Report says Guantanamo closure is near

Hello it's Friday, June 22, 2007. I'm Rebecca Field in for Kristin Volk today with a UPI top news update.

The White House is reportedly close to making a decision about closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The Associate Press reports officials plan to move prisoners from the facility to military prisons elsewhere. Both the Pentagon and the Bush administration deny the report. The Pentagon says there are about 375 prisoners at the center and 14 of those are "high level detainees"...including Khalid Sheik Mohammed who's suspected of planning the September 11 attacks.

The Vietnamese President has signed a trade pact with the U.S. Nguyen Minh Triet signed a trade and investment agreement in Washington yesterday. Triet says there's "much to be desired" in his country's business world. Following the pact, companies in the U.S. and Vietnam signed more than 1 billion dollars in deals. Triet will meet with President Bush in Washington DC today before heading to California.

The U.S. senate has passed an energy bill that would raise mileage requirements. Late last night senate members voted to pass the bill...which includes an increase fuel efficiency by 40 percent to 35 miles per gallon for cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks by 2020. ABC News reports that would be the first time for a raise in automobile standards in 30 years. The bill also includes a boost in ethanol production. It will now head to the house for approval...expected to happen next week.

U.S. envoy Christopher Hill is reportedly optimistic about North Korea's nuclear program. Hill made a surprise visit to the country and says Pyongyang is prepared to close a nuclear reactor in Yongbyon. Hill is the head of the six party talks, aiming to denuclearize North Korea. In exchange, the U.S. promises economic and energy aid. Before leaving the country's capital today, he said there was a good discussion about the future.


That's all for now. Thanks for watching today's top news update and have a great weekend.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Guantanamo
• Bay
• Vietnam
• President
• Bush
• Nguyen
• Minh
• Triet
• senate
• energy
• bill
• ethanol
• Christopher
• Hill
• nuclear
• North
• Korea

[trekyz]

WOW! and Obama got all the credit for closing Gitmo, when it wasn't even his idea.

[Starcatcher969]

Send them to France!