Updated at: 0737 PST, Wednesday, October 21, 2009 WASHINGTON: The US Congress on Tuesday gave President Barack Obama the green light to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to US soil for trial, in a boost to his efforts to close the notorious facility. The legislation, part of a 42.7-billion-dollar bill to fund the US Department of Homeland Security in 2010, cleared the Senate 79-19 after sailing through the House of Representatives last week. Obama vowed on his second day in office to shutter the facility, a magnet for global criticism of US tactics in the "war on terrorism," by January 22, though White House aides say they face an uphill fight to keep that promise. Of the roughly 220 people still held at the controversial prison camp, which then-president George W. Bush opened in January 2002, about 80 are waiting to be released and a further 60 are expected to be prosecuted. The legislation forbids the release of detainees at the US naval base in Cuba onto US soil -- including overseas territories like Guam or Puerto Rico -- and requires a detailed assessment of the possible security risk 45 days before they can be brought to trial in the United States. The assessment would have to include details of the dangers involved, steps to diminish the possible threat, the legal rationale for the transfer, and assurances to the governor of the receiving state that the individual poses little or no security risk. The legislation also says the detainees cannot be sent to another country unless the president gives Congress the name of the detainee, the destination, a risk assessment, and the terms of a transfer. The measure would also allow the Pentagon to block the release of photographs showing abuse of suspected terrorists in US custody, in line with Obama's policy of opposing efforts to make such pictures public. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been fighting in court to win the release of some of the photographs, but the legislation is seen as short-circuiting the group's legal challenges. The bill did not address whether the Obama administration can hold prisoners indefinitely without charge in the United States and left unclear what the fate would be of those who may be tried and acquitted. The government team tasked with assessing the detainee cases has struggled to persuade other countries to take some of the captives, with only a trickle of prisoners -- some 27 -- transferred since Obama's inauguration in January.
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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