$270 Million Award To Smokers Upheld by Top US Court

The US Supreme Court rejected an appeal request made by American tobacco companies on Monday in a class-action lawsuit that awarded 500,000 smokers a total of $270 million in damages.

Without comment, the highest US court dismissed the appeal of a 2009 Louisiana court decision that ruled the tobacco companies must pay hundreds of millions for programs to help the smokers quit.

Oz Tobacco Giants Furious With Government Proposals
Global tobacco giant Philip Morris will launch legal action over Australia's plan to introduce plain cigarette packaging, it said Monday, warning the damages bill could run to billions of dollars.

The tobacco companies contested the lawsuit and argued that the class-action lawsuit brought together a number of disparate and individual complaints that spanned more than 50 years.

They said that by allowing the class-action suit, the companies were deprived of their right to investigate the individual plaintiffs and they could not all prove that they had suffered harm.

Source-AFP

Minister Courted Tobacco Executives for Donations
Nicola Roxon, the Australian health minister admitted that she once courted executives from tobacco firms for donations.

North Korea's Battle Against Tobacco
North Korea is waging an apparently tough battle to get its long-suffering citizens to quit smoking, a report said Tuesday.

Tobacco Deaths on Rise in Pakistan
In Pakistan the number of deaths due to tobacco consumption is much higher than those caused by suicide attacks, terrorism and other fatal diseases.