| Mark Everson ran the IRS. Now he wants to be president. Posted: 15 May 2015 09:17 AM PDT  There comes a moment in the career of many government bureaucrats when they sit across the table from a high-ranking elected official — the president, even—and think, You know, I'm just as smart as these guys. "You understand they're just another person," says Mark Everson, who served in the Reagan administration and as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service under George W. Bush. "You ask yourself, Do you like this? Do you think you qualify?" The answers he arrived at — yes and yes — led him, after a long period of soul-searching, to the Lincoln Dinner of the Linn County (Iowa) Republican Committee on May 1, where he shared a dais with the only other presidential candidate who showed up, an Indiana contractor named Mike Petyo. Because the hard truth about presidential politics is that while you may be just as smart as the guys who win, you almost certainly aren't as famous, charismatic or rich.
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| Bin Laden top aide sentenced to life in embassy bombing plot Posted: 15 May 2015 10:29 AM PDT  Khaled al-Fawwaz was convicted of conspiring in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.
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| What Marco Rubio's stumble on immigration says about his ability to lead Posted:  No one doubts Rubio's raw talent. But there are doubts about his readiness for the presidency.
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| Blues legend B.B. King dies at age 89 Posted: 15 May 2015 10:26 AM PDT  He was not only the undisputed king of the blues but a mentor to scores of guitarists.
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| IS seizes government HQ in Iraq's Ramadi Posted: 15 May 2015 10:15 AM PDT  Islamic State fighters seized the government compound in the city of Ramadi on Friday and edged closer to what would be their biggest victory in Iraq this year, officials said. The loss of the capital of Anbar province, which Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had said would be the next target of government forces after wresting back Tikrit last month, would be a major setback. The government stressed that Ramadi had not fallen yet and announced that a major counter-offensive was under way as Abadi held an emergency meeting with top security officials. IS has threatened to take control of Ramadi for months, and the breakthrough came after a wide offensive on multiple fronts in the province, including an assault using several suicide car bombs in Ramadi on Thursday.
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| Nepal rescuers find 3 bodies near crashed US Marine chopper Posted: 15 May 2015 09:09 AM PDT  KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepalese rescuers on Friday found three bodies near the wreckage of a U.S. Marine helicopter that disappeared this week during a relief mission in the earthquake-hit Himalayan nation, and officials said it was unlikely there were any survivors from the crash.
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| Burst of speed before Amtrak train crash at heart of investigation Posted: 15 May 2015 10:30 AM PDT  By Jarrett Renshaw PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Investigators on Friday sought to explain why an Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia had accelerated in the minute before it derailed, raising questions about whether the engineer's actions or mechanical failure, or both, caused the fatal accident. A much-anticipated interview with the engineer, Brandon Bostian, could provide a major piece of the puzzle, federal investigators say. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has said the train sped up from about 70 miles per hour (113 kph) to 100-plus mph in the last 65 seconds before the crash, based on a video taken by the locomotive's front-facing camera. The NTSB is investigating what caused the acceleration.
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| Saudi man gets life in U.S. prison for ties to Africa embassy bombings Posted: 15 May 2015 09:08 AM PDT  By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Saudi man whom U.S. authorities described as a top Osama bin Laden deputy was sentenced to life in prison on Friday in connection with the deadly 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Khalid al-Fawwaz was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan after being convicted of four conspiracy counts in New York in February. Instead, prosecutors said he was bin Laden's "bridge to the West" in London, disseminating the al Qaeda leader's violent messages to media outlets and sending supplies to the group's members in Africa. "I worship the same God you say you do," said Ellen Karas, an embassy worker left permanently blind by the August 7, 1998, bombing in Nairobi.
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| Boston Marathon bomber's life in balance as jury deliberates Posted: 15 May 2015 05:55 AM PDT  The jury in the Boston Marathon bombing trial on Friday began its third day of deliberations over whether Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death or to life in prison without the possibility of release. Three days later, he and his 26-year-old brother shot a police officer to death, carjacked a Chinese businessman and hurled bombs at police, triggering a day-long lockdown of most of the Boston area as police searched for Tsarnaev. Federal prosecutors say that Tsarnaev, who moved with his family to Cambridge, Massachusetts, from Russia a decade before the attack, was an adherent of al Qaeda's militant Islamist ideology, and wanted to "punish America" with the attack.
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| Obama: Gulf allies support Iran nuke talks Posted: 14 May 2015 03:23 PM PDT  The president says a deal that blocks Iran's pathway to a nuclear weapon would serve everyone's interests.
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| House passes bill for Congress to review Iran nuclear deal Posted: 14 May 2015 02:12 PM PDT  Lawmakers overwhelmingly approve a measure that gives them the power to potentially reject a nuclear deal with Tehran.
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| White House briefly on lockdown after drone incident Posted: 14 May 2015 11:19 AM PDT  A man apparently trying to fly a remote-controlled drone over the White House fence was detained by Secret Service agents Thursday.
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