Washington - The US Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out cigarette maker Philip Morris USA's appeal in a 79.5-million-dollar lawsuit brought a decade ago by a smoker's widow.
The court, in a one-sentence opinion, declined to rule on the legal issues in the case, effectively upholding the award in 1999 by an Oregon jury to Mayola Williams, who was widowed when her husband died of lung cancer.
The award has since ballooned to 145 million dollars with interest.
Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI has ordered an internal investigation a religious order in the wake of revelations that the conservative religious group's late founder had fathered a child.
The decision was announced Tuesday by the Legionnaires of Christ order on it website. It posted a letter written by Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone to the head of the order Father Alvaro Corcuera
New Delhi - At least eight people were killed as a tornado followed by a hail storm wreaked havoc in India's eastern coastal state of Orissa on Tuesday, a news report said.
More than 100 sustained injuries as the tornado left a trail of devastation in 11 villages in the Kendrapara district, some 80 kilometres north-east of the state capital of Bhubaneshwar, the IANS news agency reported.
The death toll was expected to rise, district official RK Das told the news agency. Other local media put the death toll at 20 and the number of injured at over 200.
Kabul - An Afghan provincial mayor was killed in a roadside bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan, while 34 suspected Taliban militants were killed in separate clashes and blasts elsewhere in the country, officials said Tuesday.
A remote-controlled roadside bomb was detonated in the outskirts of Khost city, the capital for the province of the same name, on Tuesday afternoon when the provincial mayor was on his way home, Hamidullah Qalandarzai, the provincial governor said.
Sana'a - Armed tribesmen kidnapped a Dutch couple in the Yemeni capital Sana'a on Tuesday. The hostages were unharmed, the Dutch embassy in Sana'a confirmed.
"Yes, two Dutch persons were kidnapped today, and they are in a good shape," an embassy official told the German Press Agency dpa.
The official, who asked not to be named, refused to provide further details about the attack.
Governor of Sana'a, Noman Dwaid said security authorities had located the area where the hostages were being held east of Sana'a.
Washington - The US Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out cigarette maker Philip Morris USA's appeal in a 79.5-million-dollar lawsuit brought a decade ago by a smoker's widow.
Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI has ordered an internal investigation a religious order in the wake of revelations that the conservative religious group's late founder had fathered a child.
New Delhi - At least eight people were killed as a tornado followed by a hail storm wreaked havoc in India's eastern coastal state of Orissa on Tuesday, a news report said.
Kabul - An Afghan provincial mayor was killed in a roadside bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan, while 34 suspected Taliban militants were killed in separate clashes and blasts elsewhere in the country, officials said Tuesday.
Sana'a - Armed tribesmen kidnapped a Dutch couple in the Yemeni capital Sana'a on Tuesday. The hostages were unharmed, the Dutch embassy in Sana'a confirmed.
