World/Nation Briefs February 12, 2013
Army vet receives Medal of Honor for Afghan fight
WASHINGTON - A veteran who helped "defend the indefensible" at a vulnerable Army outpost in Afghanistan received the nation's highest award for military valor Monday at a tearful White House ceremony that also honored the eight men who did not survive a Taliban attack.
President Barack Obama lauded former Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha's bravery in fighting back an intense daylong barrage by enemy fighters. The Taliban descended on Combat Outpost Keating in the mountains near the Pakistan border at 6 a.m. on Oct. 3, 2009, shaking Romesha out of his bed into what Obama said has been called one of the most intense battles of the war in Afghanistan.
The Americans were outmanned 53 to more than 300, but most survived against those odds. "These men were outnumbered, outgunned, and almost overrun," Obama said.
Romesha, 31, listened to the commendation while fighting back tears, sometimes unsuccessfully, the families of his fallen comrades sitting together and crying near the back of his East Room audience. Other troops who fought that day also watched as the president placed the medal hanging from a blue ribbon around Romesha's neck.
"I'm feeling conflicted with this medal I now wear," Romesha told reporters outside the West Wing after the ceremony. "The joy comes from recognition for us doing our jobs as soldiers on distant battlefields, but is countered by the constant reminder of the loss of our battle buddies, my battle buddies, my soldiers, my friends."
Eight U.S. soldiers were killed in the fighting and other 22 wounded, including Romesha, who was peppered with shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade in the hip, arm and neck. But he fought through his wounds to help lead other soldiers to safety, defend the burning camp from encroaching Taliban fighters, personally taking out at least 10, and retrieve the bodies of the fallen Americans.
Romesha also served twice in Iraq and is the fourth living Medal of Honor recipient for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Earthquake detected near nuclear test site
SEOUL, South Korea - An earthquake was detected Tuesday in North Korea just north of a site where the country has conducted nuclear tests. Neither Pyongyang nor Seoul confirmed whether the tremor resulted from a widely anticipated third nuclear test, though an analyst in Seoul said a nuclear detonation was a "high possibility."
The South Korean Defense Ministry, which raised its military alert level after the quake, said it was trying to determine whether it was a test. Nuclear blasts can create tremors but they are distinct from those caused by natural earthquakes.
A U.N. nuclear test monitoring organization detected what it called an "unusual seismic event" in North Korea.
The U.S. Geological Survey as well as earthquake monitoring stations in South Korea detected an earthquake just north of a site where North Korea conducted its second nuclear test in 2009, according to the government-funded Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources.
Obama to revive populist message in State of Union
WASHINGTON - Reviving his populist re-election message, President Barack Obama will press a politically-divided Congress to approve more tax increases and fewer spending cuts during a State of the Union address focused on stabilizing the middle class and repairing the still-wobbly economy.
Today's address will be broadcast at 6 p.m. PST on all major networks.
The agenda Obama will outline tonight before a joint session of Congress will include more money for infrastructure, clean energy technologies and manufacturing jobs, as well as expanding access to early childhood education.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama would outline "his plan to create jobs and grow the middle class" as the nation struggles with persistently high unemployment.
Adventurers re-enact epic Antarctic voyage
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - It's been lauded as one of the greatest survival stories of all-time.
Nearly 100 years later, a group of British and Australian adventurers have discovered why. They re-enacted Ernest Shackleton's journey to save his crew when their ship got stuck and sank in Antarctica's icy waters.
Tim Jarvis and Barry "Baz" Gray reached an old whaling station on remote South Georgia island Monday, 19 days after leaving Elephant Island. Just as Shackleton did in 1916, Jarvis and his team sailed 800 nautical miles (1,300 kilometers) across the Southern Ocean in a small lifeboat and then climbed over crevasse-filled mountains in South Georgia.
The modern-day team of six used similar equipment and clothes. But the harsh conditions forced several of them to abandon their attempt along the way.
- The Associated Press