like that, but they’ll have to get used to it.”

Dennis Doughty, co-owner of The Banque in Norfolk, gave up his spacious office to create a smoking room in his country-western nightclub.

“We want our customers to be happy,” said Doughty, a nonsmoker. “So, I’ll give up my office to make them happy.”

“This is my office now, a supply closet,” he said on Wednesday afternoon, pointing to a narrow room with a desk and chair.

On Tuesday, contractors installed a ventilation system and plumbing fixtures, Doughty said. After completion, the smoking room will have a flat-screen TV for smokers to view the dance floor, he said, and a glass aquarium along the wall.

“We didn’t want to lock people in a room and say, ‘You’re a bad person because you smoke,’ ” Doughty said. “With this room, they won’t miss any of the action while they’re taking a smoke break.”

Annabelle Doughty, also co-owner of the club, wouldn’t reveal how much the renovations cost, but she joked, “Our granddaughter’s college fund went out the window.”

Some bar owners said they simply didn’t have the space or money to add separate smoking rooms. They fear they may lose customers because they’ll have to send them outside.

At Baron’s Pub in Portsmouth, Tyler McMillen complained that the smoking ban is unfair because its exceptions can’t apply to everyone. He would love to add a smoking room, he said, but he doesn’t have the space.

“I think this law is suited toward bigger, chain restaurants,” McMillen said. “They didn’t have the smaller guys with not much square footage in mind.”

Instead, McMillen will use his outside patio to accommodate his smoking customers – who make up about half of his regular patrons.

Dorie Radford, manager at Bone Shakers Saloon in Virginia Beach, said her establishment didn’t have the money to create a separate smoking room. Instead, the biker club’s patio will be converted into a smoking section, she said.

“Our patio has plenty of space, and our customers love to sit outside and look at the bikes,” Radford said. “Plus, in the summers, the patio is packed with customers and the inside is usually empty.”

In a bit of a twist, The Baja, a seafood restaurant in Sandbridge, decided to allow smoking on the outdoor patio, said owner Jimmy Reeve. The establishment has been smoke-free for more than three years, he said.

Customers always crowd the front door while lighting up, and the smoke usually bothers other patrons, Reeve said. With the new ban in place, the smokers can gather on the patio and not irritate anyone, he said.

“I’m a non smoker, so of course I’m concerned about secondhand smoke,” Reeve said. “But we want to be more hospitable, and we don’t want smokers to feel like second-class citizens.”

The Virginian-Pilot
© November 29, 2009

By Jaedda Armstrong

Flavored cigarettes are now illegal and those of us working to snuff out oral cancer in America are thrilled. But the news gets even better – the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act has given the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate how tobacco companies manufacture, market and sell tobacco products.

This is a great win in the battle against tobacco-related diseases, especially for our youth. Flavored cigarettes entice children and teens to become smokers, and the tobacco industry has exploited this through youth-oriented marketing. According to the FDA, teens are three times more likely to use flavored cigarettes than are smokers over the age of 25.

Nicotine, a main ingredient in cigarettes, is one the world’s most addictive drugs. According to the American Heart Association, nicotine has historically been one of the hardest substance addictions to break. Every day 3,600 children and teens start smoking cigarettes and 1,100 will become daily users.

I applaud the FDA’s efforts to reduce the appeal cigarettes have on children and teens. The American Cancer Society says almost 90 percent of adult smokers tried their first cigarette at or before the age of 19. A 2007 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that half of high school students have tried cigarette smoking at some point. The ban on flavored cigarettes will help limit the risk for tobacco-related diseases like oral cancer, which causes 8,000 deaths a year.

To further reduce death and disease caused by tobacco products, the FDA should examine what options it has under the new law for regulating menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco such as chewing or dipping tobacco, dissolvable tobacco tablets and snuff.

Tragically, smokeless tobacco products are incorrectly perceived as safe alternatives to cigarettes. They are not; their use can be deadly. In the U.S., 13.4 percent of high school boys and 2.3 percent of high school girls use smokeless tobacco products, according to the CDC.

Tobacco is dangerous in all forms. Smokeless tobacco products contain 28 toxic and cancer-causing agents, including formaldehyde, cyanide, butanol, arsenic, polonium-210 and uranium-235. These ingredients also are found in rat poison, radioactive nuclear waste, industrial solvents and embalming fluid.

Every year, an estimated 34,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral cancer. Thanks to the FDA’s new powers, that number may begin to decline.

SACRAMENTO – the Board of Equalization (BOE) has announced that it has notified wholesalers and distributors that it is illegal to sell flavored cigarettes or roll-your-own (RYO) under the federal U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provision of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

The BOE sent a special notice by email informing them of this new federal regulation, according to Chairwoman Betty T. Yee.

Under federal law, these products can no longer be manufactured, imported or sold in the United States and could be seized by federal, state or local law enforcement authorities.

Cigarettes and RYO products banned by the FDA have been and continue to be removed from the California Tobacco Directory by the California Attorney General and the California Department of Justice.

This federal ban prohibits a cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter, or paper) from containing, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.

For general information regarding the FDA’s Tobacco Program and the ban on flavored cigarettes and RYO products, please refer to the FDA’s Web site at www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/default.htm.
To access the product listing on the California Tobacco Directory, please refer to the AG’s Web site at http://ag.ca.gov/tobacco/directory.php .

It is illegal for distributors to affix a California tax stamp on packages of cigarettes or pay the tax on roll-your-own product unless the manufacturer and the brand family are listed in the California Tobacco Directory.
For more information on other taxes and fees in California, visit www.taxes.ca.gov.

27 November 2009

The Non Food Packaging in China report offers insight into key trends and developments driving packaging of all major types of non food products: cosmetics and toiletries, disposable paper products, dog and cat food,
tobacco, household care, OTC healthcare. The report also examines trends and prospect for various pack types and closures: metal, rigid plastic, glass, paper-based containers, flexible packaging, closures.

Data coverage: market sizes (historic and forecasts), company shares, brand shares and distribution data.

Why buy this report?

- Get a detailed picture of the non food packaging industry;
- Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change;
- Understand the competitive environment, the market’s major players and leading brands;
- Use five-year forecasts to assess how the market is predicted to develop.

Dubai and Cape Town and a network of over 600 analysts worldwide, Euromonitor Intern The Non Food Packaging in Name report offers insight into key trends and developments driving packaging of all major types of non food products: cosmetics and toiletries, disposable paper products, dog and cat food, tobacco, household care, OTC healthcare. The report also examines trends and prospect for various pack types and closures.

metal, rigid plastic, glass, paper-based containers, flexible packaging, closures.

Data coverage: market sizes (historic and forecasts), company shares, brand shares and distribution data.

Why buy this report?

- Get a detailed picture of the non food packaging industry;
- Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change;
- Understand the competitive environment, the market’s major players and leading brands;
- Use five-year forecasts to assess how the market is predicted to develop.

Key Topics Covered:

- Non Food Packaging – China :
- Euromonitor International : Country Market Insight
- June 2009
- List of Contents and Tables
- Executive Summary
- Larger Pack Sizes Emerging As Prominent Trend
- Major Innovations in Cosmetics and Toiletries
- Premium Packs in High Demand Thanks To Better Living Standards
- Pouches Maintain Consumers’ Interest in Pet Food and Household Care
- Rigid Plastic and Metal Packaging Ideal for Men’s Grooming Products
- Key Trends and Developments
- Environmental Awareness Promotes Use of Greener Packaging
- Financial Recession Drives Low Cost Packaging Strategies
- Advanced Packaging Technology Continues To Lead in China
- A Relatively Resilient GDP Growth Rate Supports Packaging Players
- Demand for Convenience Drives Packaging Innovation
- Cosmetics and Toiletries

Source: Euromonitor International