Round-up

1. AUSTRALIA: International students with jobs are being paid less than Australians, face discrimination when applying for rental properties and are treated "less favourably" by teachers, an inquiry has been told.

2. US: A Broward Circuit Court judge declared a mistrial Thursday in a landmark tobacco case of a Cooper City widow suing cigarette maker Philip Morris on a wrongful death claim. An expert witness, on the second day of the trial, used a racist term while explaining his research into a project about racism within the tobacco industry, said Gary Paige, an attorney for Elaine Hess, the widow of Stuart Hess.

Robert Proctor, a professor of history of science at Stanford University, triggered the mistrial while explaining that research into the topic cannot be done without using the word "nigger". "He mentioned it within context of his research project," Paige said. "But the judge felt that the context the jury heard it within was prejudicial...that the jury was hearing about racism by the tobacco industry." Two of the jurors and one alternate were African-American, Paige said.