The Palestinian Authority, in a move denounced by human rights groups, executed four men Sunday it described as convicted murderers. The executions in the Gaza Strip were the first carried out by Palestinian officials since 2002. International human rights groups and a number of Western nations had urged the government of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to refrain from utilizing capital punishment, in part because of opposition in principle to the death penalty and in part because of the belief that it was unlikely the condemned had received a fair trial. Full Story