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South Carolina legislators upset with Gov. Mark Sanford’s summer disappearance to see his lover in Argentina began a months-long process on Tuesday that could ultimately remove the two-term Republican from office.

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Gifts from Chile warmly received Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva holds horse reins and wears a Chilean traditional Huaso blanket and a hat, known as Chupalla, all given to him as a gift by Chile’s opposition presidential candidate, Sebastian Pinera, during a meeting in Brasilia on Tuesday. Chile’s presidential elections are scheduled for Dec. 13.

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The panel of the House Judiciary Committee that’s debating impeachment discussed his five-day absence in June and problems related to it, including the failure to put someone in charge of the state while he was gone.

At an hour-long meeting, the panel’s seven members also talked about how they would proceed with at least three more hearings in early December. The next one is scheduled for next Tuesday, and a vote by the panel is expected by the second week of December.

NEW YORK

Gotti jury deadlocked

Jurors at the racketeering trial of John “Junior” Gotti say they are deadlocked, but the judge has asked them to try to reach a unanimous verdict.

Jurors had also said they were deadlocked Thursday.

Prosecutors say Gotti, son of the late mob boss, ordered or participated in several brutal attacks since the 1980s, including several murders.

Attorneys for Gotti say he quit the Mafia in 1999 and never participated in murders.

Gotti’s three previous trials ended in hung juries.

BEIJING

2 executed over bad milk

China executed a dairy farmer and a milk salesman Tuesday for their roles in the sale of contaminated baby formula — severe punishments that Beijing hopes will assuage public anger, reassure importers and put to rest one of the country’s worst food safety crises.

The men were the only people put to death in a scheme to boost profits by lacing milk powder with the industrial chemical melamine; 19 other people were convicted and received lesser sentences. At least six children died after drinking the adulterated formula, and more than 300,000 were sickened.

Beijing is eager to show it has responded swiftly and comprehensively to eliminate problems in its food production chain that have spawned protests at home and threatened its export-reliant economy.

Melamine, which is used to make plastics and fertilizers, has also been found added to pet food, eggs and fish feed, although not in levels considered dangerous to humans. It can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.

ELLENWOOD, Ga.

Burglar leaves apology note

Someone made off with loot from a Georgia church but also left behind an apology.

A note scrawled on the wall said: “Sorry but I’m poor. Forgive me Lord.”

The Rev. Roger Davis tells WSB-TV that expensive equipment including microphones and a laptop containing important records were stolen over the weekend from Berean Baptist Church. The burglar broke locks and the church’s safe, but it was empty.

It was the fourth time the church in Ellenwood, southeast of Atlanta, has been burglarized in two years.

Davis joked he’s considering putting up a note of his own telling potential robbers to call him instead and the church will take up a collection for them.