British MP denies new US allegations in oil-for-food scandal News
British MP denies new US allegations in oil-for-food scandal

[JURIST] British Member of Parliament George Galloway [BBC profile] Tuesday rejected fresh accusations from US congressional investigators that he profited from the now defunct UN Oil-for-Food Program [official website; JURIST news archive] in Iraq. The new report [PDF] from the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations [official website] will be handed over to the US Justice Department and to British authorities. A hearing before the investigations subcommittee has been scheduled for October 31 [agenda]. Earlier this year, Galloway vehemently denied charges [JURIST report] that he benefited from the program while testifying during an investigations subcommittee hearing [agenda and prepared testimony] after the subcommittee released a report [PDF text] accusing Galloway, a staunch and outspoken opponent of the US-led invasion of Iraq, of accepting "allocations" of 11 million barrels of oil from Saddam Hussein from 1999-2003. US Congressional investigators also allege that Galloway knowingly made false or misleading statements to Congress when he denied these charges in May. Galloway called the fresh allegations "utterly preposterous" and goaded investigators to charge him with perjury. 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.