Chemical weapons treaty countries agree to facilitate weapons reductions News
Chemical weapons treaty countries agree to facilitate weapons reductions

[JURIST] Delegates from over 120 member states [text] of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) [official website] concluded their tenth annual, five-day Conference of the State Parties [official agenda] at The Hague Friday, and agreed [press release] to improve efforts to fully implement the mandates of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention Treaty [text] in their respective countries. The states adopted a resolution urging countries to facilitate the implementation of domestic legislation to promote full adoption of the convention, which calls for the eventual elimination of chemical weapons through international cooperation. Xinhuanet 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.