Smoker's widow wins $8m in damages

Tobacco giant Philip Morris was ordered by a Florida jury to pay US$8m (€6.3m) in damages to the widow of a smoker who died of lung cancer in a case that could set a precedent for around 8,000 other state lawsuits.

The six jurors deliberated over two days before returning the award for Elaine Hess (aged 63), whose chain-smoking husband Stuart (aged 55) died in 1997.