Texas Governor signs life without parole bill into law News
Texas Governor signs life without parole bill into law

[JURIST] Texas Governor Rick Perry [official profile] Friday signed into law [Governor's press release] legislation which creates a new life-without-parole sentencing option in state capital murder cases. Previously, Texas juries have only had the option of sentencing offenders to death or life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. The widely supported bill [JURIST report], which goes into effect on September 1, provides an alternative that eliminates the possibility of parole. Texas leads the nation in number of executions – of the 38 states that execute offenders, only Texas and New Mexico lacked a life-without-parole option. The Dallas Fort-Worth Star-Telegram 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.