Human rights, religious and anti-death penalty groups are calling on the US state of Texas to stop the execution of a man who may be brain-damaged. Since 1976 the USA has executed 1,188 people. There are 3,300 still on death row.

Relatives of a British man facing execution for drug smuggling in China have arrived in the country to make last-minute appeals to authorities for mercy, with his execution due on 29 December 2009.

In the aftermath of the World Day Against the Death Penalty on 10 October, Amnesty International has highlighted several cases of people facing execution - including one in the USA being distorted by religious fundamentalism.