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Lebanon resumes executions after a five-year moratorium.

The two men who were shot each received a "mercy" round to the head. Mr. Mansour dangled for 45 minutes, Father Nasr said. "It was very disturbing," he said.

Despite what he saw, Father Nasr, like many Lebanese and their leaders, is torn about the death penalty. He said he feared some crimes were so heinous, especially those carried out for religious reasons, that the threat of death might be the only deterrent.

And in Japan, the former leader of Aum Shinrikyo was sentenced to death.

Married teenagers in Africa are more likely to contract H.I.V. than unmarried, sexually active ones. UN officials point out that abstinence-centered AIDS prevention programs fail to take into account philandering husbands.

The Bush administration opened the Tongass National Forest to logging, but a worldwide timber glut may make the move moot.

An editorial piece on electronic voting and conspiracy theories pretty much gets it right: Even if elections are being conducted fairly, the lack of a paper trail means there's no way to prove it.

Gay marriage as tourist attraction.
Peaceful Palestinian protests.
Low-income Harvard students will get in free.
Fighting for evolution with the Internet's help.