BREAKING NEWS ~ Merck not liable in second Vioxx case News
BREAKING NEWS ~ Merck not liable in second Vioxx case

[JURIST] A New Jersey jury on Thursday found that pharmaceutical company Merck [corporate website] properly warned consumers about the risks associated with its painkiller Vioxx [Merck Vioxx Information Center website; JURIST news archive]. In the first case to go to trial, a Texas jury in August found Merck liable for $253 million [JURIST report] for the wrongful death of a man who suffered cardiac arrest after using the drug. Vioxx was recalled last fall after clinical tests showed that patients who use the drug for more than 18 months faced increased risk of stroke and heart attack [FDA public health advisory]. Merck currently faces thousands of state and federal lawsuits over its distribution of the drug, and after the unfavorable August verdict, had said that it would consider settling some claims [JURIST report]. AP 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.