netanyahu appears to have beaten his most serious challenger thus far. the official results of the vote are expected later in the week. there has been a dramatic fall in the number of death penalties carried out around the world well that s at least according to numbers published by the human rights group amnesty international amnesties annual death penalty report shows numbers were down by nearly a third last year six hundred ninety people are known to have been executed worldwide in two thousand and eight hundred but that number does not include china which remains at the top of the list of countries that have to death penalty thousands are thought to be executed there every year but the figures are state secret iran is in second place tehran executed at least two hundred fifty three people last year but that s actually a fifty percent dropout brought about by a change in the country s narcotic laws saudi arabia is third with one hundred forty nine executions but despite