WASHINGTON, D.C.
3 detainees sent to Saudi Arabia
A total of 10 prisoners were removed this week from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Officials said Friday that three Guantanamo Bay detainees have been sent home to Saudi Arabia. With the latest transfer, the U.S. has removed 10 detainees from Guantanamo in the past week, sending four to Bermuda, one to Chad, one to Iraq, and one to face trial in New York City. That leaves about 229 detainees still at the U.S. military detention center in Cuba.
The three are Khalid Saad Mohammed, Abdalaziz Kareem Salim Al Noofayaee and Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair. The Justice Department said they will undergo judicial review in Saudi Arabia before participating in a rehabilitation program.
Meanwhile, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday the administration has not abandoned the possibility of releasing detainees in the U.S., but he added that national security considerations would govern any moves.
“We’re not going to make any decisions about transfer or release that threatens the security of the country,” Gibbs said. Gibbs said the release of detainees this week showed “marked progress” and other decisions were being made on a case-by-case basis. President Barack Obama said last month that the cases of 50 detainees had been reviewed, and the administration said 48 of them were waiting for release to foreign nations.
The prospects for any transfers of Guantanamo inmates to the mainland U.S. have dimmed in recent weeks as Congress acted to block funding to pay for the moves.
KENNEBUNKPORT, MAINE
Bush 41 marks 85th with one heck of a view
Former President George H.W. Bush marked his 85th birthday on Friday the same way he did his 75th and 80th birthdays: He leaped from a plane and zoomed downward at more than 100 mph in free-fall before parachuting safely to a spot near his oceanfront home.
Bush made the tandem jump from 10,500 feet with Sgt. 1st Class Mike Elliott of the Army’s Golden Knights.
“It’s a great, exhilarating feeling,” he said after he was removed from his harness. “I don’t feel a day over 84.”
He said he enjoyed the jump so much that he planned to do it again when he turns 90.
He told reporters that he jumped for two reasons: to experience the exhilaration of free-fall and to show that seniors can remain active and do fun things. “Just because you’re an old guy, you don’t have to sit around drooling in the corner,” Bush said. “Get out and do something. Get out and enjoy life.”
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Fired inspector speaks out
An inspector general fired by President Barack Obama said Friday he acted “with the highest integrity” in investigating AmeriCorps and other government-funded national service programs.
Gerald Walpin said in an interview with The Associated Press that he reported facts and conclusions “in an honest and full way” while serving as inspector general at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
In a letter to Congress on Thursday, Obama said he had lost confidence in Walpin and was removing him.
Walpin defended his work Friday: “I know that I and my office acted with the highest integrity as an independent inspector general should act.”
Obama’s move follows an investigation by Walpin finding misuse of federal grants by a nonprofit group led by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, an Obama supporter. Johnson and a nonprofit education academy he founded ultimately agree to repay half of $847,000 in grants from AmeriCorps.
PERUGIA, ITALY
American testifies in killing
An American college student accused of murdering her British roommate in Italy testified for the first time on Friday, offering an alibi for the night of the 2007 killing and saying police beat her into making a false statement.
Amanda Knox, 21, said she smoked pot, had sex with her boyfriend — co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito — and fell asleep at his apartment on the night of the slaying. She said she did not return home until after her roommate was killed.
Knox is being tried on charges of murder and sexual assault for the slaying of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, a British student.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
‘Rockefeller’ guilty
A German man who called himself Clark Rockefeller and spun fantastic stories about himself during three decades in the U.S. was convicted Friday of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter and sentenced to four to five years in prison.
Rockefeller, whose real name is Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, snatched the girl on a Boston street during a supervised visit last July and took her to Baltimore.
The jurors, who began deliberating Monday, rejected the theory put forth by Gerhartsreiter’s lawyers: that he was suffering from a delusional disorder and was legally insane.
Prosecutors called the diagnosis “preposterous” and said he planned the kidnapping for months because he was angry that his wife had divorced him and gained custody of their daughter, Reigh Boss.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Congress OKs tobacco bill
Historic anti-smoking legislation sped to final congressional passage Friday — after a bitter fight lasting nearly a half-century — and lawmakers and the White House quickly declared it would save the lives of thousands of smokers of all ages. Even more important, they said, the measure could keep countless young people from starting in the first place.
President Barack Obama saluted passage of the bill, which he will soon sign.
The measure for the first time will give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate what goes into tobacco products.
Supporters say the bill, combined with other anti-smoking efforts, can significantly reduce the 400,000 U.S. deaths attributed yearly to smoking.
