an Algerian criminal court sentenced to death in absentia seven Islamic gunmen belonging to the radical Salafi Movement for Daawa and Fighting.

a Moroccan court sentenced two radical Islamists to death and jailed four of their followers for life on charges that included killing five Moroccans, one of them Jewish.

five men were sentenced to hang for killing Sarath Ambepitiya, a Sri Lankan judge who had handed down heavy sentences on gangsters.

it was reported that Bangladesh was planning a special jail for prisoners on the death row.

two Pakistani brothers convicted of murdering their aunt were beheaded by the sword in the western Saudi town of Yanbu, the interior ministry announced.

Uzbekistan is working to abolish the death penalty, but it will be "no less than two or three years" before the country scraps capital punishment, Justice Minister Buritosh Mustafayev said.

for the first time the EU is banning trade in goods that have no use other than for capital punishment or torture.

a court in southeastern China sentenced to death 13 convicted drug traffickers in what was being called the country's biggest case of cross-border drug trade involving "ice," state press said.

an Egyptian state security criminal court sentenced two brothers to death on charges of leading a gang of arms dealers and drug-traffickers.

Pakistan's highest court delivered a legal victory to Mukhtaran Bibi, a woman who accused 13 men of orchestrating her gang rape three years previously.

on the Compendiun of New Catechism to be presented tomorrow, HOC General Secretary Sergio D’Elia declared: “We have never been fundamentalist about death penalty abolition – in fact we campaign for a UN moratorium on capital executions with a view to abolition country by country – so we will certainly not be the ones to criticize the New Catechism for the Catholic Church’s pragmatic, reasonable and anti-prohibitionist stance, not dissimilar to Marco Pannella’s, on certain issues.

the brother of Taiwan pop singer Yu Tien and a further seven Taiwanese were executed by Chinese authorities for drug-related cases to mark international anti-drugs day.