Lebanon claims Israel using banned weapons against civilians News
Lebanon claims Israel using banned weapons against civilians

[JURIST] Israel is using "internationally prohibited weapons against civilians" in Lebanon as the country faces "real annihilation," according to a statement from Lebanon Information Minister Ghazi Aridi Sunday after an emergency cabinet meeting. Lebanese media reports state that Israel used phosphorus incendiary bombs and vacuum bombs [GlobalSecurity backgrounders] that suck up air and facilitate building collapses. The use of incendiary weapons against civilians has been banned by Protocol III to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons [text] since 1980. Lebanon's accusations come amid increasing violence [Bloomberg report; BBC Q&A] between Israel over the weekend and Hezbollah militants [BBC backgrounder] based in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora [BBC profile] said in a separate address to the Lebanese people [text] Sunday that Israel's actions "violated Lebanon's sovereignty and its citizens' rights and dignity." Siniora also said that "Israel is imposing a collective punishment that does not have any moral or legal legitimacy." AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Supreme Court ruled corporations due equal protection rights

On May 10, 1886, the US Supreme Court ruled in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company that corporations were "persons" within the terms of the Fourteenth Amendment, and therefore were due rights of equal protection under state law.

Nelson Mandela became first black president of South Africa

On May 10, 1994, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first black President of South Africa. Before becoming President, Mandela was an anti-Apartheid leader in segregated South Africa. He served twenty-seven years in prison before his release in 1990, after which he was elected president of the country. Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Read a biography of Nelson Mandela from the Nobel Foundation.