UK Foreign Secretary denies withholding rendition information News
UK Foreign Secretary denies withholding rendition information

[JURIST] British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw [official website] denied Friday that he withheld any information from Parliament concerning Britain's involvement in secret CIA rendition flights [JURIST news archive] and also said that there had not been any flights through Britain since the September 11 attacks. Straw's statement to legislators came in response to a leaked memo [PDF text; JURIST report] Thursday suggesting that there had been more requests for rendition flights from the US than the four 1998 requests that British legislators were already aware of. The memo, dated in December 2005 and reported in Thursday's edition of the New Statesman magazine, was originally passed from Straw's Foreign and Commonwealth Office [official website] to the Prime Minister's office [official website] and examined the legality of rendition and extraordinary rendition flights, as well as strategies to address allegations from human rights groups that the CIA operated secret rendition flights across Europe. AP has more. BBC News has local coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Pope Urban II sparks First Crusade

Pope Urban II threw his support behind what would become the First Crusade on November 27, 1095 during the Council of Clairmont. The Pope urged the council's participants to render aid to the Byzantine Empire, which was being attacked by the Seljuks. Pope Urban called for a wide coalition of rich and poor to combat the threat, which eventually resulted in the conquest of much of the Muslim-controlled Levant by the Crusaders and the establishment of the Crusader States. Read Pope Urban's address.  

Catholic Code of Canon Law revised

On November 27, 1983, the revised Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church went into effect. Learn more about the history of Canon Law from Professor Kenneth Pennington of the Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law.

Alfred Nobel creates Nobel Prize in his will

On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his will, creating the Nobel Prize. Learn more about the history of the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Commission.