Published 30 June 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2581
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2581

News

In brief

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Smuggled cigarettes are undermining health campaigns: A study by the Washington, DC, based Center for Public Integrity has found that the number of contraband cigarettes sold around the world has reached 657 billion a year. The cigarettes, made mainly in China, Ukraine, and Paraguay and which make up 12% of cigarette sales, are undermining health authorities’ antismoking efforts. The trafficked cigarettes contain up to 80% more nicotine and produce more than 130% more carbon monoxide than normal cigarettes, the US centre said.

Amnesty condemns judicial amputations in Somalia: Amnesty International has condemned as war crimes last week’s cross amputations (excision of right hand and left foot) carried out on four teenagers by the Somali al Shabab militia in Mogadishu, claiming that such punishments amount to torture. That such "horrific" acts were carried out in public, after an unfair trial by the insurgents’ unofficial Islamic courts, "adds further injustice and dehumanises . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ