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LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- She was found wandering in a forest, the first of the nearly 300 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram to escape on her own and reach freedom. That was in May. Since then, Amina Ali Nkeki has been sequestered by Nigeria's intelligence agency, embraced just once by her family months ago....
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia announced on Friday that it is withdrawing its aircraft carrier and some other Russian warships from the waters off Syria as the first step in a drawdown of its forces in the war-torn Mideast country....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Donald Trump on Friday tweeted that Mexico will reimburse American taxpayers for a new border wall and that U.S. money spent will be for the "sake of speed."...
Washington D.C., Jan 6, 2017 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The year 2016 marked a major decline in the number of executions and sentences to capital punishment in the United States, a new report says.Last year there were 20 executions in the U.S., the lowest level in 25 years. The peak was in 1999, when 98 persons were executed.Thirty death sentences were imposed in 2016, the lowest since the death penalty was reinstated in 1973. In 1996, death penalty sentences peaked at 315.“America is in the midst of a major climate change concerning capital punishment. While there may be fits and starts and occasional steps backward, the long-term trend remains clear,” Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said Dec. 16.“Whether it’s concerns about innocence, costs, and discrimination, availability of life without parole as a safe alternative, or the questionable way in which states are attempting to carry out executions, the public grow...
Washington D.C., Jan 6, 2017 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The year 2016 marked a major decline in the number of executions and sentences to capital punishment in the United States, a new report says.
Last year there were 20 executions in the U.S., the lowest level in 25 years. The peak was in 1999, when 98 persons were executed.
Thirty death sentences were imposed in 2016, the lowest since the death penalty was reinstated in 1973. In 1996, death penalty sentences peaked at 315.
“America is in the midst of a major climate change concerning capital punishment. While there may be fits and starts and occasional steps backward, the long-term trend remains clear,” Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said Dec. 16.
“Whether it’s concerns about innocence, costs, and discrimination, availability of life without parole as a safe alternative, or the questionable way in which states are attempting to carry out executions, the public grows increasingly uncomfortable with the death penalty each year,” Dunham said.
You will find more statistics at Statista
Georgia had nine executions, Texas seven, Alabama two, and one each in Missouri and Florida, the report from the Death Penalty Information Center said.
The report charged that those executed in 2016 largely represented defendants with mental health problems, inadequate legal representation, or insufficient judicial review.
Sixty percent of the 20 people executed last year showed “significant evidence” of mental illness, brain impairment or low intellectual functioning.
The popularity of the death penalty also hit new lows.
The Pew Research Center found that 49 percent of Americans favored capital punishment for convicted murderers, an apparent one-year drop of seven percentage points, and down from a peak of 80 percent in 1995. About 42 of Americans said they opposed it, according to a 2016 poll.
Voters in three states voted to retain the death penalty or place it in the state constitution. However, the report said local elections showed support for prosecutor candidates who are less aggressive in pursuing the death penalty.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, factors contributing to the decline of executions included pharmaceutical industry measures to prevent states from using their drugs for use in executions and European Union regulations to prevent export of the drugs. A court order also directed the Food and Drug Administration to prevent the illegal importation of execution drugs.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden told President-elect Donald Trump Thursday to "grow up."...
ACH SEH ISLAND, Cambodia (AP) -- A 7-inch creature with a head resembling a horse and a monkey-like tail glides gracefully out of a dark coral crevice off the Cambodian coast. Master of camouflage, unrivaled as a hunter and a much-loved figure of ancient myths and legends, the seahorse may be spiraling toward annihilation after surviving beneath the waves for some 40 million years....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The end of the 2016 presidential election is at hand....
VILLA DE REYES, Mexico (AP) -- Word spread quickly through cellphone messages and shouts between co-workers that Ford Motor Co. had canceled its new $1.6 billion car plant at its sprawling 700-acre high desert site in north-central Mexico....
NIMRUD, Iraq (AP) -- The giant winged bulls that once stood sentry at the nearly 3,000-year-old palace at Nimrud have been hacked to pieces. The fantastical human-headed creatures were believed to guard the king from evil, but now their stone remains are piled in the dirt, victims of the Islamic State group's fervor to erase history....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The last major economic report card for President Barack Obama arrives Friday with the release of the December jobs figures. The report will cap a long record of robust hiring after the Great Recession, though one that left many people feeling left out....
