◆Deadline for Closing Guantanamo Prison to be Missed: Obama
The deadline set for the closure of the Guantanamo prison will be missed, U.S. President Barack Obama has said in a TV interview broadcast on Wednesday.
"Guantanamo -- we had a specific deadline that was missed," Obama told NBC television during his Asia tour.
It was the first time Obama admitted in public that the Guantanamo prison is not likely to be closed by Jan. 22, 2010, a deadline he set right after he was sworn into office early this year.
The U.S. government is still contemplating how to try, transferor release more than 200 detainees in the prison, including suspects of some headline terrorism cases.
The Department of Justice announced last week to have five suspects of the 9/11 terror attacks tried in a New York federal civilian court, and another five Guantanamo detainees in a military tribunal.
On the controversy triggered by the decision, Obama said in a separate interview with CNN that Americans should not be "fearful" of the prospect of transferring the five men to New York for trial.
"I think this notion that somehow we have to be fearful, that these terrorists possess some special powers that prevent us from presenting evidence against them, locking them up and exacting swift justice, I think that has been a fundamental mistake," he said.
However, a CNN survey released on Tuesday showed that almost two-thirds of Americans disagree with the Obama administration's decision, saying terrorist suspects should be tried in a military court.
◆France, Iraq Reach Defense Pacts on Ordnance, Personnel
Iraq and France have reached several "important" pacts on ordnance and defense personnel exchange, the visiting Iraqi Defense Minister Abdelkader Jassem al-Obeidi announced Wednesday.
"Iraq has accepted many important French armaments," Obeidi said at French Defense Ministry with his French counterpart Herv Morin at side.
Following an order of 24 transport helicopters EC 635, worth around 500 million U.S. dollars, from France in March, Iraq are engaging in "other types of armaments" this time, Obeidi said without elaboration.
The Iraqi minister regarded France-Iraq cooperation as "the rapidest and simplest way for Iraq to recover capability to defense its air space, territorial sea and territory."
Contracts between the two sides on Monday cover personnel training and ordnance purchasing, which would allow Iraqi officers to France as well as French experts to Iraq, local media reported.
"We are extremely open to develop our military cooperation further than what we have today," Morin said, confirming Iraqi officers will be welcomed to French Military School in Paris.
◆Singapore Economy Expands for 2nd Straight Quarter
Singapore's economy expanded for a second straight quarter as the manufacturing and service sectors led the city-state out of recession.
Gross domestic product grew an annualized, seasonally adjusted 14.2 percent in the third quarter following a jump of 21.7 percent the previous quarter, the Trade and Industry Ministry said Thursday.
The government in October initially reported third quarter growth of 14.9 percent.
The economy also expanded from a year earlier for the first time since the third quarter of 2008. GDP was up 0.6 percent from the July-September quarter of 2008.
The ministry said it expects the economy to grow between 3 percent and 5 percent next year. It maintained its forecast for the economy to shrink between 2.0 percent and 2.5 percent this year.
Singapore relies on trade, finance and tourism to sustain one of Asia's highest living standards. Manufacturing soared an annualized 26.6 percent in the third quarter while services grew 10.8 percent.
However, the economy showed signs of sluggishness in October, when exports fell a seasonally adjusted 12.6 percent from the previous month and dropped 6.1 percent from a year earlier.
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