An 83-year-old nun and two fellow protesters were convicted Wednesday of interfering with national security when they broke into a nuclear weapons facility in Tennessee and defaced a uranium processing plant.

It took a jury about 2 1/2 hours to find the three protesters guilty of a charge of sabotaging the plant and second charge of damaging federal property in July the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge in July.

Defense attorneys said in closing arguments that federal prosecutors had overreached in the charges because of the embarrassment caused by the break-in.

"The shortcomings in security at one of the most dangerous places on the planet have embarrassed a lot of people," said Francis Lloyd, who represented Sister Megan Rice of Washington, D.C. "You're looking at three scapegoats behind me."

Prosecutor Jeff Theodore was dismissive of claims that the protesters' actions were beneficial to security at the plant that has had a hand in making, maintaining or dismantling parts of every nuclear weapon in the country's arsenal.

"Right after 9/11, did you notice how much better security got at airports and public buildings?" Theodore said. "Does that mean 9/11 was a good thing? Of course not."

Theodore said the protesters' intent was made clear by the fact that they carried the materials with them to deface the building.

He also noted that their fate could have been far worse because they had entered an area where guards were allowed to use deadly force.

"They're lucky -- and thank goodness they're alive -- because they went into the lethal zone," he said.

The defense asked for a mistrial over the Sept. 11 comparison, but the judge denied the motion.

In Washington on Wednesday, Neile Miller, acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, told a Senate subcommittee that officials have taken "decisive action" since the July 28 intrusion at the Y-12, including a new management team and a new defense security chief to oversee all of the agency's sites.

"The severity of the failure of leadership at Y-12 has demanded swift, strong and decisive action by the department," she said. "Since the Y-12 incursion, major actions have taken place to improve security immediately, and for the long term."

Earlier Wednesday, Rice, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed testified on their own behalf, saying they have no remorse for their actions and were pleased to reach one of the most secure parts of the facility.

The defendants spent two hours inside Y-12. They cut through security fences, hung banners, strung crime-scene tape and hammered off a small chunk of the fortress-like Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, or HEUMF, inside the most secure part of complex.

Rice said during cross examination that she wished she hadn't waited so long to stage a protest inside the plant.

"My regret was I waited 70 years," she said. "It is manufacturing that which can only cause death."

Boertje-Obed, a house painter from Duluth, Minn., explained why they sprayed baby bottles full of human blood on the exterior of the facility.

"The reason for the baby bottles was to represent that the blood of children is spilled by these weapons," he said.

All three defendants said they felt guided by divine forces in finding their way through the darkness from the perimeter of the complex to the enriched uranium plant without being detected.

"I believe it was clearly a miracle," Boertje-Obed said. "There is no other way to explain it."

Walli, who most recently lived in Washington, D.C., agreed.

"It was an answer to prayer," he said.

The protesters' attorneys noted that once they refused to plead guilty to trespassing, prosecutors substituted that charge with a sabotage count that carried a maximum prison term of 20 years. The other charge has a maximum sentence of 10 years. The defense argued during the trial that the more serious charge should be dismissed.

Prosecutors argued the act was a serious security breach that continues to disrupt operations at the facility. The intrusion caused the plant to shut down for two weeks as security forces were re-trained and contractors were replaced.

Federal officials have said there was never any danger of the protesters reaching materials that could be detonated on site or used to assemble a dirty bomb, a position stressed by defense attorneys.

The plant first built as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II that provided enriched uranium for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.  It makes uranium parts for nuclear warheads, dismantles old weapons and is the nation's primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium. The facility enjoys high levels of support in the region, and Oak Ridge has always taken pride in its role in building the atomic bomb, viewing it as crucial to the end of the war.

For decades, protesters have rallied at the gates of Y-12 around the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

An overflow crowd of supporters sang religious songs in the courtroom after the verdict was read.

"Justice was done at Y-12 on July 28," Jack Cohen-Joppa, a supporter of the protesters from Tuscon , Ariz., said outside the courthouse after the verdict. "But we're still waiting for it here."

The Senate rejected an effort Wednesday to expand the use of firearms on some of the nation's most frequently visited federal lands, handing gun control advocates a modest success.

The measure, backed by the National Rifle Association, represented one of two efforts Wednesday by gun rights supporters to take the offensive in Congress. Across the Capitol, a Republican-run House committee voted to make it easier for some veterans with mental difficulties to get firearms.

The rejected Senate proposal would have let people use guns for any legal purpose on lands managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees nearly 12 million acres that abound in lakes, rivers, campsites and hiking trails. Currently, guns on those properties are limited to activities like target-range shooting and hunting, and weapons must be unloaded while being carried to those activities.

Senators voted 56-43 for the proposal by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., but it fell short of the 60 votes needed for passage.

Eleven Democrats and one Democratic-leaning independent voted for Coburn's plan, underscoring the party's divisions on the gun issue.

Those voting for Coburn's proposal included all four Democrats who opposed the bipartisan bill expanding required federal background checks to more gun buyers that the Senate rejected three weeks ago.

The background check expansion has been the pillar of President Barack Obama's effort to restrict guns following December's elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn. Top Democrats and other supporters hope to win fresh support and stage a new vote on background checks, perhaps next month. Advocates hope that voting for Coburn's proposal might let some senators show voters they support gun rights and give them more leeway to reverse themselves and vote for background checks next time.

Also backing Coburn's proposal were the two chief authors of the defeated background check measure, Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Patrick Toomey, R-Pa.

Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, a supporter of the Manchin-Toomey plan, was the only Republican to vote against expanding gun use on Corps land.

Coburn said gun rights on Corps land should be the same as in national parks and federal wildlife refuges, where federal law has allowed visitors to carry guns since 2010. He said after the vote that he would keep reintroducing the measure until it passes.

"Fifty-six votes, a majority of the Senate believes we ought to have one sane policy" on gun rights on federal lands, Coburn said.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said allowing more guns onto Corps property would increase danger to the dams, flood control systems and other crucial water projects.

"This critical infrastructure is a target for terrorists," she said. Allowing more guns "sets up a national security threat. It endangers people."

Army Corps lands are used for recreation by 370 million people annually, more than visit the property of any other federal agency. About 80 percent of them are within 50 miles of urban areas, making them accessible destinations.

Also Wednesday, the House Veterans Affairs Committee voted by voice to require a judge or magistrate to declare a veteran is dangerous before the person's name is entered in the background check system's database of people barred from getting firearms.

Currently, the Veterans Affairs Department sends the system the names of veterans it has declared unable to manage their financial affairs — 127,000 names since 1998.

Supporters of the measure said veterans who can't handle their money aren't necessarily dangerous.

"It's arbitrary. It's inconsistent and it's unreasonable," Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the committee, said of the current process.

The Veterans department opposes the measure, saying veterans in the database already have the ability to appeal.

___

Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

Embarrassed federal authorities went overboard with charges against three protesters who broke into a nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee over the summer, defense attorneys said in closing arguments Wednesday, while prosecutors made 9/11 allusions in arguing the intrusion harmed national security.

Jurors began deliberating in the late afternoon on the fate of the 83-year-old nun and two other protesters who sneaked into a Tennessee nuclear weapons plant last summer. The more serious of the charges they face accuses them of sabotage that harmed national security during the July break-in at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge

Defense attorneys said federal prosecutors had overreached in the charges against the trio because of the embarrassment caused by the break-in.

"The shortcomings in security at one of the most dangerous places on the planet have embarrassed a lot of people," defense lawyer Francis Lloyd said. "You're looking at three scapegoats behind me."

Defense attorney Bill Quigley Quigley urged jurors to "protect all of us from the government gone overboard," he said. "Sometimes they overreach."

Prosecutor Jeff Theodore was dismissive of claims that the protesters' actions were beneficial to security.

"Right after 9/11, did you notice how much better security got at airports and public buildings?" Theodore said. "Does that mean 9/11 was a good thing? Of course not."

The defense asked for a mistrial over the Sept. 11 comparison, but the judge denied the motion.

Earlier Wednesday, Sister Megan Rice, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed testified on their own behalf, saying they have no remorse for their actions and were pleased to reach one of the most secure parts of the facility.

The defendants spent two hours inside Y-12. They cut through security fences, hung banners, strung crime-scene tape and hammered off a small chunk of the fortress-like Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, or HEUMF, inside the most secure part of complex.

Rice said during cross examination that she wished she hadn't waited so long to stage a protest inside the plant.

"My regret was I waited 70 years," she said. "It is manufacturing that which can only cause death."

Boertje-Obed, a house painter from Duluth, Minn., explained why they sprayed baby bottles full of human blood on the exterior of the facility.

"The reason for the baby bottles was to represent that the blood of children is spilled by these weapons," he said.

All three defendants said they felt guided by divine forces in finding their way through the darkness from the perimeter of the complex to the enriched uranium plant without being detected.

"I believe it was clearly a miracle," Boertje-Obed said. "There is no other way to explain it."

Walli, who said he has been homeless in 10 states and has most recently lived in Washington, D.C., agreed.

"It was an answer to prayer," he said.

The protesters' attorneys noted that once they refused to plead guilty to trespassing, prosecutors substituted that charge with a sabotage count that increased the maximum prison term from one year to 20 years.  The argued during the trial that the more serious charge should be dismissed, but U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar said he would rule on that motion after the verdict was returned.

Prosecutors argue the act was a serious security breach that continues to disrupt operations at the facility. The intrusion caused the plant to shut down for two weeks as security forces were re-trained and contractors were replaced.

Federal officials have said there was never any danger of the protesters reaching materials that could be detonated on site or used to assemble a dirty bomb, a position stressed by defense attorneys.

The plant that has had a hand in making, maintaining or dismantling parts of every nuclear weapon in the country's arsenal.

The protesters' attorneys noted that once they refused to plead guilty to trespassing, prosecutors substituted that charge with the sabotage count that increased the maximum prison term from one year to 20 years. The other charge of damaging federal property carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

The protesters call themselves "Transform Now Plowshares," a reference to the biblical phrase: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks."

Their actions were lauded by some members of Congress, who said the incursion called attention to flawed security at Y-12, first built as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II that provided enriched uranium for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

The plant makes uranium parts for nuclear warheads, dismantles old weapons and is the nation's primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium. The facility enjoys high levels of support in the region, and Oak Ridge has always taken pride in its role in building the atomic bomb, viewing it as crucial to the end of the war.

A report by the Department of Energy's inspector general said Y-12 security failures included broken detection equipment, poor response from security guards and insufficient federal oversight of private contractors running the complex.

For decades, protesters have rallied at the gates of Y-12 around the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Some deliberately trespass or block traffic to provoke arrest and call more attention to their cause. Some years, authorities have tried to deprive them of the notoriety by refusing to prosecute. In previous prosecutions, the stiffest sentence ever meted out was less than a year in prison

A jury has begun deliberating the case against five men charged in a Texas federal court with using a race horse breeding operation to launder drug cartel money.

Jurors began deliberating about Wednesday afternoon after prosecutors and defense attorneys gave their closing arguments in Austin.

Investigators say the case centers on Jose Trevino Morales, who's a brother of two reputed Zeta leaders in Mexico.

The defendants are charged with money laundering conspiracy related to operations of a horse ranch near Lexington, Okla. Prosecutors say ranch operators went through $16 million in horse-related expenses in 30 months.

An attorney for Trevino has said prosecutors wrongly targeted his client due to the alleged illegal actions of his brothers — Miguel Angel Trevino Morales and Oscar Omar Trevino Morales.

A Cleveland man has been charged with kidnapping and rape after three women missing about a decade were found in his home.

Ariel Castro, 52, is charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape, prosecutor Victor Perez said Wednesday afternoon. Castro's two brothers, Pedro, 54, and Onil, 50, also had been taken into custody, but Perez said they won't be charged because there is no evidence they had any involvement.

The men are in custody and can't be reached for comment. Their brother-in-law has said the family is "totally shocked" after hearing about the women at the home.

The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004 and were found Monday after one of them screamed for help to escape and contacted police.

Police say ropes and chains were among evidence collected inside the house. A city councilman says the women were subjected to prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and suffered miscarriages.

Councilman Brian Cummins said that many details remain unclear, including the number of pregnancies and the conditions under which the miscarriages occurred. He also said the women were kept in the basement for some time without having access to the rest of the house. 

The horrific allegations came out as police built a case against the three brothers.

"We know that the victims have confirmed miscarriages, but with who, how many and what conditions we don't know," Cummins said. He added: "It sounds pretty gruesome."

Two of the young women, meanwhile, were welcomed home by jubilant crowds of loved ones and neighbors with balloons and banners Wednesday. The families of Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry protectively took them inside, past hundreds of reporters and onlookers. Neither woman spoke, and their families pleaded for patience and time alone.

"Give us time and privacy to heal," said Sandra Ruiz, DeJesus' aunt. Ruiz thanked police for rescuing the women and urged the public not to retaliate against the suspects or their families.

The third captive, Michelle Knight, 32, was reported in good condition at Metro Health Medical Center, which a day earlier had reported that all three victims had been released. There was no immediate explanation from the hospital.

The Associated Press does not usually identify people who may be victims of sexual assault, but the names of the women were widely circulated by their families, friends and law enforcement authorities for years during their disappearance.

In a development that astonished and exhilarated much of Cleveland, the three women were rescued on Monday after Berry, 27, broke through a screen door at the Castro house and told a 911 dispatcher: "Help me. I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now."

Law enforcement officials left many questions unanswered, but Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba said the women could remember being outside only twice during their entire time in captivity. "We were told they left the house and went into the garage in disguise," he said.

And their first opportunity to escape didn't come until Monday, he said. The women were not kept in the same room, but knew they were not alone, he said.

He also said a paternity test on Castro was being done to establish who fathered the now 6-year-old child of captive Amanda Berry.

Neighbors said that Ariel Castro took part in the search for one of the missing women, helped pass out fliers, performed music at a fundraiser for her and attended a candlelight vigil, where her comforted her mother. As recently as 2005, Castro was accused of repeated acts of violence against his children's mother.

On NBC's "Today" show, Police Chief Michael McGrath said he was "absolutely" sure police did everything they could to find the women over the years. He disputed claims by neighbors that officers had been called to the house before for suspicious circumstances.

"We have no record of those calls coming in over the past 10 years," McGrath said. On Tuesday, some neighbors said that they had told police years ago about hearing pounding on the doors of the home and seeing a naked woman crawling in the yard.

DeJesus, who disappeared in 2004 and is in her early 20s, arrived home in the afternoon Wednesday to chants of "Gina! Gina!" Wearing a bright yellow hooded sweatshirt, she was led through the crowd and into the house by a woman who put her arm around the young woman's shoulders and held her tight.

Her father pumped his fist after arriving home with his daughter, and he urged people across the country to watch over the children in their neighborhoods -- including other people's kids.

"Too many kids these days come up missing, and we always ask this question: How come I didn't see what happened to that kid? Why? Because we chose not to," he said

Berry arrived at her sister's home, which was similarly festooned with dozens of colorful balloons and signs, one reading "We Never Lost Hope Mandy." Hundreds cheered wildly but weren't able to get a glimpse of Berry as she went in through the back.

A 2005 domestic-violence filing in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court accused Ariel Castro of twice breaking the nose of his children's mother, knocking out a tooth, dislocating each shoulder and threatening to kill her and her daughters three or four times in a year.

The filing for a protective order by Grimilda Figueroa also said that Castro frequently abducted her daughters and kept them from her.

In 1993, Castro was arrested on a domestic-violence charge and spent three days in jail before he was released on bail. A grand jury did not return an indictment against him, according to court documents, which don't detail the allegations. It was unclear who brought the charge.

Meanwhile, the aunt of a 14-year-old girl who disappeared in 2007 near the house where the missing women were found said the girl's mother has spoken with the FBI.

"We're hoping for our miracle, too," said Debra Summers, who described her niece, Ashley Summers, as not the type of girl who would leave without coming back.

The FBI did not immediately return a call about the case and whether it was connected to that of the three missing women.

The Castros' brother-in-law Juan Alicea said the arrests of his wife's brothers had left relatives "as blindsided as anyone else" in their community. He said he hadn't been to the home of his brother-in-law Ariel Castro since the early 1990s but had eaten dinner with Castro at a different brother's house shortly before the arrests were made Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A jury of eight men and four women have found Jodi Arias' guilty of first degree-murder. Jurors had several options as they considered four months of testimony and evidence in the case: first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter or acquittal.

For first degree murder, jurors had to believe that Travis Alexander's June 2008 killing at his suburban Phoenix home was a premeditated act. This charge carries a possible death sentence or life in prison.

Prosecutors say Arias began plotting a murder several days in advance and made a road trip to Alexander's house intending to kill him. They say she stole a gun from her grandparents' home, removed her license plate to avoid detection and turned off her cellphone while she was in Arizona so law enforcement couldn't track her. The defense said the killing was self-defense and noted there's no direct proof she ever brought a gun to Alexander's home.

Now that she's been convicted, the trial will continue as the same panel decides whether Arias should get the death penalty.

This "aggravation" phase of the trial will begin at 1 p.m. Thursday. Both sides may call witnesses and show evidence during a mini trial of sorts. If the panel doesn't find the presence of aggravating factors, the judge dismisses them and sentences Arias to either the rest of her life in prison or life in prison with the possibility of release after 25 years. If jurors find there were aggravating factors, the case moves into a penalty phase. The jury decides whether Arias should be executed or get life in prison. Additional witnesses could be called by both sides. If jurors don't reach a unanimous agreement on the death penalty, the judge sentences Arias to either the rest of her life in prison or life in prison with the possibility of release after 25 years.

Jurors also had the option of second-degree murder. If jurors thought Arias didn't premeditate the killing but still intentionally caused the death of Alexander, they could have found her guilty of second-degree murder. The sentencing range for this charge is 10 to 22 years in prison. The 32-year-old Arias already has spent nearly five years in jail.

A conviction on this count would have been a victory for the defense, since it would spare Arias' life and get her out of prison before she's 50 years old in a worst-case scenario. Prosecutors say there's no doubt she committed second-degree murder, but they pushed for first-degree.

If the jury found Arias guilty of either first-degree murder or second-degree murder, but had reasonable doubt as to which one, they could have convicted her of second-degree murder.

If jurors thought Arias didn't plan the killing in advance, but instead believe the attack occurred upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion after "adequate" provocation from Alexander, they could have convicted Arias of manslaughter. A conviction on this charge would have carried a sentence of seven to 21 years in prison.

If the jury believed Arias killed Alexander in self-defense, it could have found her not guilty of all charges.

A House panel has voted to place a five-year moratorium on bonuses to senior executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The sponsor of the proposal, Rep. Jeff Miller, Republican chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, says the legislation is in response to media reports about various executives who received performance bonuses despite significant problems that occurred during their watch, such as the increase in the number of disability claims pending longer than 125 days.

The VA had already halted bonuses for those executives overseeing disability claims, but Miller's legislation approved Wednesday extends the ban to other divisions within the government's second-largest department.

The VA did not respond to a request for comment, but has stressed previously that bonuses have been reduced in recent years.

An American Eagle flight from Detroit landed safely in New York Wednesday morning after the plane carrying 20 passengers was struck by lightning as it approached La Guardia.

The captain declared an emergency and safely landed the plane. Crews are inspecting the aircraft.  

Authorities say a 3-year-old Florida boy has died after shooting himself with a gun he found in his uncle's backpack.

The shooting happened Tuesday night in a bedroom Jadarrius Speights shared with his uncle at an apartment complex in Tampa. Authorities say the uncle, 29-year-old Jeffrey D. Walker, has been charged with culpable negligence.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Walker had an attorney. His phone number was not listed and jail records didn't give a lawyer for him.

Police say he has a concealed weapons permit.

Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter says the uncle was not in the room when the shooting happened, but the child's parents were there. The boy was taken to a hospital where he died.

AOL Inc. said Wednesday that its first-quarter net income jumped 23 percent, helped by an increase in global advertising revenue.

But the profit fell short of Wall Street predictions and AOL shares slumped nearly 10 percent in early trading.

The New York-based internet company earned $25.9 million, or 32 cents per share, for the three months ended March 31, up from $21.1 million, or 22 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2012. Excluding one-time items, the company said it posted an adjusted profit of 41 cents per share.

Revenue rose 2 percent to $583.3 million from $529.4 million.

Analysts, on average, expected earnings of 44 cents per share on $542.6 million in revenue, according to FactSet.

AOL split from Time Warner Inc. in 2009 and has been trying to increase revenue ever since by shedding unprofitable businesses and buying popular sites such as the Huffington Post and the technology blog TechCrunch.

The company said its advertising revenue increased 9 percent to $359.2 million, helped by higher display and search revenue, but that was mostly offset by a 9 percent drop in subscription revenue to $165.8 million.

Shares of AOL, based in New York, fell $4 to $37.42.

A House panel has approved legislation that would greatly curtail when veterans deemed mentally incompetent are reported to the FBI's gun-check registry.

The move to winnow what records get placed into the database comes even as both sides of the gun-control debate have called for strengthening the background-check system.

Currently, the Department of Veterans Affairs automatically submits the names to the FBI's database of those veterans who are deemed unable to handle their own financial affairs and have a fiduciary appointed to administer their benefits.

But the House Committee on Veterans Affairs approved legislation requiring a judge's order before a veteran's name is submitted to the database. Lawmakers said veterans who are not a threat to harm themselves or others should not be denied a constitutional right to buy and possess guns.

It wasn't a tapped phone, a hacked computer or a double agent that tipped off North Korea that the U.S. Navy's biggest and baddest aircraft carrier was steaming toward the peninsula -- it was a perfectly innocent bunch of shutterbugs.

When Pyongyang's state-run media agency mentioned the ship's itinerary in a news release, a day before it was first reported in the South Korean media, alarm bells went off, according to the South Korean newspaper The Hankyoreh. U.S. and South Korean military officials initially feared a phone tap, intelligence leak or hacked email account might be to blame, according to South Korean media reports.

But it turned out that on Saturday night, a Seoul-based camera association known as the "O" Club had told its members that an aircraft carrier would berth in Busan on May 11, and that people were needed to drive American sailors around, a South Korea Ministry of National Defense said.

"… looking for two Busanites who can drive and speak basic English," read the message, posted on a photography website. "A U.S. naval aircraft carrier is coming on the 11th and leaving on the 13th, and you would just need to transport the U.S. sailors. Pay is 110,000 won ($101) a day. Two people wanted. Send a message if you're interested."

Another post offered suggestions on where to get good pictures of the massive ship. Someone in North Korea saw the ad and did some low-risk intelligence gathering.

Although neither post named the ship, officials believe North Korea were able to put together the details using other information already made public, including a post on the U.S. Navy's website last week that said the nuclear-powered Nimitz had entered the jurisdiction of the 7th Fleet, a South Korean Ministry of Defense official said Wednesday.

The U.S. and South Korea are staging anti-submarine exercises this week, and the Nimitz will participate in another joint naval exercise next week. Although the exercises come as tensions are rising between North and South Korea, officials publicly sought to downplay the Nimitz's appearance.

"We are not trying to deliver any message to North Korea with this exercise," a spokesman for the South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to this week's anti-submarine drills. "This exercise is for improving the U.S.-South Korean war-fighting power."

North Korea has vowed immediate countermeasures if even one shell fired during the joint U.S.-South Korea exercises lands in North waters.

The U.S. and South Korea are trying to push "the present state of war to an actual war," according to a statement posted on the North's government-run Korean Central News Agency website.

Charges are pending against a Tampa man who police say blew off two of his fingers with fireworks.

Police said 41-year-old James Lee Minyard called 911 Tuesday and said he had blown off two fingers in an accident. Minyard was taken to the hospital and is undergoing surgery. His injuries are not life-threatening.

While searching the scene for evidence, authorities said they found a handmade improvised explosive device. The area was shut down and the bomb squad was called.

No other details were released.

Follow us: @myfoxtampabay on Twitter | FOX13TampaBay on Facebook

Investigators in Arizona have arrested a man suspected of killing a woman in Tucson more than 35 years ago.

Tucson police say 66-year-old Bruce McCullough has been charged with first-degree murder in the March 1976 death of 20-year-old Donna Smith. Authorities say the two had been living together as a couple.

Detectives reviewing cold cases were able to track McCullough to San Diego and arrested him at his home last week. They say he avoided law enforcement for decades by using a fake identity but recently had been using his own name.

Tucson police say McCullough is awaiting extradition to southern Arizona.

Detectives say they've visited Smith's mother to let her know of McCullough's arrest.

Investigators in Arizona have arrested a man suspected of killing a woman in Tucson more than 35 years ago.

Tucson police say 66-year-old Bruce McCullough has been charged with first-degree murder in the March 1976 death of 20-year-old Donna Smith. Authorities say the two had been living together as a couple.

Detectives reviewing cold cases were able to track McCullough to San Diego and arrested him at his home last week. They say he avoided law enforcement for decades by using a fake identity but recently had been using his own name.

Tucson police say McCullough is awaiting extradition to southern Arizona.

Detectives say they've visited Smith's mother to let her know of McCullough's arrest.

A Southwest Airlines flight bound for Providence, R.I., made an emergency landing in South Carolina early Wednesday as the result of three unruly passengers, authorities said.

The plane, which was carrying 134 passengers and 5 crew, departed from Orlando and landed at Charleston International Airport. The flight crew reported three passengers being disruptive and did not adhere to flight crew instructions, the Charleston County Aviation Authority said.

On arrival the aircraft was met by law enforcement officers who removed the passengers from the aircraft, authorities said. No injuries were reported, and the aircraft departed without further incident.

A hiker who went missing in Yosemite National Park has been found dead at the bottom of a cliff, authorities said.

Rangers found the body of 73-year-old Kenneth Stensby of Edina, Minn., at the base of a cliff next to the park's Vernal Fall, where he had apparently fallen after stopping to take a photo, park officials said.

Search crews had found his backpack on Sunday at the top of the waterfall. His camera was not in the pack.

His body was removed from the area around 1 p.m. Tuesday, a day after it was spotted from the air, according to park officials.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Stensby was president and chief executive officer of United Properties, a Minneapolis-based real estate company, from 1974 until taking early retirement in January 1995.

Stensby had been in the park for several days and was staying at the Ahwahnee Hotel, park officials said. He left a note with the concierge each morning outlining his daily plan.

On Sunday, his note stated that he was planning to hike to the top of Vernal Fall on the Mist Trail and return to the hotel around noon, according to park officials. Apparently he fell from the top, officials said.

Hotel staff attempted to contact Stensby around 5:00 p.m. that evening, and discovered he had not returned. They then contacted the National Park Service.

The search effort included dogs and a California Highway Patrol helicopter.

Three young tourists were swept over Vernal Fall in 2011 after one of them slipped on a rock. Her two friends fell while trying to save her.

In the tight-knit neighborhood near downtown where many conversations are spoken in Spanish, it seems most everyone knew Ariel Castro.

He played bass guitar in salsa and merengue bands. He parked his school bus on the street. He gave neighborhood children rides on his motorcycle.

And when they gathered for a candlelight vigil to remember two girls who vanished years ago, Castro was there, too, comforting the mother of one of the missing, a neighbor said.

Neighbors and friends were stunned by the arrest of Castro and his two brothers after a 911 call led police to his house, where authorities say three women missing for about a decade were held captive.

A 6-year-old girl also was found in the home, and a neighbor said she was at a park a week earlier with Castro, who referred to her as his "girlfriend's daughter." Israel Lugo lives down the street from the house where the women were found Monday and said he was stunned to see one of them holding the girl, who was screaming and crying.

Castro and his brothers, ages 50 to 54, were in custody Tuesday but had not been formally charged.

Castro was friends with the father of Gina DeJesus, one of the missing women, and helped search for her after she disappeared, said Khalid Samad, a friend of the family. He also performed music at a fundraiser held in her honor, Samad said.

"When we went out to look for Gina, he helped pass out fliers," said Samad, a community activist who was at the hospital with DeJesus and her family Monday night. "You know, he was friends with the family."

Tito DeJesus, one of Gina's uncles, said he played in a few bands with Castro over the past 20 years. He remembered visiting Castro's house after his niece disappeared, but he never noticed anything out of ordinary, saying it was very sparsely furnished and filled with musical instruments.

"That's pretty much what it looked like," DeJesus said. "I had no clue, no clue whatsoever that this happened."

Castro's son, Anthony Castro, said in an interview with London's Daily Mail newspaper that he now speaks with his father just a few times a year and seldom visited his house. On his last visit two weeks ago, he said, his father would not let him inside.

"The house was always locked," he told the newspaper. "There were places we could never go. There were locks on the basement. Locks on the attic. Locks on the garage."

Juan Perez, who lives two doors down from the house, has known Castro for decades.

"He was always happy, nice, respectful," Perez said. "He gained trust with the kids and with the parents. You can only do that if you're nice."

He said Castro had an ATV and a motorcycle and would take children on rides. Nothing seemed wrong with it then, he said, adding that he now thinks that was one way Castro tried to get close to the children. He also worked until recently as a school bus driver.

Castro's personnel file with the Cleveland public school district, obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information request, shows he was hired in 1990 as a bus driver after saying on his application that he liked working with children.

The personnel file includes details on his dismissal, approved by the school board last fall after he left his bus unattended for four hours.

Police identified the other two suspects as the 52-year-old's brothers, Pedro Castro, 54, and Onil Castro, 50.

A relative of the three brothers said their family was "as blindsided as anyone else."

Juan Alicea said he hadn't been to the home of his brother-in-law Ariel Castro since the early 1990s but had eaten dinner with him at a different brother's house shortly before the arrests Monday.

Lucy Roman lives next to a house she said is shared by Pedro Castro and his mother. She said police arrested him Monday night.

"I feel sorry for her," Roman said of the mother. "She's a very nice lady."

Several residents said they saw Ariel Castro at a candlelight vigil for the missing girls.

Antony Quiros said he was at the vigil about a year ago and saw Castro comforting Gina DeJesus' mother.

One neighbor, Francisco Cruz, said he was with Castro the day investigators dug up a yard looking for the girls.

Castro told Cruz, "They're not going to find anyone there," Cruz recalled.

Castro's Facebook page identifies him as a Cleveland resident and says he attended the city's Lincoln-West High School. His interests include Virginia Beach, the Chinese crested dog breed and Cuban-born salsa singer Rey Ruiz.

On April 11, he wrote to congratulate "my Rosie Arlene" and wish her a fast recovery from giving birth to "a wonderful baby boy. That makes me Gramps for the fifth time. Luv you guys!"

One neighbor says a naked woman was seen crawling on her hands and knees in the backyard of the house a few years ago. Another heard pounding on the home's doors and noticed plastic bags over the windows.

Both times, police showed up but never went inside, neighbors say. Police also paid a visit to the house in 2004, but no one answered the door.

Now, after three women who vanished a decade ago were found captive Monday at the run-down house, Cleveland police are facing questions for the second time in four years about their handling of missing-person cases and are conducting an internal review to see if they overlooked anything.

City Safety Director Martin Flask said Tuesday that investigators had no record of anyone calling about criminal activity at the house but were still checking police, fire and emergency databases.

The three women were rescued after one of them kicked out the bottom portion of a locked screen door and used a neighbor's telephone to call 911.

"Help me. I'm Amanda Berry," she breathlessly told a dispatcher in a call that exhilarated and astonished much of the city. "I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now."

Berry, 27, Michelle Knight, 32, and Gina DeJesus, about 23, had apparently been held captive in the house since their teens or early 20s, police Chief Michael McGrath said.

Three brothers, ages 50 to 54, were arrested. One of them, former school bus driver Ariel Castro, owned the home, situated in a poor neighborhood dotted with boarded-up houses just south of downtown. No charges were filed.

A relative of the three brothers said their family was "totally shocked" after hearing about the missing women being found at the home.

Juan Alicea said the arrests of his wife's brothers had left relatives "as blindsided as anyone else" in their community. He said he hadn't been to the home of his brother-in-law Ariel Castro since the early 1990s but had eaten dinner with Castro at a different brother's house shortly before the arrests were made Monday.

A 6-year-old girl believed to be Berry's daughter also was found in the home, police Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said. He would not say who the father was.

The women were reported by police to be in good health and were reunited with joyous family members but remained in seclusion.

In eastern Tennessee, Berry's father, Johnny Berry, told WJHL-TV that he spoke to her for the first time Monday night by phone at his home in Elizabethton.

"She said, `Hi, Daddy, I'm alive,"' Johnny Berry said. "She said, `I love you, I love you, I love you,' and then we both started crying."

Although Amanda Berry was born and raised in Cleveland, her father, grandparents and cousins live in Elizabethton. Before she disappeared, she often visited Tennessee during the summers. Family members said they visited her in Cleveland about three weeks before she went missing.

The head of the FBI in Cleveland, Stephen Anthony, said the families' prayers for the missing women had been answered.

"The nightmare is over," he said. "These three young ladies have provided us with the ultimate definition of survival and perseverance. The healing can now begin."

He added: "Words can't describe the emotions being felt by all. Yes, law enforcement professionals do cry."

Police would not say how the women were taken captive or how they were hidden in the neighborhood where they had vanished. Investigators also would not say whether they were kept in restraints inside the house or sexually assaulted.

Four years ago, in another poverty-stricken part of town, police were heavily criticized following the discovery of 11 women's bodies in the home and backyard of Anthony Sowell, who was later convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

The families of Sowell's victims accused police of failing to properly investigate the disappearances because most of the women were addicted to drugs and poor. For months, the stench of death hung over the house, but it was blamed on a sausage factory next door.

In the wake of public outrage over the killings, a panel formed by the mayor recommended an overhaul of the city's handling of missing-person and sex crime investigations.

This time, two neighbors said they called police to the Castro house on separate occasions.

Elsie Cintron, who lives three houses away, said her daughter saw a naked woman crawling in the backyard several years ago and called police. "But they didn't take it seriously," she said.

Another neighbor, Israel Lugo, said he heard pounding on some of the doors of the house in November 2011. Lugo said officers knocked on the front door, but no one answered. "They walked to side of the house and then left," he said.

"Everyone in the neighborhood did what they had to do," said Lupe Collins, who is close to relatives of the women. "The police didn't do their job."

Police did go to the house twice in the past 15 years, but not in connection with the women's disappearance, officials said.

In 2000, before the women vanished, Castro reported a fight in the street, but no arrests were made, Flask said.

In 2004, officers went to the home after child welfare officials alerted them that Castro had apparently left a child unattended on a bus, Flask said. No one answered the door, according to Flask. Ultimately, police determined there was no criminal intent on his part, he said.

Castro was arrested two days after Christmas in 1993 on a domestic-violence charge and spent three days in jail before he was released on bond. The case was presented to a grand jury, but no indictment was returned, according to court documents, which don't detail the allegations. It's unclear who brought the charge against Castro, who was living at the home from which the women escaped Monday.

Castro, 52, was well known in the mainly Puerto Rican neighborhood. He played bass guitar in salsa and merengue bands. He gave children rides on his motorcycle and joined others at a candlelight vigil to remember two of the missing girls, neighbors said. They also said they would sometimes see him walking a little girl to a neighborhood playground.

Tito DeJesus, an uncle of Gina DeJesus, played in bands with Castro over the last 20 years. He recalled visiting Castro's house but never noticed anything out of the ordinary, saying it had very little furniture and was filled with musical instruments.

"I had no clue, no clue whatsoever that this happened," he said.

Also arrested were Castro's brothers Pedro Castro, 54, and Onil Castro, 50. Calls to the jail went unanswered, and there was no response to interview requests sent to police, the jail and city officials.

Ariel Castro's son, Anthony Castro, said in an interview with London's Daily Mail newspaper that he now speaks with his father just a few times a year and seldom visited his house. He said on his last visit, two weeks ago, his father wouldn't let him inside.

"The house was always locked," he said. "There were places we could never go. There were locks on the basement. Locks on the attic. Locks on the garage."

Anthony Castro, who lives in Columbus, also wrote an article for a community newspaper in Cleveland about the disappearance of Gina DeJesus just weeks after she went missing, when he was a college journalism student.

"That I wrote about this nearly 10 years ago -- to find out that it is now so close to my family -- it's unspeakable," he told The Plain Dealer newspaper.

On Tuesday, a sign hung on a fence decorated with dozens of balloons outside the home of DeJesus' parents read "Welcome Home Gina." Her aunt Sandra Ruiz said her niece had an emotional reunion with family members.

"Those girls, those women are so strong," Ruiz said. "What we've done in 10 years is nothing compared to what those women have done in 10 years to survive."

Many of the women's loved ones and friends had held out hope of seeing them again,

For years, Berry's mother kept her room exactly as it was, said Tina Miller, a cousin. When magazines addressed to Berry arrived, they were piled in the room alongside presents for birthdays and Christmases she missed. Berry's mother died in 2006.

Just over a month ago, Miller attended a vigil marking the 10th anniversary of Berry's disappearance.

Over the past decade or so, investigators twice dug up backyards looking for Berry and continued to receive tips about her and DeJesus every few months, even in recent years. The disappearance of the two girls was profiled on TV's "America's Most Wanted" in 2005. Few leads ever came in about Knight.

Knight vanished at age 20 in 2002. Berry disappeared at 16 in 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King. About a year later, DeJesus vanished at 14 on her way home from school.

Jessica Aponce said she walked home with DeJesus the day the teenager disappeared.

"She called her mom and told her mom she was on her way home and that's the last time I seen her," Aponce said. "I just can't wait to see her. I'm just so happy she's alive. It's been so many years that everybody thinking she was dead."

Elizabeth Smart and Jaycee Dugard, who were held captive by abductors at a young age, said they were elated by the women's rescue.

"We need to have constant vigilance, constantly keep our eyes open and ears open because miracles do happen," Smart said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's CEO, John Ryan, said Berry, DeJesus and Knight likely would be honored by his group.

"I think they're going to be at the top of the list," he said.

Famous kidnapping survivors Jaycee Dugard and Elizabeth Smart have words of wisdom for the three women found this week in Cleveland years after their disappearance.

Dugard was abducted from a California bus stop in 1991 at age 11 and held captive for 18 years in a backyard, where she gave birth to two children conceived by rape. She made an oblique reference Tuesday to the Cleveland case as she accepted an award in Washington from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

"What an amazing time to be talking about hope, with everything that's happening," she said in her brief remarks. She urged the hundreds of people at the annual awards gala not to give up on missing children.

"Just urge yourself to care," she said.

In a statement released earlier through her publicist, Dugard said the women need a chance to heal and reconnect with the world. She said that the human spirit is resilient, and that the case reaffirms that people should never give up hope.

Dugard's mother, Terry Probyn, said in Washington that she understood what the relatives of the Cleveland victims were going through.

"I feel the same relief and the same joy that I felt when Jaycee was returned to me safely after 18 hellish years," she said. "I never doubted for one minute that I would someday be reunited with my daughter."

John Ryan, CEO of the center, praised the vigilance of investigators in Cleveland, saying they followed up on tips and never forgot about the missing women.

"There are other missing children out there that are only a phone call away from getting away from their predators," Ryan said. "I have every hope and confidence that this will lead to future recoveries."

Ryan said the three women would likely be honored by his group in the future. "I think they're going to be at the top of the list," he said.

In comments Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Smart said she was overjoyed to hear about the happy ending for the Cleveland women, who escaped Monday after being missing a decade.

She said the ordeal highlights the importance of the public staying alert and vigilant. She advised the women to focus on moving forward and let go of the past. Smart says it's also important for others to respect the privacy of those women as they recover from the decade-long ordeal.

Smart was kidnapped from her bedroom in Salt Lake City when she was 14. She was freed nine months later when she was found walking with her captor on a suburban street in March 2003.