Argentina president introduces bill to decriminalize libel and slander News
Argentina president introduces bill to decriminalize libel and slander

[JURIST] Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner [BBC profile] proposed a new bill [speech transcript, in Spanish] Friday that would erase libel and slander as crimes, part of a broader plan to change the way Argentina's telecommunications businesses are run. Opponents of that bill argue that its provisions, particularly those opening up cable television services to telephone companies, are aimed at helping companies sympathetic [Buenos Aires Herald report] to Kirchner. The media bill would also stop anti-competitiveness and create a new agency to govern appropriate content.

Kirchner made her announcement at a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the arrival in Argentina of members of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

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.