Corporations and securities brief ~ Cox sworn in as SEC chief News
Corporations and securities brief ~ Cox sworn in as SEC chief

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's corporations and securities law news, Christopher Cox [Wikipedia profile] was sworn in as the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission [official website]. Cox, who became the 28th chairman of the SEC, took the oath of office from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. The SEC said in a press release that Cox's duties will officially begin on Thursday. Cox's nomination was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in July and he has pledged to vigorously uphold the law, including controversial new SEC rules [JURIST report].

In other corporations and securities law news…

  • As reported earlier in JURIST's Paper Chase, Time Warner [corporate website] has agreed to a large settlement with investors. In a press release, Time Warner announced that it had agreed to a $2.4 billion settlement of a securities lawsuit and will set aside an additional $600 million for further litigation costs. The lawsuit was brought by investors who held stock in the company at the time of its disastrous merger with AOL [Wikipedia entry]. BusinessWeek has more.
  • Bloomberg is reporting that the US Justice Department [official website] may push for a large settlement with KPMG [corporate website] instead of carrying on with criminal indictments against the company. The report cites unnamed sources who say the government would prefer to fine the auditing firm upwards of $500 million for its role in creating illegal tax shelters [JURIST report] and lying to the IRS [official website].
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.