Death by firing squad: In the popular imagination, it brings up images of insurgencies, or military treatment of deserters and captured spies.

The question for US states facing profound problems with the lethal injection protocol mostly used today is whether to bring back the firing squad as an execution option, especially in light of the botched Oklahoma execution-by-injection of Clayton Lockett in April.

Utah is the latest of several states where lawmakers have proposed replacing lethal injection with more anachronistic execution solutions including firing squads, so far unsuccessfully. The last execution by firing squad took place in Utah in 2010, where five state police sharpshooters simultaneously aimed and fired at convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner, killing him with shots to the heart.

It was the third death by firing squad in the US since the Supreme Court overturned a death penalty ban in 1976. (Despite all US states now banning firing squads, some inmates in Utah and Oklahoma can still choose firing squad, given grandfather provisions in the law, which is how the Gardner execution happened.)

“If adopted, [states seeking such] measures could mark a return to the days of inmates being hanged, electrocuted, or shot by marksmen,” the Associated Press surmised in January.

The ethical exploration of society’s ultimate sanction has been going on for decades.

But it’s been complicated more recently with European pharmaceutical companies refusing to sell key lethal injection drugs to US death penalty states, on ethical concerns about capital punishment. Most other countries that still have the death penalty either hang or shoot their condemned, with only six countries, including the US, relying on lethal injections. (Three countries still behead.) One hundred forty countries ban the death penalty.

But to some elected state officials, drug shortages and legal challenges have sparked a renewed focus on what is a humane execution.

It was only a generation ago when legislatures began, for a variety of reasons, to ban what many thought were barbaric options in order to make capital punishment more palatable and avoid judicial concerns about sanctions that violate the US Constitution’s guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment.

To be sure, a majority of Americans still back the death penalty, but polls say a growing number want states to look at alternatives after the botched Oklahoma execution. Literally a guinea pig for a new lethal injection “cocktail,” Mr. Lockett woke up and spoke during the procedure, getting so agitated that attending physicians had to close a curtain so that witnesses couldn’t see how he ultimately died nearly an hour after the first injection.

In a recent NBC News poll, Americans showed openness to exploring options other than lethal injection in order to keep the death penalty in place. One in 3 said the death penalty should be abolished if states can’t perform humane lethal injections.

But 20 percent of respondents said they’d like see the gas chamber reinstated, 18 percent would like to bring back the electric chair, 12 percent want firing squads, and 8 percent would prefer to see hanging used for the ultimate sanction.

“Lethal injection is someone’s very gross interpretation of killing someone humanely,” Kuni Beasley of Frisco, Texas, told pollsters, suggesting instead a return to hanging.

Utah state Rep. Paul Ray (R) said he’ll introduce his firing squad proposal next year. Unlike similar bills that faltered in Wyoming and Missouri earlier this year, the Utah bill might fly, historians say, in part because of Mormon tradition, which is heavily influential in Utah.

“Some early Mormon leaders believed in blood atonement for the most egregious sins,” NPR reported at the time of Ronnie Lee Gardner’s execution by firing squad in 2010. “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has since renounced any connection to blood atonement. And the belief has all but disappeared among Utahns today.”

But even given regional variations in how people view capital punishment, the current push toward methods many thought society had left behind is for some observers a troubling development.

“It’s difficult to understand the issue of how can we still be engaged in this form of barbarism,” Elisabeth Semel, director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, told Discovery News earlier this year.

Related stories

• Five US states that use the death penalty most
• Texas execution halted, court says Texas hid crucial evidence (+video)
• USA Update Oklahoma attorney general agrees to 6-month hold on state executions (+video)
• USA Update One drug will do for lethal injections, but execution woes go deeper, report says

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Rep. Paul Ray argues the draconian method could be a better option for criminals on death row.
'Most humane way to kill somebody'

Pyongyang building collapse leaves many casualties

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean officials offered a rare public apology for the collapse of an apartment building under construction in Pyongyang, which a South Korean official said was believed to have caused considerable casualties that could mean hundreds might have died.

The word of the collapse in the secretive nation's capital was reported Sunday morning by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, which gave no death toll but said that the accident was "serious" and upset North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un.

The report said it occurred in the capital's Phyongchon district on Tuesday "as the construction of an apartment house was not done properly and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner."

In Seoul, a South Korean government official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information said the 23-story apartment building that collapsed was presumed to have housed 92 families.

That could mean the casualties could be in the hundreds because a typical North Korean family has four members. However, it was not clear that all the residents were inside at the time of the collapse, or that four people lived in each apartment.

It is not unusual for people to start living in apartments before the construction is complete.

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In this Saturday, May 17, 2014 photo, families of victims of an accident at an apartment constructio …

The official said he did not have any figure for the actual death toll.

According to the KCNA report, the rescue operation ended Saturday and officials apologized to bereaved families and district residents.

On the streets of Pyongyang on Sunday, residents expressed outrage over the incident.

"This accident happened because they broke the rules and methods of construction," resident Pak Chol told The Associated Press. "After this accident, we must make sure that this kind of terrible accident never happens again, by sticking to the proper method of building."

Another resident, Hong Nam Hyok, said that "everyone in Pyongyang is now sharing the sorrow of the victims and the bereaved families."

The KCNA report cited one official as saying Kim Jong Un "sat up all night, feeling painful after being told about the accident."

The highly controlled state media for the authoritarian regime rarely report news that might be considered negative.

The building collapse also came at a time when the South Korean government has received near daily criticism from its citizens as well as regular bashing by North Korean media for its handling of last month's ferry sinking that left more than 300 people dead or missing.

N. Korea building collapse prompts rare apology

Pyongyang offers "profound consolation" to bereaved families after an apartment building collapses.
Estimates on casualties

BEIJING (AP) — China on Sunday dispatched five ships to Vietnam to speed up the evacuation of its citizens following deadly anti-Chinese riots over Beijing's deployment of an oil rig in waters claimed by both countries.

The first ship departed Sunday morning from the southern island of Hainan, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. It also said that 16 critically injured Chinese were airlifted from Vietnam early Sunday aboard a chartered medical flight.

More than 3,000 Chinese have already been pulled out from Vietnam following the riots this past week that left two Chinese dead and injured about 100 others, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Vietnam has protested China's positioning of the oil rig in the South China Sea on May 1 and sent ships to confront China's vessels, setting off a tense standoff. After allowing anti-China protests last weekend, Vietnam's authorities quickly clamped down on further demonstrations after the public anger against China boiled over into riots, the most serious to hit Vietnam in years.

Dozens of factories close to southern Ho Chi Minh City were trashed. In central Vietnam, a 1,000-strong mob stormed a steel mill, killing two Chinese workers and wounding hundreds more. Along with the Chinese, hundreds of Taiwanese people have fled the country by land and air.

China's Foreign Ministry said that officials were arranging to bring back the staff of the Chinese building contractor that was stormed by mobs in Ha Tinh province.

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A woman cycles past a closed factory in an industrial park in Binh Duong province, Vietnam Saturday, …

Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Saturday ordered a stop to anti-China protests.

In the capital, Hanoi, on Sunday, police pushed away a handful of protesters and journalists in front of the Chinese Embassy, where a rally last weekend drew thousands. Security was also tight in Ho Chi Minh City.

The message appears to represent a shift in government policy regarding the anti-China protests. Vietnam's ruling Communist Party worries that nationalist and dissident groups, which are also demanding basic democratic reforms, might challenge its grip on power.

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Associated Press writer Chris Brummitt in Hanoi, Vietnam, contributed to this report.

Families evacuate Benghazi as renegade Libyan general vows more attacks

By Ayman al-Warfalli and Ulf Laessing

ABYAR/TRIPOLI Libya (Reuters) - The self-declared Libyan National Army led by a renegade general told civilians on Saturday to leave parts of Benghazi before it launched a fresh attack on Islamist militants, a day after dozens were killed in the worst clashes in the city for months.

Families could be seen packing up and driving away from western districts of the port city where Islamist militants and LNA forces led by retired General Khalifa Haftar fought for hours on Friday.

Dressed in military uniform, Haftar - whom the speaker of parliament accused of plotting a coup - said his troops had temporarily withdrawn from Benghazi for tactical reasons.

"We'll come back with force," he told reporters at a sports club in Abyar, a small town to the east of Benghazi.

"We've started this battle and will continue it until we have reached our goals," he said.

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In this Saturday, May 17, 2014 photo, Libyan Gen. Khalifa Hifter addresses a press conference in Ben …

He said government and parliament had no legitimacy as they had failed to achieve security. "The street and the Libyan people are with us," he said, adding that his troops were spread out in several parts of eastern Libya.

In Tripoli, parliamentary speaker and military commander-in-chief Nuri Abu Sahmain said Haftar was trying to stage a coup.

"(LNA) members who have carried out the clashes in Benghazi are out of the control of the state of Libya and they are trying to attempt a coup for their own interests," Abu Sahmain said in a televised news conference.

A Health Ministry official said the death toll had risen to 43, with more than 100 wounded. Haftar said 60 militants and six of his soldiers were killed, and 250 militants and 37 of his men wounded.

Libyan news website Ajwa Belad said late on Saturday 75 people had been killed and 141 wounded, citing official data.

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A man looks at destroyed warehouses following Friday's clashes between Libyan irregular forces a …

A worker in a hospital that received at least 40 corpses said: "More bodies are coming in from areas outside Benghazi." [ID:nL6N0O23K9]

Authorities extended the closure of Benghazi's Benina airport on Saturday. Egyptair halted flights to Benghazi until the security situation improved, an Egyptian security official said.

The Libyan army declared a no-fly zone after Haftar's forces used at least one helicopter during Friday's fighting, according to a statement on the chief of staff's website.

FRAGILE GOVERNMENT

Since the 2011 civil war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi after 42 years of one-man rule, Libya has been unable to impose authority over brigades of former rebels who refuse to disarm and have carved out regional fiefdoms. Benghazi, the cradle of the NATO-backed uprising against Gaddafi, in particular has struggled to curb violence and stem attacks blamed on Ansar al-Sharia, an Islamist group that Washington designates as a terrorist organisation.

Haftar, a leading figure in the 2011 uprising that ousted Gaddafi, stirred rumours of a coup in February by appearing in military uniform to call for a presidential committee to be formed to govern until new elections.

Libya's government is fragile and the parliament almost paralysed by rivalries, with little progress to full democracy made since 2011. A planned new constitution is still unwritten and the country is on its third prime minister since March.

U.S. and European countries are helping build up the regular army but Libya's armed forces and government cannot control the brigades of ex-rebels and militants who once fought Gaddafi.

The North African nation's vital oil industry has suffered badly and is often targeted by armed protesters seeking a greater share of oil wealth, federalist power for the regions or just better basic services.

Since last summer, armed protesters have repeatedly closed down ports and oilfields, bringing production down to around 200,000 barrels per day from the 1.4 million bpd that the OPEC member state produced before the protests erupted

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Benghazi violence forces families to evacuate

A rogue general battles Islamist militants in Benghazi while a Libyan official says he's trying to stage a coup.
More than 70 killed

Vietnam clamps down on anti-China protests

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam smothered anti-China protests on Sunday with a massive security clampdown after deadly riots triggered by a territorial dispute with Beijing spooked foreign investors and the country's authoritarian leadership alike.

As patrol ships from both countries remained locked in a standoff close to a Chinese oil rig in a disputed patch of the South China Sea, Beijing said it had evacuated 3,000 nationals from Vietnam and was sending the first of five ships to pull out others wanting to leave.

China also said that it would suspend some of its bilateral exchange plans with Vietnam and that it was advising Chinese not to visit the country.

China's decision to deploy the massive oil rig on May 1 has been widely seen as it one of its most provocative steps in a campaign to assert its sovereignty in the waters. It triggered fury in Vietnam and the worst breakdown in ties between Hanoi and Beijing in years.

Tensions have been mounting between the two countries despite their sharing of a political ideology. Both nations are run by communist regimes that since the 1990s have embraced free market capitalism while retaining large state sectors and powerful internal security systems.

Last weekend, Vietnam permitted anti-China protests that drew thousands of people, a rare step that allowed it to amplify state anger against Beijing. Doing so was risky for authorities: Dissident groups joined the protests, and by Tuesday and Wednesday, the rallies had morphed into riots targeting factories believed to be owned by Chinese companies, though many of those hit were Taiwanese. Two Chinese nationals were killed and more than 100 wounded.

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Security staff guard the entrance to a Singaporean factory in an industrial park in Binh Duong provi …

Vietnam's state-security apparatus on Sunday ensured no one was able to protest, with thousands of police and security officers flooding southern Ho Chi Minh City and the capital, Hanoi. Police were posted outside well-known dissidents' houses, preventing them from leaving, according to activists.

In Ho Chi Minh City, police detained several demonstrators after dragging them from a park close to the city's cathedral. Authorities in Hanoi closed off streets and a park close to the Chinese Embassy, while police barking into bullhorns shoved journalists and protesters away.

"I want to send a message that if we don't stop China today, tomorrow it will be too late," said demonstrator Dao Minh Chu, as he was pushed away from the park near China's embassy, where last week around 500 people gathered without interference from authorities. Those protests were covered enthusiastically by state media, a clear sign of state sanction.

Some users in Vietnam on Sunday reported having trouble accessing Facebook, a popular medium for Vietnamese to get news and photos of demonstrations from activists. The government keeps a low-level and sporadic block on popular social media platforms.

China has loudly demanded that Hanoi protect Chinese people inside Vietnam, which is heavily dependent on Beijing economically. Hundreds of Chinese have left by commercial flights and across the land border into Cambodia, although there has been calm since Thursday.

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A woman cycles past a closed factory in an industrial park in Binh Duong province, Vietnam Saturday, …

On Sunday, China said it dispatched to Vietnam a passenger ship capable of carrying 1,000 people, the first of five vessels it planned to send to complete an evacuation on top of 3,000 nationals who had left earlier. With Chinese traveling in increasing numbers, Beijing is under pressure to protect them overseas.

China's Foreign Ministry said two charter flights carrying more than 290 Chinese employees from affected businesses arrived in Chengdu in southwest China on Sunday afternoon. They included more than 100 injured people.

The ministry also said that the government would suspend some of its bilateral exchange plans with Vietnam and that it was advising Chinese not to visit the country.

In a statement posted on the ministry's website, spokesman Hong Lei said the violence that has resulted in Chinese casualties and property losses had "damaged the atmosphere and conditions for exchanges and cooperation between China and Vietnam."

For the time being, China is advising its citizens not to travel to Vietnam and has suspended some bilateral exchange plans, and will take further measures if necessary, Hong said.

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People drive past barbed-wire barricades at entrance of an industrial park in Binh Duong province, V …

No details were given on the bilateral exchange plans.

A Taiwanese steel mill attacked on Wednesday employed 1,000 Chinese workers, who can be cheaper to hire and easier to manage than Vietnamese laborers.

Yang Yang, a political scientist at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, said there were so many Chinese working in Vietnam that sending ships might be more practical than planes. "It can also appease the unhappiness of the Chinese public over the violence against Chinese nationals in Vietnam," he said.

In recent years, foreign companies attracted by low wages and a reputation for safety have flocked to Vietnam, opening factories making everything from sneakers to smartphones. The government is aware that last's week violence threatens that vital economic cog.

On Saturday, top Vietnamese security official Lt. Gen. Hoang Kong Tu vowed to ensure the safety of all foreign investments and citizens in the country, including those from China. More than 1,000 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, which authorities have blamed on "extremists."

While China and Vietnam have growing business links and share a political ideology and a commitment to authoritarianism, they also have a long history of bad blood. Many Vietnamese harbor deep resentment over what they see as China's bullying and economic exploitation of Beijing's far smaller neighbor.

China has been much more assertive in pressing its territorial claims in recent years, but the placement of the rig 220 kilometers (136 miles) off the coast of Vietnam was considered especially provocative.

Hanoi sent patrol ships to confront the rig and scores of Chinese vessels protecting it, and they remained locked in a tense standoff. Neither side has shown any sign of withdrawing their ships or willing to compromise.

Vietnam's government routinely arrests free speech activists and others challenging one-party rule, and anti-China protests have been one of the few opportunities for public gatherings. But several well-known activists said they had been prevented from leaving their homes on Sunday.

"I think the best way is to allow people to protest," said La Viet Dung, a frequent anti-China protester, adding that police visited him late Saturday asking him not to attend. "They say they are preventing people from protesting because they are worried about extremist actions and violence, but that is not logical."

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Dinh reported from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Associated Press writer Louise Watt and news assistant Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report.

The violence stems from outrage over Chinese oil drilling in a disputed area of the South China Sea.
Beijing sends five ships