Romney picks his running mate

US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney yesterday named fiscal conservative Paul Ryan as his running mate in November's election.
Ryan, 42, is a Wisconsin congressman and chairman of the House of Representatives budget committee.
The Obama campaign said Ryan stood for "flawed" economic policies that would repeat "catastrophic" mistakes.
Romney formally unveiled his running mate before hundreds of cheering supporters at the retired aircraft carrier USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, Virginia.
Ryan told the crowd that he and Romney would "restore the greatness of this country".
Ryan is best-known for a controversial alternative budget which he produced to counter President Obama's plans in 2011 and 2012.
Known as the Path to Prosperity, it delighted the Tea Party, an anti-tax, limited-government, grassroots Republican movement.
The plan proposed reducing taxes, pensions and food aid, and overhauling government-funded healthcare.
In all, it projected spending cuts of $5.3 trillion over a decade.
The Wisconsin congressman rejected criticism that his proposal would harm lower-income groups, saying it would instead create jobs and reduce inefficiency.
Ryan chairs the budget committee in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, and is seen as likely to add electoral firepower on what are expected to be the key election issues - jobs, the economy and the budget deficit.