Executions

Saudi Arabia executes 81 men in one day

The group - including seven Yemenis and one Syrian national - were convicted of "multiple heinous crimes", including terrorism, state news agency SPA said.

Some were charged with belonging to the Islamic State group (IS), al-Qaeda or the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Rights organisations say many do not receive fair trials in Saudi Arabia, an allegation the government rejects.

According to SPA, the latest group had been tried by 13 judges and gone through a three-stage judicial process.

Arkansas can't find enough volunteers to witness back-to-back executions

The state code requires that no fewer than six "respectable citizens" be present at each execution.

There's one problem: It's having a hard time finding enough volunteers to witness them.

The volunteer pool is apparently thin enough that state Department of Corrections Director Wendy Kelley invited members of a local Rotary Club to volunteer.

North Korea executed 5 security officials, South Korea says

The deputy minister-level officials had worked under the recently fired state security chief Kim Won Hong, and are believed to have been executed for making false reports to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to two parliamentarians who had been briefed by South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS).

"Kim Won Hong, the state security chief, is in a house arrest situation after an investigation and more than five deputy minister-level officials who worked under him have been executed by anti-aircraft guns," South Korean lawmaker Kim Byung-kee said.