In the Nation

WESTERVILLE, Ohio - Mitt Romney on Friday encouraged young Americans facing bleak job prospects to "take risks" - and even borrow money from their parents - to help improve their economic fortunes.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee noted that the nation's economy is recovering but blamed President Obama for presiding over the "most anemic and tepid" comeback since the Great Depression. Continuing his recent focus on younger voters, Romney said Obama's policies are making it harder for college graduates to be successful.

"This kind of decisiveness, this attack of success is very different than what we've seen in our country's history," Romney told students and supporters gathered at Otterbein University in central Ohio.

"We've always encouraged young people - take a shot, go for it, take a risk and get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business," he said. - AP

NORFOLK, Va. - A Somalian man was convicted of piracy on Friday for his role as a hostage negotiator in the hijacking of a German merchant vessel and U.S. yacht. The four Americans aboard the yacht were shot to death by pirates, and the crew on the other vessel was tortured to get a higher ransom.

Mohammad Saaili Shibin was convicted of the 15 charges he faced, including kidnapping, hostage-taking and weapons charges. He faces a mandatory life sentence.

"Today's verdict marks the conviction of the highest-ranking Somali pirate ever brought to the United States," U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement. "He was among an elite fraternity of pirate negotiators - the vital link to any successful pirate attack."

Prosecutors said Shibin received at least $30,000 for his role as a negotiator aboard the Marida Marguerite, which was ransomed for $5 million in 2010 after nearly two dozen mostly Indian crew members were held captive for about eight months. No payment was ever made for the U.S. sailing vessel Quest after it was hijacked in 2011.

- AP

FRESNO, Calif. - The California dairy cow found to have mad cow disease was very old for a milk producer and had been euthanized after it became lame and started lying down, federal officials revealed in their latest update on the discovery.

The 10-year-old dairy cow, only the fourth ever discovered in the United States, was found as part of an Agriculture Department program that tests about 40,000 cows a year for the fatal brain disease. It was unable to stand before it was killed and sent to a rendering plant's Hanford, Calif. transfer station.

U.S. health officials say there is no risk to the food supply. The California cow was never destined for the meat market, and it developed "atypical" BSE from a random mutation, something that scientists know happens occasionally. - AP