A U.S. judge on Thursday said Daimler AG and Rheinmetall AG cannot be held liable for allegedly aiding and abetting South Africa's former apartheid government in race-based attacks and injustices. The plaintiffs in the case accused the two German companies, as well as…Ford Motor Co and IBM Corp, of facilitating race-based crimes by selling products…to South African security forces during apartheid. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin…said the German companies could not be sued under…the Alien Tort Statute, allowing non-U.S. citizens to bring cases in U.S. courts over violations of international law. Scheindlin said the plaintiffs failed to show that the facts of the case "touch and concern the United States with sufficient force" to justify the law's use. She declined, however, to immediately dismiss related claims against Ford and IBM.