Prosecutors had sought an 18-month prison term for Park Dae-Sung, 30 -- better known by his Internet alias "Minerva" -- while some media freedom groups criticised the decision to charge him.

Park was arrested in early January and charged with spreading online rumours that the government in late December ordered local banks not to buy dollars as part of efforts to stabilise the won.

Prosecutors claimed the December posting led to dollar hoarding, forcing the government hurriedly to inject two billion dollars to stabilise the currency market.

"Considering all the circumstances, it is hard to conclude that Park was aware the information was misleading when he wrote the postings," said Judge Yoo Young-Hyun of Seoul Central District Court.

The judge said that even if Park had realised the information was false, it cannot be concluded he intended to damage the public interest, considering the circumstances at the time or the special characteristics of the foreign exchange market.

Park wrote more than 200 economic commentaries in recent months and gained a major following after correctly predicting the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers last September.

"I love you all. May the Lord be with you. Peace. I'm done," Michael Rosales said in his brief, final statement.

Three of his brothers were among the witnesses at the injection. No friends or relatives of his victim were present.

Rosales was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m., eight minutes after the lethal drugs began to flow.

Rosales, 35, confessed to the 1997 slaying of Mary Felder a day after her body was found by her grandson, who routinely checked on her. Rosales told police he was high on cocaine and looking for money when he broke into her home as she slept. She was attacked when she woke up.

Rosales was the 13th Texas prisoner executed this year in the nation's most active capital punishment state.

About 90 minutes before Rosales was scheduled to be taken to the death chamber, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals to delay the lethal injection so Rosales could have more time to assemble a state clemency petition and press claims he may be mentally retarded and therefore ineligible for execution.

Prosecutors argued that deadlines for clemency petitions had passed and that the mental retardation issue already had been reviewed and rejected by the appeals courts, including a federal appeals court which in 2004 had stopped Rosales' then-scheduled execution.

Felder, a grandmotherly presence in the neighborhood where she was known lovingly as "Miss Mary," was pummeled and stabbed with a two-pronged fork and a steak knife. Records show she had 113 wounds, including some from needle-nose pliers.

The appeals court in Washington dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by a Marine who led the squad in the attack. The judges agreed with Murtha that he was immune from the lawsuit because he was acting in his official role as a lawmaker when he made the comments to reporters.

Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich of Meriden, Conn., claimed Murtha damaged his reputation by saying the squad he was leading engaged in "cold-blooded murder and war crimes" in Haditha, Iraq, on Nov. 19, 2005.

At a Capitol Hill news conference in May 2006, Murtha predicted that a Pentagon war crimes investigation would show the Marines killed dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians in Haditha.

Military prosecutors have said two dozen Iraqis, including women and children, were killed in Haditha after one Marine died and two others were wounded by a roadside bomb. Wuterich is charged with voluntary manslaughter and other allegations, the only person still facing charges in the attack.

He has pleaded not guilty. He is accused of ordering his men to clear several houses with grenades and gunfire, leading to the civilian deaths.

Gatlin had sued those groups in federal court, saying his rights were violated under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said he was discriminated against because his first of two doping violations, in 2001, was for taking prescribed medication to treat attention deficit disorder.

Because that penalty was on the books, his second violation, in 2006, triggered a suspension that kept him from defending his 2004 Olympic gold medal at the Beijing Games. In June 2008, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Gatlin's appeal of his doping ban, and he took the matter to U.S. court.

Both USADA CEO Travis Tygart and USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said Wednesday their groups would not enter into an agreement that would undermine the decision by CAS.

"The parties are actively engaged in discussions regarding a final, formal, out-of-court resolution of this matter, which we believe may soon be reached," Seibel wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

The civil clerk for the federal court in Pensacola said the case is considered closed but is still under the court's jurisdiction until May 10. The court is waiting for the attorneys to file final paperwork stating the case is completely closed under the terms of the agreement.

"The settlement documents are not final," Gatlin's lawyer, Joe Zarzaur, wrote the AP.

U.S. District Court Judge Lacey Collier issued an order in February dismissing the case after Gatlin informed the court there was a settlement.

Anti-abortion groups have won approval in at least 18 states for specialized license plates with the tagline "Choose Life," even as officials in New Jersey and other states fight the requests on various grounds.

The cases raise unresolved questions about whether license plates — or even portions of them — convey government or private speech. To raise revenues, many states let drivers buy specialty plates that recognize everything from military units and colleges to sports teams and nonprofit groups.

"Legislatures can say there might be certain controversies they do not want discussed on license plates," Assistant New Jersey Attorney General Andrea Silkowitz argued Tuesday in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court, referring to an Illinois case.

Silkowitz argued that her state rejected the "Choose Life" plate not to avoid controversy but because the relevant law limits designs to group names and logos, and does not permit slogans.

In 2003, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission approved a request from the New York-based Children First Foundation, but later rejected the proposed design, which included a small graphic of a sun, two children's faces and the words "Choose Life."

The New Jersey agency also dismissed a later attempt to substitute a new domain name, "NJChoose-Life.Org," for the original "Fund-Adoption.Org" on the plate.