The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Hong Kong - Hong Kong's leader Tung Chee-hwa handed in his resignation Thursday, fuelling speculation that Beijing's Communist leaders fired him in order to gain a tighter grip on the former British colony. Tung told a news conference he was stepping down because of health problems. Tung has ruled Hong Kong since Britain handed over control of the territory to China in 1997. Beirut - Lebanon's president reappointed Omar Karami as the nation's prime minister Thursday, 10 days after massive street protests forced him to resign. Staunchly pro-Syrian, Karami resigned last week after demonstrators filled the streets of Beirut protesting Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs. New York - A judge dismissed a lawsuit on Thursday that accused chemical companies of committing war crimes by supplying the U.S. military with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The suit was filed on behalf of about four million Vietnamese, who said they had suffered illnesses and their land had been poisoned by Agent Orange and other herbicides sprayed by U.S. aircraft. The suit named more than 30 companies, including Dow Chemical Co. and Monsanto Co. U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein ruled that the defoliant and similar products could not be considered poisons banned under international rules of war Ð even if they had similar effects.
