In other comments at his news conference, President Obama admitted the progress had been slow in pulling the US economy out of recession. However, he said the country was beginning to
turn the corner
and every initiative by his administration was aimed at
stimulating
growth. Mr Obama also acknowledged that he'd fallen short on his promise to shut the Guantanamo Bay detention camp within his first year in office, but he insisted that closure remained his goal.
A senior Iranian official has said the release of an American woman detained near the border with Iraq more than a year ago will not now go ahead on Saturday as announced. The Iranian authorities had suggested the woman, Sarah Shourd, would be freed. In July last year, she was arrested along with two American men near the Iraq border and accused of spying. Jon Leyne reports.
This news will come as a huge disappointment for the family of Sarah Shourd. She's believed to be suffering from a
precancerous
condition, and the Iranian authorities had said she would be released as a goodwill gesture for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. But now the Tehran prosecutor has been quoted on a semi-official news agency as saying that the release was cancelled because the legal procedures were not completed. That sounds
ominously
as if her case has fallen victim to the increasingly bitter internal
wrangling
amongst those who rule Iran.