10 things you need to know today: August 12, 2012

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his wife Janna with two of their children after a campaign rally with Mitt Romney in Manassas, Va. The Romney campaign has opened up about its vetting process for

(Image credit: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. ROMNEY CAMP REVEALS DETAILS OF VETTING PROCESS

Beth Myers, who led presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's search for a running mate, detailed the vetting process to reporters Saturday, saying that "this was Mitt's decision" — speaking of Romney's choice of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his vice presidential nominee. Myers says that Romney gave her one "guiding principle": That the candidate be qualified to take office on Day 1. Myers recounted that Romney met with political operatives like former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of State James Baker "to create a methodology for vetting the potential running mates." Romney had his short list on May 1, and on Aug. 5, he called Ryan to meet with him at Myers' home in Brookline, Mass. A week later Ryan and Romney were planning elaborate workarounds to get Ryan to Virginia undetected by the media. [Los Angeles Times]

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Two earthquakes of magnitudes 6.4 and 6.3 struck within 11 minutes of each other in northwest Iran, leaving 227 people dead and 1,380 injured. Search and rescue operations have ended, and Interior Minister Moustafa Mohammad-Najjar said that "we are now working to ensure survivors' needs in terms of shelter and food." Half of the 600 villages located in the disaster zone were damaged or destroyed. [AFP]

London is preparing to close out the Olympics with "a thunderous celebration of British music" and a star-studded lineup of performances from the likes of the Spice Girls, George Michael, Annie Lennox, and Muse. "There'll be plenty of fireworks and colored lights, acrobats, gymnasts, drummers, supermodels, and other surprises to keep the crowd — and a television audience of tens of millions — entertained late into the night." [NPR]

On Sunday, Egyptian security forces killed seven suspected militants during raids on hideouts in Sinai, the desert peninsula that borders Israel and the Gaza Strip. Tensions in the region have risen sharply after 16 Egyptian soldiers were killed by suspected militants last weekend, when Egypt decided to launch airstrikes in Sinai. Sunday's deaths were the first reported casualties among suspected militants since Egypt began its offensive. [Associated Press]

At a meeting in Turkey, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with members of the Syrian opposition who are fighting to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power. Clinton expressed a need to broaden U.S. contacts with the Syrian opposition. "We have been closely coordinating over the course of this conflict, but now we need to get into the real details of such operational planning," Clinton said. "Our intelligence services, our military have very important responsibilities and roles to play, so we are going to be setting up a working group to do exactly that." [Washington Post]

On Saturday, First Lady Michelle Obama surprised doctors and nurses at the Medical Center of Aurora in Colorado, where victims of the July 20 shooting at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises were taken to be treated after the massacre. Twelve people were killed and 58 were injured when alleged gunman James Holmes opened fire at the midnight screening. Obama thanked medical staff for caring for the victims in a visit that lasted an hour. [Denver Post]

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