This story is about the tossing of a lawsuit by a U.S. judge against the manufacturers of Agent Orange, a defoliant used by the U.S. during the Vietnam War, on behalf of Vietnamese children affected by it.

Some excerpts from the BBC story:

... Judge Jack Weinstein ruled there was no legal basis for their claims.

The civil action was the first attempt by Vietnamese plaintiffs to claim compensation for the effects of Agent Orange, which has been linked to a multitude of heath problems, including diabetes.

However, the chemical companies said no such link had been proved.

The defendants - including Dow Chemical and the Monsanto Corporation - also argued that the US government was responsible for how the chemical was used, not the manufacturers.

They maintained that US courts could not punish corporations for carrying out the orders of a president exercising his powers as commander-in-chief. ...

In 1984, several chemical companies paid $180m (£93m) to settle a lawsuit with US war veterans, who said that their health had been affected by exposure to the substance.

The group pushing for compensation for the Vietnamese say at least one million citizens there have suffered health problems as a result of Agent Orange exposure.