British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he "strongly" opposed the death penalty but warned it was wrong to equate the human rights situtation in the US with that in countries such as China simply on the grounds of the number of executions carried out.

“Iran has executed at least eight juvenile offenders so far this year, two of whom were still under 18 at the time they were executed”, Amnesty International said in a statement.

Stanley Williams was executed after being denied clemency by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

the Federal High Court sentenced to death Major Melaku Tefera, one of Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam's top soldiers, for genocide during the country's 1970s "Red Terror" campaign.

California prison officials executed Stanley Tookie Williams, 51, the ex-leader of the Crips convicted of killing four people in 1979, early in the morning a day after top courts and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected final appeals to spare his life.

the state Supreme Court late Sunday refused to grant a stay of execution for Stanley Tookie Williams.

a young man was hanged in the Iranian capital Tehran, the state-run news agency ISNA reported.

a young Iranian woman was hanged in prison in the north-eastern town of Shirevan.

Iran publicly hanged Rostam Tajik, an Afghan national, for a crime he was alleged to have committed as a minor.

a number of Italy’s actors and directors have signed Hands Off Cain’s appeal aimed at California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to halt the scheduled execution Stanley Williams at San Quintino penitentiary on December 13. Those who have given their support include: Bernardo Bertolucci, Monica Bellucci, Claudia Cardinale, Giuliano Montaldo, Ferzan Ozpetek, Lina Wermuller, Dario Argento, Luca Barbareschi, Liliana Cavani, Francesca D’Aloja, Remo Girone, Alessandro Haber, Marco Muller, Marco Risi, Enzo Salvi and Pasquale Squitieri.

China will make court proceedings on death penalty appeals open to the public next year in a bid to safeguard human rights, the government said.

Saudi Arabia executed two men who were convicted of stabbing their victims to death in separate incidents.