Midday Roundup: FBI joins probe into Clinton's private email server

Security concerns. The FBI is investigating the private email setup that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used during her time at the State Department after intelligence officials expressed concern that some classified information might have been compromised. Obama administration officials said they are not targeting Clinton, and her lawyer, David Kendall, said Clinton and her legal team are fully cooperating with the investigation. The FBI wants to check the security of a USB drive in Kendall’s possession that allegedly contains copies of Clinton’s work emails. Clinton maintains she did not send or receive classified messages through her private email server. But State Department officials in May identified some classified information in the 55,000 pages of email data Clinton turned over months earlier.

And the winners are … Fox News released its Top 10 list of Republican presidential hopefuls who made the cut for Thursday night’s first debate. Those relegated to the so-called “kiddie table” forum earlier in the day complained about the methods the cable network used to make its selections and also insisted missing this early meeting of rivals was not a campaign killer. Based on the latest opinion polls, the prime-time debate will feature: Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Dr. Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and John Kasich. In the last few weeks, the Christie, Kasich, and Rick Perry campaigns scrabbled to gain traction to secure the last few coveted spots. Kasich, the last to announce his campaign, came from behind to edge out Perry, among the first to launch a White House bid. Perry will join Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and Jim Gilmore in the earlier forum event.

Train tragedy. Two passenger trains in India derailed Tuesday after flash floods triggered by heavy rains washed out a bridge just as the trains were trying to cross it. At least 25 people are dead, and rescuers pulled 300 survivors from the wreckage. The bridge collapsed first under the Kamayani Express, dumping cars into the raging water. The Janata Express arrived at the bridge moments later, traveling in the opposite direction. Some of the passengers were asleep when the accident happened. “I was sleeping and suddenly I felt a jolt,” survivor Manoj Mongi told the Hindustan Times. “I woke up and saw that all the passengers were screaming and running. I came out. I saw three women floating, but I could not save them.”

Differing opinions. Two former U.S. ambassadors gave a Senate panel opposing views Tuesday on the Iran nuclear deal. Eric Edelman told the Senate Armed Services Committee the Obama administration has consistently said the current deal is the best possible, and the only alternative is war. “I reject all of those propositions,” Edelman said, noting Iran is in economic turmoil due to sanctions and low oil prices and needs an agreement far more than the United States. He also urged Congress—regardless of how it votes on the Iran nuclear deal—to pass an authorization for the use of force against Iran. But former Ambassador Nicholas Burns supports the deal and told lawmakers abandoning it would make it easier for Iran to go nuclear. “The Iranian response, the likely response, would be to walk away … from the deal if we chose to do so,” he warned. “So instead of Iran being a year away from a nuclear weapon, it would go back to being a nuclear threshold state.” Congress must decide by mid-September whether to approve or reject the agreement.

Still burning. A massive wildfire in Northern California’s Lake County continues out of control, forcing nearly 13,000 residents to evacuate. The blaze—now called the “Rocky Fire”—has consumed almost 100 square miles of drought-ridden brush and destroyed at least two dozen homes. One of the firefighters battling the blaze says it’s in a class by itself: “I’ve heard and spoken to firefighters with 20, 30, 40 years on the job, and they say this is unprecedented. They haven’t seen fire behavior like this in their entire career.” Drought conditions have also sparked flames in Washington and Oregon.

WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard contributed to this report.