As activists meet in Berlin to discuss the way forward at the world congress against the death penalty in Berlin, many African countries are already witnessing a downward trend in executing convicted criminals.
Joe Biden is set to travel to Israel on July 13 before heading to the occupied West Bank and Saudi Arabia. The trip's announcement comes despite pledges to side-line the "pariah" Saudi state.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are among the countries that killed significantly more prisoners last year. In the US, the number went down. In the total of 579 cases, Amnesty International was not able to include what is believed to be a four-digit number from China.