Jurors unanimously found that Monsanto — which vowed to appeal — acted with “malice” and that its weed killers Roundup and the professional grade version RangerPro contributed “substantially” to Dewayne Johnson’s terminal illness.

Following eight weeks of trial proceedings, the San Francisco jury ordered Monsanto to pay $250 million in punitive damages along with compensatory damages and other costs, bringing the total figure to nearly $290 million.

“The jury got it wrong,” the company’s vice president Scott Partridge told reporters outside the courthouse.

Johnson, a California groundskeeper diagnosed in 2014 with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma — a cancer that affects white blood cells — says he repeatedly used a professional form of Roundup while working at a school in Benicia, California.

“I want to thank everybody on the jury from the bottom of my heart,” Johnson, 46, said during a press conference after the verdict.

“I am glad to be here; the cause is way bigger than me. Hopefully this thing will get the attention it needs.”

Johnson, who appeared to be fighting back sobs while the verdict was read, wept openly, as did some jurors, when he met with the panel afterward.

The lawsuit built on 2015 findings by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the UN World Health Organization, which classified Roundup’s main ingredient glyphosate as a probable carcinogen, causing the state of California to follow suit.

“We are sympathetic to Mr Johnson and his family,” Monsanto said in a statement promising to appeal the ruling and “continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective and safe tool for farmers and others.”

But Johnson’s attorney Brent Wisner said the verdict “shows the evidence is overwhelming” that the product poses danger.

“When you are right, it is really easy to win,” he said.

More to come?

Wisner called the ruling the “tip of the spear” of litigation likely to come.

The lawsuit is the first to accuse the product of causing cancer, but observers say a Monsanto defeat likely opens the door to thousands of other claims against the company, which was recently acquired by Germany’s Bayer.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr — an environmental lawyer, son of the late US senator and a member of Johnson’s legal team — hugged Johnson after the verdict.

“The jury sent a message to the Monsanto boardroom that they have to change the way they do business,” said Kennedy, who championed the case publicly.

Partridge said outside the courthouse that Monsanto had no intention of settling the slew of similar cases in the legal queue, saying if anything the verdict would prompt the company to work harder to demonstrate the weed killer is safe.

“It is the most widely used and most widely studied herbicide in the world,” Partridge said. “The verdict today does not change the science.”

Johnson’s team expressed confidence in the verdict, saying the judge in the case had kept out a mountain of more evidence backing their position.

“All the efforts by Monsanto to put their finger in the dike and hold back the science; the science is now too persuasive,” Kennedy said, pointing to “cascading” scientific evidence about the health dangers of Roundup.

“You not only see many people injured, you see the corruption of public officials, the capture of agencies that are supposed to protect us from pollution and the falsification of science,” Kennedy said.

“In many ways, American democracy and our justice system was on trial in this case.”

‘Win for all of humanity’

Before jurors went to deliberate, Johnson’s attorney Brent Wisner asked them to deliver a “day of reckoning” for Monsanto.

“The science finally caught up, where they couldn’t bury it anymore,” Wisner told the jury in closing arguments.

Roundup is Monsanto’s leading product and glyphosate is reportedly the world’s most commonly used weed killer.

“The Johnson v Monsanto verdict is a win for all of humanity and all life on earth,” said Zen Honeycutt, founding executive director of non-profit group Moms Across America.

“The majority of our illnesses and losses to soil quality, water, wildlife and marine life are due to toxic chemicals, particularly Monsanto’s most widely used glyphosate herbicides like Roundup and Ranger Pro.”

Despite its denials of any links between its products and ill health effects, Monsanto has already suffered hits to its reputation in light of the controversy.

Records unsealed earlier by a federal court lent credence to Johnson’s claims — internal company emails with regulators suggested Monsanto had ghostwritten research later attributed to academics.

Founded in 1901 in St Louis, Missouri, Monsanto began producing agrochemicals in the 1940s. It was acquired by Bayer for more than $62 billion in June.

Monsanto was one of the companies that produced the defoliant “Agent Orange” — which has been linked to cancer and other diseases — for use by US forces in Vietnam.

The company denies responsibility for how the military used the product.

Monsanto launched Roundup in 1976 and soon thereafter began genetically modifying plants, making some resistant to Roundup.

Now he is among hundreds of Chinese men sharing beauty tips online and cashing in on the booming male cosmetics industry.

“I found that putting on make-up is actually quite easy,” the 24-year-old said as he gently brushed his face with some foundation.

“Women may not fully grasp the concept of male make-up. If a girl puts on my make-up, they may not be able to achieve the effect that I really want,” Jiang said.

Every weekend, Jiang spends a couple of hours in front of his iPhone at his cozy makeshift studio in Beijing trying on the latest balms and blush for hundreds of live viewers, who can simultaneously buy the products he reviews.

“This colour is not that outrageous that men can’t wear it safely even in a conservative environment,” he explains to his fans.

Online beauty stars form an enormous industry in China, with internet celebrities known as “wang hong”, or online stars, blurring the line between entertainment and e-commerce.

Companies like Alibaba and JD.com have launched live-streaming platforms that allow viewers to purchase on the go while watching videos. And cosmetics brands pay big money for online celebrities, almost always female, to review their new products.

But now the market and gender norms are changing, with cosmetics no longer seen as exclusively for women and male celebrities showing that it is okay for men to dab on a bit of blush.

Jiang says a firm that manages bloggers pays him around 5,000 yuan ($730) per month to feature products from cosmetics companies.

The male beauty market is expected to grow 15.2 percent in the next five years in China compared to an 11 percent global increase over the same period, according to research firm Euromonitor.

– ‘Little Fresh Meat’ –

Increasingly, foreign firms like La Mer and Aesop work with video bloggers such as Lan Haoyi, known as Lan Pu Lan online, to promote their products to his nearly 1.4 million followers.

The 27-year-old spends up to 10,000 yuan ($1,460) a month on beauty products and says China’s “Little Fresh Meat” — a term referring to young good-looking men — is spearheading this trend.

“We’re seeing more men in the media wearing make-up. This will naturally become the norm,” Lan said.

Despite what appears to be social progress in many of the country’s cosmopolitan cities, the video blogger says he still receives hate messages and criticism for appearing in smoky red eyeshadow.

“‘Why would a man look like that? Why does a man need to wear make-up?’ These are some of messages I get,” Lan says, adding he has been called a “sissy” and other slurs.

For Jiang, the fear of being ridiculed by his own parents stops him from picking up the make-up brush in front of them.

“I don’t want to have conflict with my parents. We don’t see eye to eye, our values and concepts of life are different.

“I’m not saying that they don’t think me putting on make-up is bad or what, but they are just unable to accept the daily make-up routine for a man,” he says.

– Internet strategy –

But Mo Fei, the executive director for Chetti Rouge, a Chinese cosmetics company targeting men exclusively, says that will change over time.

“There will be more and more men who take more care in how they look and the demands will increase. Men in the East are more accepting,” Mo says.

He opened Chetti Rouge in 2005 with few products. Now the beauty company sells a wide variety of cosmetics ranging from foundation to lipstick solely for men and has moved the entire business online.

“We saw potential in the market very early on,” Mo told AFP, adding that the company expanded to Thailand three years ago.

“It might be that men have accepted make-up. For men to browse products in shopping malls, may be for some men a little intimidating, hence the best way for them to buy is online, which is why our sales strategy is mainly on the internet.”

“He is in police custody,” a German police spokesman told AFP, adding that the 44-year-old “was under the influence of alcohol and drugs”.

Ullrich had allegedly called on the services of a prostitute at the five-star Villa Kennedy Hotel in Frankfurt, Bild daily reported.

But he then got into a quarrel with the “escort lady” and “physically attacked and injured her,” police said.

Ullrich’s latest woes came a week after he was detained for 24 hours in Spain for allegedly forcing his way into the home of his neighbour, German actor Til Schweiger, and threatening him.

Following the scandal in Spain, Ullrich said early this week he would go into rehab and seek help for his drink and drug addiction.

He had only arrived back in Germany on Thursday evening to start his therapy before he got caught up in the latest drama, Bild daily said.

The former cyclist’s dramatic fall from grace came two decades after he became the only German to have won the Tour de France, in 1997.

He also won Olympic gold in Sydney in 2000.

But he was then embroiled in doping allegations and excluded from the 2006 Tour de France over his links to the Operation Puerto scandal that centred on disgraced doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who gave performance-enhancing blood transfusions to top cyclists.

Ullrich finally came clean in 2013 about his doping past.

According to the Malay daily, Dr Wan Salim said those who opposed the recent removal of portraits of LGBT activists at an exhibition in Penang had a “flawed understanding of freedom” in the country.

“Groups that expressed disappointment with the state government’s actions, clearly do not understand the meaning of freedom.

“What these people are fighting for is actually animal rights because freedom for humans must be bound by religion and culture,” he was quoted as saying on Friday (Aug 10).

At the same time, he said Islam isn’t against artistic freedom, but stressed that creativity mustn’t go beyond the bounds of religion and culture.

“Let all artistic activities contribute to personal growth and nation building, instead of deviant and immoral art that could bring our race and country to the brink of collapse,” he said.

On Wednesday (Aug 8), Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa confirmed in Parliament that he had ordered the removal of the portraits of activists Nisha Ayub and Pang Khee Teik from the Stripes and Strokes exhibition at the George Town Festival.

Both Nisha and Pang were portrayed holding the Jalur Gemilang in prints captured by photographer Mooreyameen Mohamad.

Nisha was the first transgender woman to receive the International Women of Courage Award in 2016, while Pang is the co-founder of Seksualiti Merdeka.

According to Dr Mujahid, who is in charge of religious affairs, the portraits were taken down as they were promoting LGBT activities, which was not in line with the Pakatan Harapan Government’s policies.

Dr Mujahid has since come under fire from several activists, with lawyer Siti Kasim expressing disappointment with Pakatan for “succumbing to bigots and fascists”, and theatre icon Jo Kukathas calling for all portraits at the said exhibition to be taken down as an act of solidarity.

The game was previously deemed to have fallen foul of the German criminal code, which bars any depiction of so-called “anti-constitutional” symbols, including Nazi swastikas.

Accordingly in “Wolfenstein II,”  images of Adolf Hitler were doctored to remove his moustache and the swastika in the Nazi flag was replaced with a triangular symbol.

This sparked an uproar in the gaming community, prompting calls for games to be treated like films.

Because movies are deemed works of art, they are exempt from the ban, similar to material used in research, historical or scientific purposes.

Films set in the World War II-era, for instance, are allowed to be screened in Germany with Nazi symbols.

The Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body (USK) said video games will in future be examined as to whether they constitute such exceptions.

The industry body, which is responsible for providing age ratings on video games, made the decision after it was tasked to determine what is socially permissible in video games by Germany’s youth protection services.

“Through the change in the interpretation of the law, games that critically look at current affairs can for the first time be given a USK age rating,” said Elisabeth Secker, USK managing director.

“This has long been the case for films and with regards to the freedom of the arts, this is now rightly also the case with computer and video games,” she said.

USK will perform its new task responsibly, she added.

In his decision Friday, Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali said the application was unsustainable as there are existing laws available.

“Those who overstep (in reporting) risk action being taken – such as contempt of court – and these remedies are readily available,” he said.

The judge, in his assessment, said that the applicant had fallen short of establishing his case.

“I find the application unsustainable. I dismiss this notice of motion,” he said.

Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah informed the court that the defence would be filing an appeal on the High Court’s dismissal on Monday (Aug 13).

The defence and prosecution took an entire day in court for submissions over the issue.

Earlier, Muhammad Shafee submitted that the media furore surrounding his client’s alleged criminal wrongdoings and the resulting public backlash had presupposed the guilt of his client.

“It is not a dramatic observation to say that the public sentiment against the applicant is prejudiced to such an extent that nothing short of a conviction upon all charges would qualify as justice in the eyes of the public,” he said, adding that the prosecution is a result of political will made manifest.

Muhammad Shafee claimed that the present administration – namely Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Lim Guan Eng and Tony Pua – have weighed in on the case and continually “supported the public’s call for blood”.

On July 4, High Court judge Justice Mohd Sofian Abd Razak, who earlier presided the case, granted an interim gag order.

After a string of criminal charges last month, Najib on Wednesday (Aug 8) was slapped with another three counts of money laundering amounting to RM42mil linked to SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

On July 4, Najib claimed trial to a charge of using his positions as the prime minister and finance minister to receive a RM42mil gratification when he was involved in the government’s decision in providing a guarantee for a RM4bil loan from the Retirement Fund Inc to SRC International.

He also claimed trial to three counts of criminal breach of trust under Section 409 of the Penal Code.

The High Court also fixed Feb 12 to Feb 28 and March 4 to March 29, 2019 for Najib’s trial for criminal breach of trust, power abuse, and money-laundering cases.

Indonesia earned the final spot after beating Malaysia 1-0 in the semifinal round on Thursday evening, held also in the Delta stadium. Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Thailand defeated Myanmar 1-0 to advance.

The goal was made from a penalty kick by Bagus Kahfi in the 70^th minute. The shot was given to the host team after Malaysian goalkeeper Abdul Alim fouled Supriadi.

Coach Fakhri Husaini said he was proud of the boys, who owned a tough match against the rival team.

“Praise to God, I’m really happy with the result. It was a tough match as I thought the Malaysian team would deploy an open play; they played good defense instead, and very solid,” Fakhri told Antara on Friday.

    New Zealand uses “hundreds of millions” of single-use plastic bags each year, many of which end up harming marine life, Ardern said.

“We need to be far smarter in the way we manage waste and this is a good start,” she said.

“We’re phasing-out single-use plastic bags so we can better look after our environment and safeguard New Zealand’s clean, green reputation.”

Ardern said her coalition government, which includes the Green Party, was facing up to environmental challenges and “just like climate change, we’re taking meaningful steps to reduce plastics pollution so we don’t pass this problem to future generations.”

Single-use plastic bags are among the most common items found in coastal litter in New Zealand and the environmental group Greenpeace welcomed the decision to outlaw them.

“This could be a major leap forward in turning the tide on ocean plastic pollution and an important first step in protecting marine life such as sea turtles and whales, from the growing plastic waste epidemic,” Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner Emily Hunter said.

A United Nations report in June said up to five trillion grocery bags are used globally each year, which is nearly 10 million plastic bags per minute.

“If tied together, all these plastic bags could be wrapped around the world seven times every hour” and like most plastic garbage barely any is recycled, said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment.

The UN said more than 60 countries had introduced bans and levies on single-use plastic items like bags.

But better waste management, financial incentives to change consumers’ buying habits and research into alternative materials were needed to make any real change, it added.

The coastal state, famed for its pristine palm-lined beaches and tea plantations, is battered by the annual monsoon every year but the rains have been particularly severe this season.

Nationwide, more than 700 people have been killed in monsoon flooding. Last year 1,200 people perished.

In Kerala the army has been roped in for rescue efforts after two days of rain that have forced authorities to open the shutters of 24 reservoirs to drain out the excess water.

Some 20,000 people have been displaced and 260 relief camps have been set up. Fifty-seven tourists including 24 foreigners were stranded in the hill station of Munnar.

One of the five shutters of a large reservoir in the mountainous Idukki district was opened for the first time in 26 years.

“Twenty-four dams have been opened so far, which is unprecedented and is telling of the seriousness of the situation,” Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wote on Twitter.

“People living in the downstream areas of these dams must be cautious.”

In view of the devastation, the US embassy Thursday advised its citizens to avoid the areas affected and constantly monitor local media for weather updates.

Over a million foreign tourists visited Kerala last year, according to official data.

The government of Kerala, which has a population of 33 million people, has imposed a ban on the movement of lorries and tourist vehicles in Idukki.

The monsoon, which lasts roughly from June to September, has claimed more than 70 lives across the state this year and damaged crops worth millions of dollars.

Chan wrote on his blog: “The weather suddenly changed and our crew were caught in a massive mudslide!” Several of the crew’s production trucks became stuck in the mud and had to be towed out. Many of the crew members were also frightened by the sudden mudslide, Chan wrote.

The post, originally written in Chinese and posted to social media website Weibo, did not indicate where the mudslide happened.

Chan and his crew were filming his upcoming movie Project X, which will also star American wrestling icon John Cena.

In his post, Chan offered his thanks to the people who came to help and apologised to the crew members who were frightened by the mudslide.

He wrote: “Our production team will learn from this experience; be more alert to the weather conditions, do our best to protect our crew members and ensure that working conditions are absolutely safe.”