London - Human rights group Amnesty International Friday called on US president-elect Barack Obama to name a date for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre "promptly after taking office" later this month.

Amnesty, marking the 7th anniversary of the first transfers of terrorist suspect to the notorious detention centre at a US naval base on Cuba, said Obama should "make a reality" of his commitment to end the human rights violations.

Madrid - Former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar has denied denigrating US president elect Barack Obama when describing his victory as "historic exoticism and a predictable economic disaster," press reports said Friday.

Aznar issued a communique Thursday announcing possible legal action against those who had "deliberately misinterpreted" his comments to the Spanish edition of Vanity Fair magazine.

The interview prompted Socialist deputy leader Jose Blanco to refer to Aznar as a "reactionary person" with "racist roots."

New York, Jan 9 : A beer named after President-elect Barack Obama, which Red Hook-based Six Point Craft Ales stopped selling after Election Day, has been tucked away by some barkeepers for Inauguration Day celebrations.

The ale, which became very popular with its touch of citrus, had made its debut in March during the Democratic primaries, and it sold out in just six days.

But Six Point brought it back Hop Obama from August through Election Day, donating part of the proceeds to Project Vote.

Washington, Jan. 9 : US President-elect Barack Obama has appointed John O. Brennan as his top adviser on counterterrorism.

By appointing Brennan to the post, Obama has got an influential adviser on the Middle East and Iran.

Incidentally, Brennan had called for a sharp break with the past U. S. policy regarding the Middle-East, and Iran.

London, Jan 9 : Sources close to US President-elect Barrack Obama's transition team have said that he is likely to establish a channel for communicating with the Islamist organization Hamas in Palestine.

According to a report in the Guardian, the incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon George Bush's doctrine of isolating Hamas, by opening contacts with the organization.

The move to open contacts with Hamas, which could be initiated through the US intelligence services, would represent a definitive break with the Bush presidency's ostracizing of the group.

Washington, Jan 9 : Experts have said that US President-elect Barack Obama is likely to follow President George W. Bush's foreign policy.

According to a report in Politico, the assumption is based on the backgrounds of the people Obama has chosen to shape his foreign policy, who will chart a course fairly similar to the one Bush followed during his last couple of years in office.

Under the leadership of Bush, the US has intervened more often in more countries farther from its own shores than has any power in modern history.