U.S. Rejects Report on Its Executions

Stung by a critical United Nations report on executions, the United States angrily rejected charges by a U.N. investigator that it applies the death penalty in an unfair, arbitrary and discriminatory way. The U.S. rejection of the report came amid controversy over the U.S. execution of a Paraguayan national Tuesday. The report criticized the preponderance of whites in the U.S. judicial system and alleged that race, ethnic origin and economic status were key determinants of who gets a death sentence. In the first official reaction at the U.N. rights forum, George Moose, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said the U.S. “believes the report . . . is severely flawed.”