Red Brigades members get second life sentences for murdering Italian official News
Red Brigades members get second life sentences for murdering Italian official

[JURIST] Three members of Italy's far-left Red Brigades [Wikipedia backgrounder], who were among five people sentenced Wednesday[JURIST report] to life in prison for the murder of government economic advisor Marco Biagi, were sentenced Friday to another life term for the murder of Massimo D'Antona [EIRO backgrounder], a professor and legal consultant to the Minister of Labour. The murders occurred 3 years apart, but both victims were government advisors who were killed to deter reforms which would introduce greater flexibility to Italy's labor market. Four defendants were acquitted and nine other defendants received sentences ranging from four to ten years in prison. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

No lynchings reported in US for first time

On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reported that 1952 was the first year of no lynchings of African Americans in the United States in the 71 years it had kept records. Learn more about lynching and listen to Billie Holiday's jazz recording of the 1938 protest song Strange Fruit.

USSR established

On December 30, 1922, representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Transcaucus approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During World War II, the USSR would also annex Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. Learn more about the history of the USSR from the BBC.