UN Security Council approves further extension of Hariri assassination probe News
UN Security Council approves further extension of Hariri assassination probe

[JURIST] The UN Security Council on Thursday voted to extend the mandate [press release] of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission [UN materials] probing the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive] for an additional year until mid-June 2007. The Council's vote follows the recommendation of Serge Brammertz, deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and head of the Hariri investigation. Brammertz presented the commission's fourth interim report [PDF] to the Security Council on Wednesday and said that the investigation has led to evidence that Hariri was a victim of a targeted assassination [press release]. Brammertz also noted a definite connection [AFP report] "in the modus operandi and their possible intent" between the Beirut bomb that killed Hariri and 22 others and 14 other attacks on anti-Syrian Lebanese leaders. Previous probe reports have implicated Syrian officials in the assassination [JURIST report].

In response to Brammertz's contention that Syria has "responded to all the commission's requests in a timely manner and in some instances comprehensive responses were provided," US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton [official website] told reporters Wednesday that Syria is not fully cooperating with the UN probe [statement; Reuters report]. According to Bolton, Brammertz's comments suggest that Syria gave many responses that were not comprehensive, though the report itself also said that cooperation with Syria has "developed further," and that their participation has been "generally satisfactory." BBC News has more. The UN News Centre has additional coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.