A high court in Pakistan has found that United States drone strikes carried out in Pakistan by the CIA are war crimes, which are “absolutely illegal” and a “blatant violation” of Pakistan’s state sovereignty.

The decision comes in a lawsuit filed by the Foundation for Fundamental Rights (FFR), a legal charity in Islamabad, which sued the Pakistan government for failing to protect its own citizens from US drone strikes.

At least fifteen people were killed in two drone strikes in Pakistan on January 2. While one strike killed a powerful Pakistan Taliban leader along with other known fighters, the other strike killed four people, whose names were not immediately known, and reportedly involved the targeting of rescuers—a war crime.

Now I hate to rain on anyone’s parade following the excellent news of the vote taking Palestine from being classified as a “non-member observer entity” to a “non-member observer state”. It’s very good news as it means that Palestine can sign treaties and join such bodies as the International Criminal Court (ICC). But perhaps some parade ground raining is in order before people make unwarranted assumptions and statements about what the court is and what it can and cannot do.

The United Nations special rapporteur for counterterrorism will lead an inquiry into civilian deaths from US drone strikes around the world, to determine whether the strikes violate international human rights and humanitarian laws.

In his effort to appear on as many morning and late night shows before Election Day, President Barack Obama appeared on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart last night. Stewart talked to him about his record, his first debate performance, whether his candidacy’s strength is that he is not as bad as GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, what he would like to do in his second term and his administration’s response to the attack in Benghazi. He was also directly asked about the continuation of national security policies that were the hallmark of the administration of President George W. Bush.

With the DOJ’s failure to prosecute the Bush Six and other torturers, Spain has a legal obligation to ensure impunity does not cross borders

A former Director of Public Prosecutions in the United Kingdom was recently interviewed by The Times (UK) where he called upon the British government to reveal its involvement in supporting the US drone war in Pakistan.

A survey reported yesterday indicates opposition to the United States has risen among Pakistanis in the last couple of years. More Pakistanis now view the US as “the enemy” than in past years. This is largely a result of the presence of US personnel in the country and how opposed Pakistanis are to drone strikes. Now The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), which has been analyzing the US’s “covert war on terror” extensively, has posted an interview with Democratic Representative Dennis Kucinich, who suggests the objections Pakistanis have toward the US put America at war with Pakistan.

The US Supreme Court unanimously decided that foreign political organizations and multinational corporations cannot be sued for the torture or extrajudicial killing of persons abroad under an anti-torture law passed in 1992. The law only gives people the right to sue “an individual,” “who acted under the authority of a foreign nation.”

Attorney General Eric Holder delivered a major policy speech at Northwestern University in Chicago that laid out what he and the Obama Administration consider to be the legal justification for counterterrorism policies. Of particular significance were arguments justifying the use of lethal force to kill US citizens suspected of terrorism without charge or trial.