ten inmates in France’s Clairvaux prison, one of the harshest prisons in the country, asked for “the reintroduction of the death penalty” for themselves in a letter sent to the France Presse.

a death row prisoner in Taiwan committed suicide due to being unable to bear the pain of waiting for the execution.

state lawmakers blocked a bill that would bar the state from carrying out death sentences for two years.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered Philippine diplomats to do everything they could to save a Filipina teacher who was set to hang in Kuwait for killing her boss there.

the US Army has issued new regulations governing the death penalty, raising speculation that the military might be preparing for its first execution since 1961.

Perrie Dyon Simpson was executed early morning for the 1984 murder of a retired minister, the North Carolina Department of Correction said.

Sri Lanka's High Court cleared a former deputy defence minister and his two sons over the killing of 10 men but handed down death penalties to five soldiers who were involved.

a young Iranian couple convicted of killing a mother and daughter during a burglary were hanged in Tehran's Evin prison.

the Cebu City Regional Trial Court, the Philippines, sentenced Edgar Belandres to death for fatally shooting a photojournalist in 2004.

the Punjab Rights Forum (PRF) appealed to President Abdul Kalam to implement a moratorium on the death penalty in India.

the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed the execution of Julius Murphy 24 hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection. The court ordered a state district court to review claims by Murphy, 27, that he is mentally retarded and cannot be subject to capital punishment.

the Bac Giang People's Court, Vietnam, handed out death sentences to Than Nhan Lam, 37, Than Nhan Sang, 28, Do Van Hoa, 37, and Nguyen Quang Thang, 37, on charges of drug trafficking.