sealing the deal. mitt romney secures the republican presidential nomination after a big win in the texas primary. mounting pressure. more than a dozen nations expel syrian diplomats following the weekend mass car in houla, but the united states maintains it will not use force to end the blood shed. and severe storms. oklahoma city gets pounded by a big time hailstorm. this is the "cbs morning news" for wednesday, may 30, 2012. good morning, everybody. so good to be with you. i'm terrell brown. it was a prize mitt romney has been chasing for five years. he clinched the republican presidential nomination with a

win in yesterday's texas primary, calling it an honor and a privilege. he'll be officially nominate add the republican convention in august. cbs news estimates romney has 1,198 delegates after picking up 90 in the texas vote. and romney has already ramped up his attacks on president obama. susan mcginnis in washington with details. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. yeah, romney all about endurance has finally paid off. look for romney to enter a critical phase of the campaign. watch for him to step up his attacks on the obama administration and to defend himself from their attacks, including most recently, his association with donald trump. mitt romney campaigned in the swing state of nevada, while voters in the texas primary handed him enough delegates to become the gop's nominee for president. in a statement romney says he's honored and humbled, adding we will settle for nothing less than getting america back on the path to full employment and prosperity. the former massachusetts

governor will now spend summer before the republican convention raising money and trying to convince voters president obama doesn't deserve a second term. >> we need to have presidents who understand how this economy works, day to day, small business, middle-size business, big business, i do, i want to use that experience to get us to work again. >> reporter: but romney is also dealing with controversy. real estate tycoon donald trump keeps questioning president obama's birth certificate, even though most people accept the president was born in hawaii. >> why are you going through all of this? >> a lot of people don't agree with that birth certificate. >> if the state of hawaii authorizes it, if the state of hawaii says this is official, he was born in hawaii on this date, here it is, why do you deny that? >> a lot of people did not think it was an authentic certificate. >> reporter: the president supporters put out an internet video criticizing romney for not distancing himself from trump. it shows john mccain defending

the president's citizenship. during the 200 8 campaign. >> i've read about him. he's an arab. >> no ma'am. no, ma'am. >> reporter: the obama campaign issued a statement saying romney lacks the backbone to stand up to trump because, quote, he's so concerned about lining his campaign pockets. as romney enters this new phase, look for the calls to increase for him to get very specific now about the claims he's been making about how he would fix the economy, reduce the debt, get folks back to work, very specific on his plans and his policies, what he would do. terrell? >> all right. susan mcginnis, thank you. mitt romney and president obama are split on how the united states should handle the deepening crisis in syria. romney says he supports arming opponents of syria's dictator bashar al assad but the white house says a military intervention in syria is not likely. on tuesday the united states kicked syrian diplomats out of the country. it was in reaction to the

killing of more than 100 civilians over the weekend. the attention of the world was focused on the city of houla this weekend. united nations observers say 20 people were killed friday by government artillery fire but it happened after the shelling stopped. eyewitnesss say pro-assad gunmen moved into the city and slaughtered entire families at close range. >> the majority of deaths being the result of house to house summary executions. armed men getting into houses and killing men, women and children inside. >> the frazzled truce brokered by the u.n. six weeks ago appears broken. special envoy kofi annan said the international condemnation came tuesday when more than a dozen nations joined the u.s. in expelling is syrian diplomats. in washington, the white house said it would continue its strategy of isolating assad's regime.

>> more than ten countries have now expelled syrian diplomats. how would this stop another massacre? >> obviously, no single action like that, diplomatic action, stops the regime from its brutal behavior but it's a cumulative effort. >> chairman of the joint chiefs of staff martin dempsey hinted the u.s. could respond with force if atrocities continue, but u.s. officials maintain that a military intervention in syria would do more harm than good. >> the concern is that further militarization of the situation in syria could lead to greater chaos. the nature and shape of and the membership of the opposition is still something that we and our partners are assessing. that is another consideration that has to be acknowledged. >> the u.s. is providing what it calls nonlethal assistance to the rebels. this morning russia and china, two countries that have supported assad as regime, restated their opposition to military intervention in syria. the u.n. estimates more than 13,000 people have been killed during the 15-month uprising.

the blind chinese activists who was at the center of a diplomatic standoff between washington and beijing, says china has laws but they're not followed. chen guangcheng called for an investigation into what he calls a seven-year illegal punishment. in an op-ed piece in the new york times says he urge the government and people of the united states and other deputy countries to insist the chinese government make timely progress in this matter. chen was given diplomatic sanctuary in u.s. embassy and arrived in the u.s. earlier this month to study law. recovery efforts are under way in northern italy after yesterday's deadly earthquake. this reporter was on the air and a strong aftershock hit. the quake was the second to hit the region in nine days. at least 16 people were killed and some 350 were injured. many of the casualties were workers inside warehouses. some returning to work for the first time since the last earthquake.

an apology from the former rutgers university student who convicted of using a web cam to spy on his roommate who later killed himself. ravi began serving a 30-day jail sentence tomorrow. he used a web cam to spy on romantic encounter between tyler clementi and no man and posted it on twitter. ravi said, my behavior and actions which at no time were motivated by hate, bigotry were nonetheless the wrong choices and decisions. i apologize to everyone affected by those choices. the sister of the man who confessed to killing etan patz says she went to police years ago. pedro hernandez was charged last week with second-degree murder after he confessed to killing patz. the case has stymied police for decades but hernandez's police said she went to police in the

1980s when she heard her brother confess at prayer group. >> my brother confess in church he did something to a little boy and put him in trash. as soon as i heard that, i went to the police. >> norma hernandez said she gave the story to the reception man at the desk, gave her license as identification and never heard back. up next, run for cover, you wouldn't want to get caught in this severe hailstorm in oklahoma city. this is the morning news. g news. [ woman ] for the london olympic games, our town had a "brilliant" idea. support team usa and show our olympic spirit right in our own backyard. so we combined our citi thankyou points to make it happen. tom chipped in 10,000 points. karen kicked in 20,000. and by pooling more thankyou points from folks all over town, we were able to watch team usa... [ cheering ] in true london fashion. [ male announcer ] now citi thankyou visa card holders can combine the thankyou points they've earned and get even greater rewards. ♪ and these come together,

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and blueberry juice cocktails. [ coughs ] okay, i believe this one is yours? [ clears throat ] i'ever i've never been in one of those but i can only imagine. severe thunderstorms delivered damaging hail to the oklahoma city area overnight. hailstones more than 4 inches in diameter were reported northwest of the city and downed power lines left at least 63,000 customers in the dark. more strong storms with hail and possible tornadoes are expected in oklahoma and western arkansas today. "cbs moneywatch" on a wednesday morning.

wall street posts one of its best days in may and how low will facebook stock go. ashley morrison in new york. good morning to you. >> and good morning to you. concern over spain's economy and a report that china would not take major steps to stimulate its economy sent overseas stocks -- markets lower. tokyo's nikkei lost 0.5% while hong kong's hang seng fell 2%. the worries about europe didn't seem to trouble investors on wall street. the dow rose 125 points while the nasdaq was up 33. but europe's slump is contributing to the decline in the cost of oil. prices are close to $90 a barrel, that's down 15% from a month ago, but that also means drivers will end up paying less at the pump. analysts say gas prices could be as low as $3.50 a gallon by the fourth of july. the u.s. housing market is showing some signs of life. a report out tuesday shows home prices in most major cities kicked up in march. it's the first time that's happened in seven months. and facebook's stock is sliding once again.

shares of the social media company closed below $30 for the first time since the may 18th ipo. facebook stock is down 24% from its opening price. terrell, somebody is forgetting to hit the "like" button. >> i would not have imagined this this. >> i don't think a lot of people did. see what happens today. >> ashley morrison here in new york. guitarists and singer doc watson, an american original, has died. ♪ blind from infancy watson's flat-picking style transformed the guitar to a lead instrument, in bluegrass and country music. inspired folks musicians in the 1960s and won him seven grammy awards. doc watson died yesterday in a north carolina hospital a few days after suffering a fall at home. he was 89. throughout our entire lives. ♪

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with damaging wind, gusts, hail and isolated tornadoes. rain is also likely in parts of the northern and central plains and most of the west will be dry. in sports, san santonio wins again. playing at home, the spurs dominated the visiting thunder with shots like tony parker's spin to the hoop in the second quarter. tim duncan slipped through the oklahoma city defense for an overhead jam. spurs' 20th straight victory, 120-111. san antonio now holds a 2-0 lead in the western conference finals. baseball, phillies at mets. hours after learning their injured ace roy halliday would be out six to eight weeks, david wright drove in a run in the first. rookie pitcher hefner helps his own cause with his first career home run. and then, of course, came the rain. but after a delay, the mets won it 6-3. on the other coast, ryan braun led brewers against the

l.a. dodgers with a two-run homer to the right in the first and that's all milwaukee needed. mike fiers allows one run on five hits in seven innings. for a 2-1 victory in his first major league start. down the santa ana freeway from dodger stadium, an angel in the outfield, second inning leap robbed the yankees' nick swisher of a home run. in the third, albert pujols hits a 443, 443-foot two-run homer, his eighth round-tripper in may after none in april. the angels win it 5-3. finally, a stunner in women's tennis. at the french open serena william lost a first round match in a grand slam tournament for the first time in her career. in an emotional match lasting more than three hours williams lost to razzano, williams led 5-3 in the second, set tiebreaker, then dropped 13 points in a row.

straight ahead on the morning news, hack attack. powerful new computer virus hits the middle east but it's who might be behind it that's making news. might be behind it that's making news.

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here's a look at the forecast in some cities around the country. d.c., partly sunny, 86. partly cloudy, 90 in atlanta. partly sunny, st. louis, 80. partly cloudy, 74 in denver. partly cloudy and 67 in seattle. computers in the middle east and especially iran are under attack from a newly discovered cyber virus. like another virus set loose on the internet a few years ago, the main target of this one called flame appears to be iran's nuclear program. david martin has more.

>> reporter: remember stuxnet, the computer virus which made the centrifuges iran uses to enrich uranium spin out of control? now there's flame. another virus apparently targeted at iran. according to a cyber security company, which first discovered the virus, it dwarfs stux net. >> flame is 20 times the size of stuxnet, which again shows the kind of man power, man hours that have been put into this project. >> reporter: flame essentially turns a person's computer into spy, stealing everything that comes in contact with. >> flame can any get information it wants really from logging key strokes to taking screen shot of your machine. it can enable the microphone and listen to conversations. >> reporter: it was discovered just a couple weeks ago but has been worming its way undetected through hundreds of computers in iran and elsewhere in the middle east for at least two years. the stuxnet virus which hit

iran's centrifuges was widely believed, though never officially confirmed, to be the work of u.s. and israel. and flame uses some of the same cyber technology. >> it has all the likelihood that basically two different teams, one team responsible for the stuxnet virus and one team responsible for flame, had access to some technologies that were unknown to the rest of the world. >> reporter: if the u.s. was involved, flame would have been the work of the national security agency whose mission is to eavesdrop on communication. depending on which computers it infected, flame could have provided the u.s. with inside knowledge of the workings of the iranian government and its nuclear program. researchers say it's possible flame can conduct sabotage as well as espionage. in other words, first it steals your data, and then it wipes it out. david martin, cbs news, the pentagon. britain's supreme court is

ruled to uphold the extradition of wikileaks founder julian assange. he's been fighting extradition for two years. assange is best known for releasing hundreds of thousands of classified u.s. documents on his website, wikileaks. at the white house yesterday president obama presented the medal of freedom to 13 accomplished individuals. among those receiving the nation's highest civilian honor were forrer secretary of state madeleine albright, former senator and nasa astronaut, john glenn, the first american to orbit earth. novelist toni morrison, winner of pulitzer and noble prize in literature, retired supreme court justice john paul stevens, and singer/songwriter and voice of a generation, bob dylan. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," wynton marsalis sits down with paul simon for a musician to musician chat. i'm terrell brown. this is the "cbs morning news." today's workout is hardcore...

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in japan worries about radiation following last year's nuclear meltdown has given way to a new invention. a cell phone with a built-in geiger counter. the smartphone is expected to go on sale in july. meantime, debris from the disaster has been washing up on our shores. john blackstone reports from alaska. >> reporter: at the mouth of prince william sound there are bottles and barrels, spray cans, fishing gear and worries about toxic chemicals. the japanese writing on this fuel canister says danger. can you clean this up? >> we can clean this up, given the resources but it's going to be four, five, six-year process. >> reporter: chris is president of gulf of alaska keeper, a group that tries to keep wilderness beaches free of trash.

this is used as insulation in japan? >> in buildings. you can see it's been -- it adheres to a wall somewhere here. i mean, there's just boat load after boat load up and down this shoreline. >> reporter: by 2013 it's estimated as much as 1.5 million tons of wreckage from the tsunami could reach the west coast, from alaska all the way to california. montague island is a barrier on the alaska coast, catching much of the debris that washes across this light material, plastics, was carried here by the wind. there's more being carried on the currents. fisherman tim cabana has spotted it out in the gulf of alaska. >> like every mile or so, you run across some more pieces. as you look off in the distance, you can see pieces of stuff here and there. >> reporter: if there's any good news, it's that the debris is not expected to be contaminated with radiation from the japanese nuclear plant, disabled by the tsunami.

nancy wallace monitors marine debris at noaa. >> the fukushima plant had a meltdown after the debris was already in the water. and from the experts we've talked to about radiation, they think the isotopes would be weathered and gone because of their half life by now. >> reporter: but he says unrecovered styrofoam and plastic may never go away. and if eaten, can be deadly to fish and wildlife. >> when we flew in here today, and i saw all the styrofoam, it made me want to weep. it's just really bad. >> reporter: the impact here pales in comparison to the devastation in japan, but what is now arriving on these shores doesn't belong in a place so remote and wild. a place of such grand natural beauty people are determined to preserve it. john blackstone, cbs news, montague island, alaska. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," the latest on the crisis in syria. we'll get reaction from former defense secretary donald

rumsfeld. a possible break in the honeymoon disappearance george smith. and recording legend paul simon talks life, love and music with wynton marsalis a little later on "cbs this morning." that is the "cbs morning news" for this wednesday. as always, appreciate you watching. i'm terrell brown. have a great day. ,,,,

mitt romney reaches the magic number to clinch the gop nomination. and