Japan PM threatens resignation if anti-terror law not renewed News
Japan PM threatens resignation if anti-terror law not renewed

[JURIST] Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [official website, in Japanese; JURIST news archive] said Sunday that he would resign if parliament refuses to extend a special anti-terrorism law. Abe faces opposition from the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) [party website], which has criticized Abe's ability to function and have threatened to veto [press release] the renewal of the legislation. The Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law [text], originally passed in 2001 and extended annually [MOFA press release] since, is currently slated to expire November 1. Among other things, it allows Japan to refuel allied ships in the Indian Ocean for operations relating to Afghanistan. While Abe announced he would step down if the law is not extended, US officials expressed concern at losing Japanese support in the Middle East.

Japan's involvement in Afghanistan has caused a rift between Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LPJ) [party website] and the DPJ. DPJ president Ichiro Ozawa [party profile] has voiced his opposition to Japan acting abroad in operations not sanctioned by the United Nations. The Financial Times has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.