A UN general assembly committee has passed a draft resolution calling for an end to the death penalty in a debate that put the US in the same camp as Iran and Syria.

The resolution, passed 99-52 by the human rights committee yesterday, must still be submitted to the 192-member general assembly for a vote. If approved, it would be non-binding, but would carry moral weight.

Co-sponsored by EU states and 60 other countries, the resolution calls on those countries that have capital punishment to introduce a moratorium on executions and eventually abolish capital punishment.

Opponents of the resolution, including Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and Syria, argued that it smacked of moral righteousness and touched on issues of national sovereignty.

The US, where a challenge to lethal injection has reached the supreme court, said capital punishment was not barred by international law.

“The United States recognises that the supporters of this resolution have principled positions on the issue of the death penalty. But nonetheless it is important to recognise that international law does not prohibit capital punishment,” Robert Hagan, the US’s representative in the committee, said after the vote.

Last year at least 1,591 people were put to death in 25 countries, with 91% of those executions taking place in just in six states: China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and the US. China is known to have executed more than 1,000 prisoners in 2006, but the real figure may be closer to 8,000. Twelve US states put a total of 53 people to death last year, but the practice has fallen to its lowest level in a decade after the supreme court decided to hear arguments about the humanity of lethal injection.

Human rights groups welcomed the draft resolution. Amnesty International called the vote “a clear recognition of the growing international trend toward worldwide abolition of the death penalty”.

Two proposed death penalty moratoriums previously reached the floor of the general assembly: in 1994 and 1999. The former was defeated by eight votes and the latter withdrawn at the last minute.

May 30, 2007 — Google Inc. said the Federal Trade Commission is investigating its proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick Inc. to determine whether the purchase is anti-competitive.

The company is confident that the FTC won’t find any risk to competition and will approve the transaction, Google senior corporate counsel Don Harrison said in a statement yesterday. The probe was confirmed by FTC spokeswoman Claudia Bourne-Farrell.

Google, owner of the most-popular Internet search engine, disclosed plans to buy DoubleClick in April to bolster its sales of graphical advertising on the Web. The move prompted companies including Microsoft and AT&T to ask for a review of the purchase, saying it would hurt competition in the $28.8 billion global online advertising market.

The outcome of the government’s investigation will also hinge on how authorities define the markets that Google and DoubleClick operate in, said Andrew Klevorn, an attorney at Chicago-based Eimer Stahl Klevorn & Solberg LLP, who specializes in antitrust law and isn’t involved in the case.

Shares of Google advanced $3.59 to close at $487.11 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. They have gained 5.8 percent this year.

Microsoft, which lags behind Google in Web search, said in April that the acquisition would give Google more than 80 percent of the market for ads that are displayed on third-party Web sites. In response, Google said consumers and Web publishers are free to choose which services they use and can switch easily, undermining Microsoft’s claims.

October 26, 2007 — Microsoft’s first-quarter earnings rose 23 percent, exceeding analysts’ estimates, and the company raised its forecasts for this year on sales of the new versions of Windows and the “Halo 3″ video game.

The stock surged 10 percent in late trading after the software giant said net income increased to $4.29 billion, or 45 cents a share. Sales advanced 27 percent to $13.8 billion, beating projections by more than $1 billion. It’s stock jumped $3.26 to $35.25 in extended trading.

Microsoft raked in $300 million in one week from “Halo 3,” double some analysts’ estimates. Computer makers also installed pricier versions of the new Windows Vista program, expanding the company’s profit.

Profit will be $1.78 to $1.81 a share this year, on sales of $58.8 billion to $59.7 billion, Microsoft said. That would exceed the average estimates of $1.73 in per share earnings and $57.4 billion in revenue.