EU extends constitution ratification deadline to 2007 News
EU extends constitution ratification deadline to 2007

[JURIST] Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker [official profile], whose country currently holds the EU Presidency [official website], said Thursday that EU leaders have decided to extend the ratification deadline [JURIST report] for the proposed European constitution until at least 2007. The announcement came after the first day of an EU "crisis summit" [press release regarding agenda] forced to address the treaty's future in the wake of "No" votes in France [JURIST report] and the Netherlands [JURIST report]. An original ratification deadline of November 2006 was deemed to be "no longer tenable" according to Juncker. Britain first cancelled its referendum [JURIST report] last week; Denmark has since followed suit and Irish officials say their government is likely to shelve its vote. Some of the 25 countries attending the summit called for a definite break in the ratification process, but Belgium, German and French leaders disagreed. Reuters 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.