Italy accepts Gitmo detainees

WASHINGTON - Italy has agreed to accept three detainees from Guantanamo Bay, President Barack Obama said yesterday, as the Administration continues its struggle to find homes for the prisoners so the facility can be shut down next year.

Speaking after an Oval Office meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Obama praised the leader saying his assistance "is very important to us".

Obama has been pressing allies to take some detainees but his efforts to have some prisoners released in the US or sent to American facilities have been blocked by Congress.

In the past week, the Administration has made progress - securing an agreement with the European Union to transfer 10 detainees. One prisoner was sent to New York to stand trial, while others were transferred to Chad, Iraq, Bermuda and Saudi Arabia. The latest announcement by Italy means 226 detainees remain at the prison.