World/Nation Briefs June 20, 2012
Romney: Rubio being 'thoroughly vetted'
HOLLAND, Mich. - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Tuesday that his campaign is "thoroughly vetting" Marco Rubio as it searches for a running mate despite reports that the Florida senator is not being considered.
ABC News and The Washington Post cited unnamed advisers in reporting that Rubio, R-Fla., wasn't on the short list for the No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket.
"I can't imagine who such people are, but I can tell you this: They know nothing about the vice presidential selection or evaluation process," Romney told reporters Tuesday evening outside a Michigan ice cream shop. "The story was entirely false. Marco Rubio is being thoroughly vetted as part of our process."
Earlier in the day, Romney had refused to comment on reports that Rubio, a rising star in Republican politics, wasn't under consideration as a potential running mate.
The presumptive GOP nominee initially told Fox News only that "a number of people are being vetted" but that only two people - he and a senior adviser - know who's on the list. He repeated that statement Tuesday evening but clarified Rubio's status as a potential vice presidential pick.
Egypt's Mubarakon life support
CAIRO - Egypt's Hosni Mubarak was on life support after suffering a stroke in prison Tuesday, deepening the country's uncertainty just as a potentially explosive fight opened over who will succeed him.
The 84-year-old Mubarak suffered a "fast deterioration of his health" and his heart stopped beating, the state news agency MENA and security officials said. He was revived by defibrillation but then had a stroke and was moved from Torah Prison to a military hospital in Cairo.
MENA initially reported he was "clinically dead" upon arrival, but a security official said he was put on life support. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Maj. Gen. Mohsen el-Fangari, a member of the ruling military council, told the Al-Shorouk newspaper website that Mubarak was in a "very critical condition," but denied he was dead. Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, came to the hospital, where Mubarak was in an intensive care unit, another security official said.
The developments came amid threats of new unrest and political power struggles, 16 months after Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising demanding democracy.
Obama: Europeans 'grasp seriousness' of debt crisis
LOS CABOS, Mexico - President Barack Obama voiced confidence Tuesday in Europe's ability to "break the fever" of its raging debt crisis as he sought to calm both global financial markets and the election-year worries of voters at home.
Obama, speaking at the close of the Group of 20 economic summit, said Europe's leaders showed a "heightened sense of urgency" during two days of talks in this Mexican resort. The president maintained that Europe had the capacity to solve the crisis on its own, indicating the U.S., still battling its own economic woes, would not be offering any financial pledges to help its international partners.
"Even if they cannot achieve all of it in one fell swoop, I think if people have a sense of where they are going that can provide confidence and break the fever," Obama said in a news conference that brought to a close his last foreign trip before the November election.
Obama waded deep into the summit discussions on Europe's debt crisis, which could have repercussions both for a U.S. economy still struggling to recover from a recession and Obama's own re-election prospects. He acknowledged that "all of this affects the United States" but that his administration does not have control over how quickly the Europeans fix the problems.
Huge tax boosts, spending cuts loom
WASHINGTON - A budget showdown for the ages could begin after this year's election and stretch well into 2013 - despite the threat that an impending half-trillion-dollar avalanche of tax increases and spending cuts might rekindle a national recession.
The reason: an unprecedented collision of high-stakes fiscal decisions, coming at a time of intense partisanship, a teetering economy, record federal deficits and, possibly, a new president.
Campaigning for the White House and Congress will make substantive action all but impossible before the elections. And agreement may be nearly as tough during a post-election, lame duck session in November and December, barring a European financial meltdown or Middle East oil supply crisis that demands an immediate response by lawmakers.
911 call released in Rodney King's death
LOS ANGELES - Rodney King's fiancee said in a frantic 911 call that she threw a shovel to try to rouse him after she woke to the sounds of a fall and found him at the bottom of his swimming pool.
Cynthia Kelley repeatedly implored authorities to hurry to King's Rialto, Calif., home early Sunday. In audio authorities released Tuesday, Kelley tells a dispatcher that she tried to rouse King but he wasn't responding.
"He's not moving," Kelley said, crying throughout the call. "I was sleeping, all of a sudden I heard something fall like the table and then I looked over and then I went to find him and he's at the bottom of the swimming pool. He's still there. Please hurry up."
The 5-minute, 15-second phone call ends with the arrival of police officers who pulled King from the pool and began life-saving efforts. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Police have said they have found no signs of foul play and continue to investigate King's case as an accidental drowning.
- The Associated Press