This case could open the floodgates for
litigation
against South Africa's mining companies. The miner who brought the case has died, but the company for which he worked, AngloGold Ashanti, accepted that the case could allow others to seek damages for their illnesses. The lawyer who brought the case, Richard Spoor, told the BBC the ruling showed that companies could no longer
discard
people like used machinery. There is
speculation
the ruling could end deep-level mining, but the companies think this will not be the case.
An American aid contractor has gone on trial in Cuba on charges of
espionage
in a case that could have serious
repercussion
s for US-Cuban relations. The US has urged Cuba to release him unconditionally. Michael Voss reports from Havana.
Sixty-one-year-old Alan Gross was driven into the Havana courthouse inside an unmarked van with blacked-out windows. He's charged with acts against the integrity and independence of Cuba, and prosecutors have said they are seeking a 20-year sentence. Mr Gross has already spent 15 months in a Cuban jail, accused of providing satellite communications equipment, which is illegal in Cuba, to groups on the island.
The latest employment figures in the United States show the number of jobs rose last month by more than 190,000. The unemployment rate dropped below 9% for the first time in nearly two years.
The suspect in the shootings in Tucson, Arizona in January when US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was seriously wounded, has been