10 things you need to know today: May 14, 2015

The train was reportedly going almost double the speed limit when it derailed.

(Image credit: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

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1. Amtrak train entered curve at 106 mph before derailing
2. House votes to end phone-record surveillance program
3. Seventy-two die in Philippine factory fire
4. Senate deal revives fast-track trade bill
5. Vatican recognizes Palestinian state in legal document
6. Fourteen, including one American, killed in Kabul attack
7. Lawyers make closing arguments ahead of Boston Marathon bombing sentencing
8. Iraq says No. 2 ISIS leader killed in coalition airstrike
9. Fifth person arrested in connection with deaths of two Mississippi officers
10. Watchdog says Secret Service were probably alcohol-impaired in March incident

By Harold Maass, The Week US

published 14 May 2015

1. Amtrak train entered curve at 106 mph before derailing

The Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia, killing at least seven people, was traveling at 106 mph — more than twice the speed limit — as it approached the curve where the accident occurred, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday. "That's just insanity," Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said. More than 200 people were injured, several of them critically. Investigators said a high-tech train-control system due to be installed this year could have prevented the crash.

The House voted Wednesday to end the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' telephone data. The bill — the USA Freedom Act — passed 338-88. It would require U.S. intelligence agencies to get a court to find a reasonable suspicion of a link to international terrorism to get permission to access the data. The vote set up a possible showdown the Senate, where several Republican leaders want to renew the existing bulk data collection program when it expires on June 1.

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The death toll from a fire at a sandal factory in Manila reached 72 on Thursday. The blaze broke out on Wednesday when sparks from welding work on the Kentex Manufacturing Corporation's front gate ignited chemicals used to make the company's rubber flip-flops and sandals. The fire spread quickly. Some survivors jumped from the second floor. Many others were trapped inside by metal bars covering windows. There were 200 to 300 people inside when the fire started.

Senate leaders have agreed on a deal to revive a proposal to give President Obama fast-track authority as he tries to strike a trade agreement with 11 Pacific rim nations. Democrats demanding more protections for American workers blocked the bill earlier in the week. The Senate will hold votes Thursday on two related bills demanded by Democrats, then move on to a vote on the measure to speed approval of foreign trade agreements. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called the compromise "sensible."

The Vatican said Wednesday that it would recognize the "state of Palestine" in a new treaty. The document, which is expected to be signed soon, is believed to mark the first time the Holy See has formally recognized Palestinian statehood, although it has referred to Palestine as a state since November 2012. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to visit Pope Francis on Saturday. Israel said it was "disappointed," and that the move would "not advance the peace process."

At least 14 people, including nine foreigners, were killed Wednesday when suspected Taliban gunmen stormed a hotel in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. One of the dead reportedly was an American. Two were Indians. Kabul Police Chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said early Thursday that another five people were wounded in the attack. Fifty-four people who had been trapped inside were rescued by police and special forces after a five-hour siege. Taliban attacks have increased since the Islamist extremist group launched a spring offensive last month.

The defense and prosecution gave their closing arguments Wednesday in the sentencing phase of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's trial. A simple majority on the jury can sentence Tsarnaev to life in prison with no chance of parole. A vote for the death penalty has to be unanimous. Prosecutors say Tsarnaev deserves to die for his role in the April 2013 attack killed, which killed three people and injured more than 260. Defense lawyers say his older brother, Tamerlan, dragged him into the plot.

The No. 2 leader of the Islamic State, Abu Alaa al-Afri, has been killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike near the town of Tal Afar in northern Iraq, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said Wednesday. The Pentagon said it could not independently confirm the report, although it said the coalition carried out airstrikes against ISIS near Tal Afar on Tuesday and Wednesday. Iraq said al-Afri and several other ISIS leaders had been meeting in a mosque, but U.S. officials denied any mosque had been targeted.

A fifth person has been arrested in connection with a weekend shooting that left two Hattiesburg, Mississippi, police officers dead. Abram Wade "Pete" Franklin was charged with obstruction of justice after being questioned by Mississippi Bureau of Investigation agents. Authorities did not immediately say what led to the charge. The other suspects remain in jail. One — Marvin Banks, 29 — faces two capital murder charges for the killings of officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate.

Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth said in a report released Wednesday that two senior Secret Service agents were "more likely than not" impaired by alcohol when they drove a government vehicle through a secure area where agents were investing a suspicious package at the White House in March. The men — Marc Connolly, the deputy in charge of the Presidential Protection Division, and George Ogilvie — denied being drunk. Connolly retired ahead of the report's release. Ogilvie is on administrative leave.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.