Executions And Death Penalty Figures Revealed

Death sentences are "becoming a thing of the past", according to campaigners, despite at least 682 confirmed executions across the globe last year.

That is just two more executions - including beheadings, hangings and firing squads - than in 2011, according to Amnesty International.

A total of 21 countries were confirmed as having carried out executions in 2012, the same number as in 2011. Amnesty said this was significantly down from levels a decade ago, when 28 countries carried out executions in 2003.

The number of death sentences imposed fell from 1,923 in 63 countries in 2011 to 1,722 in 58 countries over the next 12 months.

Amnesty International secretary general Salil Shetty said there was a "worldwide trend against using the death penalty".

"In many parts of the world, executions are becoming a thing of the past," he said. "Only one in 10 countries in the world carries out executions.

"Their leaders should ask themselves why they are still applying a cruel and inhumane punishment that the rest of the world is leaving behind."

The execution chamber at Utah State Prison

The five countries that carried out the most executions last year were China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and USA, Amnesty said.

But the figures for the total number of death sentences do not include China, which is believed to perform thousands every year, because reliable data is not available.

Some human rights activist claim up to 8,000 people are put to death by the state in China every year.

The US executed 43 people in 2012, the same figure as in the previous year. A total of 77 new death sentences were imposed, the second lowest since the Supreme Court revised capital punishment laws in 1976, Amnesty said.

The latest death sentence was carried out in Texas as the report was published, with Rickey Lewis being put to death by lethal injection for the murder of a man and the rape of his wife during a break-in.

Amnesty expressed concern at a resumption of executions in several countries - India, Japan, Pakistan and Gambia - that had not used the death penalty for some time.

And the organisation flagged an escalation in the number of executions in Iraq in 2012, with the figure up to at least 129, which included 34 executions carried out in a single day.

The 'Death Sentences and Executions in 2012' report was released just days after Briton Lindsay Sandiford lost her appeal against her death sentence in Bali for smuggling £1.6m worth of cocaine.

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North Korea: South On Alert For Missile Launch

Visiting Secretive North Korea

Updated: 11:52am UK, Wednesday 10 April 2013

Despite the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula, tourists have been able to travel to North Korea.

A Sky News employee has just returned from a four-day trip. Journalists are strictly banned from the county without visas, which are rarely issued, so we are not revealing her name, but here is her story:

I flew from Beijing to Pyongyang. On the flight with me were lots of North Koreans with plenty of excess baggage: TVs, vegetables and meat.

Nothing felt abnormal. There was no feeling of tension.

Only when I arrived at the Demilitarised Zone were we prevented access to some of the buildings because of the current situation.

Throughout the four-day trip, which was organised by a Chinese travel company, we were assigned two North Korean minders.

One of them was more senior than the other. She watched us and watched her colleague too.

They did not want the war but were also determined to fight if the country decided to start a war. They emphasised to us that they believed in the country from their hearts.

We were not allowed to move freely. We could only do tourist things according to the guidance of the tour "guards".

We were not allowed to take photographs in the car or anywhere without the minder's permission. We were told not to photograph anything that looked bad or makes North Korea look bad.

"Don't bring bad impressions out of Pyongyang," they said.

People were very friendly. There was little traffic, so people would stare at our bus wherever we drove.

People there are very aware of the potential war.

Every time we arrived at the places of interest, the tour guides would always ask us in Korean (the minders would translate into Chinese) about the latest situation and our opinions about the situation, particularly our opinions about the US, as they all believe the tensions are the fault of America.

When we asked the minders what would happen if the war breaks out tomorrow, they said: "If the war breaks tomorrow, until midnight tonight, we are still building the socialist constructions."

We also asked them whether they know where Kim Jong-Un lives and works, as we explained to them that in Beijing, all the top leaders work and live in a place called Zhongnanhai. They all said they had no idea.

The two minders liked to sing. One of the songs they sang was apparently written by a South Korean musician to express his admiration toward Kim Jong-Il.

On one of the days we went to Myohyang San, a North Korean mountain. The six of us on the tour were locked in the restaurant because the North Koreans were so afraid that we would wander around.

There is a museum near the mountain, where gifts from foreign countries are displayed. A lot of them came from Japan.

We asked them how could they receive so many gifts from Japan given that North Korea considers the Japanese as enemies. They told us that the Japanese really admire the leaders, so they gave us many gifts.

We stayed in the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where we could watch international TV channels including the BBC, NHK, (Japanese TV), Phoenix (Hong Kong TV) and CCTV (Chinese TV).

The minders live on a specific floor where they only have three North Korean channels to watch. They never ate with us and when we asked what they had eaten, they always refused to tell us.

We were not allowed to use the local currency, and they never showed us their money. We could use Chinese RMB, US dollars or euros.

There were not many opportunities to see any ordinary North Korean people apart from the shopkeepers, tour guides or waitresses in the hotel.

There is a casino on the underground floor of the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where most of the staff members come from Liaoning Province over the northern border in China, and North Koreans are not allowed to enter.

The casino is managed by people from Macau. The staff there told us it was empty because the tensions mean far fewer people are travelling to North Korea.

Staff at the casino are all Chinese. When we asked to go to the casino, one of the minders said to us: "You must be non-communists, because communist members don't go to casinos."

Wherever we go to visit, they always asked us if we think their places or things are pretty. They only wanted to show us the good side of the country.

As soon as we travelled outside the capital city, it felt very like the real North Korea: rural, no tall buildings, only farmland.

We never felt the tension of war on our trip. On the streets, on our tour, in the hotel and even at a school we visited, the students were studying as normal.

The people we spoke to asked us if it was true that living in Beijing is hard. They think living in North Korea is the happiest thing in the world.

It feels as though those North Koreans who have travelled outside the country have never mentioned what the outside world really looks like.

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South Korea Meets North's Threat With Boredom

Visiting Secretive North Korea

Updated: 11:52am UK, Wednesday 10 April 2013

Despite the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula, tourists have been able to travel to North Korea.

A Sky News employee has just returned from a four-day trip. Journalists are strictly banned from the county without visas, which are rarely issued, so we are not revealing her name, but here is her story:

I flew from Beijing to Pyongyang. On the flight with me were lots of North Koreans with plenty of excess baggage: TVs, vegetables and meat.

Nothing felt abnormal. There was no feeling of tension.

Only when I arrived at the Demilitarised Zone were we prevented access to some of the buildings because of the current situation.

Throughout the four-day trip, which was organised by a Chinese travel company, we were assigned two North Korean minders.

One of them was more senior than the other. She watched us and watched her colleague too.

They did not want the war but were also determined to fight if the country decided to start a war. They emphasised to us that they believed in the country from their hearts.

We were not allowed to move freely. We could only do tourist things according to the guidance of the tour "guards".

We were not allowed to take photographs in the car or anywhere without the minder's permission. We were told not to photograph anything that looked bad or makes North Korea look bad.

"Don't bring bad impressions out of Pyongyang," they said.

People were very friendly. There was little traffic, so people would stare at our bus wherever we drove.

People there are very aware of the potential war.

Every time we arrived at the places of interest, the tour guides would always ask us in Korean (the minders would translate into Chinese) about the latest situation and our opinions about the situation, particularly our opinions about the US, as they all believe the tensions are the fault of America.

When we asked the minders what would happen if the war breaks out tomorrow, they said: "If the war breaks tomorrow, until midnight tonight, we are still building the socialist constructions."

We also asked them whether they know where Kim Jong-Un lives and works, as we explained to them that in Beijing, all the top leaders work and live in a place called Zhongnanhai. They all said they had no idea.

The two minders liked to sing. One of the songs they sang was apparently written by a South Korean musician to express his admiration toward Kim Jong-Il.

On one of the days we went to Myohyang San, a North Korean mountain. The six of us on the tour were locked in the restaurant because the North Koreans were so afraid that we would wander around.

There is a museum near the mountain, where gifts from foreign countries are displayed. A lot of them came from Japan.

We asked them how could they receive so many gifts from Japan given that North Korea considers the Japanese as enemies. They told us that the Japanese really admire the leaders, so they gave us many gifts.

We stayed in the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where we could watch international TV channels including the BBC, NHK, (Japanese TV), Phoenix (Hong Kong TV) and CCTV (Chinese TV).

The minders live on a specific floor where they only have three North Korean channels to watch. They never ate with us and when we asked what they had eaten, they always refused to tell us.

We were not allowed to use the local currency, and they never showed us their money. We could use Chinese RMB, US dollars or euros.

There were not many opportunities to see any ordinary North Korean people apart from the shopkeepers, tour guides or waitresses in the hotel.

There is a casino on the underground floor of the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where most of the staff members come from Liaoning Province over the northern border in China, and North Koreans are not allowed to enter.

The casino is managed by people from Macau. The staff there told us it was empty because the tensions mean far fewer people are travelling to North Korea.

Staff at the casino are all Chinese. When we asked to go to the casino, one of the minders said to us: "You must be non-communists, because communist members don't go to casinos."

Wherever we go to visit, they always asked us if we think their places or things are pretty. They only wanted to show us the good side of the country.

As soon as we travelled outside the capital city, it felt very like the real North Korea: rural, no tall buildings, only farmland.

We never felt the tension of war on our trip. On the streets, on our tour, in the hotel and even at a school we visited, the students were studying as normal.

The people we spoke to asked us if it was true that living in Beijing is hard. They think living in North Korea is the happiest thing in the world.

It feels as though those North Koreans who have travelled outside the country have never mentioned what the outside world really looks like.

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IRA Assassin Rose Lynch Had Hit List Of Six

A blonde Continuity IRA assassin with a hit list of six members of a rival faction shot dead an innocent van driver in a case of mistaken identity.

Rose Lynch and her accomplice had wrongly linked David Darcy to the rival group and shot him as he tried to reverse his van out of the driveway of his west Dublin home.

When police in Ireland detained Lynch nearly a month later they found 25 rounds of 9mm ammunition in her handbag.

The hit list that the 50-year-old mother and her accomplice, a senior Continuity IRA member, were working from was drawn up after an internal split in the group.

It erupted into violence in the summer of 2011 and a deadly feud ensued.

Anti- terrorist officers told the Irish Independent they suspected members of the hit team and their associates feared their rivals would attempt to overthrow them and decided to attack first.

But as they got down to business, they incorrectly identified Mr Darcy as someone who had been involved in an earlier shooting.

They shot the father-of-two as he tried to make his way to work on November 28, 2011.

Lynch pleaded guilty to murder at the Special Criminal Court yesterday and is facing life imprisonment when she is sentenced later.

Her accomplice has not been charged in connection with the murder.

The two of them were described by police in evidence given in a court bail application as members of a CIRA "active service unit".

They were captured a month after the killing when police stopped a car travelling from Dublin to Limerick.

Police have stressed that Mr Darcy had no connection with either of the factions.

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Australia: Dead Nurses 'Tied To Tree For Days'

An inquest into the death of two nurses who were found bound and beaten in a Queensland bush four decades ago has heard how they were tied to a tree for days.

A second inquest into the 1974 killings of hitch-hikers Lorraine Wilson, 20, and Wendy Evans, 18, has reopened.

In one of the country's most shocking unsolved crimes - the women's skeletal remains were discovered near the town of Murphy's Creek in 1976.

Their skulls were crushed and their bones tangled with cord from venetian blinds.

Betty Staid, who gave evidence via phone, said one of the key persons of interest - now deceased, Donald "Donny" Laurie - lived with her for five weeks in the 1970s and made some shocking admissions at the time.

While they were watching a crime show about the murders, she said Mr Laurie told her he had wanted to give the women water when they were tied to a tree for two or three days.

"I was in shock and said: 'How did you know that, Laurie?'," said Ms Staid. "He looked at me like he'd said too much and said: 'I hear things.'"

Ms Staid said her housemate once offered to take her to the crime scene but she refused.

Two of the only three surviving persons of interest in the case - who were named for the first time last year - have given evidence at the inquest while the third, Desmond Roy Hilton is due to take the stand.

Allan Neil "Ungie" Laurie, 63, and Terrence James "Jimmy" O'Neill insisted they had nothing to do with the murders.

The inquest was told the men had a habit of abducting women, taking them to the bush, beating them and raping them - which they also deny.

Trevor Hilton, the uncle of key suspect Wayne "Boogie" Hilton, said his nephew and his friends would ambush young women in Toowoomba's main street on a weekly basis.

Mr Hilton said the group of men, which included now deceased Allan John "Shorty" Laurie, Donald "Donny" Laurie, and Larry Charles, were notorious about town.

Ms Wilson and Ms Evans were last seen leaving a relative's home in the Brisbane suburb of Camp Hill in October 1974 to hitch-hike to Goondiwindi where they were to pick up a car and drive to Sydney.

An inquest held in 1985 found the women had met foul play, but no charges were laid.

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Iran Earthquake: Survivor Search Called Off

Rescuers in Iran have finished searching for survivors after an earthquake in the port city of Bushehr that killed 37 people.

"With the rescue operation being wrapped up no one is left under the rubble," the Fars news agency quoted the head of Iran's Red Crescent rescue corps, Mahmoud Mozafar, as saying.

At least 20 people have been rescued, Fars added.

Local media reports say 37 people were killed and 850 others injured in the 6.1 magnitude quake that struck on Tuesday, destroying 700 homes.

The quake reduced homes to rubble

Mozafar said efforts were now focused on relief operations and around 1,000 tents had been set up in quake-hit areas. He added blankets and food had also been sent to stricken areas.

Survivors gather outside their home in Bushehr

Iran said it had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that there has been no damage to the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, nearly 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of quake's epicenter, and no radioactive release.

Iran's atomic chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani said that the power plant was not operational when the quake struck as it was " under maintenance", Iranian media reported.

The earthquake hit at 4:22pm local time at a depth of 12km (7.5 miles), in the area of Kaki, according to the Iranian Seismological Centre which has registered more than a dozen aftershocks, the strongest at 5.3 magnitude.

Kaki is on the coast of the Iranian Gulf

The US Geological Survey, which monitors quakes worldwide, ranked it at a more powerful 6.3 magnitude.

In Dubai, hundreds of kilometres down the Gulf from Bushehr and home to the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, local media reported that several high-rise buildings were briefly evacuated.

Iran sits astride several major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes, some of which have been devastating.

In December 2010, a big quake struck the southern city of Bam. It killed 31,000 people - about a quarter of the population - and destroyed the city's ancient mud-built citadel.

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Mother Held Over Babies Found Dead In Freezer

Police in Poland are questioning a woman suspected of killing her three newborn sons.

The boys' bodies were found in the family's freezer.

Police have said the woman, 41-year-old Lucyna D from the northern town of Lubawa, has confessed to killing the infants.

If convicted of murder, the woman could face a life sentence in prison.

The woman reportedly said she kept the bodies in the freezer because she "could not part from them", according to police spokeswoman Anna Fic.

Forensic examinations are being carried out to see what was the actual cause of death and whether or not the babies were born alive and healthy.

The woman's husband has also been questioned.

The couple have four living children, aged between six and 22.

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France's Richest Man Arnault Ends Belgian Bid

France's richest man Bernard Arnault has withdrawn his application for Belgian citizenship.

The decision by the head of luxury group LVMH was revealed months after news of his application caused a huge outcry within France, being widely condemned by both left and right.

Mr Arnault's application followed the French government's decision to impose a 75% tax on incomes above 1m euros (£849,000) but  he had always denied doing it for tax reasons.

"I explained several times that I would remain a resident in France and that I would continue to pay my taxes there. In vain - the message did not get through," he told Le Monde newspaper.

"Today, I have decided to clear any ambiguity. I am withdrawing my demand for Belgian citizenship."

Mr Arnault and his wife at the wedding of Monaco's Prince Albert

The move comes as debate about tax havens rages in France, which is reeling from a major tax fraud scandal after former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac admitted having an undeclared bank account abroad.

Mr Arnault, the world's 10th-richest person - with a fortune estimated at almost £19bn, according to Forbes - is just one of several personalities to have recently caused controversy over plans to take up other nationalities.

Actor Gerard Depardieu is another, having announced late last year that he was giving up his French passport and moving abroad because of the rising tax rate.

Since then, the tax plan has been struck down as unconstitutional but the government has insisted it will present a new proposal that will see the rate charged to employers instead of individuals.

In his recent interview, Mr Arnault said France should be more understanding of entrepreneurs and business people: "In France, no matter if the government is left- or right-wing, they (entrepreneurs) are not thought highly of. We are like footballers, not CEOs," he said.

"Mr Tata (founder of Tata Group) is a star in India, like Warren Buffett in the United States. In Germany, the UK or in the US, they condemn poverty to better fight it, while in France we condemn wealth."

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Costa Concordia Firm Fined £850k Over Wreck

The owners of the Costa Concordia have been fined £850,000 over the grounding and sinking of the ship that killed 32 people last year.

Costa Crociere SpA, a division of Miami-based Carnival Corporation, has sought to blame the disaster entirely on Captain Francesco Schettino, who took the cruise ship off course before it struck a reef off the Tuscan island of Giglio.

Costa had asked for a plea bargain deal to respond to the administrative sanctions, which under Italian law are for companies whose employees commit crimes.

Judge Valeria Montesarchio of the Grosseto tribunal accepted the plea after a hearing.

Prosecutors are seeking indictments for Schettino and five other people on charges including manslaughter.

Captain Schettino hit the reef off the Tuscan coast

It is claimed Schettino's actions on January 13, left a 70m (230ft) gash in the hull, causing the liner to take on water and capsize.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday but it is not clear if the judge will make a decision then on whether to order a trial.

Among the five are the helmsman, two other officials who were on the bridge during the grounding and the Costa official on land who was managing the crisis.

Schettino is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the vessel before all the passengers had been evacuated.

Passengers have described that by the time the captain ordered an evacuation of the ship it was listing so far to one side that many lifeboats could not be lowered.

Schettino has depicted himself as a hero, claiming it was his skilful steering after the collision that allowed the ship to move closer to the port and helped to save lives.

He has also maintained the reef was not marked on the ship's navigational charts. Sailors in the area, however, say the reef is a well-known tourist attraction in the pristine waters off Giglio.

The ship remains on its side in Giglio's port and efforts to right it and tow it away are under way.

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Horsemeat Scare: 50,000 Tons Of 'Beef' Recall

Dutch authorities have recalled 50,000 tons of meat which has been sold as beef across Europe because it may contain horsemeat.

Around 370 different companies in Europe and a further 130 in the Netherlands are affected by the recall because they bought meat from two Dutch trading wholesalers.

Firms have been told to "take it off the market as a precautionary measure" and "verify all products".

The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has taken the decision to recall the meat because its exact source cannot be established.

As a result, "its safety cannot be guaranteed", it said, ordering the immediate withdrawal of the beef from sale on Wednesday.

The statement said there was no immediate suggestion of any danger to human health.

The horsemeat scandal has spread across Europe

"The buyers have probably already processed the meat and sold it on," it said.

"They, in turn, are obliged to inform their own customers."

The Authority does not know where the meat has ended up, but it may have been used in frozen products.

The Dutch wholesalers involved are Wiljo Import en Export B.V. and Vleesgroothandel Willy Selten B.V.

Officials began a large-scale investigation into the country's meat industry in February following revelations across Europe that horsemeat was being sold as beef.

Inspectors examining Willy Selten's records found that the origin of the meat it supplied was unclear.

This makes it impossible for them to confirm whether slaughterhouses have been acting according to procedure.

"It might contain traces of horsemeat, but we don't know for certain at the moment if this is the case," a spokeswoman for the NVWA said.

The Authority has warned its foreign counterparts about the recall via a European rapid alert system.

Tests have been carried on products for contamination

Sky's Europe Correspondent Robert Nisbet said: "One of these factories that processes meat was raided on February 15.

"Prosecutors at the time said they believed that the management inside was shredding up horsemeat then adding it to beef and selling it on as 100% beef.

"What they (authorities) are saying is that they don't believe that there is horsemeat in all of this 50,000 tons - but they cannot be sure - therefore they want to take it off the shelves and subject it to more tests.

"If you remember the previous horsemeat scandal that was detected from Findus products that was made from Comigel in Luxembourg that was traced back to horsemeat from two Romanian abattoirs. That horsemeat was then sent to another processor in the Netherlands.

"So this would suggest that the Netherlands is an area that people are looking at very closely now in terms of oversight in this massively sprawling industry that runs across Europe.

"Could it be there that many of the problems have originated since this horsemeat scandal blew-up back in January?"

A preliminary investigation by the Romanian government suggested paperwork from the two accused abattoirs was in order and that the livestock entering the facilities were accurately documented.

It also suggested that the meat which emerged from the slaughterhouses was properly labelled, and so therefore the substitution happened elsewhere in the food production chain.

The Europe-wide horsemeat scandal has seen many products pulled from supermarket shelves - damaging confidence in the continent's vast and complex food industry.

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