UK parliament to address terror law reform, CO2 emissions News
UK parliament to address terror law reform, CO2 emissions

[JURIST] The Labour Party government of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Tuesday unveiled its new legislative agenda [PM materials; BBC backgrounder] for the 2007-2008 session of Parliament, pledging to "seek a consensus on changes to the law on terrorism … to protect the public, whilst preserving essential rights and liberties." In the Queen's Speech [text; recorded video], read by Queen Elizabeth II at the annual ceremonial opening of Parliament [British Monarchy backgrounder], the government announced proposals to raise the compulsory education age to 18, to increase the availability of affordable housing, and to create the world's first legally binding framework to reduce carbon dioxide emissions [BBC bill backgrounders]. Mention was also made of continuing reforms to the criminal justice system, a theme of last year's speech [text; JURIST report].

Altogether, the government laid out 29 individual bills for this session of Parliament, which will end in November 2008. This Queen's Speech was the first delivered on behalf of Brown's government since he took over from former PM Tony Blair [JURIST news archive] in June. BBC News 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.