World Briefs

The sole US manufacturer of a key lethal injection drug is ending production because of Italian opposition to the death penalty, in a move that could delay executions across America.

A growing shortage of sodium thiopental has forced some states to put executions on hold and the problem is likely to get worse with the move by Hospira of Lake Forest, Illinois.

Hospira said it wanted to switch manufacturing from North Carolina to a more modern factory in Liscate, Italy, but Italian authorities demanded a guarantee that the drug would not be used to put inmates to death – an assurance the company said it was not willing to give. (PA)

Insider trading probe

Morgan Stanley has suspended one of its staff after court filings showed the banker allegedly leaked details of a 2006 acquisition bid by Advanced Micro Devices.

The claims were revealed in a US court filing in what prosecutors have called the largest ever insider trading case.

Morgan Stanley spokesman Mark Lake said the firm had placed the banker, whom it did not identify, on leave, while it was co-operating with the investigation. (PA)

Kennedy stalker suspect

A man charged with stalking John F. Kennedy’s granddaughter believed he was only offering his love when he showered her with flowers, balloons and romantic e-mails, his lawyer said.

Gerald Hertz said Naeem Ahmed, 41, was not trying to threaten Yale University student Tatiana Schlossberg, whose mother is JFK’s daughter Caroline Kennedy, but “just didn’t get it”.

A New York judge ordered Ahmed to undergo psychiatric tests to determine his mental fitness to answer the charges. (PA)

Football bloodbath

A gunfight erupted between rival gangs on a football field in a suburb of Guatemala City, killing four people and wounding 13.

National police spokesman Donald Gonzalez said the attackers opened fire on rival gang members as they watched a game in Ciudad Real. Fourteen people were injured including a 10-year-old girl, as well as participants of the game. (PA)

Bolivian Barbie

It’s a long way from Malibu, but Bolivian artisans are dressing up a Barbie-inspired doll in clothing typical of the Andean nation’s indigenous heritage.

Forget the blonde hair, high heels high and flirty pink skirt – this doll’s locks are sometimes black and woven into braids, she wears low black shoes, a shawl and a long, colourful, patterned skirt known as a pollera.

On top is the crowning touch: the bowler hat favoured by Aymara women who dress in ‘cholita’ style. The dolls are made in China and imported to the Andean nation, where 15 young artisans at the Creaciones Hugo shop work to transform them. (PA)

Poland credit line

The International Monetary Fund has approved a two-year flexible credit arrangement for Poland worth £18.7 billion, extending credit lines to Warsaw granted in 2009 and 2010.

The IMF board said the Polish government planned to use the line as a precaution with no intention to draw from it.

“Poland’s macroeconomic performance was strong in the decade leading up to the global crisis, supported by sound economic policies,” John Lipsky, the board’s acting chairman, said. He also said Poland’s economy “gathered momentum in 2010”, due largely to low interest rates and rising confidence in the economy. (PA)

In the lion’s den

A Florida wildlife rescue centre owner has angered actress Tippi Hedren and other animal groups by living in a cage with two lions in a fundraising stunt they have dubbed dangerous and exploitative.

James Jablon, with Wildlife Rehabilitation of Hernando County, about an hour north of Tampa, is halfway through his month of eating, sleeping and otherwise hanging out with the carnivorous cats.

Mr Jablon says the stunt is a harmless way to raise £94,000 to keep the centre, home to 100 animals, running for the next two years. But Hedren, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and runs the Shambala Preserve in California, warned he was “taking his life into his hands”. (PA)

Oprah’s secret

Oprah Winfrey has staged many a family reunion on her talk show, but tomorrow she promises the drama will be about her.

Winfrey says she will have a reunion of her own on The Oprah Winfrey Show, but will not say with whom – only that it involves something she has learned about recently and is known to only a few people close to her.

“I thought I’d seen it all. But this, my friends, is the miracle of all miracles,” Winfrey says in a promotional spot for the show. (PA)