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• Philip Morris bond appeal bill in Illinois Senate 

A new bill aimed at capping the appeal bond for Philip Morris USA headed to the Illinois Senate Executive Committee on Thursday, said a spokeswoman for Senate President Emil Jones, a Democrat from Chicago.

Cindy Davidsmeyer, the spokeswoman, said the new bill differs from a previous measure that would have capped the cigarette maker's appeal bond at $25 million. The new measure would cap the appeal bond on a percentage basis, she added, and would allow the court some discretion.

Details of the bill were not immediately available. The bill surfaced after negotiations between Philip Morris and the plaintiffs in an Illinois class-action lawsuit appeared to have reached a dead end earlier this week.

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Zimbabwe Rushing Towards Total Economic Collapse, Warns IMF 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s top expert on Zimbabwe says the country is on the brink of an economic crisis that will make the current hardships seem like child's play. . .

The Zanu PF government is the culprit for creating the three-headed monster of declining production in all sectors, artificially low interest rates, and a fictitious fixed foreign exchange rate, Johnson said. Especially with the tobacco selling season over, Zimbabweans are likely to continue to scramble to buy the increasingly scarce foreign currency at any price. With interest rates being held at absurdly low rates, there is no incentive for anyone to hold onto Zimbabwean dollars any longer than they have to.

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Change lets jurors pose questions, take notes in civil cases 

John Bowman, who served on a jury in a landmark tobacco company liability case in 1998, agrees with DeVault. He would have loved to ask questions of certain witnesses during a five-week trial in Jacksonville. . . Bowman said he would have liked to have been able to probe certain aspects of the defendant's case. . . He especially wondered about expert testimony that said nicotine is not addictive. "I wondered, How can you refute things that have been in the surgeon general's report for years?' " Bowman said.

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