Two charged for leaking UK government memo to paper News
Two charged for leaking UK government memo to paper

[JURIST] Two men have been charged for leaking a UK government memo that led to a newspaper report Tuesday that said UK Prime Minister Tony Blair [official profile] had talked President Bush out of bombing the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera [official website]. The memo, which reportedly was a transcription of a conversation between the two leaders in the spring of 2004, was the centerpiece of a news story [text] in the UK's Daily Mirror. David Keogh, a civil servant in the Blair government, and Leo O'Connor, a previous employee of former MP Tony Clarke, were both charged by the Crown Prosecution Service [official website] under the Official Secrets Act [text] for leaking the document. Keogh allegedly passed the memo on to O'Connor before Clarke later returned it to No. 10 Downing St. [official website]. According to the Mirror report, sources differed over whether Bush was serious when he made the comments. Both Blair and Bush's office refused to comment on the memo. Some in the UK, including former defense minister Peter Kilfoyle, called for the memo to be released to the public. NBC News has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Indian National Congress founded

The Indian National Congress (INC) was founded on December 28, 1885 in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. In subsequent decades, the so-called Congress Party would advocate for Indian independence from the UK, which was eventually achieved in 1947. The first Prime Minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru, was elected as a member of the INC. Learn more about the history and founding of the Indian National Congress.

Congress recognized Pledge of Allegiance

On December 28, 1945, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance and encouraged its recitation in schools. The Pledge was supposedly written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus Day. The words “under God” were added by Congress in 1954. The revised version of the Pledge was the subject of litigation before the United States Supreme Court originally brought by Michael Newdow, a parent who unsuccessfully objected to his daughter's school district policy requiring daily recitation of the Pledge. The court ruled that Newdow had no standing.

Nepal ends monarchy, establishes republic

On December 28, 2007, the Kingdom of Nepal's interim parliament ended the country's monarchy and established the Republic of Nepal. Free elections were held on April 10 of the following year to elect a Constituent Assembly.

Learn more about the rise of democracy in Nepal.