(McClatchy-Tribune Information Services) -- Pushing smokers outside drives down hospitalizations for heart attacks by about 17 percent in the first year and 36 percent after three years, according to an analysis of 13 studies looking at heart-attack rates after indoor-smoking bans.

One plaintiff is a cancer patient. Another is represented by his widow. The third, has emphysema and rolls into the courtroom on a wheelchair with tubes trailing out of his nose. The three Japanese are waging a minnow-vs.-whale battle against Big Tobacco in one of the world's most smoker-friendly countries. But precedent suggests they're likely to lose, and they hope their suit will at least draw attention to the dangers of smoking.

(McClatchy-Tribune Information Services) -- Is the tobacco tin half full or half empty?

WASHINGTON (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday offered his most direct answer yet to a question that has been on everybody's mind since he entered the White House: He still smokes, but very rarely.

(Australian Associated Press) -- Australian smokers burn a collective $7.4 billion hole in their pockets every year to sustain their habit.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is lauding the passage of historic anti-smoking legislation that gives the government sweeping authority to regulate tobacco products, pledging to quickly sign the measure into law.

(McClatchy-Tribune Information Services) -- Major progress has been made in reducing cigarette smoking in the United States, but the success is uneven across the states and below national goals, according to a new report.

(USA Today) -- After more than a decade of debate, Congress is poised to approve the most sweeping effort ever to regulate tobacco products.

ATLANTA (The New York Times News Service) -- When he takes the helm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday, Dr. Thomas Frieden will bring a solid record of success -- and controversy.

ATLANTA (AP) -- Dr. Thomas Frieden has swung a big stick as New York City's top health official, pushing through bans on smoking and artery-clogging trans fats.

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- The World Health Organization, which has helped spearhead efforts to contain swine flu, won Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias prize on Wednesday for its work fighting global killers such as AIDS, polio and tuberculosis.