Brandon Bernard executed after US Supreme Court rejected last-minute pleas

In the United States, anti-capital punishment campaigners have reacted with fury to a string of executions being carried out in the last days of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Last night, 40-year-old Brandon Bernard was executed by lethal injection for two murders in Texas in 1999. It has long been the norm that executions are paused during the transition period – but not under President Trump.