Saddam indictment ready within days, former aides to testify against him at trial News
Saddam indictment ready within days, former aides to testify against him at trial

[JURIST] Raed Jouhi, head of the Iraqi Special Tribunal [JURIST news archive; official website], told a Saudi newspaper on Monday that the indictment against Saddam Hussein would be finished within two days, and that the trial would begin in about a month. He also said many of Saddam's former aides, facing prosecutions of their own, were cooperative in the pre-trial investigations and were willing to testify against Saddam. The first official charge [JURIST report] was filed against Saddam last Sunday. UPI 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.