I firmly believe that the death penalty is just punishment for society's most heinous offenders, as shown by the 25 executions I have presided over as governor. In order to ensure the continued viability of the death penalty, however, I also believe that a government's most consequential action must be administered fairly and proportionately.
The Chinese government has executed 11 members of the Ming family crime syndicate. This comes after investigations into the criminal empire uncovered "intentional homicide, intentional injury, illegal detention, fraud, and operating gambling dens", as well as other penalties. In the announcement, which has been translated, the Supreme People's Court has confirmed that the group, led by Ming Guoping and Ming Zhenzhen, working alongside the "telecommunications fraud syndicate" led by other members, had conspired or committed various crimes.
Scam compounds have flourished in Myanmar's lawless borderlands, part of a multibillion-dollar illicit industry. The centres are typically staffed by foreigners including many Chinese with many saying they were trafficked and forced to swindle people online. Beijing has stepped up cooperation with Southeast Asian nations in recent years to crack down on the compounds, and thousands of people have been repatriated to China.
Nick Reiner, 32, was arrested several hours after the bodies of his father, actor-director Rob Reiner, 78, and mother, photographer-producer Michele Reiner, 70, were discovered on Sunday afternoon in the couple's house in the affluent west LA neighbourhood of Brentwood. Officials said evidence gathered by the Los Angeles Police Department led homicide detectives to Reiner, who was taken into custody without incident on Sunday night at a park in downtown Los Angeles near the campus of the University of Southern California.
The grandchildren of the last woman to be hanged in Britain are seeking a posthumous pardon, saying she was physically and emotionally abused by her partner before she killed him. Nightclub hostess Ruth Ellis, from Rhyl, Denbighshire, was executed on 13 July 1955 after being convicted of murdering her lover David Blakely. She was hanged at London's Holloway Prison. "We are determined to do what we can to right this historic injustice and honour not only Ruth but all victims of domestic abuse who have been let down by the criminal justice system," said her granddaughter Laura Enston.
This November, English National Opera brings a defining work of modern American music drama to the London Coliseum. Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, first performed in 2000, has already entered the repertory as a contemporary classic, a rarity in the world of opera where even success often means a brief blaze before oblivion. Yet Heggie's opera endures: a work of moral courage and emotional immediacy that continues to challenge audiences wherever it is performed.
For over a thousand days, starting in December 2018, China's government held me hostage in an attempt to blackmail Canada into releasing Meng Wanzhou, a Chinese telecom executive arrested on American criminal charges.
Micheal Manning's execution on April 20, 1954, marked the end of capital punishment in the Republic of Ireland, making him the last person executed in the country.
