Smugglers with ties to terrorist groups are acquiring millions of dollars from illegal cigarette sales and funneling the cash to organizations such as al Qaeda and Hezbollah, federal law enforcement officials say, prompting a nationwide crackdown on black market tobacco. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has more than 300 open cases of illicit cigarette trafficking -- including several with terrorist links -- up from only a handful five years ago, ATF sources said. ...

The CVS at the Pointer Ridge Shopping Center in Bowie was filled with customers early one recent evening when a tall youth stepped up to the counter. "Let me have a pack of Newports," he said. Without asking for identification, the clerk retrieved the cigarettes. As the youth left the store, Ron Salisbury moved in. "I need to speak to your manager," he said. ...

Amid growing criticism of the Postal Service's role in shipping tax-free cigarettes bought illegally over the Internet, a bill was introduced on Wednesday in the House of Representatives that would ban delivery of cigarettes and other tobacco products through the mail. The legislation, which was sponsored by Representative John M. McHugh, a Republican who represents upstate New York and who serves as a chairman of the House's Special Panel on Postal Reform and Oversight, would declare cigarettes "nonmailable." ...

Americans who buy cigarettes online may be doing more than just avoiding the ultra-high taxes levied by many states and municipalities on tobacco. They may also inadvertently be supporting terrorism, two senators say. Such was the scenario laid out by Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) in a co-sponsored bill they introduced this week, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2003. The bill seeks to increase penalties for cigarette vendors who don't properly account for out-of-state sales -- including online merchants. ...

Tougher tobacco law on the way Johannesburg - Cigarette consumption in South Africa has decreased by about a third since the early 1990s, a study by the University of Cape Town's school of economics revealed on Monday. The Economics of Tobacco Control Project report said the decrease could be attributed to rapid hikes in the price of cigarettes and the creation of an environment, through legislation, in which smoking is no longer seen as socially acceptable. ...

A growing number of anti-smoking researchers and public health advocates are adopting a tack that not long ago would have been considered heresy: suggesting that hard-core smokers who can't kick the habit would be better off switching to new smokeless tobacco products. ...

A proposal to ban smoking by women who are pregnant got a boost when Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee -- who just signed a law banning smoking in a car when children are present -- endorsed the concept, saying that it makes sense from a health point of view. He called for a study to determine whether such a legislative proposal -- designed to protect the health of the fetus and to reduce the huge costs of treating babies born prematurely and/or with birth defects caused by maternal smoking -- would be lawful. ...

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- A federal appeals court trying to decide a Mobile lawsuit says it could not find any Alabama case that held retailers that sold cigarettes responsible for smoking-related illnesses. ...

In Paramount Pictures' recent film "Twisted," Samuel L. Jackson portrays a police commissioner who, at one dramatic moment, lights up a Marlboro cigarette. Marlboro maker Philip Morris USA didn't request the plug, but it would seem to be a welcome publicity windfall, particularly now that cigarettes can no longer be advertised on billboards, television or through product placements. ...