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World newsFilm of Saddam aides' hanging shownJournalists saw video footage of the execution of two of Saddam Hussein's top aides today that showed the former dictator's half-brother having his head severed as he fell from the gallows. Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, a feared intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, a former head of Iraq's revolutionary court, were hanged before dawn today in Baghdad, two weeks after Saddam's chaotic execution. The Iraqi government-filmed video of the hanging sees the two men wearing red prison jumpsuits and black hoods are put on their heads as they reach the platform.

Capital punishment This article is more than 9 years oldHawaii holds death penalty trial despite having abolished capital punishmentThis article is more than 9 years old Soldier allegedly murdered daughter on military property Federal government seeks death sentence for Naeem Williams A Honolulu courtroom is set to become the scene of a death penalty trial, even though Hawaii abolished capital punishment in 1957. Opening statements are scheduled for Tuesday in the trial of a former Hawaii-based army soldier accused of beating his five-year-old daughter to death in 2005.

MoviesObituaryJean Simmons obituaryBritish-born film star known for her roles in Great Expectations and SpartacusJean Simmons, who has died aged 80, had a bounteous moment, early in her career, when she seemed the likely casting for every exotic or magical female role. It passed, as she got out of her teens, but then for the best part of 15 years, in Britain and America, she was a valued actress whose generally proper, if not patrician, manner had an intriguing way of conflicting with her large, saucy eyes and a mouth that began to turn up at the corners as she imagined mischief – or more than her movies had in their scripts.

Australia newsStacked Farm can produce perfect-looking strawberries, tomatoes and baby cos all year round. But will high energy inputs be its achilles heel? Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Not far from the fertile farmlands known as Australia’s salad bowl, rows of fruit and vegetables are being cultivated without sunlight or soil.

‘For Catastrophe, we just tried to think up the most monstrous scenarios we could’ … Rob Delaney. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian‘For Catastrophe, we just tried to think up the most monstrous scenarios we could’ … Rob Delaney. Photograph: David Levene/The GuardianThe G2 interviewRob DelaneyInterviewRob Delaney on love, loss and married life: ‘No, my wife is not having an affair with her karate teacher’Sam WollastonThe star of Catastrophe and Home Sweet Home Alone answers your questions on everything from family tragedy to the value of comedy

SportblogTiger WoodsGolden age of the lucrative partnership overlapped with the final days of the American monoculture The announcement that Tiger Woods and Nike have called time on their 27-year commercial partnership came as no surprise to anyone who has been paying close attention. It has been nearly a decade since Nike, which said in a recent earnings call it will seek $2bn in cost savings over the next three years, stopped making golf equipment, including balls, clubs and bags.

SPECULATIVE SCIENCEWhy is it necessary to travel 11km per second to escape the earth's gravity (escape velocity), when surely any speed will do, as long as you keep going up? Luke, Wellington NZ In a way, you are right. if you went straight up at any speed, eventually you would get so far from the earth that the effect of the Earth's gravity was negligable. However, where the 11km per hour comes in is that it is the speed at which an object, rather than being held in orbit around the earth or falling back to it due to gravity, will be thrown outwards by sufficient centrifugal force to describe an open curve away from the planet.

THE BODY BEAUTIFULA man is beheaded "cleanly" - perhaps by guillotine. Is it possible that there follows a period of awareness, albeit of only a few nanoseconds? NeilH, Bath, UK The answer, horribly, is 'Not only is it possible, but it's medically proven.' Debate on the subject raged ever since Charlotte Corday -- the assassin of Jean-Paul Marat -- was guillotined in 1793. The executioner's assistant, Francois le Gros, lifted her head by the hair, and slapped it on both cheeks.

The ObserverChimamanda Ngozi AdichieA Private Experience: a short story by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieTwo women caught up in a violent street riot take shelter in an abandoned shop. A short story by the Orange Prize-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Chika climbs in through the store window first and then holds the shutter as the woman climbs in after her. The store looks as if it was deserted long before the riots started; the empty rows of wooden shelves are covered in yellow dust, as are the metal containers stacked in a corner.