9am Briefing: Kenny Richey accused of leaving threatening phone message

FORMER Death Row inmate Kenny Richey has been accused of leaving a threatening phone message at the courthouse where he was sentenced to death nearly 25 years ago.

Richey, who was released from prison after spending two decades on Ohio’s death row, was arrested in Tupelo, Mississippi, where he now lives, it was reported today.

Authorities in Putnam County claim the 47-year-old left the message on New Year’s Eve. It was directed at one person who considered it a threat, investigators said.

• A FRESH call made today for the Edinburgh International Film Festival to return to its old August timeslot.

Former EIFF director Murray Grigor said the 2008 switch to June - after 60 years of being staged in August - had been “utter madness”. And he claimed the festival could not survive unless the move was reversed.

“If they keep it in June, it will sink into the fog,” he said.

Mr Murray argued the film festival benefited from being on at the same time as the Fringe, although June might work this year because of the Olympics.

• LABOUR leader Ed Miliband has thrown his weight behind calls for former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin to be stripped of his knighthood.

He said his party had been “clearly wrong” to recommend that Sir Fred be recognised for “services to banking” in 2004.

The senior City figure has been heavily criticised for his part in the dramatic collapse of RBS and the honour is being reconsidered.

Prime Minister David Cameron is understood to be “sympathetic” to the calls to strip him of the award and said it was “right” it was reviewed.

The case has been referred to the Honours Forfeiture Committee, made up of some of the country’s most senior civil servants.

• THE last remaining sea lion at Edinburgh Zoo is to move to Poland, it has emerged.

Sofus, the Patagonian sea lion, is to leave Scotland after the death of the zoo’s female, Miranda.

After the six-year-old’s departure, the sea lion enclosure will be shut down. Bosses took the decision after estimates suggested it would cost more than £1 million to modernise the existing enclosure.

• AN independent Scotland could be out of the European Union for up to two years while it negotiates its way back in, according to Thomas Giegerich, a visiting professor of public and international law at Edinburgh University.

He said Scotland would not have automatic membership of the EU and would have to reapply for membership if it became a separate state.

His comments came as the debate continued on the implications of independence.

Former Scottish Parliament presiding officer Lord Steel criticised the UK coalition government’s plan to put Chancellor George Osborne in charge of the pro-UK campaign, describing it as “plain bonkers”. He added: “If I were Alex Salmond I would be rubbing my hands in glee at the thought.”