The President of the National Council of Churches USA has expressed "shock and the profoundest grief" over the deaths in the mass shooting in Newtown.

The execution of a man involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks undoes much of the progress India has made over the death penalty, Amnesty International says.

Prison authorities in South Dakota are refusing to release information on contaminated drugs made to order for an execution tonight (30 October).

Patients prescribed drugs tested on animals should be given exact details, including any suffering caused, say leading animal ethicists.