(CNN) — A hostage situation at Maine State Prison ended Monday night with an inmate freeing his two hostages, authorities said.

The ordeal began about 2:30 p.m. Monday when inmate Michael Chasse took two people hostage at the prison in Warren, Maine, authorities said. Chasse freed the hostages Monday night “with minimal or no injury,” they said.

“I’m thankful that the crisis has ended without loss of life,” Governor John Baldacci said in a statement. “The Department of Corrections and State Police should be commended for their handling of a very dangerous situation.”

The hostages were a prison staff member and an inmate, said Denise Lord, associate commissioner of the Department of Corrections.

(CNN) — Former NATO supreme commander Wesley Clark said Monday he stands by his criticism of Sen. John McCain despite a wave of criticism from the Republican presidential candidate’s allies and Democratic contender Barack Obama’s campaign.

“As an American and former military officer, I will not back down if I believe someone doesn’t have sound judgment when it comes to our nation’s most critical issues,” Clark, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, said in a written statement Monday evening.

McCain’s supporters have complained about Clark’s Sunday comments on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” when Clark said McCain’s experience as a Navy pilot and prisoner of war did not necessarily qualify him to serve as commander-in-chief.

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — An Illinois man was charged with possession of a potentially deadly neurotoxin commonly found in species of puffer fish after the FBI led a raid at his home Monday.

Edward F. Bachner, 35, of Lake in the Hills, was charged with one count of illegal possession of a toxin, according to a federal complaint filed in U.S. district court. Bachner was arrested upon accepting a small amount tetrodotoxin delivered by an undercover federal official at his home, the FBI said.

Tetrodotoxin is a neurotoxin that in large doses can cause paralysis and death. It’s often linked to consumption of puffer fish, a delicacy from the water of the Indian and Pacific oceans that can prove fatal if not prepared properly, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Bachner, using the alias Edmond Backer, attempted to purchase 98 milligrams of tetrodotoxin through the Web site of a New Jersey chemical company, according to the FBI. Calls late Monday to Bachner’s home and business went unanswered.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush on Monday ordered additional disaster assistance for Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois — states reeling from storms, floods and, in some cases, tornadoes since early this month.

Under Bush’s order, the federal share of relief has been increased from 75 percent to 90 percent of the total eligible costs for emergency protective measures under the public assistance program.

(CNN) — Negotiators tried Monday to defuse a hostage situation at a prison in Warren, Maine, after an inmate took two people hostage during the afternoon.

David Framer, spokesman for Maine Governor John E. Baldacci, told CNN that the inmate of Maine State Prison took the two hostage at around 2:30 p.m.

“This is a serious situation,” Denise Lord, associate commissioner of the Department of Corrections, said in a written statement. “Our first priority is to protect the lives of the people involved. We will do everything in our power to make sure no one is hurt.”

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Internal Revenue Service is taking the unprecedented step of seeking Swiss bank records in search of what it suspects could be up to $20 billion worth of assets hidden by U.S. taxpayers.

Justice Department lawyers said late Monday that they had filed court documents in Miami asking a judge to allow the IRS to get information from the banking giant UBS. U.S. investigators are seeking permission for the first time to serve what are called “John Doe” summons to obtain information about possible tax fraud against taxpayers whose identities are not known.

Information stemming from a guilty plea by a former UBS banker last week in Miami suggests the Zurich-based bank had “undeclared” accounts of U.S. taxpayers estimated at about $20 billion. U.S. tax laws require any accounts abroad worth more than $10,000 to be reported — and penalties call for up to half of the amount in a hidden account to be forfeited.

The U.S. government is trying to cooperate with the Swiss government and the bank, Deputy Assistant Attorney General John DiCicco said. But he added, “We are prepared to seek enforcement if that process is not successful.”

NEW YORK (CNN) — Reconstruction of the World Trade Center site is over budget and won’t be finished by the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks that destroyed the landmark twin towers, the owners reported Monday.

“While significant progress has been made, the schedule and cost estimates of the rebuilding effort that have been communicated to the public are not realistic,” Christopher Ward, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, wrote in a letter to New York Gov. David Paterson. Paterson asked for a status update on the construction efforts earlier this month.

The complex was destroyed when al Qaeda operatives flew hijacked jetliners into the twin towers on September 11, 2001, killing more than 2,700 people. The Port Authority, which owns the site, listed 15 separate issues it said had slowed reconstruction efforts, including security and policing plans and contracting strategies for rebuilding the subway stations that sat beneath the site.

“Progress has been made. Ground Zero has gone from a standstill to a busy construction site, but the rebuilding effort is not where it should be and it is not where we promised it would be,” Paterson said in a written statement after Monday’s announcement.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI sent a bulletin to state and local officials Tuesday saying there is no indication of any planned terrorist attack in the United States this holiday weekend, but it advises them to be vigilant just in case.

“There is no specific credible intelligence that terrorist organizations are planning attacks against the homeland during Fourth of July celebrations,” according to a homeland official who has seen the document.

But the bulletin says that because of the number of large gatherings and increased travel over the holiday period, authorities should heighten their vigilance, in particular for indicators of pre-operational surveillance and planning.
–From Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The number of deaths in Iraq among civilians, Iraqi soldiers and insurgents continued to decline during the month of June, according to data from the country’s Health, Defense and Interior ministries.

Nearly 450 civilians were killed during the 30-day span, but that was an 11 percent decrease from May, when just over 500 lost their lives.

The Iraqi military lost 21 soldiers, while 123 insurgents were reported to have been killed.

A slight increase was seen with the number of American casualties during the month. As of Monday, 29 soldiers had been killed — eight more than May’s total, which was the lowest in four years.

LIMA, Peru (CNN) — The trial of former President Alberto Fujimori opened here Monday with his former intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, declaring his boss innocent of the charges he faces.

“I came here to clarify that Mr. Fujimori has no responsibility with the actions cited in this process,” Montesinos told court magistrates.

The trial, held in Ate Vitarte on the outskirts of Lima, marks the first time the two men have been in the same room since they both fled the country eight years ago.

Fujimori, 69, faces charges that range from bribery and corruption to murder and human rights abuses that carry a potential penalty of 30 years in prison. He has denied the charges.

LOS ANGELES (CNN) — The Screen Actors Guild has told its 122,000 members to stay on the job even if the union fails to reach a deal with film and television studios before their current contract expires at midnight Monday.

SAG President Alan Rosenberg said no strike vote has been planned, and the union’s negotiators are “coming to the bargaining table every day in good faith.”

“Any talk about a strike or a management lockout at this point is simply a distraction,” he said.

The talks have been complicated by a split between SAG and the smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which has reached its own agreement with the studios. About 44,000 of AFTRA’s 70,000 members belong to both unions, and SAG leaders have urged those members to vote against the deal.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former President Bill Clinton and Barack Obama talked by phone Monday morning, representatives of both sides said, as the Democrats sought to quash rumors that Clinton holds a grudge against the man who knocked his wife out of contention for the party’s presidential nomination.

Obama called Clinton and they spoke for about 20 minutes Monday morning, the Obama campaign told CNN.

Clinton wants to campaign “with and for” Obama after the hard-fought primary campaign between Obama and Hillary Clinton, Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna said. Clinton “renewed his offer to do whatever he can to ensure Sen. Obama is our next president.”

Obama “had a terrific conversation with President Clinton and is honored to have his support in this campaign,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former President Bill Clinton and Barack Obama talked by phone Monday morning, the Obama campaign told CNN.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A Canadian seized by U.S. officials and sent to Syria, where he claims he was tortured, has been dealt a major legal setback in his effort to sue U.S. government officials.

In the closely watched case of Canadian engineer Maher Arar, a federal appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that rejected, on procedural grounds, his lawsuit seeking damages from top U.S. law enforcement officials.

“Arar’s complaint must be dismissed because Arar’s allegations regarding his removal to Syria do not state a claim” against the government officials, said the ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Because the claims need not be considered, the ruling said, the panel did not have to reach any conclusion on the merits of the torture allegations.
–From Justice Producer Terry Frieden

CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) — African Union leaders huddled in Egypt Monday to address demands that they reject the results of Zimbabwe’s widely discredited runoff in which President Robert Mugabe was handed a shallow victory.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro described the situation in Zimbabwe as “the single greatest challenge to regional stability in southern Africa, not only because of its terrible humanitarian and security consequences but also because of the dangerous political precedent it sets.”

Mugabe is attending the two-day AU summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, a meeting described by a U.N. official as “a moment of truth.”

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai told CNN he is closely monitoring developments from Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital.

(CNN) — Sen. John McCain’s campaign on Monday called retired Gen. Wesley Clark’s remarks that McCain lacks command experience “the lowest form of politics.”

Clark, a military adviser for Sen. Barack Obama, questioned Sunday whether McCain’s military experience qualified him to be commander in chief.

“I think it’s kind of sad,” McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said Monday on CNN’s “American Morning.”

Obama’s campaign on Monday issued a response: “As he’s said many times before, Sen. Obama honors and respects Sen. McCain’s service, and of course he rejects yesterday’s statement by Gen. Clark.”

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Four Iraqi judges were the targets of separate bombing attacks in Baghdad on Monday, and one sustained injuries along with his wife and daughter, an Interior Ministry official said.

The other three escaped unharmed, although one judge’s bodyguard was wounded.

Attacks on professionals have been common in Iraq during the war, with lawyers, judges, and professors the victims of violence.

(CNN) — The Sunday mid-air collision of medical helicopters in Arizona that killed six people is part of a “disturbing” national trend, a National Transportation Safety Board official said Monday.

“This has been a serious issue. Just this year there have been eight of these incidents,” NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said in a news conference in Arizona. “We want to see if there are issues that we need to fix to prevent these mid-airs from happening.”

Rosenker had not added the Arizona crash into his figures, an NTSB official said. According to NTSB data, it is the ninth collision or crash involving medical helicopters this year. In 2007, there were 14 such crashes.

The only person who survived Sunday’s collision in Flagstaff was an emergency nurse, Arizona officials said Monday. She was in critical condition, said Flagstaff police Sgt. Tom Boughner. Both helicopters were headed to Flagstaff Medical Center at the time of the crash, said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The U.S. military will seek the death penalty against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, making him the first person charged in the plot to attack the USS Cole, Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann announced Monday.

Susan Crawford, who is effectively the judge in military commission trials at Guantanamo Bay, will now determine whether the prosecution should go forward and, if so, whether the death penalty should be considered.

Al-Nashiri, who is being held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, says he was tortured into confessing to involvement in the bombing, according to transcripts released by the military.

The CIA has admitted to waterboarding al-Nashiri at a secret location in 2002; the tapes were destroyed in 2005.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The U.S. military will seek the death penalty against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, accused in the plot to attack the USS Cole, Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann announced Monday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A federal appeals court has slammed the reliability of U.S. government intelligence documents, saying just because officials keep repeating their assertions does not make them true.

In a detailed ruling released Monday, a three-judge panel from the the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington likened the Bush administration’s case to a classic 1876 poem by Lewis Carroll, known for the line, “I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true.”

Portions of the court’s overall findings were released a week ago, including an order that an accused foreign fighter was being wrongly imprisoned.

“The Hunting of the Snark” was cited in the case, which involves a Chinese Muslim held by the U.S. military at the Guantanamo Bay Navy Base in Cuba. In its ruling, the court reiterated an order it announced last week, that Hazaifa Parhat be released or transferred, or that a hearing be held quickly to determine whether he is being held properly.
–From CNN Supreme Court Producer Bill Mears

(CNN) — A spreading wildfire is forcing the evacuation of a small Arizona town Monday.

Officials in Crown King, a former mining community in the center of the state, are evacuating residents as the fire approaches homes and businesses. The blaze already has burned 600 acres, and the area’s dry conditions and high winds are helping it spread.

Fire teams will start a controlled fire in an effort to take flames away from the town and create a barrier for homes and other buildings.

Crown King has only about 250 permanent residents, but on weekends there may be close to 1,000 people staying in cabins they own in the area, said Nick Angiolillo, emergency manager for Yavapai County.

(CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama on Monday will deliver what his campaign is calling a “major speech” on an issue that he’s had to defend for months — his patriotism. The remarks will come in Harry Truman’s hometown of Independence, Missouri, just days before the Fourth of July.

“Sen. Obama will discuss what patriotism means to him and what it requires of all Americans who love this country and want to see it do better,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton wrote in a morning e-mail to reporters.

The Illinois senator has been defending his patriotism since the beginning of the primary season, when he was first criticized for not wearing a flag pin — which he now does much more frequently — and when false rumors began circulating that he did not say the Pledge of Allegiance.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush Monday signed a bill that will pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the remainder of Bush’s presidency and into the spring of 2009.

The supplemental spending bill provides nearly $162 billion in war funding without the restrictions congressional Democrats vowed to put into place since they took control of Congress nearly two years ago.

After signing the bill, Bush said the men and woman of the armed services are owed “our unflinching support, and the best way to demonstrate that support is to give them the resources they need to do their jobs and to prevail.”

Bush also said he appreciated that “Republicans and Democrats in Congress agreed to provide these vital funds without tying the hands of our commanders and without an artificial timetable of withdrawal from Iraq.”

“This bill shows the American people that even in an election year, Republicans and Democrats can come together to stand behind our troops and their families,” he said.

Bush also touted the success of the surge strategy he implemented last year.

“Our troops have driven the terrorists and extremists from many strongholds in Iraq. Today, violence is at the lowest level since March of 2004,” he said. “As a result of this progress, some of our troops are coming home, as a result of our policy called ‘Return on Success.’ We welcome them home.”

The supplemental spending bill also contains a new “G.I. Bill” that expands education benefits for veterans who have served since the 9/11 attacks, provides 13 weeks of additional unemployment benefits and over $2 billion in disaster assistance for parts of the Midwest that have been hit by record floods.