Sweden, Finland, Portugal put EU constitution ratifications on hold News
Sweden, Finland, Portugal put EU constitution ratifications on hold

[JURIST] Sweden, Finland and Portugal have joined Britain, Denmark, Ireland [JURIST report] and the Czech Republic in postponing their ratifications of the EU constitution after European heads of governent Thursday agreed to extend the ratification deadline [JURIST report] into 2007. Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson said Friday [PA report] in a Swedish radio interview that if France and the Netherlands were not prepared to go back to their citizens for revotes after failed ratification referenda there was no point in Sweden starting a ratification process. All 25 EU member states must ratify the charter before it can come into force. Persson went on to say, however, that the constitution was urgently needed: "Without this constitution the union is in total crisis. The constitution must be realised, because the union is growing with new member states, and the constitution regulates how to take decisions in such a situation." 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.