CALIFORNIA has proposed changing its lethal injection protocol amid charges that its execution method causes prisoners too much pain and violates the US Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The move comes in response to a lawsuit brought by condemned prisoner, Michael Morales.

Morales was scheduled to be executed on 21 February, but the injection was cancelled after the prison could not comply with a federal judge's order for changes in the procedure to ensure Morales would not feel too much pain.

Benecict praises Pope Pius XII

POPE Benedict XVI has praised the second World War-era Pope Pius XII as a great pontiff, but stopped short of endorsing his case for beatification, according to a transcript released by the Vatican.

Benedict said that as a German he was close to Pius because he "really loved the German people;

he defended them even during the great catastrophe after the war."

Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, has been criticised for not doing enough to save Jews from the Holocaust. His supporters say he made every effort to help Jews through quiet diplomacy.

Husband killer found not guilty

AN Australian mother of five who dressed in camouflage gear and shot dead her abusive husband from a so-called "sniper's nest' has been found not guilty of murder today.

Claire Margaret MacDonald (39) had pleaded not guilty to murdering her 40-year-old husband Warren at the couple's Melbourne home on 30 September, 2004.

A Supreme Court jury was told that Warren MacDonald had subjected his wife to years of physical, psychological and sexual abuse and had raped her on the night of his death.