World Nation Briefs May 30, 2013

Obama may tab ex-Bush official to head FBI

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is preparing to nominate former Bush administration official James Comey to head the FBI, people familiar with the decision said Wednesday.

Three people with knowledge of the selection said Obama planned to nominate Comey, who was the No. 2 in President George W. Bush's Justice Department. The three people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the selection ahead of Obama's announcement, which was not expected immediately.

Comey became a hero to Democratic opponents of Bush's warrantless wiretapping program when Comey refused for a time to reauthorize it. Bush revised the surveillance program when confronted with the threat of resignation by Comey and current FBI Director Robert Mueller, who is stepping down in September.

Soldier charged in massacre will plead guilty

SEATTLE - The Army staff sergeant charged with slaughtering 16 villagers in one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war will plead guilty to avoid the death penalty in a deal that requires him to recount the horrific attack for the first time, his attorney told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was "crazed" and "broken" when he slipped away from his remote southern Afghanistan outpost and attacked mud-walled compounds in two slumbering villages nearby, lawyer John Henry Browne said.

But his client's mental state didn't rise to the level of a legal insanity defense, Browne said, and Bales will plead guilty next week.

The outcome of the case carries high stakes. The Army had been trying to have Bales executed, and Afghan villagers have demanded it. In interviews with the AP in Kandahar last month, relatives of the victims became outraged at the notion Bales might escape the death penalty.

"For this one thing, we would kill 100 American soldiers," vowed Mohammed Wazir, who had 11 family members killed that night, including his mother and 2-year-old daughter.

Man charged in hacking murder of British soldier

LONDON - Police have charged a man with murder in the killing of a British soldier in a suspected Islamic extremist attack in broad daylight on a London street.

Michael Adebowale, 22, was charged late Wednesday by counterterrorism officers and will appear in court today, police said. He is one of two main suspects in the killing of Lee Rigby, 25, who was struck by a car and stabbed to death last week near his barracks in southeast London's Woolwich district.

Gruesome images that emerged after the attack showed two men wielding bloody knives and meat cleavers. Both men were shot and wounded by police.

Suspect Michael Adebolajo, 28, remains hospitalized in stable condition. Adebowale was discharged from a hospital Tuesday and taken into custody.

New health law could sink many private policies

WASHINGTON - Many people who buy their own health insurance could get surprises in the mail this fall: cancellation notices because their current policies aren't up to the basic standards of President Barack Obama's health care law.

They, and some small businesses, will have to find replacement plans - and that has some state insurance officials worried about consumer confusion.

Rollout of the Affordable Care Act is going full speed ahead, despite repeal efforts by congressional Republicans. New insurance markets called exchanges are to open in every state this fall. Middle-class consumers who don't get coverage on the job will be able to pick private health plans, while low-income people will be steered to an expanded version of Medicaid in states that accept it.

The goal is to cover most of the nation's nearly 50 million uninsured, but even Obama says there will be bumps in the road. And discontinued insurance plans could be another bump.

Also, it doesn't seem to square with one of the president's best known promises about his health care overhaul: "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan."

Study: Railroads safer than ever

OMAHA, Neb. - The nation's railroads are safer than ever, despite recent high-profile accidents like this week's fiery derailment in Maryland.

Derailments and crossing accidents have steadily declined nationwide even as businesses have come to increasingly rely on trains. The number of train accidents fell 43 percent to 1,712 between 2003 and last year, while the number of incidents at rail crossings dropped 34 percent to 1,960. And the total number of deaths declined 19 percent to 705 over the decade, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

- The Associated Press