During their trial, they said they were campaigning to improve the lot of the Ogoni people living in the Niger river delta and hold oil companies operating there, including Shell, responsible for its environmental degradation. The Nigerians appealed and scored a major legal victory in September, when the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's ruling, calling its arguments weak. They argued that shares of Royal Dutch Shell were being traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The case dismissed by the Supreme Court on Monday was an attempt by Shell to overturn this ruling. Shell Nigeria has repeatedly denied any role in Saro-Wiwa's trial and execution.
Aids is like an earthquake where everyday people die.
We need to obtain affordable medicine for our countries, Indian Health Minister Chandreswar Parard Thakur told journalists at a media briefing. The minister proposed that a donor fund be created from which developing countries could draw to pay for Aids treatment. That would bring prices down. They should act as a block. All 33 NAM countries attending the two-day meeting supported the South African government in its landmark court battle against 39 pharmaceutical companies that began in Pretoria this month, he added.