In brief

A veteran who helped defend the indefensible at a vulnerable Army outpost in Afghanistan received the nation's highest award for military valor Monday at a tearful White House ceremony that also honored the eight men who did not survive a Taliban attack.

President Barack Obama lauded former Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha's bravery in fighting back an intense daylong barrage by enemy fighters. The Taliban descended on Combat Outpost Keating in the mountains near the Pakistan border at 6 a.m. on Oct. 3, 2009, shaking Romesha out of his bed into what Obama said has been called one of the most intense battles of the war in Afghanistan.

The Americans were outmanned 53 to more than 300, but most survived against those odds. These men were outnumbered, outgunned, and almost overrun, Obama said.

A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said Tuesday the South believes that a nuclear test caused an earthquake in North Korea near the site of two previous atomic tests.

Kim Min-seok said North Korea informed China and the United States of its plans to conduct a nuclear test.

Kim says that shortly before noon Tuesday an earthquake was detected in North Korea.

There was, however, no confirmation of the test.

The South Korean Defense Ministry, which raised its military alert level after the quake, said it was trying to determine whether it was a test. Nuclear blasts can create tremors, but they are distinct from those caused by natural earthquakes.

Chicago police say they hope murder charges will be filed soon in the shooting death of a 15-year-old Chicago girl who performed at events for President Barack Obama's inauguration.

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy says he hopes prosecutors file charges Monday in the death of Hadiya Pendleton. Police say they took two men considered persons of interest into custody Sunday. They are aged 18 and 20 years.

Pendleton was shot to death Jan. 29 in a park about a mile from Obama's home on Chicago's South Side. Police have said Pendleton was an innocent victim in a gang-related shooting. Just days before her death, the band majorette was among the performers at events for Obama's inauguration.

A gunman apparently firing randomly at cars killed a 10-year-old and wounded the child's mother and another woman Monday night, Oakdale's police chief said. The suspect was in custody.

Several bursts of gunfire erupted about 6:10 p.m. near a Rainbow Foods store in the eastern Twin Cities suburb, KMSP-TV reported.

The gunman fired at a car carrying the 10-year-old and the child's mother, Oakdale Police Chief Bill Sullivan said. The child died and the mother was wounded in the arm, said Sullivan, who would not say whether the child was a boy or a girl.

A woman in another car was struck and wounded in the hand, Sullivan said. Both women are expected to recover, he said.

It appears to be entirely random, Sullivan told The Associated Press. At this time it appears he was randomly shooting at vehicles.

A 33-year-old man was in custody and was being questioned by investigators, Sullivan said. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported the man lives in the neighborhood.