Free Republic

In a sudden shift in tactics, the United States and Britain quietly ditched the draft of their hardline resolution on Iraq a few days ago, before it got to the negotiating table at the Security Council. The proposed resolution was so tough it would virtually have committed the United Nations Security Council to a military strike on Iraq within weeks. According to several Western diplomats, a decision was made on Tuesday to change tack. New talks began to try to bridge the yawning gap between the US and the French, who were refusing to endorse what they saw as a...

..."We know there's been a steep increase," said Kurt Ribisl, the UNC professor who headed the study. Ribisl sees a direct correlation in the jump of online purchasing to the passage of new cigarette taxes. Ribisl said the study suggests that while online cigarette sales make up somewhere between less than 1 percent and 5 percent of total cigarette sales a year, depending on the state, those numbers are destined to grow... ...Washington may weigh in on the issue in order to enforce interstate sales tax law. Though a moratorium currently exists on new taxes or enforcements on Internet sales,...