Report: Tornado spotted near Denver airport

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:44:27 GMT

The National Weather Service said a tornado was spotted near Denver International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, The Associated Press reported.

Passengers at the airport were being told to take shelter in terminals, the wire service reported.

The AP said people were sheltering in bathrooms and stairwells as the storm approached.

Chrysler relents, agrees to recall 2.7 million Jeeps

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:31:51 GMT

Chrysler Group reversed course and agreed to a recall of 2.7 million Jeeps Tuesday, giving in to the government's request in the final hours before a deadline.

Chrysler stated last week that it would not comply with the recall demand, arguing that the vehicles do not have a high risk of catching fire when struck from behind. It continued to claim Tuesday that the vehicles -- 1993 to 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees and 2002 to 2007 Jeep Libertys -- are safe.

Its statement said it will recall the vehicles for inspection and, in "some cases," will "provide an upgrade to the rear structure of the vehicle to better manage crash forces in low-speed impacts."

"Chrysler Group recognizes that this matter has raised concerns for its customers and wants to take further steps, in coordination with NHTSA, to provide additional measures to supplement the safety of its vehicles," the company said.

In a statement, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which had asked for the recall, said it was pleased that "Chrysler has agreed to take action to protect its customers and the driving public." It went on to say that "consumers impacted by the safety recall and customer satisfaction campaign should have their vehicles serviced promptly once they receive notification from Chrysler."

NHTSA says it will continue its investigation into this issue.

Public safety advocate Clarence Ditlow, who has pushed NHTSA to demand a recall, said he was pleased that Chrysler was agreeing to some form of a recall, but said he would wait to see the details before he called it a clear win.

"The inspection part troubles me," he said. "Until I see the details, the question I have is 'is it window dressing or a real fix?'"

If Chrysler had not agreed to act by the end of Tuesday, it faced the prospect of high-profile public hearings. There would have been testimony from both car safety advocates such as Ditlow who have pushed for the recall, as well as the parents of children who burned to death in fires. Experts say the hearing would have caused Chrysler's reputation to take a hit, even if it had avoided the recall.

"It strikes me that Chrysler underestimated the negative publicity they'd get out of fighting, and that they decided it was better off to go ahead and do the recall," said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at Edmunds.com. She said fighting the recall would have been "a very risky gamble," even if Chrysler had eventually been proven right.

"It's still an uphill battle for Chrysler in the perception of quality and [a hearing] could [have] set it back."

While neither Chrysler nor NHTSA has given an estimated cost of a recall, the Center for Auto Safety says it could cost Chrysler no more than $300 million to install a 3 millimeter steel skid, a fuel tank check valve and better fuel filler hose and address the problem.

The J.D. Power & Associates survey of car owners found that the number of problems reported by Jeep owners has fallen by about a third between 2008 and 2012. It has moved up in approval rankings from dead last out of 36 brands in 2008 to 23rd out of 34 last year.

An online survey by Kelley Blue Book last week found 64% of those answering the survey would not consider any vehicle from an automaker who fights a recall.

However, a week of used car auctions tracked by Kelley shows no measurable change in average pricing or sales volumes of the affected vehicles. Used car site AutoTrader.com also reported no change in interest in the affected vehicles by potential car buyers visiting its site.

Chrysler still faces liability risks in numerous wrongful death suits. NHTSA says there have been least 37 accidents that caused fires and resulted in at least 51 deaths.

Krebs said she was surprised by the reversal by Chrysler, saying it appeared that Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and other executives at the automaker had dug in and prepared for a fight.

Ditlow said many of the recalled cars will probably never be brought in for the inspection. He said in the case of the recall of older model cars that are no longer covered by warranties, somewhere between 50% and 60% of recalled vehicles are typically brought in by owners.

About 52% of Ford Pintos were brought in, even though that late-1970s recall -- which also involved gas tank fires -- was very high profile, according to Ditlow.

If there had been a public hearing by NHTSA, the agency could either agree with Chrysler's argument and drop the request for a recall or order an involuntary recall. If the automaker again refused to issue a recall, NHTSA could go to federal court to force a recall, though that process could take years.

There have been 17,000 recalls involving over 500 million vehicles since NHTSA started the recall process in 1966. It is rare that automakers challenge NHTSA on a recall and even rarer that one wins. Chrysler -- under different management than it is now -- was the last automaker to win such a challenge when it fought a 1996 recall of 91,000 cars in a dispute over its seat belt system.

Stocks rally as Fed looms large

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:28:21 GMT

U.S. stocks rose for a third day Tuesday after reports on inflation and new home construction eased fears the Federal Reserve is about to slow the pace of its stimulus program.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained more than 120 points, or 0.8%. That marks the sixth day in a row that the Dow moved up or down more than 100 points.

The S&P 500 edged up 0.7%, while the Nasdaq added 0.8%.

A report on consumer prices showed that inflation remains subdued, while a report on the housing market was mixed.

The data underscored the lackluster outlook for the economy and raised hopes the flow of cheap money from the Fed will continue, said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank.

"Ultimately, prices have to rest on the fundamentals," he said. "But for now the bulls are becoming a bit more emboldened." The absence of inflation, he added, "gives the Fed plenty of room to keep the pedal to the floor."

Gold prices fell more than 1%, extending the metal's recent slide, on tepid inflation data and a stronger dollar.

The Fed is not expected to announce any major change in policy at the end of it's latest two-day meeting, which started Tuesday. But investors are hoping chairman Ben Bernanke will provide some clues about when the central bank could begin tapering the pace of its bond purchases. Bernanke is set to speak at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

"Some people think they're going to taper tomorrow," said Keith Springer, president of Springer Financial Advisors in Sacramento, Calif. "I think there's zero chance that happens."

Springer said the Fed is more concerned about the threat of deflation, adding that central bankers could decide to boost the $85 billion per month bond-buying program if the economy takes a turn for the worse.

"If they reaffirm that it's not going to happen tomorrow, and that they're going to wait until the fall, I think the market will rally to new highs," said Springer.

Meanwhile, there was speculation about who will succeed Bernanke. In a PBS interview that aired late Monday, President Obama told Charlie Rose that Bernanke has "already stayed a lot longer than he wanted, or he was supposed to."

Sony shares climbed 3% after Dan Loeb's Third Point hedge fund increased its stake and is upping the pressure on the company to agree a partial spin-off of its entertainment business.

Nokia shares rose after a report in the Financial Times raised speculation about a potential merger with China's Huawei. Meanwhile, shares of BlackBerry rose rose on rumors about a deal with Lenovo

Shares of Hormel fell after the processed meat company lowered its earnings outlook for the year.

European markets ended mixed, while Asian markets were little changed.

The president of Cyprus has asked the European Union to renegotiate the terms of its $13 billion financial bailout, according to the Financial Times.

Following a summit in Ireland, Obama and other leaders from the world's top 8 economic powers announced new measures to curb tax evasion and money laundering.

Surveillance stopped NYSE bomb plot

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:17:41 GMT

Bomb plots targeting the New York Stock Exchange and the city's subway were among more than 50 terrorist acts worldwide thwarted by top-secret surveillance programs since the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on the United States, security officials said Tuesday.

The startling details disclosed at a House intelligence committee hearing reflected a unified effort by the Obama administration and legislators to defend the telephone and e-mail surveillance made public this month by classified leaks to newspapers.

Testimony by Gen. Keith Alexander, the National Security Agency director, as well as officials from the FBI, Department of Justice and the Director of National Intelligence office called the programs created under the Patriot Act in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks a vital tool against terrorist plots.

Joined by panel Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers and other legislators, they condemned the document leaks by former government contractor Edward Snowden as harmful to the United States and its allies.

The leaks also led to what officials called widespread public misinformation about the surveillance programs that necessitated the relatively rare open hearing by the intelligence panel, where they detailed previously classified information in order to set the record straight.

It was the most comprehensive and specific defense of the surveillance methods that have come under ferocious criticism from civil liberties groups, some members of Congress and others concerned about the reach of government into the private lives of citizens.

National security and law enforcement officials repeated that the programs are tightly run with significant regulation and oversight by federal judges and Congress.

Addressing the most basic questions that have emerged, Rogers asked Alexander if intelligence workers have the ability to simply "flip a switch" in order to listen to phone calls or read the emails of Americans.

When Alexander replied "no," Rogers asked again to reinforce the message for anyone listening.

"So the technology does not exist for any individual or group of individuals at the NSA to flip a switch to listen to Americans' phone calls or read their e-mails?" he repeated.

"That is correct," Alexander answered.

He and others also asserted that the leaks were egregious and carry huge consequences for national security.

"I think it was irreversible and significant damage to this nation," Alexander said when questioned by Rep. Michele Bachmann.

"Has this helped America's enemies?" the conservative Minnesota Republican asked.

"I believe it has and I believe it will hurt us and our allies," Alexander said.

President Barack Obama has defended the programs as necessary in an era of terror.

In an interview with PBS' Charlie Rose broadcast on Monday night, Obama said the situation requires a national debate on the balance between security and privacy.

Alexander told a Senate committee last week that the surveillance programs helped stop dozens of terror plots, but he was unable then to provide classified details.

Under pressure from Rogers and other legislators, Alexander joined law enforcement officials Tuesday in making public some declassified details of the Patriot Act provisions.

In recent years, Alexander said, information "gathered from these programs provided government with critical leads to prevent over 50 potential terrorist events in more than 20 countries around the world."

Details of most of the thwarted terrorism acts remain secret, but national security officials said they were working on declassifying more information and could have a report to Congress as early as this week.

Sean Joyce, the deputy FBI director, detailed how email surveillance of foreigners under one program helped authorities discover the two New York City plots.

In the fall of 2009, Joyce said, the NSA intercepted an e-mail from a suspected terrorist in Pakistan. That person was talking with someone in the United States "about perfecting a recipe for explosives," he said.

Authorities identified Afghan-born Najibullah Zazi of Denver. The FBI followed him to New York and eventually broke up planning to attack the city's subway system. Zazi pleaded guilty and is currently in prison.

In the other New York case, the NSA was monitoring a "known extremist" in Yemen who was in contact with a person in the United States, Joyce said. The FBI detected "nascent plotting" to bomb the stock exchange, long considered a target of terrorists, and the plotters were later convicted, according to Joyce.

He also said e-mail surveillance disrupted an effort to attack the office of a Danish newspaper that was threatened for publishing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed in 2006.

The plot involved David Headley, a U.S citizen living in Chicago. The FBI received intelligence at the time regarding his possible involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack that killed 164 people, Joyce said.

The NSA, through surveillance of an al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist, found that Headley was working on a plot to bomb the newspaper.

Headley later confessed to conducting surveillance and was convicted. He also pleaded guilty to conducting surveillance in the Mumbai case.

In a fourth case, secret surveillance "tipped us off" to a person who had indirect contacts with a known terrorist group overseas, Joyce said.

"We were able to reopen this investigation, identify additional individuals through the legal process and were able to disrupt this terrorist activity," Joyce said.

In an exchange with Joyce, Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas said the case involved someone financing a designated terrorist group in Somalia.

Rogers, who scheduled the hearing in recent days after Alexander pledged to declassify information on terror plots thwarted by the secret programs, said it was necessary to clear up public confusion caused by misinformation.

"If half the things I read in blog and other places were true, I wouldn't support it," the Michigan Republican said, later adding that skeptics "have no understanding" of what is going on.

In particular, he said Snowden disclosed only a sliver of information about the programs without knowing the full extent of what they did and the strict regulation and oversight of them.

"None of the things he talked about were accurate," Rogers said of Snowden.

The hearing came one day after Snowden defended his actions in leaking classified documents to Britain's Guardian newpaper and the Washington Post.

In a series of blog posts on the Guardian website, the 29-year-old Snowden said he disclosed the information because Obama worsened "abusive" surveillance practices instead of curtailing them as he promised as a presidential candidate.

The former NSA contractor insisted that U.S. authorities have access to phone calls, e-mails and other communications far beyond constitutional bounds. While he said legal restrictions can be easily skirted by analysts at the NSA, FBI and CIA, Snowden stopped short of accusing authorities of violating specific laws.

Instead, he said toothless regulations and policies were to blame for what he called "suspicionless surveillance," and he warned that policies can be changed to allow further abuses.

At Tuesday's hearing, officials detailed how the programs operate and the judicial and legislative oversight involved, repeating several times how access to the content of e-mails or telephone calls -- or even the names of people involved -- required authorization.

Deputy Attorney General James Cole noted that basic phone records collected under Section 215 of the Patriot Act were not protected by Fourth Amendment rights to privacy, citing a 1979 Supreme Court ruling.

In the case, Smith v. Maryland, the justices ruled that information about telephone calls -- such as their time and duration -- was different from the content of the calls and therefore not protected under the Fourth Amendment.

Cole also provided a detailed description of the legal framework of the programs, noting that the anti-terrorism surveillance effort is not "off the books" or "hidden away."

"This is part of what government puts together and discusses," he said. "Statutes are passed. It is overseen by three branches of our government -- the Legislature, the Judiciary, and the Executive Branch."

He described the U.S. phone records collected under Section 215 as basic information "just like what you would get in your own phone bill."

"It is the number that was dialed from, the number that was dialed to, the date and the length of time. That's all we get," he said. "We do not get the identity of any of the parties to this phone call. We don't get any cell site or location information as to where any of these phones were located. And, most importantly, and you're probably going to hear this about 100 times today, we don't get any content under this. We don't listen in on anybody's calls under this program at all."

Instead, it takes permission from a special court to get access to further information, based on a verifiable link to a terrorism investigation, Cole explained. Such links have mostly come from another surveillance program that collects communications information of foreign terrorism suspects living overseas.

Critics question the need to store the vast amount of U.S. phone records, saying it creates a database prone to abuses and provides little return for the risk and privacy concerns.

Alexander said Tuesday the phone database played a role in stopping 10 terrorist acts since the 9/11 attacks. At the same time, he and other officials said there were no cases they knew of in which anyone willfully misused the system to access information.

"If you're looking for the needle in a haystack," Cole said, "you have to have the haystack."

On Syria, G8 leaders call for movement

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:14:20 GMT

The Group of Eight leaders meeting in Northern Ireland on Tuesday called for an international conference on the ongoing crisis in Syria to be held "as soon as possible" but offered little new that might end the civil war there.

In their final statement, the G8 leaders said peace is a shared goal, noted that Jordan and Lebanon are playing a "vital humanitarian role" on refugees and vowed to give nearly $1.5 billion more to meet the humanitarian needs of Syria and its neighbors.

The leaders also expressed concern about the presence of al Qaeda and other extremist elements in Syria.

Though the statement condemned "any use of chemical weapons" and asked for an international team to be allowed to investigate their possible use, it did not say whether such weapons have been used. Nor did it mention Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had seen no proof that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons and that he was not alone. "Not all of the G8 members take the view that the chemical weapons were in fact used by the Syrian army," he said. "Some actually agreed with us that there is no proof."

He called the discussion on Syria "good" despite disagreements.

"The bloodshed has to be stopped, and this will be called for," he told reporters. "This can be achieved only by political and diplomatic means."

Putin implied that shipments of Russian arms to al-Assad regime's could continue. "This is the legal government of Syria, the government of Assad," he said. "There is no other legal government of Syria so far, and we're fulfilling our legal contracts."

He warned his "European partners" that the arming of rebels could prove dangerous. "Who is going to control and verify who is going to have these weapons?" he asked. "So, we call all our partners -- before making this dangerous step -- think about it very carefully."

In his remarks, U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters that the U.S. and French governments have evidence that al-Assad has used chemical weapons "in the past."

Obama said he and French President Francois Hollande agreed that it is important to "move to a political transition in Syria, to build a strong opposition to function in a post-Assad world."

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki acknowledged that differences remain between the United States and Russia.

"There is still a disagreement, as we all know, that we have with the Russians on some issues, but having an international body like the G8 signify that they agree on the path forward, we felt is significant," she told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday.

But al-Assad's government offered no indication Tuesday that it was going anywhere. Al-Assad's appointee to the newly created post of minister of national reconciliation, Ali Haidar, told CNN's Frederik Pleitgen in an exclusive interview that he believes Syrians can still unite for a political solution at the Geneva, Switzerland, conference, for which no firm date has been set.

"The best compromise that we can achieve today is that the regime and ... the homeland peaceful opposition agree to the negotiating table without any preconditions, without excluding anybody from the opposition -- which means everything is subject to discussion," Haidar said.

And that includes the presidency.

"The office of the president is a matter related to the whole political structure of the country ... and we believe the shape and structure should be discussed among Syrians and should be decided by the Syrians in a referendum because only the Syrian people can decide what happens."

Preconditions have been a sticking point, with members of the opposition saying they won't negotiate with the regime unless al-Assad steps down from four decades of family rule. Similarly, the government has said it won't deal with "terrorists" -- a term it uses to describe rebels.

The death toll has reached 92,000, a figure growing by about 5,000 people a month, according to the United Nations.

"The military problems on the ground only deal with the problem of violence. It does not resolve the political crisis," Haidar said. He said the only solution is a political one, not a military one.

Haidar's comments came days after the United States announced it will start arming Syrian rebels, who have sought more weapons to fight al-Assad's better-equipped military. The Obama administration said Syria's government had crossed a "red line" by using chemical weapons -- including sarin gas -- against the opposition.

But Haidar disputed those assertions, which have also been made by Britain and France.

"The talk about chemical weapons is only for political reasons," Haidar said. "So far, no one has proved anything about who used them and where they were used, and who was behind using the chemical weapons."

But with a precondition of having no preconditions for a political dialogue, it's unclear if or when "national reconciliation" will take place.

West of Syria, in Beirut, Lebanon, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres expressed alarm Tuesday over the growing number of refugees in Lebanon.

A possible spillover of the Syrian crisis into neighboring countries must be addressed "to prevent the flames of war from spreading across the Middle East," Guterres said, according to a UNHCR statement.

Guterres and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati appealed to international donors for $1.7 billion in aid.

The number of Syrians fleeing to Lebanon is projected to exceed 1 million by the end of the year.

"There is not a village, city or town in Lebanon that is not hosting Syrian refugees," Guterres told reporters in Beirut.

"The international community must overcome its divisions and come together to stop the fighting if we want to prevent the flames of war from spreading across the Middle East," Guterres said.

Iran's semiofficial news agency Mehr reported Tuesday that a Foreign Ministry spokesman has denied a report first published Sunday in British newspaper The Independent that Iran has decided to send 4,000 troops to support Syria's government.

"These news media reports are pure lies and unrealistic fabrications," said Abbas Araqchi, the spokesman. "Iran has never and will never send Iranian forces to Damascus."

U.S. officials and Syrian opposition fighters say they have intelligence that Iranian forces are in Syria.

Biden: 'Country has changed' on gun violence

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:05:51 GMT

In remarks Tuesday touting the Obama administration's progress in addressing gun safety, Vice President Joe Biden vowed to revisit gun control legislation that failed in the U.S. Senate earlier this year, and warned legislators that the political climate shifted after the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut last December.

"The one thing that each of us have been saying to our colleagues about these votes is the country has changed," Biden said. "You will pay a price, a political price for not - for not getting engaged and dealing with gun safety."

Before the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Biden said the minority of Americans who were opposed to gun control legislation had earned outsized power by turning up in high numbers to vote in congressional elections.

"Now those people who support rational safety measures say this will be a defining issue for me," Biden said in remarks at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House. "For the first time a clear majority of those who favor rational proposals say it will matter. It will make a difference in who I vote for. That's a fundamental change in the political calculus out there."

Citing polls that showed some moderate Democrats who supported the legislation that was backed by the president and vice president saw their approval ratings back home increase, Biden said that in recent weeks he's heard from legislators who opposed the legislation asking for another chance to vote on the issue.

"I'm optimistic because I've gotten those phone calls from those members of congress, many of whom voted no, saying can you find a way, can you find a way, can you find a way for us to revisit this, and so that's exactly what we're going to be doing," the vice president said.

Weeks after the mass shooting in Newtown, President Barack Obama issued 23 directives aimed at curbing the threat of gun violence. In his remarks, Biden unveiled a progress report that the administration says shows it is on its way to meeting nearly all of the goals the president set in January as part of that effort.

"Although we have yet to succeed in the House and Senate, but we will, he moved forward on what was within his power, what Executive Actions he could take," Biden said. "And today I can report that he announced 23 Executive Actions, 21 of them have been completed or there's been major progress made toward the total completion."

The mostly administrative steps span several federal agencies, and the majority require no approval from Congress.

For instance, the report touts action taken by the Health and Human Services Department to begin the process of reviewing healthcare privacy laws for any barriers preventing from reporting information about people with health problems that might prohibit them from purchasing guns.

The Justice Department proposed a new rule that would allow law enforcement to run full federal background checks on the owners of guns seized as part of an investigation. Officers currently are required to return seized firearms but are prohibited from running background checks on owners.

In an effort to spur new research on the causes of gun violence, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council issued a report this month recommending the pressing research questions.

Obama is calling on Congress to provide $10 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct gun violence research, an area that has been stalled in recent years due to its political implications.

"Why are we afraid of information?" the vice president asked, challenging critics of scientific research into gun violence. "An informed society should not be afraid of the facts."

On a conference call previewing Biden's remarks, a senior administration official said that while the report represents "significant progress," the administration continues to hold discussions with members of Congress in the hopes of getting legislation passed.

"These unilateral executive actions are in no way a replacement for concrete legislative action, which is why we're engaged in so many conversations with members of Congress, why we're engaged in trying to strengthen the political dynamics of the situation where we can actually have legislation that will tighten and strengthen background checks," the official said.

The vice president took a more emotional approach to the administration's lobbying efforts on Tuesday.

"Ladies and gentleman, since Newtown more people have died at the end of a gun than we have lost in Afghanistan. Pretty astounding," Biden said. "Pretty astounding. And Iraq as a matter of fact, over 5,000. That's no way to run a country. The public knows it."

Of the two Executive Actions the administration has failed to follow through on, the report predicts one will be fulfilled by the end of the year while the other is held up by congressional inaction.

As part of implementing the healthcare law championed by Obama, the report says HHS will finalize regulations later this year detailing how certain existing group health plans must cover mental health benefits, fulfilling the president's directive.

The last unfinished action may be a bit more difficult.

On the same day he rolled out his plans to reduce gun violence, the president also announced his plans to nominate B. Todd Jones to serve as the permanent director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"Congress needs to help, rather than hinder, law enforcement as it does its job," Obama said in January. "We should get tougher on people who buy guns with the express purpose of turning around and selling them to criminals. And we should severely punish anybody who helps them do this. Since Congress hasn't confirmed a director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in six years, they should confirm Todd Jones, who will be - who has been acting [director], and I will be nominating for the post."

Five months after his nomination was announced, Jones sat down for a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but it has yet to vote on his nomination.

Feds charge 3 in Ohio slavery case

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:38:31 GMT

A mentally disabled woman and her daughter were held in an Ohio apartment for two years, forced to perform manual labor and threatened with dogs and snakes to keep them compliant, federal authorities said Tuesday.

The people accused of holding the woman and child captive in the Ashland, Ohio, apartment collected the woman's government benefits and beat her in order to get painkillers for themselves, federal prosecutors announced. The suspects -- 26-year-old Jordie Callahan, 31-year-old Jessica Hunt and 33-year-old Daniel Brown -- are charged with forced labor, with Callahan facing an additional count of witness tampering, the U.S. attorney's office in Cleveland said in a statement detailing the allegations.

The apartment was home to "numerous" pit bulls and reptiles, including pythons and a venomous coral snake, which the woman's captors used to keep her in line, prosecutors said. They said her situation was discovered in October when the woman, identified only as "S.E.," was arrested for trying to steal a candy bar and asked to be taken to jail.

Ashland is about 60 miles south of Cleveland, where three women were rescued in May from the home of a man police said had held them captive for about a decade. In this case, the woman federal prosecutors identified as the victim had originally been arrested on a state child-welfare charge as part of the case, Ashland Police Chief David Marcelli told CNN.

"The officers that took that complaint detected that there was other issues aside from the shoplifting," Marcelli said. He said officers had had "numerous involvements" with the people involved, "and in the course of interviewing her, they discovered the rest of these facts slowly."

According to prosecutors, Callahan showed police a mobile-phone video of S.E. beating her child. S.E. told police that she had been told to do so by Callahan and Hunt and that Callahan threatened to show police the video if she "messed up" or went to authorities.

Once the full picture emerged, Ashland police called in the FBI, "and shortly after, the suspects were indicted," Marcelli said. S.E.'s daughter is now in the custody of state child-welfare officials, he said.

The suspects began keeping S.E. and her child in a state of virtual slavery starting in May 2011, prosecutors said.

"Callahan and Hunt recruited S.E. and her child to live with them in their two-bedroom apartment in Ashland," along with Hunt's four sons and their collection of pets. They kept tabs on her with a baby monitor, with Hunt taking the woman's government benefit cards.

"Callahan and Hunt forced S.E. to clean the house, do laundry, walk to the store to do their shopping and care for their numerous pit bulls and reptiles," the prosecution statement said. Her child was kept in the apartment when she was sent to the store, they said.

Mubarak still in jail despite court move

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:36:34 GMT

A court in Egypt decided to release former President Hosni Mubarak on one charge, but the former ruler remains in jail on other counts, his lawyer said Tuesday,

A misdemeanor court decided to end Mubarak's detention in the case of making illicit gains, said Attorney Farid El-Deeb. The prosecution will appeal in 48 hours or by Thursday, El-Deeb told CNN. The case involves how the family acquired several dwellings.

The ousted autocratic leader is being retried in the killings of hundreds of civilian protesters who took to the streets for two weeks in early 2011 to demand his removal from office after three decades of rule.

He is also charged with seizing public funds and misusing political influence. Mubarak is accused of selling natural gas to neighboring Israel for prices below fair market value.

Mubarak, who stepped down on February 11, 2011, and his former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison last year on charges that they were complicit in the protesters' killings.

A public prosecutor sent Mubarak -- who spent months detained in a military hospital -- back to prison in April. Mubarak's health has been a bone of contention during his trial and incarceration. He suffered a heart attack after relinquishing power and had maintained that he was physically unfit to stand trial.

Mubarak has been held since his guilty verdict last year.

It's official: Jack Lew's new signature

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:47:23 GMT

It's official: Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has undergone a transformation, at least when it comes to penmanship.

The Treasury Department on Tuesday unveiled Lew's official new signature, which will soon grace the bottom right corner of every bill in your wallet.

Lew's signature needed a major makeover. After President Barack Obama nominated him to the post in January, Lew's John Hancock was downright indiscernible. Even the president pleaded for him to work on his penmanship.

He got the memo, and by April, a revamped version that clearly spelled out his name appeared on an annual report from the Financial Stability Oversight Council. The official signature released by Treasury takes it one step further: The newest version steps up the fancy factor with more swirls and a drawn-out 'w' at the end of "Lew."

Lew's signature will first appear on a $5 bill. It will come off the presses this summer and appear in circulation this fall.

The Treasury secretary's signature garners a lot of attention, since it is required on each currency note in order to make it legal tender.

The process of transferring a secretary's signature onto bills takes 18 weeks, according to a Treasury representative. After receiving signatures from the new secretary and the new treasurer, the bureau creates a series of bills with new serial numbers and suffix letters. A new plate has to be designed before printing the bills.

This isn't the first time that a Treasury secretary had to redo his signature. Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told Marketplace last year that he had to change his signature when he submitted it to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving for currency notes.

Michigan dig resumes in latest hunt for Hoffa

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:41:41 GMT

The FBI on Tuesday began a second day of digging in a Detroit-area field in the latest search for the remains of former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa -- an effort spurred by information from an aging reputed mobster.

Agents began digging Monday in waist-high grass in Oakland Township north of Detroit, a location determined in part from information provided by alleged mobster Tony Zerilli. Media and curious onlookers gathered some distance from the private property.

Nothing has yet been found, two law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation said. Two concrete slabs have been removed during the dig, according to one of the sources. It's unclear whether the slabs were foundations for a barn that once stood there.

Scientists from Michigan State University were at the site Tuesday to help with soil analysis.

This is the latest chapter of the nearly four-decades-long search for Hoffa. It was sparked by "highly credible" information from Zerilli, according to a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Earlier this year, Zerilli, now in his 80s, told New York's NBC 4 that Hoffa was buried in a Michigan field about 20 miles north of where he was last seen in 1975.

Hoffa, then 62, disappeared after being seen on July 30, 1975, outside a Detroit-area restaurant. The FBI said at the time that the disappearance could have been linked to Hoffa's efforts to regain power in the Teamsters and to the mob's influence over the union's pension funds.

The FBI spent months looking into Zerilli's claims before seeking court authorization to excavate the field and look for evidence of a shallow grave, according to a law enforcement source.

Contrary to what's been thought for years, Zerilli said he was told Hoffa's disappearance was not connected to Anthony "Tony Pro" Provensano, the New York City-area Genovese family crime boss who allegedly wanted to get rid of Hoffa.

Instead, according to the source, Zerilli -- convicted years ago of crimes in connection with organized crime in Detroit -- told the FBI that Detroit mobsters wanted Hoffa dead.

At the time, Hoffa was thought to be trying to get back into a power position with the labor movement after he was released from prison. He was convicted in 1967 for jury tampering and fraud. President Richard Nixon pardoned him in 1971.

Zerilli was in prison himself when Hoffa disappeared.

Zerilli, according to the law enforcement source, said that when he was freed, he asked a mob enforcer what happened to Hoffa.

The mobster allegedly told Zerilli that Detroit's crime bosses ordered the Hoffa hit. They lured him to a meeting and then drove him to a farm owned by a mob underboss. The enforcer allegedly told Zerilli that Hoffa was killed and buried on the property, which covers several acres.

Zerilli's attorney, David Chasnick, told reporters Monday that Zerilli was told Hoffa was hit with a shovel and buried alive with a concrete slab on top of him.

The area currently being searched was described as relatively small -- about the size of a small party tent, according to the source. Aerial video showed a somewhat larger area had been cleared of grass.

Zerilli has been to the site more than once, said Chasnick, who declined to elaborate.

Hoffa's daughter, Barbara Crancer, told CNN by phone Tuesday that she is always appreciative when the FBI follows credible leads in the case.

But, she said, she doesn't want to get her hopes up.

"We've been through it too many times," she said.

FBI Special Agent Bob Foley, head of the agency's Detroit office, told CNN at the scene that the information leading to the search "reached the threshold of probable cause, which was sufficient to allow us to obtain a search warrant." The paperwork supporting the search warrant is under seal.

"If it didn't rise to that level then, certainly, we wouldn't be out here," Foley said.

Hoffa's disappearance and presumed death have vexed investigators. As recently as October, soil samples were taken from a home in a suburban Detroit community after a tipster claimed he saw a body buried in the yard a day after Hoffa disappeared.

The soil samples were tested, and showed no evidence of human remains or decomposition.

Zerilli was freed in 2008 after his last prison sentence. Keith Corbett, a former U.S. attorney, told CNN earlier this year that Zerilli headed a Detroit organized crime family from 1970 to 1975, but was in prison when Hoffa vanished.

In an interview with CNN affiliate WDIV-TV, Zerilli denied playing any role in Hoffa's disappearance.

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