The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Romney picks Ryan as running mate Washington, August 11 Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney has chosen Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, a strong critic of Obama Administration's economic policies, as his running mate for the November presidential polls in the US. "I am proud to announce Paul Ryan as my VP," Romney, 65, said on the micro-blogging site Twitter today. Soon after, 42-year-old Ryan tweeted: "I'm honored to join Mitt Romney on America's Comeback Team". Both the tweets came just after the Romney campaign made the announcement via an iPhone application to his supporters. "Mitt Romney has announced Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan as his Vice Presidential running mate," the campaign announced. Ryan is known as a strong critic of Obama Administration, especially his economic plans. The seventh term Congressman representing Wisconsin's First Congressional District, Ryan is Chairman of the House Budget Committee. Releasing his bio, the Romney campaign described it as a "America's Comeback Team". The campaign said that Ryan as head of the House Budget Committee has worked tirelessly leading the effort to reign in federal spending and increase accountability to taxpayers. He also serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, where he has focused on simplifying the tax code and making health care more affordable and accessible. In January 2010, Ryan gained nationwide attention after unveiling his "Roadmap for America's Future", a proposal to eliminate the federal deficit, reform the tax code and preserve entitlements for future generations. Romney has supported his budgetary plan. Ryan was the youngest member of the Congress when he entered the House of Representative in 1999 at the age of 28 years. While there was no immediate reaction from the Obama Campaign, which is expected soon, US media said Romney-Ryan team offers a strong challenge to the US President. — PTI
	Romney fumbles, introduces Ryan as next US Prez Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was on Saturday caught in a public gaffe when he fumbled in his speech, introducing his running mate Paul Ryan as the next president of the United States. "Join me in welcoming the next President of the United States, Paul Ryan," Romney said as he concluded his speech in Norfolk Virginia, during which he introduced the seven-term Congressman from Wisconsin as his pick for the vice presidential candidate. As Ryan started speaking, Romney realised his mistake, and quickly came back to the podium, making light of his earlier remarks. "Every now and then I'm known to make a mistake," said the Republican presidential nominee.
	Time magazine suspends Zakaria for plagiarism New York, August 11 Noted Indian-American journalist and author Fareed Zakaria has been suspended by his employers CNN and Time magazine after he admitted to plagiarism and apologised for the ethical lapse. Zakaria was suspended by CNN and Time magazine after he admitted that he had plagiarised portions of an article he wrote on gun control for Time from the New Yorker magazine. He issued an apology saying he had made a "terrible mistake" and his lifting a paragraph from the article by Harvard University professor of American history Jill Lepore was an "ethical lapse". Zakaria, 48, a Yale and Harvard graduate, had written the column on gun control that appeared in the August 20 issue of Time magazine. Time said it was suspending Zakaria's column for a month, pending review. "Time accepts Fareed's apology, but what he did violates our own standards for our columnists, which is that their work must not only be factual but original; their views must not only be their own but their words as well," Ali Zelenko, a spokeswoman for the magazine said. "As a result, we are suspending Fareed's column for a month, pending further review," Time said. CNN, on which Zakaria hosts a weekly foreign affairs show 'Fareed Zakaria GPS', said it would suspend the show for an indefinite period pending review. — PTI
	Gurdwara shooter was a neo-Nazi, says sociologist Oak Creek, August 11 A sociologist who had earlier interacted with the gunman who killed six Sikhs at a gurdwara here said he was a neo-Nazi whose primary target were blacks and Jews but never mentioned Sikhs in the same vein. For nearly two years, Pete Simi, a sociologist doing fieldwork on hate groups, hung out with the 40-year-old Wade Michael Page, the army veteran, who gunned down six Sikhs at the gurdwara on Sunday. Simi, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, when learnt that it was Page who murdered six people Sunday morning before being shot to death by police outside the gurdwara in Oak Creek, he felt sick to his stomach. Simi said his recollection was that Page never mentioned Sikhs. Page was a person who hated blacks and was anti-Semitic. "Blacks and Jews. Those were the primary targets of his rhetoric," Simi said. After 9/11, Simi said Page sent him an email in which he expressed a lot of anger about Muslims. "He said something like, "America should just plaster all of the Middle East,'" Simi was quoted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as saying. Simi has written a book, "American Swastika: Inside the white power movement's hidden spaces of hate", after interviewing dozens of other neo-Nazis and white supremacists as part of his research. — PTI
	Syrian, Jordanian forces clash in border area Incident highlights global concern of regional conflict Aleppo, August 11 Syrian and Jordanian forces clashed along the border overnight in an incident that highlighted international concerns that the civil war in Syria could ignite a wider regional conflict. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stepped up efforts to tackle the worsening Syria crisis on Saturday when she arrived in Turkey for talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and members of the Syrian opposition. Troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad tried to snuff out resistance in Aleppo, the country's biggest city, but rebels said they would hit back despite having lost ground and run low on ammunition. "We can handle the bombing," rebel commander Abu Thadet said in Aleppo. "It's the snipers that are making it hard." The border clash broke out after Syrian refugees tried to cross into Jordan, a Syrian opposition activist who witnessed the fighting said. Syrian troops fired across the frontier and fighting ensued, a Jordanian said. No one was reported killed on Jordan's side. Armoured vehicles were involved in the clash in the Tel Shihab-Turra area, about 80 km north of the Jordanian capital Amman, the Syrian activist said. Jordanian troops have fired near the border in the past to stop Syrian forces shooting at fleeing refugees. But the latest clash, the most serious incident between the two countries since the uprising against Assad began 17 months ago, is likely to alarm Western powers who fear any spread of violence in a region divided over the conflict. — Reuters
	US car crash claims 5 Andhra techies Washington/Hyderabad, August 11 The families of five Indian software professionals killed in a car crash on a highway near Oklahoma city in the US were plunged into gloom on Saturday and appealed to the government to bring back their bodies. The five have been identified as Jaswanth Reddy Subbayyagari, Phanindra Gade, Anurag Anthati, Srinivas Ravi and Venkat, the Telugu Association of North America (TANA) said quoting friend of those who died in the accident. Among these people, only Venkat was married. The parents of Srinivas Ravi were shocked as the car disaster cut short the dreams of their 26-year-old son. Gloom descended on their house at Aditya Nagar in Mehdipatnam as relatives and friends poured in to express their condolences. The five techies from Andhra Pradesh were killed when their out-of-control Chevrolet Camaro hit a tractor-trailer and burst into flames. Srinivas went to the US a year ago after completing his B.Tech here. Son of Bhumaiah, a retired employee of Singareni Collieries Company Limited, he was working with ITL Developers in the US. The families appealed to the government to arrange for bringing their bodies to Hyderabad. TANA is making necessary arrangements to send the bodies to India. — Agencies
	Iran quakes kill 153, injure over 1,300 Dubai, August 11 Two strong earthquakes struck northwest Iran on Saturday, killing 153 persons and injuring more than 1,300 as buildings were reduced to rubble, Iranian officials said. Thousands fled their homes and remained outdoors as at least 20 aftershocks hit the area. Casualty numbers could well rise, Iranian officials feared, as some of the injured are in a critical condition, others are still trapped under the rubble and rescuers have yet to reach some of the affected villages. Iran is straddled by major fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 which turned the southeastern historic city of Bam into dust and killed more than 25,000 people. The US Geological Survey measured Saturday's first quake at 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 60 km northeast of the city of Tabriz at a depth of 9.9 km. A second quake measuring 6.3 struck 49 km northeast of Tabriz 11 minutes later at a similar depth. Deputy Interior Minister Hassan Ghadami said 153 persons had been killed and provincial official Khalil Sa'ie said some 1,300 had been injured, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. The second quake struck near the town of Varzaghan. "The quake was so intense that people poured into the streets through fear," Fars news agency said of the town. About 210 persons in Varzaghan and Ahar have been rescued from under the rubble of collapsed buildings, the official IRNA news agency said, quoting a local official. "So far 73 bodies from Varzaghan and Ahar have been handed over to the coroner's office," IRNA quoted Bahram Samadirad, a provincial official from the office, as saying. He added, "Since some people are in a critical condition and rescue workers are still trying to rescue people from under the rubble, unfortunately it is possible for the number of casualties to rise." Photographs posted by Iranian news websites showed about a dozen bodies lying on the floor in the corner of a white-tiled morgue in Ahar, and medical staff, surrounded by anxious residents, working on the injured in the open air as dusk fell. "I was just on the phone talking to my mother when she said 'there's just been an earthquake', then the line was cut," one woman from Tabriz, who lives outside Iran, wrote on Facebook after telephoning her mother in the city. "God, what has happened? After that I couldn't get through. God has also given me a slap, and it was very hard." Tabriz is a major city and trading hub far from Iran's oil producing areas and known nuclear facilities. Buildings in the city are substantially built, and the Iranian Students' News Agency said nobody in the city itself had been killed or hurt. Fars quoted lawmaker Abbas Falahi as saying he believed rescue workers had not yet been able to reach between 10 and 20 villages. — Reuters