on transfers of guantanamo bay detainees to yemen or saudi arabia
obama has already frozen such transfers to yemen after the foiled christmas day
airliner bomb plot apparently planned there moved to toughen airport security
and pushed hard for fixing flawed intelligence procedures
but his top republican critics on several key house committees say the deadly
november shooting spree at the fort hood military base in texas and the thwarted
christmas day airliner bomb plot show more must be done
am concerned that we did not act quickly enough after the fort hood incident
to fix problems in our national security systems said representative pete
hoekstra the top republican on the house intelligence committee
we need to take immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent another attack
foreigners should not be given the presumption of the right to freely enter the
united states he said in statement
the republican proposals also include demand that suspected terrorists face
interrogation and trial by the us military not the civilian us justice
system
they also called for halt of transfers of detainees at the guantanamo bay
prison for suspected terrorists to yemen or saudi arabia
former guantanamo detainees are leading the threat to america from al qaeda in
yemen it is foolhardy to send them reinforcements they said
the lawmakers pushed for an overhaul of rules that excessively limit who can be
placed on lists of passengers barred from flying into the united states or
subject to additional security scrutiny saying such regulations appear to have
kept the christmas bomber off such lists
they also called on obama to remove legal and bureaucratic barriers that they
blamed for hampering us efforts to pursue americans like al qaeda member adam
gadahn who have treasonously joined or assisted terrorists
hoekstra who has drawn democratic fire for using the christmas bomb plot in
fundraising pitch for his campaign for governor of michigan was joined by
representative buck mckeon and peter king the top republicans on the house
armed services and homeland security committees respectively
obama halts yemen transfers but vows guantanamo closure
washington jan afp
us president barack obama said tuesday he has suspended transfers of freed
guantanamo bay inmates to yemen following the christmas day airliner attack but
renewed his vow to close the notorious prison
the administration is under intense pressure from domestic critics not to send
more detainees back to yemen because of fears they will slip back into
extremism in the arab nation where obama says the thwarted bombing was planned
his decision whipped up further uncertainty over his drive to close the
detention center in cuba obama had demanded the closure of the facility within
year of taking office but the deadline will slip later this month
given the unsettled situation ve spoken to the attorney general and we ve
agreed that we will not be transferring additional detainees back to yemen at
this time obama said in televised statement
but the president sent an immediate message to critics who oppose his decision
to close guantanamo and many people abroad who support it saying he was
determined to follow through on his promise
make no mistake we will close guantanamo prison which has damaged our
national security interests and become tremendous recruiting tool for al
qaeda obama said
in fact that was an explicit rationale for the formation of al qaeda in the
arabian peninsula obama said naming the yemen based group that he has blamed
for training and alleged bomber umar farouk abdulmutallab
it was not clear how long the suspension of transfers mentioned by gibbs would
last
but white house spokesman robert gibbs said the decision will increase the
number of prisoners from the camp that could be moved to the thomson
correctional center in illinois that has been selected by the administration to
hold guantanamo bay inmates
as recently as sunday obama top anti terrorism official john brennan said
that the united states would continue to repatriate guantanamo bay detainees to
yemen at the right time and the right pace and in the right way
mitch mcconnell the republican leader in the senate has consistently argued
that obama is wrong to attempt to close guantanamo bay and said the christmas
day attack exposed contradictions in his decision
given the determined nature of the threat from al qaeda it made little sense
to transfer detainees from the secure facility at guantanamo back to yemen
mcconnell said
guantanamo remains the proper place for holding terrorists especially those
who may not be able to be detained as securely in third country
the president should revisit the reasoning behind his decision made on his
first day in office particularly now that the administration has recognized
that it has no choice but to detain some foreign fighters indefinitely
close to half of the detainees left at guantanamo bay are from yemen
seven yemeni detainees have already been sent home by the obama administration
including six in december several others were repatriated during george
bush administration
high level obama administration task force is working to determine the fate of
the remaining prisoners at guantanamo including some of the most wanted terror
suspects
some inmates will face trial before military or civilian courts and others will
be detained indefinitely because they are considered too dangerous to release
but cannot be tried because evidence against them is scant or tainted
three us senators warned last week of possible security disaster if washington
transferred detainees back to yemen without guarantees from sanaa that they will
not return to the battlefield
the senators including republican john mccain defeated by obama in the
presidential election said said ali al shihri whom they described as aqap
longstanding deputy was held in guantanamo but released in
nfl bears overhaul offensive coaching staff
chicago jan afp
offensive co ordinator ron turner was fired along with five other assistant
coaches by the chicago bears on tuesday
in addition to turner those sacked comprise quarterback coach pep hamilton
offensive line coach harry hiestand tight end coach rob boras assistant
offensive line coach luke butkus and assistant wide receivers coach charles
london
the six coaches were in charge of the bear offence and when new quarterback
jay cutler and his supporting cast started to struggle this national football
league season the coaching staff took much of the blame
turner has spent the past five seasons coaching chicago which finished th out
of teams in total rushing yards
us envoy meets honduras politicians amid stalemate
tegucigalpa jan afp
top us envoy was in honduras tuesday in bid to bury the political crisis set
off by june coup
hondurans voted in november for new president porfirio lobo to take over at
the end of january but elected president manuel zelaya still remains in the
brazilian embassy under threat of arrest while de facto leader roberto
micheletti is in the presidential palace
us envoy craig kelly planned to meet with the three men during two day visit
according to us embassy spokesman michael stevens
kelly the second highest us diplomat for latin america would meet zelaya
inside the brazilian embassy where the ousted leader has been holed up since
secretly returning to the country more than three months ago
zelaya rancher who initially drew support from across the globe after his
ouster now faces an uncertain future
he has said that he will remain inside the embassy until january at the
latest when lobo is due to take over
kelly was to discuss collapsed us backed crisis deal which includes
national unity government and truth commission during his visit us state
department ian kelly said in washington
the united states historic economic and military partner to honduras
supported november electoral process while many in latin america rejected the
vote because zelaya was not restored to office beforehand
the real question is can that government of lobo be vehicle through which
you begin healing process kelly said in washington tuesday
we do have some decisions to make in the future about the future nature of our
relationship kelly added
micheletti said he would meet with craig kelly on wednesday
the military backed by the courts congress and business leaders ousted zelaya
during dispute over his plans to change the constitution which critics saw as
bid to extend his single four year term
lobo conservative who backed the coup won the november elections in
which less than half of million eligible voters turned out to cast ballots
cas shn jm
ireland loyalist paramilitaries set to confirm weapons dumped sources
belfast jan afp
northern ireland largest loyalist paramilitary group will announce wednesday
it has completed decommissioning its weapons milestone in the troubled
province peace process sources said
the political wing of the ulster defence association uda will hold press
conference in belfast on giving up weapons after earlier giving an assurance to
meet february deadline to decommission the sources told afp late tuesday
the uda is the largest and last loyalist paramilitary group to hand over its
weapons following the good friday agreement after three decades of violence
in the province known as the troubles
spokesman for the political wing the ulster political research group told
britain press association there will be press conference by the uprg where
the uda is expected to make major statement on the current situation
loyalists are northern ireland protestants who want the province to remain part
of britain and are historic foes of catholic republicans who believe it should
become part of the republic of ireland
the other main loyalist groups ulster volunteer force uvf and red hand
commandos rhc announced last june that they were putting all of their weapons
beyond use move hailed by political leaders as an historic day
the move comes after the independent international commission on decommissioning
said in september the uda and its breakaway faction pledged to decommission by
february when long running amnesty on giving up arms ends
the peace accord ended most of the violence which had plagued northern
ireland for decades killing at least people
devolved self rule is now in place after landmark accord in between the
protestant democratic unionists dup and catholic sinn fein
the irish republican army ira the main republican paramilitary group
finished destroying its arsenal four years ago overseen by the commission
loyalist groups began disarming in but the process was suspended after two
british soldiers and policeman in northern ireland were shot dead by dissident
republicans in march last year
the process restarted after reassurances from the british and irish governments
that those responsible for the attacks would be vigorously pursued
time not right for new iran sanctions chinese envoy
united nations jan afp
china un ambassador zhang yesui said tuesday it is too early to contemplate
new sanctions against iran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work
and called for more diplomacy
his comments came after the united states on monday said the door is still
open for iran to meet world demands on its nuclear aims but warned it was
discussing with its allies the next steps which could include sanctions
china and russia have been more reluctant to impose sanctions on iran than the
other un security council members the united states britain and france or
germany which works with the five to try to curb iran ambitions
this is not the right moment for sanctions said zhang who chairs the un
security council this month
he told reporters here that current diplomatic efforts to find peaceful
settlement still need some more time and patience echoing view expressed by
the chinese foreign ministry in beijing
zhang said sanctions themselves are not an end and diplomatic solution
would be the best option
in beijing meanwhile foreign ministry spokesman jiang yu told reporters we
believe that dialogue and negotiation are the proper way to resolve the iran
nuclear issue
we still have room for diplomatic efforts and we hope all parties will adopt
more flexible and pragmatic policies to enhance the diplomatic efforts so as to
promote an early resumption of talks he added
tehran dismissed us set deadline of december to agree to un brokered
nuclear fuel swap deal and instead issued the west one month ultimatum
expiring january to accept counter proposal
the deal involves us backed international atomic energy agency iaea proposal
to ship abroad low grade nuclear fuel so it can be further enriched and returned
to refuel tehran medical research reactor
such move would offer breathing room as the big powers try to halt iran
uranium enrichment which the west fears masks drive to build nuclear
bomb denying the charge iran says it seeks peaceful uses of nuclear energy
in washington state department spokesman pj crowley suggested the united states
still hoped china would change its position
it no secret that china and the united states look at the utility of
sanctions differently crowley told reporters when asked for comment on the
chinese remarks
nonetheless we will continue to work on this he said referring to an
ongoing process of dialogue
at any particular time country might say this is good idea this is bad
idea we are going to continue our discussions and we would expect to move
forward with this in the coming weeks he said
us team may have found key to fight obesity study
washington jan afp
shutting down an energy controlling mechanism in mice left them leaner than
normal mice and could be new way to fight obesity in humans us researchers
said in study published tuesday
and the finding is big news in the united states where around third of the
adult population is considered obese meaning they have body mass index bmi
greater than according to the american obesity association
bmi is calculated by dividing person body weight in kilograms by their
height in meters squared
the researchers found that by switching off potassium channels which are
sensitive to adenosine triphosphate atp molecule in cells that stores the
energy we need to do just about everything made mice burn more energy and
left them leaner than normal mice
the effect was evident even when the mice were fed high fat western diets and
was long lasting too with the mice remaining slim throughout their lives
scientists from the mayo clinic university of iowa university of connecticut
and new york university reported in the journal cell metabolism
the channels called katp sense pools of atp molecules in cells and
regulate heart and muscle performance according to what they find
usually the katp channels would spring into action to limit the duration or
amplitude of heart and muscle actions to prevent energy depletion
by shutting off the mechanism in mice the researchers got them to burn more
stored energy by giving off more heat both at rest or when active
while mechanisms that preserve energy are naturally protective in times of
food shortage or environmental stress they promote obesity in sedentary
modern society said the mayo clinic alexey alekseev lead author of the
study
our findings suggest that therapeutic targeting of the katp channel function
specifically in muscle could offer new option for obese patients with lower
capacity for exercise he said
one finding was that mice in whom the katp channel had been switched off burned
more glycogen the form in which carbohydrates are stored in the body and the
primary source of energy for endurance athletes and stored body fat than
ordinary mice
that means that achieving greater leanness by deactivating katp channels comes
at the cost of reduced endurance
canada to introduce body scanners at airports
ottawa jan afp
body scanners will be introduced at all major canadian airports in bid to
tighten up security following failed plot to bomb us airplane the
government said tuesday
the controversial scanners capable of peering through clothes to create three
dimensional images of passengers to reveal any concealed weapons or explosives
are to be installed at airports over the next two months
eventually scanners are to be deployed in all at cost of about
canadian dollars each us minister of state rob merrifield told
press conference
we are not immune to acts of terrorism or terrorist threats and we must remain
vigilant to be at the forefront of new security technology he said
today announcing the government of canada is purchasing new millimeter
wave imaging scanners to enhance passenger security at canadian airports
the scanner will offer an additional layer to security measures that are
already in place
travelers selected for secondary screening at checkpoints will be asked to walk
through the scanner or may alternatively submit to physical search
merrifield explained
graphic images created by the machines criticized by privacy advocates as
amounting to virtual strip searching would be viewed by officers in closed
room with no view of the passengers themselves and deleted he said
canada privacy commissioner commented in october that privacy issues raised by
the use of this novel technology were addressed
the scanners were tested at small airport in kelowna in westernmost canada
and percent of passengers surveyed said they would prefer to submit to scan
over physical search
nathalie des rosiers executive director of the canadian civil liberties
association however told public broadcaster cbc the experience in kelowna
was less rosy than presented
seventy percent of the people that went through the scanners had to be patted
down afterwards anyway because there were too many false positives she said
several countries led by the united states have announced additional security
measures at airports since nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab was charged with
trying to blow up us bound jet on christmas day
the netherlands britain and nigeria earlier announced that body scanners would
also be rolled out at their international airports
abdulmutallab reportedly confessed to being trained by an al qaeda bomb
maker in yemen for the suicide mission on the northwest airlines flight from
amsterdam to detroit
it was foiled when explosives sewn into the man underwear failed to detonate
and passengers jumped on him
obama senate ally to retire
washington jan afp
democratic senator byron dorgan an ally of president barack obama announced
late tuesday he would not seek reelection in november potentially boosting
republican chances of seizing his seat
democrats when joined by two independents currently hold exactly the seats
needed to overrun republican procedural roadblocks and several other obama
allies face tough campaigns as well
dorgan decision announced in statement released by his office came after
public opinion poll found him trailing possible republican rival by points
will not be seeking another term in the us senate in it is hard
decision to make after thirty years in the congress but believe it is the
right time for me to pursue these other interests he said
obama slams intelligence failings in us plane plot
washington jan afp
us president barack obama tuesday lashed us intelligence tuesday for missing
red flags in the arabian peninsula that could have disrupted plot to blow up
us bound plane and vowed to stop future lapses
it is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully
leveraged obama said in terse televised statement that not acceptable
and will not tolerate it
he was speaking after meeting us spy chiefs and top national security aides at
the white house to discuss two probes into the attempt to blow up northwest
airliner as it approached detroit on december
the bottom line is this the us government had sufficient information to have
uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the christmas day attack but our
intelligence community failed to connect those dots obama said
when suspected terrorist is able to board plane with explosives on
christmas day the system has failed in potentially disastrous way he said
it my responsibility to find out why and to correct that failure so that we
can prevent such attacks in the future
the findings showed us intelligence missed other red flags in the arabian
peninsula as well as the already revealed fact that the top suspect year old
nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab was an extremist who had traveled to yemen
obama said
sanaa has been under increasing pressure in recent days to deal with an al qaeda
cell in the country which has claimed to be behind the plot to blow up the plane
mid air
al qaeda in the arabian peninsula aqap has also urged attacks on western
interests in yemen
the us embassy in yemen reopened tuesday after two day closure prompted by
fears of an attack as us secretary of state hillary clinton warned unrest in the
arab country was threat to global stability
the us embassy said on its website that yemeni security forces had addressed
specific area of concern in the north of the capital sanaa on monday paving
the way for the reopening
but full services at the british french and japanese embassies have yet to
resume
investigations spanning from west africa to europe to the middle east have been
trying to piece together the would be bomber whereabouts and actions leading
up to the christmas day attack foiled when the explosives failed to detonate
properly
dutch prosecutors said tuesday abdulmutallab had probably obtained the
explosives which were stitched into his underwear before he arrived at
amsterdam schiphol airport where he boarded the us bound flight
white house said earlier he had been providing useful leads during his
interrogations by the fbi as he awaits his arraignment on friday in detroit
abdulmutallab spent number of hours with fbi investigators in which we
gleaned usable actionable intelligence white house spokesman robert gibbs
said
the united states has unleashed barrage of measures to stop would be attackers
riding planes into the country overhauling its terror watchlists and adding
dozens more suspects to no fly lists
further boosting security measures all travelers coming from or via terror
linked countries will have to undergo compulsory enhanced screening
us officials also revealed that additional visas had been revoked since the
christmas day but gave no details of how many or which countries the applicants
were from
additional visas have been revoked for people that we believe have suspected
ties to terrorism us state department spokesman pj crowley told reporters
nigeria one of the countries on the security list on tuesday protested the
new rules made it clear through the us ambassador to the us government
that this is unacceptable to nigeria foreign minister ojo maduekwe told
journalists
eu security experts will meet in brussels on thursday to discuss the us
emergency travel measures amid privacy and health concerns over broader use of
full body scanners
obama said meanwhile it had been decided not to transfer any more guantanamo
bay prisoners to yemen for now due to the unsettled situation there
but make no mistake we will close guantanamo prison which has damaged our
national security interests and become tremendous recruiting tool for al
qaeda obama said
the obama administration has been under intense pressure from domestic critics
and some friendly lawmakers not to send any more inmates back to yemen because
of fears they will slip into extremism
obama raged at intelligence screw up aide
washington jan afp
president barack obama angrily branded the failure to thwart the christmas day
airliner attack screw up and bullet barely dodged in white house
meeting with spy chiefs us official said
obama who later gave an angry statement on television to denounce intelligence
failures ahead of the botched attack also warned top spy chiefs and other
officials he would not stand for finger pointing
the white house which critics said initially responded too slowly to the
attack while obama was on vacation in hawaii said that agency chiefs admitted
shortcomings of their operations in the meeting in the secure situation room
this was screw up that could have been disastrous the official speaking on
condition of anonymity quoted obama as saying in the meeting
we dodged bullet but just barely it was averted by brave individuals not
because the system worked and that is not acceptable the president said
according to the official
the official added that obama had also said there would be tendency for
finger pointing will not tolerate it
photograph released by the white house showed obama gesturing at table of
solemn intelligence agency chiefs and top national security officials in the
secure white house situation room
passengers and crew on northwest flight from amsterdam to detroit
overpowered umar farouk abdulmutallab as he allegedly tried to ignite an
explosive device he had concealed in his underwear
antidepressants do little for mild cases study
washington jan afp
patients with mild or moderate depression may benefit little from antidepressant
medications and may be better treated with alternatives researchers said
tuesday
group of researchers combined data from six studies involving adult
outpatients who ranged from mildly to very severely depressed according to the
hamilton depression rating scale
their study which sought to compare the benefits of commonly prescribed
antidepressants adm compared to placebos was published in the journal of the
american medical association
the authors led by jay fournier of the university of pennsylvania
philadelphia found that the effect of antidepressants varied considerably
depending on the severity of the symptoms
true drug effects an advantage of adm over placebo were nonexistent to
negligible among depressed patients with mild moderate and even severe baseline
symptoms whereas they were large for patients with very severe symptoms they
wrote
most studies on antidepressants currently the standard treatment for major
depressive disorders focus on the impact of the drugs on patients considered
to be severely depressed but there remains scant evidence on their effect for
patients with less severe depression
advertisements for these drugs to clinicians or the general public omit this
feature the researchers noted
the majority of patients receiving antidepressants in clinical practice have
depression measures below the high level of symptom severity they found
necessary for the drugs to have meaningful impact according to the study
prescribers policymakers and consumers may not be aware that the efficacy of
medications largely has been established on the basis of studies that have
included only those individuals with more severe forms of depression the
authors wrote
efforts should be made to clarify to clinicians and prospective patients that
whereas antidepressant medications can have substantial effect with more
severe depressions there is little evidence to suggest that they produce
specific pharmacological benefit for the majority of patients with less severe
acute depression
obama lashes us intelligence failures
washington jan afp
an angry president barack obama warned tuesday he would not tolerate failures by
us spy agencies to connect the dots on intelligence that could have uncovered
the christmas day airline attack
in highly unusual public rebuke of the us clandestine community obama made
terse televised statement about the thwarted bombing after gathering agency
chiefs and national security aides at high stakes white house meeting
it is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully
leveraged obama said suggesting that missed red flags before the attack
were potentially disastrous and more serious than originally thought
that not acceptable and will not tolerate it obama said
as the white house faced intense political pressure over its response to the
attack press secretary robert gibbs insisted that the fbi had extracted
actionable intelligence from bomb suspect umar farouk abdulmutallab
republicans have faulted the decision to put abdulmutallab into the criminal
justice system rather than declare him an enemy combatant and submit him to
military questioning and justice
abdulmutallab spent number of hours with fbi investigators in which we
gleaned usable actionable intelligence gibbs said
obama also announced he would suspend transfers of guantanamo bay prisoners to
yemen after blaming an al qaeda affiliate in the arab country for plotting the
attack but vowed he would make good on his promise to close the camp
make no mistake we will close guantanamo prison which has damaged our
national security interests and become tremendous recruiting tool for al
qaeda obama said
gibbs said the decision to temporarily halt the transfer of prisoners from the
camp to yemen could mean more could be sent to thomson correctional center in
illinois selected by the administration to hold guantanamo bay inmates
obama said two probes into the botched plot to blow up northwest plane showed
us intelligence missed other red flags as well as the already revealed fact
that abdulmutallab was nigerian extremist who had traveled to yemen
he said us intelligence knew that the group al qaeda in the arabian peninsula
wanted to strike not only us targets in yemen but in the united states itself
over the holiday season
the bottom line is this the us government had sufficient information to have
uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the christmas day attack but our
intelligence community failed to connect those dots obama said
in other words this was not failure to collect intelligence it was
failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had
when suspected terrorist is able to board plane with explosives on
christmas day the system has failed in potentially disastrous way obama
said
it my responsibility to find out why and to correct that failure so that we
can prevent such attacks in the future obama said
obama promised that in the coming weeks he would lay out further steps to
safeguard aviation security including better integration of information and
enhanced passenger screening
he promised summary of preliminary report into the intelligence failures
would be made public within the next few days and demanded swift action to
close the gaps
want specific recommendations for corrective actions to fix what went wrong
want those reforms implemented immediately so that this doesn happen again
and so we can prevent future attacks
the state department meanwhile said tuesday it had revoked more visas for
people with suspected ties to terrorism
it based on our assessment of the risk associated with specific
individuals on information that we have you know from various sources said
spokesman pj crowley
many experts have expressed incredulity that abdulmutallab was able to travel on
valid us visa despite his suspected ties to extremists
