World/Nation Briefs August 29, 2012
GOP nominates Romney inrousing roll call
TAMPA, Fla. - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney swept to the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday night, praised lovingly by his wife from their national convention stage as the "man America needs" and cheered by delegates eager to propel him into the fall campaign against President Barack Obama.
The hall erupted in cheers when Romney strolled on stage and shared a hug and kiss with his wife of more than 40 years.
"This man will not fail. This man will not let us down," Mrs. Romney said in a prime-time speech that sounded at times like a heart-to-heart talk among women and at times like a testimonial to her husband's little-known softer side.
"It's the moms who always have to work harder, to make everything right," she said. And she vouched firmly for her husband, who lags behind Obama in surveys among women voters: "You can trust Mitt. He loves America."
Earlier, the Romneys watched on television at a hotel suite across the street from the convention hall as delegates sealed his hard-won victories in the primaries and caucuses of last winter. They ended the evening together in a VIP box just above the convention floor.
Secret compound in Jordan desert houses defectors
MAFRAQ, Jordan - In an isolated stretch of Jordanian desert, a heavily guarded, secret compound houses 1,200 senior police and army officers who defected from nearby Syria.
The men live in trailers with fans but no air conditioning, surrounded by barbed wire, and they pass their days browsing the Internet and watching TV for news of Syria's civil war, longing to join the fight - but they are largely unable to leave.
The Jordanian military runs the camp near a site formerly used by the U.S. to train some its forces for the war in Iraq, and the defectors are debriefed by intelligence agents. Access to them is tightly restricted for their own protection. They are even separated from their families, who live outside the camp near the northern border city of Mafraq but can get special police permits to visit.
The defectors in the camp are allowed to communicate with the rebel Free Syrian Army in Jordan and abroad, both in person and through telephone and Internet communications, but do not have what is considered valuable intelligence, according to Jordanian security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to make press statements.
The facility is a sign of Jordan's growing role as a quiet supporter of Syria's opposition. But at the same time, Jordan wants to avoid aggravating tensions with its more powerful northern neighbor, fearing that President Bashar Assad may remain in power.
Typhoon hits as North Korea still hurt by flooding
SEOUL, South Korea - A powerful typhoon that killed at least 10 people in South Korea hit the North early Wednesday, knocking down hundreds of trees, destroying power cables and causing blackouts in a country already struggling to rebuild from earlier flooding.
Big rainstorms often mean catastrophe in North Korea because of poor drainage, deforestation and decrepit infrastructure, but the extent of wind and rain damage in the country wasn't immediately clear Wednesday. Pyongyang, the capital, saw strong winds but little apparent damage. Cars splashed through slightly flooded streets, spraying people on crowded sidewalks.
Typhoon Bolaven began pummeling the North late Tuesday, on the country's first Youth Day since new leader Kim Jong Un took over in December. Weather officials had warned that it would be the strongest typhoon to hit the region in several years, but its gusts in other parts of Asia weren't as powerful as predicted.
In South Korea, Bolaven left hundreds of thousands without power, canceled flights and temporarily halted joint war games by U.S. and South Korean military forces. The storm also churned up rough seas that smashed two fishing ships into rocks off southern Jeju island, killing five people and leaving 10 missing.
Dangerous waves kept rescue vessels from approaching the wrecked Chinese fishing ships. The coast guard used a special gun to shoot rope to one ship so officers could pull themselves over and bring the fishermen back to shore, coast guard spokesman Ko Chang-keon said.
Police: Student attack not likely hate crime
EAST LANSING, Mich. - A Michigan State University student said he was attacked at an off-campus party by two men who asked if he was Jewish, and when he said he was, punched him and then stapled his mouth.
"It's shameful that in 21st century America, such religious hatred exists in our country," Zach Tennen, a 19-year-old sophomore, told The Associated Press. "No one should ever be subjected to the horror I experienced."
But police in East Lansing said Tuesday the incident probably isn't a hate crime, and neither police nor Tennen's statement provided details about the attack, including how many people were present.
- The Associated Press