Midday Roundup: Nine dead after commuter trains collide in Germany

Travel tragedy. Two commuter trains collided in Germany this morning, killing nine people and seriously injuring 50 others. Two passengers remain missing. The trains were traveling on the same track in opposite directions when they struck each other going about 62 miles per hour. Officials say they don’t know what happened to allow the trains on the same track. Both trains were equipped with automatic braking systems that should have prevented the accident. They also each had a driver and a trainee on board, and officials said it seems unlikely all four people would have missed signals warning them of the danger. The accident happened in a mountainous region in Germany’s southern state of Bavaria. Injured passengers had to be ferried by boat and helicopter to area hospitals.

Accomplice to terror. U.S. officials have charged the wife of a senior ISIS leader for her role in the death of American hostage Kayla Mueller. But it’s not clear whether Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, also known as Umm Sayyaf, will ever come to the United States to stand trial. Bahar, 25, is being held in an Iraqi prison after being captured last year. She told U.S. and Iraqi officials she helped imprison Mueller and several other female hostages in her home when her husband, Abu Sayyaf, a former Islamic State minister for oil and gas, was traveling. Delta Force commandos killed Sayyaf in a raid on his compound in May. After her capture, Bahar provided details of Mueller’s captivity, including repeated rapes by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. ISIS leaders claimed Mueller died in a Jordanian air strike. U.S. officials confirmed her death but not the circumstances.

Big spender. President Barack Obama has delivered a $4.1 trillion budget to Congress—his eighth and final spending wish list for the country. Perhaps because it’s his last, the president threw caution to the wind, asking for spending increases that would raise taxes by $2.6 trillion over the next 10 years. That’s nearly double the $1.4 trillion in new taxes Obama asked for last year. But the budget has no chance of passing through the Republican-controlled Congress. The spending plan includes money for a new “war on cancer,” combating global warming, and fighting Islamic State terrorists.

Deadly shortcuts. Taiwanese officials have charged three construction company executives with professional negligence resulting in death after a residential tower their company built in Tainan collapsed during Saturday’s earthquake. Rescue crews digging through the rubble of the 17-story Weiguan tower discovered tin cans used as filler in the building’s support structures. Officials believe about 103 people remain trapped in the building’s ruins. Although the 6.4-magnitude quake was relatively shallow, at 6 miles below the surface, Taiwan’s strict building codes enabled most buildings to survive the shaking and rolling. “There are so many other older buildings in Tainan that are still standing,” cab driver Wang Xingyou told CNN. “Why was it only this building that was completely destroyed?”

Not-so-secret investigation. In court filings released yesterday, the FBI finally admitted what has been long known but not confirmed: The agency is investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. The letter, written by FBI Director James Comey, does not provide details about the investigation. During the last Democratic debate, Clinton claimed she was “100 percent confident” the investigation would not result in criminal charges: “This is a security review requested and carried out that will be resolved.” But the ongoing investigation makes it hard for Clinton to claim Republicans are using a non-issue for political advantage.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.