UPDATE ~ Talabani elected new interim Iraqi president News
UPDATE ~ Talabani elected new interim Iraqi president

[JURIST] As expected [JURIST report], Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani [BBC profile] was elected by the 275-member Iraqi National Assembly [Wikipedia article] Wednesday to serve as president of Iraq's transitional government. In the same vote, Shiite Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Sunni current interim President Ghazi al-Yawer were chosen as vice presidents. Talabani and his vice presidents received 227 votes, with thirty ballots left blank. After Talabani's swearing-in ceremony Thursday, the National Assembly will begin work on Iraq's new constitution. Iraq's parliament is currently scheduled to have a first draft of a constitution prepared by August 15. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.