10 things you need to know today: May 7, 2013

(Image credit: AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. THREE LONG-MISSING WOMEN RESCUED IN CLEVELAND

Three women who disappeared separately a decade ago were rescued from a Cleveland home on Monday. A neighbor freed the first woman — Amanda Berry, who disappeared on the eve of her 17th birthday in 2003 — after hearing her cries for help. Police then went to the house and found Georgina "Gina" DeJesus, who vanished in 2004 at 14, and Michelle Knight, who went missing in 2002, when she was 19. Police later arrested a 52-year-old former school bus driver, Ariel Castro, and two others, reportedly his brothers. [CNN]

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Gregory Hicks, who was the deputy of slain U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Libya, told congressional investigators that a team of special-operations forces was prevented by U.S. Special Operations Command Africa from rushing from Tripoli to Benghazi during the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the diplomatic compound there. Conservative critics say the testimony contradicts Obama administration claims that no reinforcements who could have helped were told to stand down. Hicks is scheduled to appear at a congressional hearing on Wednesday. [CBS News]

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski, the officer in charge of a program to curb the problem of rampant sexual assault in the Air Force, was arrested and charged with sexual battery over the weekend, Pentagon officials said Monday. Krusinski was accused of grabbing a woman by the breasts and buttocks in a parking lot. He was removed from his job as the head of the Air Force's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, pending an investigation. [Reuters]

A volcano erupted unexpectedly in the Philippines on Tuesday, blasting massive rocks skyward and killing five climbers. Several other climbers and Filipino guides were injured, some critically. They were plucked from the side of Mount Mayon, one of the Philippines' most active volcanoes, by rescue helicopters. Guide Kenneth Jesalva said two groups of climbers were on their way to the Mayon crater when the volcano suddenly began spewing smoke and ash, and rocks "as big as a living room" began raining down. [Associated Press]

The Obama administration on Monday flatly accused China's military of being behind a series of recent attacks on U.S. government and defense contractor computer systems. Earlier, the U.S. had avoided directly accusing China of involvement in the cyber-espionage. The Pentagon, however, in its annual report to Congress, said the attacks were done by China's military, possibly in an effort to map "military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis." [New York Times]

North Korea has removed two mobile missile launchers from its eastern coast, a U.S. official said Monday. The disclosure suggests that tensions on the Korean Peninsula are easing after the U.S. and Japan were forced to beef up their missile defense under threat of nuclear war from Pyongyang. President Obama is scheduled to meet with South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Washington on Tuesday. Park, known as South Korea's "Iron Lady" for her tough talk toward the North, will address Congress on Wednesday. [CNN, NBC News]

Robel Phillipos, a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who is accused of lying to investigators, was released Monday on $100,000 bond. A judge said Phillipos could go home in the custody of his mother, but he'll remain under house arrest. The 19-year-old will have to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and submit to drug testing. Phillipos' lawyers say he was "frightened and confused" when he was questioned days after the April 15 attack. [NBC News]

The Senate passed a bill Monday night that would make it much harder for shoppers to avoid paying sales taxes by making purchases online. The Senate approved the measure, which would empower the 45 states that impose sales taxes to collect them from retailers with sales above $1 million, by a vote of 69 to 27. If the bill becomes law, online stores could begin collecting taxes early next year, but the proposal faces strong opposition in the House. [CBS News]

German authorities arrested a 93-year-old man, Hans Lipschis, over "compelling evidence" that he served as an Auschwitz death camp guard during World War II, which could make him an accessory to murder. Lipschis moved to Chicago in the 1950s, but he was deported from the U.S. in 1983 for lying about his Nazi past when he entered the country. Lipschis has acknowledged that he served in an SS guard unit at Auschwitz, but says he was just a cook and never committed war crimes. [Associated Press]

Grammy award-winning singer Lauryn Hill, who gained fame as a member of the Fugees, was sentenced Monday to three months in prison for failing to pay taxes on more than $2 million in earnings. Hill, 37, pleaded guilty last year. In a courtroom statement, she said she intended to pay her overdue taxes but ran short of money during a hiatus from the music business. She has already paid more than $970,000 in back taxes, but now also faces $60,000 in fines. [USA Today]

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.

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