Posted Monday, August 13, 2012 --- 6:20 a.m.
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today.
1. PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
In new role, Ryan faces Obama in Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Paul Ryan faces off against President Barack Obama for the first time in his role as the newly tapped GOP vice presidential contender.
Mitt Romney will campaign in Florida on Monday. But he's dispatched his running mate to Iowa on the same day Obama launches a bus tour across the state.
Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, is to meet voters at the Iowa state fair.
The day's events may help determine whether conservative excitement for the Wisconsin congressman -- and his controversial budget plans -- will overshadow Romney's own economic message.
Democrats hope so.
The Obama campaign has been attacking the Republican budget architect's plans to transform Medicare and re-shape the nation's tax system.
Romney's already moving to distance himself from his running mate's plan.
2. OBAMA-RYAN VIDEO
NEW: Obama targets Ryan Medicare plan in new video
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- President Barack Obama's campaign is already targeting Paul Ryan in a new online video, just two days after the Wisconsin congressman became Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick.
The spot features Florida seniors talking about how Ryan's Medicare plans could affect them. The president's re-election campaign is releasing the video on the same day Romney campaigns in Florida.
Seniors in the new video portray the Republican Romney-Ryan ticket as a threat to Medicare and Obama as its protector.
Ryan has proposed a voucher-like system to reshape Medicare that independent budget analysts say would likely mean higher costs for seniors. Ryan maintains the changes are needed to preserve Medicare for future generations.
Ryan campaigns in Iowa on Monday while Obama launches a bus tour of the state.
3. ROMNEY-WELFARE AD
NEW: Romney renews welfare attack in new ad
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) -- Mitt Romney's hitting President Barack Obama again for what the Republican presidential candidate calls "gutting welfare reform."
Romney has released a new television advertisement accusing the Obama White House of stripping the work requirement from the nation's welfare law. It's the same charge the Republican candidate levied in a separate ad last week.
Independent fact checkers have found the premise of the ad to be false.
Obama says he's giving states the flexibility they've asked for to make welfare more efficient.
Romney was among several Republican governors who signed a letter back in 2005 asking for more flexibility.
The attack comes as both sides accuse the other of producing false advertisements.
Romney's campaign blasted a Democratic group's ad that links Romney's business career to a woman's death.
4. PAUL RYAN-TEA PARTY
Tea party gets its man in Ryan for vice president
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The tea party didn't get its man in Mitt Romney. But it got one of its ideological heroes in the Republican presidential ticket's No. 2 slot.
Romney's decision to make Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan his running mate is a huge victory for the tea party. It's also a boon to Republicans who worried Romney isn't conservative enough.
Mainstream Republicans feel at home with Ryan, but so do tea party activists. They praise his commitment to reining in government -- even if it means major cutbacks to Social Security and Medicare.
South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, a leading tea party figure, says Ryan is committed to saving the country. And FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe says Ryan gives voters a reason to get excited about the GOP ticket.
5. OLYMPICS
Athletes head home, London traffic returns to normal
LONDON (AP) -- Olympic athletes today are learning how to get gold, silver and bronze through airport security.
Hours after last night's closing ceremonies, thousands of athletes began arriving at a special terminal at London's Heathrow Airport for their flights home.
American rower Esther Lofgren was proudly wearing the gold medal she won. But that wasn't the only highlight of the games for her. She says it was "just amazing" to watch other athletes compete -- including Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.
An Olympic security official, meanwhile, says he's proud that there were no serious problems during the games. About 250 people were arrested, but there were no terror incidents or disruptive protests. Security coordinator Chris Allison says, "The focus has been exactly where we wanted -- on the sport and not security."
In London, traffic is returning to normal today. Many commuters had steered clear of London during the games, after a campaign urging them to use public transport.
Some taxi drivers say they're ecstatic that the games are over. During the Olympics, many drivers were banned from using special lanes for athletes and officials. One driver says a lot of his colleagues "barely broke even during the games."
6. BRITAIN-OLYMPIC PARK
London Olympic Park deserted after big party
LONDON (AP) -- The Olympic Park in London has gone from party central to an empty, blocked-off construction site overnight.
Now that the games are over, the park is eerily deserted. The main stadium is blocked off by metal barriers, concession stands are closed, and the world's biggest McDonald's empty. Small groups of construction workers are working to transform the venues for use in the Paralympic Games, which begin Aug. 29.
The Olympic Park had been visited by more than 5 million people over the last 17 days.
It will be closed to the public until the Paralympics -- and for almost a year afterwards, while some venues are torn down and others are modified. It will open in stages from next summer as the 227-hectare (560-acre) Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
7. ATH-DOPING-OSTAPCHUK
NEW: Ostapchuk stripped of gold medal for doping
LONDON (AP) -- Shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus became the first athlete to be stripped of a medal at the London Olympics after her gold was withdrawn for doping.
Valerie Adams of New Zealand will now take gold and Evgeniia Kolodko of Russia will get silver. Fourth-place finisher Gong Lijiao of China moves up to bronze.
The International Olympic Committee said Monday that Ostapchuk tested positive for the steroid metenolone. She won the shot put exactly a week earlier.
The IOC says she was tested the day before her competition and again following the event. Both samples were positive.
The announcement came hours after the flame was extinguished at the closing ceremony with athletes and officials heading out of London.
8. AFGHANISTAN
UPDATE: Afghan policeman fires on NATO forces, no deaths
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Authorities say an Afghan policeman has opened fire on NATO forces and Afghan soldiers. The shooting is the fifth apparent attack in a week by Afghan security forces on their international partners.
The international military coalition says none of its service members were killed in Monday's attack.
NATO spokesman Charlie Stadtlander says an initial investigation indicates the attacker was an Afghan police officer. He says the shooter escaped.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the shooting and said three Americans died in it. The insurgents often exaggerate their assaults' success.
At least seven American service members have been killed in the past week by either their Afghan counterparts or attackers wearing their uniforms.
The rise in "green-on-blue" attacks raises questions about the Afghan security forces as international forces withdraw.
9. PAKISTAN-AMERICAN ABDUCTED
Wife of Md. man abducted in Pakistan urges return
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The wife of a Maryland man abducted in Pakistan is pleading for her husband's safe return on the one-year anniversary of his kidnapping.
Elaine Weinstein says in a statement issued Monday that her husband, Warren, is in poor health and is missed by grandchildren who ask for him every day.
The 71-year-old Weinstein, an aid worker from Rockville, Md., was kidnapped last August in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore after gunmen tricked his guards and broke into his home.
Al-Qaida released an undated video in May in which Weinstein said he would be killed unless President Barack Obama agreed to the group's demands.
The FBI is investigating the kidnapping, but a spokeswoman says the bureau can't comment on ongoing investigations.
10. SYRIA
Missing Syrian journalist believed killed
BEIRUT (AP) -- A pro-government Syrian TV station says one of its cameramen who was kidnapped three days ago is believed to have been killed.
The station said gunmen kidnapped the cameraman Friday along with three other employees of the pro-regime Al-Ikhbariya TV.
A video surfaced online Monday, showing the three surviving members of the team. They said they were being held by rebel forces, who were treating them well.
A man who identified himself as a rebel spokesman also appeared in the video, saying the cameraman was killed in government shelling. The general manager of Al-Ikhbariya TV said they believe he is dead.
It was impossible to independently verify the events shown in the video.
In June, gunmen raided Al-Ikhbariya's headquarters, killing seven employees.
Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.
