Ali Hassan al-Majid, a former Iraqi official known as Chemical Ali, has been executed by hanging, a government spokesman has announced. Majid, an enforcer in Saddam Hussein's regime and his cousin, had earlier been sentenced to death four times for genocide and crimes against humanity. In January, he was sentenced to death for ordering the gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988.

One of the most intense controversies of the Bush years was the administration's indefinite imprisoning of "War on Terror" detainees without charges of any kind. So absolute was the consensus among progressives and Democrats against this policy that a well-worn slogan was invented to object: a "legal black hole."

NATO's international Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed on Friday that explosions have claimed the lives of five US soldiers in war-torn Afghanistan over the past 24 hours. The ISAF announcement came as three troopers were declared dead on Sunday following a home-made bomb explosion. The incident was followed shortly by a third fatality, when a similar improvised explosive device detonated.

Local tribesman in Pakistan's North Waziristan region claim to have shot down a US drone after the unnamed aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed in the tribal area. The crash occurred on Sunday afternoon in the Hamdhoni area of North Waziristan, the Associated Press reported, citing two intelligence officials. Drone attacks near the country's border with Afghanistan have been a controversial issue, especially since the attacks are imprecise in nature and usually result in civilian deaths.

Some union leaders think that the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Citizens United v. FEC -- which essentially takes the limits off campaign spending -- will give them the same flexibility and freedom to influence the process as it does corporations. AWIP: Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Fascism + Why Five Members of SCOTUS Are Nuttier Than Fruit Cakes!

Alan Grayson introduces the "Business Should Mind Its Own Business" Act, which would add a 500% excise tax on corporate political contributions.

Surveillance infrastructure can be exported, which also aids totalitarianism around the world. Western companies like Siemens and Nokia built Iran's surveillance. U.S. companies helped build China's electronic police state. Just last year, Twitter's anonymity saved the lives of Iranian dissidents, anonymity that many governments want to eliminate. In the aftermath of Google's announcement, some members of Congress are reviving a bill banning U.S. tech companies from working with governments that digitally spy on their citizens. Presumably, those legislators don't understand that their own government is on the list.

Glacier scientist: I knew data hadn't been verified. The scientist behind the bogus claim in a Nobel Prize-winning UN report that Himalayan glaciers will have melted by 2035 last night admitted it was included purely to put political pressure on world leaders. Dr Murari Lal also said he was well aware the statement, in the 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), did not rest on peer-reviewed scientific research. In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Dr Lal, the co-ordinating lead author of the report’s chapter on Asia, said: ‘It related to several countries in this region and their water sources. We thought that if we can highlight it, it will impact policy-makers and politicians and encourage them to take some concrete action. ‘It had importance for the region, so we thought we should put it in.’ WUWT: The scandal deepens – IPCC AR4 riddled with non peer reviewed WWF papers: Well it turns out that the WWF is cited all over the IPCC AR4 report, and as you know, WWF does not produce peer reviewed science, they produce opinion papers in line with their vision. Yet IPCC’s rules are such that they are supposed to rely on peer reviewed science only. It appears they’ve violated that rule dozens of times, all under Pachauri’s watch. + “Pachauri must resign – his position is untenable”.

It is no great secret that Republicans are elitist, uncaring politicians who just seek to pad their own pockets and the pockets of Corporate America. They hold the working class, and those who do not have one of the minimum wage jobs they have created in complete scorn. Now, a Republican politician in South Carolina has summed up nicely how the Republican Party feels about those hit hardest by the failed policies wrought by Republicans.

WARNING: CIA-generated, completely artificial news: "Osama bin Laden" has warned Barack Obama, the US president, that there will be further attacks on the United States unless he takes steps to resolve the Palestinian situation. In an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera on Sunday, the al-Qaeda chief, praised the Nigerian accused of a failed attempt to blow up an airliner heading for Detroit on Christmas Day. HuffPo: Osama Bin Laden Believed Dead By Pak Intel: Zardari.

Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, U.S.A. has filed a Complaint with the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) in The Hague against U.S. citizens George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales (the “Accused”) for their criminal policy and practice of “extraordinary rendition” perpetrated upon about 100 human beings. This term is really their euphemism for the enforced disappearance of persons and their consequent torture. This criminal policy and practice by the Accused constitute Crimes against Humanity in violation of the Rome Statute establishing the I.C.C.

Medical records which would shed light on the death of government scientist David Kelly will be kept secret for 70 years, it emerged yesterday. The unprecedented move has been ordered by Lord Hutton, who chaired the inquiry which controversially concluded that the mysterious death was suicide. It means vital evidence, including the results of Dr Kelly's post-mortem examination - which have never been made public - will remain under wraps until 2073, by which time anyone involved in the case will almost certainly be dead. London Evening Standard: Blair appointee Lord Hutton bars release of medical evidence in David Kelly's death for 70 years: Vital evidence which could solve the mystery of the death of Government weapons inspector Dr David Kelly will be kept under wraps for up to 70 years. In a draconian – and highly unusual – order, Lord Hutton, the peer who chaired the controversial inquiry into the Dr Kelly scandal, has secretly barred the release of all medical records, including the results of the post mortem, and unpublished evidence. The move, which will stoke fresh speculation about the true circumstances of Dr Kelly’s death, comes just days before Tony Blair appears before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War. The Independent: Legal staff ruled Blair's war illegal. The Guardian: Iraq war was illegal, top lawyer will tell Chilcot inquiry. WSWS: A Dutch commission of inquiry has concluded that the US-led 2003 Iraq war was illegal under international law. The conclusion has far-reaching implications. AWIP/Craig Murray: David Kelly's Murder.

The Pakistani Army’s announcement last week that it planned no new offensive against militants for as long as a year has deeply frustrated senior American military officers, and chipped away at one of the cornerstones of President Obama’s strategy to reverse the Taliban’s gains in Afghanistan and Pakistan. AWIP: U.S. to provide spy drones to Pakistan.

BBC Panorama: A Walk in the Park, from 18 January 2010. Jane Corbin walks through the disputed streets and parks of Jerusalem. Belfast Telegraph: Israel's prime minister has declared his country would retain parts of the West Bank forever. AntiWar: Netanyahu Declares Portions of the West Bank ‘Eternally’ Part of Israel: Peace Talks Further Damaged as PM Claims Settlement Blocs 'Part of Jerusalem'. Ynet News: University of Bergen, among Norway's largest academic institutions, intends to impose an official academic boycott against Israel over what it claims is its apartheid-like conduct, Ynet has learned. UIB: Rektor oppsummerer: Akademisk boikott og akademisk frihet: Debatten gjelder dels konkrete forslag om akademisk boikott av Israel, dels generelle oppfatninger om akademisk boikott som virkemiddel. Etter min oppfatning er akademisk boikott av Israel ikke aktuelt. Vi har ingen planer om dette ved Universitetet i Bergen. [...] Jeg har gitt uttrykk for at akademisk boikott som generelt virkemiddel ikke kan utelukkes eller avvises prinsipielt.