Casey Anthony reports for probation

Casey Anthony has reported to the Florida Department of Corrections, officials confirmed Wednesday night, beginning a one-year probation term stemming from her 2010 check-fraud convictions.

In a statement, corrections officials said that Anthony reported for probation sometime Wednesday evening. No other details were immediately released by the department.

The announcement comes a day after an appeal court delivered an order stating that Anthony did not serve her one year of probation in jail while awaiting trial in her daughter's death.

Anthony, recently acquitted of major charges in the death of her daughter, 2-year-old Caylee Marie, was ordered to report to corrections officials by noon Friday.

Though officials confirmed that Anthony reported for probation Wednesday evening, no details of the circumstances of that report or the status of her probation were released.

However, her lead attorney told Fox News that she plans to serve her probation somewhere in Florida, and will not be required to be employed. She will take classes online, attorney Jose Baez said.

"She told the officer she understands the conditions of her probation and she was told the date for her next appearance," Baez told the 24-hour news network.

Department of Corrections officials plan to make a statement regarding Anthony's probation status at 11 a.m. Thursday at the department's office in Tallahassee.

Questions about Anthony's probation arose after her acquittal. It wasn't immediately clear whether Anthony should serve probation for her check-fraud convictions upon her release from jail.

DOC officials initially stated Anthony had served the one-year probation in the Orange County Jail. That, however, was not the intent of the judge who imposed the sentence, Stan Strickland.

Anthony's defense team argued she'd served probation while in jail and could not be made to serve again. However, Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Belvin Perry and the appeal court were not convinced.

9/11 phone hacking report to be probed

Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday promised 9/11 families a preliminary criminal investigation into a report of possible phone hacking involving the Rupert Murdoch media empire.

Following a meeting at the Justice Department that lasted more than an hour, the family members and their lawyer said they were pleased that the attorney general made the commitment for a preliminary probe into whether the Sept. 11 victims or their families were the targets of phone hacking by journalists at Murdoch's now-shuttered News of the World.

The lawyer for the families, Norman Siegel, said that the attorney general had used the words "very disturbing" to describe the possibility that phones of 9/11 victims and their family members might have been hacked.

Siegel said he and the families recommended that the Justice Department get the cell phone numbers of 9/11 victims and family members, then have the phone company search their records to find out whether someone engaged in hacking.

The families also recommended that the scope of the investigation be expanded to computers. The families also recommended a review of newspaper, TV and radio stories about 9/11 victims and their families to determine whether personal information in the stories only could have come from someone engaged in hacking.

Hurricane Irene batters smaller islands of Bahamas

A large and powerful Hurricane Irene roared across the Bahamas archipelago on Wednesday, knocking down trees and destroying homes on a path that officials said posed the greatest threat to the country's smaller, less-populated islands.

There were no immediate reports of major injuries or deaths but property damage appeared likely to be extensive. Acklins and Crooked islands, in the southern part of the chain, got hit particularly hard, with an estimated 90 percent of the homes in two settlements severely damaged or destroyed, said Capt. Stephen Russell, director of the country's National Emergency Management Agency.

Russell said he was getting "disturbing reports" from the two islands, each of which has a population of several hundred, but that he was not yet able to get a full assessment.

Authorities were also expecting major damage on the islands of Rum Cay, Eleuthera and Cat Island, which were all expected to have full and extended exposure to Hurricane Irene's 120 mph (193 kph) winds.

"That can be devastating for some of those islands," Russell said.

Forecasters said Nassau, on New Providence, would see tropical storm force winds no greater than 65 mph (104 kph) because the storm track had shifted and it was not getting the direct hit that many had feared. The island is the most populated, with more than 200,000 people, and is a major tourist destination.

This storm was only the third since 1866 that had crossed the entire length of the island chain and Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said the country was bracing for extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure. But he predicted few casualties overall.

iPhone 5 coming to Sprint, report says

Wireless carrier Sprint Nextel will start selling the forthcoming iPhone 5 in mid-October, .

This will be the first time the wildly successful Apple smartphone will be available to Sprint, the nation's No. 3 carrier.

The iPhone launched in 2007 with an exclusive partnership with AT&T. Verizon Wireless began to sell a version of the iPhone 4 earlier this year.

The iPhone 5 is expected to operate on all three networks.

The lineup addition would close a huge hole in Sprint's offerings -- mostly phones running Google's Android operating system.

Details on the iPhone 5's features are scant, but it's widely expected to be a dual-mode phone, allowing it to access the different network technologies with just one piece of hardware.

Currently, Apple builds two different models of the iPhone 4. One supports CDMA, for Verizon, and another that supports GSM, for AT&T.

Toyota drops price on many of its newly redesigned 2012 Camrys

Toyota aims to strengthen its redesigned best-selling Camry sedan, which is all new for 2012, by setting base prices on all but the most basic version below the prices of the 2011 models it replaces.

Executives of the Japanese automaker unveiled the new Camry on Thursday with presentations in Hollywood, Detroit, New York and Georgetown, Ky., where President Akio Toyoda drove the first one off the assembly line that has produced about 9 million Camrys since opening in 1987.

There are five trim levels of the 2012 model. The base prices, including delivery charges, range from $22,715 for the Camry L to $26,660 for the Camry hybrid. The trim levels which Toyota expects to account for a majority of sales -- the LE and SC -- are priced $200 and $965 lower, respectively, than the models they replace.

"The launch of the new Camry is very important to our company," said President Toyoda. "This car has become a symbol of Toyota's success over the years."

The Camry has been the best selling car in the U.S. for 13 of the last 14 years. Not even the company's record number of safety recalls in late 2009 and early 2010 knocked it from that perch. But the NIssan Altima, Ford Fusion, Chevrolet Malibu and Hyundai Sonata have narrowed the gap in the first seven months of 2011, with Camry sales leading Altima by about 21,000 cars.

Camry accounted for 14.3% of all midsize cars sold in the U.S. this year through July, but that is down from 17.2% in 2010 and 20.1% in 2009.

This is the seventh generation of the Camry, which Toyota launched in 1983 to compete with the Honda Accord.

The 2012 model will be the first Toyota vehicle to offer the company's new Entune multimedia system designed to enable hands-free use of cell phones and voice-activated access to a limited number of apps that help drivers find restaurants or listen to a variety of music beyond what is available on AM or FM radio.

Toyota officials said pricing for Entune will be announced later.

The new Camry, except for the hybrid, will go on sale Oct. 3. The hybrid will be for sale in early November.