the US government asked a federal judge to set an October start date for the much-delayed trial of accused September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.

a US state supreme court has quashed a death sentence handed down to Robert Harlan because jurors consulted the Bible in reaching their verdict. The Colorado Supreme Court on March 28 ruled that the Bible, which includes the premise of "eye for an eye" justice, constituted an improper outside influence and a reliance on what the judges called a "higher authority."

the only woman ever executed in Georgia's electric chair is being granted a posthumous pardon, 60 years after the black maid was put to death for killing a white man she claimed held her in slavery and threatened her life.

since the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the mullahs' regime has resorted to a frenzied wave of public hangings and death decrees, the National Council of Resistance of Iran said in a statement.

six people were hanged by the clerical regime in Tehran and Hamedan (western Iran) on Wednesday and Tuesday respectively, Iranian state-run media reported. Two others in Tehran and another in Karaj (west of Tehran) were sentenced to death.

a condemned killer is challenging Tennessee's method of lethal injection, calling it an illogical process in part because it includes a drug forbidden in the euthanasia of animals.

the Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a black death row inmate who said Texas prosecutors unfairly stacked his jury with whites, issuing a harsh rebuke to the state that executes more people than any other.

an anti-government extremist was executed for the 1993 shooting death of a police officer who was gunned down as he approached the man's car.

China has formally charged Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong, 55, with spying for its rival Taiwan, the state news agency Xinhua has reported. If Mr Ching is convicted, he could face the death penalty.

the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence handed to Mohammed Afzal for involvement in a deadly attack on parliament by Muslim militants four years ago.

the government of Sierra Leone has published on late June proposals for implementing the recommendations of the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). In one statement that pointedly contradicts the TRC recommendations, the government's 17-page policy document entitled “White Paper on the Truth and Reconciliation Project” rejects the abolition of the death penalty.

Malaysia’s highest court has sentenced a Nigerian mother of five to death after refusing to overturn her drug trafficking conviction, a newspaper reported.