WASHINGTON: US officials planning the closure of Guantanamo prison are weighing the cases of about 50 to 100 detainees who cannot be tried or released, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday. "The question is what do we do with the 50 to 100 -- probably in that ballpark -- who we cannot release and cannot try," Gates told a Senate hearing. "I think that question is still open," Gates said when asked about President Barack Obama's plans to shut down the controverial "war on terror" prison. His comments made clear that some inmates might have to be detained further even after the controversial prison at Guantanamo Bay is closed as ordered by Obama. The US administration is closely reviewing the files of about 240 detainees held at the center to determine who could be transferred to other countries or tried in US civilian courts or special military tribunals set up under former president George W. Bush, Gates said.About 60 detainees have been cleared of wrongdoing and the previous administration had planned to charge about 80 of the detainees. The administration was asking Congress for about 50 million dollars to help cover the costs of possible further detention for some of the inmates, who officials say might be held at military prisons on US soil. Separately, the Justice Department was requesting 30 million dollars to help pay for the effort to review the detainees' cases, Gates told the Senate Appropriations Committee.Lawmakers warned Gates at the hearing that local governments across the country had already expressed opposition to having any detainees transferred to prisons in their communities. "I fully expect to have 535 pieces of legislation before this is over saying 'not in my district, not in my state,'" Gates said, referring to the total number of representatives and senators in Congress.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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