The Obama administration is to transfer dozens of prisoners from Guantánamo Bay to a largely empty maximum security prison in Illinois over the objections of Republicans who say the move could prompt new terrorist attacks on the US.

The White House has ordered the purchase of the Thomson Correctional Centre, a state prison about 150 miles north-west of Chicago along the Mississippi river, to house the detainees as Obama seeks to fulfil a pledge to close the jail in Guantánamo, popularly known as Gitmo.

Of the 220 prisoners still held at Guantánamo, about 90 have been cleared for transfer to their own or third countries. Five are to be moved to New York for trial over the attacks on the World Trade Centre. Most of the remainder are likely to be sent to Illinois either for trial or to be held indefinitely as combatants in a continuing war, although that is likely to be open to legal challenge.

At least eight people have been killed and 40 injured in a suicide bomb attack in Kabul, the Afghan capital, the country's interior ministry has said.

The blast occurred on Tuesday outside the Heetal hotel in Wazir Akbar Khan, the diplomatic district of Kabul, said Ahmed Bilal, a national security directorate officer at the scene.

"Eight people have been killed. Four are women. Four others are male and 40 other people have been wounded. It was a suicide bombing," Zamarai Bashary, an Afghan interior ministry spokesman, told AFP news agency.

Japan's prime minister has reportedly delayed until next year a decision on the controversial relocation of a US military base on the southern island of Okinawa.

The dispute over the future of the Futenma air base has strained ties between the two allies and trading partners, with the US hoping for a decision by the end of this year.

According to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, Yukio Hatoyama, the Japanese prime minister, has deferred making the decision until May next year.

The paper said Japan would go ahead with preparations to move the airbase but explore alternative relocation sites before making a decision among the three parties making up the ruling coalition.

The top US military commander has said he is increasingly concerned about the threat posed by Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters sheltering on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border.

Speaking on a visit to Afghanistan on Monday, Admiral Mike Mullen said violence in Afghanistan was likely to get worse before it gets better, with fighters holding the upper hand across about a third of Afghan provinces.

"I remain deeply concerned by the growing level of collusion between the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda and other extremist groups taking refuge across the border in Pakistan," Mullen, who is chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, told reporters in Kabul.

"Getting at this network, which is now more entrenched, will be a far more difficult task than it was just one year ago."

Three US citizens accused of espionage after being detained in Iran are set to stand trial more than four months after they entered the country "illegally", Iran's foreign minister has said.

Manouchehr Mottaki told state television on Monday that the three Americans - identified as Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, had entered the country with "suspicious aims".

"Interrogation of the three Americans who have illegally entered Iran with suspicious aims is ongoing," he said.

Tomas Arita Valle, justice of the Supreme Court
Marcia Facussé, Liberal Party Congress person
Rafael Pineda Ponce, Chief of Staff to Micheletti
Gabriela Nuñez, Finance Minister
Roberto Zuniga, Budget director in Finance Ministry
Arturo Corrales, Negotiator on San Jose Accord team of Micheletti
Enrique Ortez Colindres, Foreign Minister for a few days at the beginning of the coup
Miguel Antonio Andino, administrative head of Defense Ministry

And the reasons for their "recognition"?

"These are people who have contributed to the institution [Armed Forces] and the country, and what better moment than a reunion of the high command to recognize their merits in supporting defense of democracy."

So all pretense is dropped.

...which is why it is utterly pointless to get into an argument with a wingnut over the "legitimacy" of the coup in the first place.

"Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne

ALBANY -- The Obama administration said Tuesday that the Shinnecock Indian Nation of Long Island had met the necessary criteria for federal recognition, signaling the end of a more than 30-year court battle and clearing a path for the tribe to build a casino in New York City or its suburbs.

The decision all but assures the tribe's federal recognition, though there is still a required public comment period that will take place before final recognition is granted.

"The Shinnecock petitioner has met all seven mandatory criteria for federal acknowledgment," the Interior Department said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.

The announcement culminates an arduous effort by the tribe, which has paid at least $1.74 million to seven different state and federal lobbying firms since 2005 as part of the recognition effort, according to public records.

Recognition for the Shinnecocks will have significant implications for the Hamptons, where the tribe is based.

Haidar has been on hunger strike in Lanzarote airport since being deported there from her home in Western Sahara on 15 November. Two days earlier she had flown back to Laayoune, the largest city in Western Sahara, from New York, where she had picked up the Train Foundation's Civil Courage human rights award. On her arrival in Laayoune she wrote her address on her landing card as being in "Western Sahara" rather than "Morocco". As a Saharawi, she has never recognised Moroccan sovereignty over her native land which has been occupied by Morocco in breach of international law for over 34 years. In the past Morocco has chosen to overlook her numerous "landing card protests", but on this occasion she was interrogated, stripped of her passport and expelled to the volcanic Canary Island which lies less than 80 miles off the African coast.

Spain offered to give Haidar refugee status or Spanish citizenship so she could be allowed to return home, but she rejected both options on the grounds that she did not want to become "a foreigner in her own land". According to Human Rights Watch, her forced expulsion breached Article 12 (4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by Morocco, which makes it clear that no one can be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter their own country. In addition, by preventing her return to Western Sahara, Spanish authorities may have breached both Spanish national law and Article 2 of Protocol 4 of the European convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Article 12 (2) of the ICCPR also stipulates that everyone shall be free to leave any country.

On 4 December, perhaps after having been made aware of the legal situation, Spain laid on a private aircraft to carry Haidar back to Laayoune. As she boarded the plane with Agustin Santos, of the Spanish foreign ministry, it seemed as if Haidar had won a significant victory. However, celebrations among Saharawis and campaigners around the world were short-lived when it emerged that the Spanish had not received any agreement from Morocco to allow her return. In a hastily organised press conference held soon after tearful supporters had watched Haidar being stretchered back into the airport terminal, Santos claimed that Spain had attempted "to facilitate the exercise of her right to return to her country" and could do no more.