Australia wants speedy military trial for Gitmo detainee, but lawyers balk News
Australia wants speedy military trial for Gitmo detainee, but lawyers balk

[JURIST] After US courts approved military trials [JURIST report] for terrorism suspects, Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock [official website] said his government now wished for a speedy trial for David Hicks [Wikipedia profile, advocacy website], an Australian who was captured in Afghanistan fighting for the Taliban and is now being held at Guantanamo. Ruddock had earlier called in March for the US to move the process along [JURIST report]. While the AG's questions about the appropriateness of military commission trial were satisfied by the appellate ruling, the Law Council of Australia [official website] is still not satisfied [press release] and says the process is unfair. They want Hicks to either receive a trial in the US civilian court system, or be returned to face charges in Australia. Lawyers for Hicks [JURIST news archive] say the charges against him have no basis in international law [JURIST report]. AAP 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.