Mexican-born prisoner executed

HUNTSVILLE -- A Mexican-born condemned prisoner was executed last night for the rape and murder of two teenage girls 15 years ago after a divided US Supreme Court rejected his request for a reprieve. The execution of Jose Medellin, 33, attracted international attention after he asserted he wasn't allowed to consult the Mexican consulate for legal help following his arrest. State officials say he didn't ask to do so until well after he was convicted. (AP)

GUANTANAMO BAY US NAVAL BASE - A potential mistrial was avoided in the first Guantanamo trial yesterday when the US military judge ruled it was too late to challenge his war crimes instructions to the jury deliberating the case of Osama bin Laden's driver. But the judge acknowledged he may have erred and prosecutors sought clarification on the law that they said could affect plans to try up to 80 more Guantanamo prisoners. Jurors began deliberating Monday in the case of Yemeni prisoner Salim Hamdan, who is charged with conspiring with al Qaeda and providing material support for terrorism while working as the Al Qaeda leader's driver in Afghanistan from 1996 until his capture November 2001. Jurors recessed for the night without reaching a verdict yesterday. (Reuters)

POSTVILLE-- State investigators have identified 57 underage workers employed at a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville and have asked the attorney general to bring criminal charges against the company for child labor violations, Dave Neil, the Iowa labor commissioner, said yesterday. Agriprocessors is the nation's largest kosher meat plant. In a raid in May, 389 illegal immigrant workers were detained there. (New York Times News Service)

ROCKVILLE -- A prosecutor says police found a Camp David map with a presidential motorcade route at the home of a teen held on firearms charges. A Montgomery County assistant state attorney said yesterday Colin McKenzie-Gude, 18, of Bethesda had a document that appears to describe how to kill someone 200 meters away, the Washington Post reports. He faces charges of manufacture of a destructive device. (AP)