The following are editorial opinions from newspapers from around the world which may be of interest to Royal Gazette readers.

Politiken, Copenhagen, Denmark,–on Obama and Guantánamo Bay

Barack Obama, the United States' next president, plans to close down the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba. Good idea.

The prison has been a blot on American and international rule of law. Obama will also ensure that the United States doesn't use torture neither in Guantánamo or elsewhere. High time.

The America of (President George) Bush tried to promote the democratic rule of law while people were detained without trial and tortured has been an affront to American values and a gross violation of prisoners' human rights.

The fact that Obama will use the shutting down of Guantánamo to try to regain the moral leadership is a very obvious and urgent step. ...

All detainees at Guantánamo have the right to return home to their own communities. They must receive a certificate stating that they have not been convicted of anything, just as we must assume that Barack Obama will arrange for compensation.

Their own governments should then welcome their citizens and protect them against more harm.

The Charleston Post and Courier, S.C., on US intelligence tools and leadership

The Pelosi Democrats in Congress spent the last two years railing against the national security policies of George W. Bush, symbolised by expanded wiretapping, stressful interrogations, the Guantánamo prison and, of course, Iraq. Now they are unwisely trying to push President-elect Barack Obama into decisions that have less to do with prudent courses of action than with signalling victory over those symbols.

The Washington Post reports, for instance, that senior congressional Democrats have decided the nation's top two intelligence officers must be replaced right away because they have publicly defended the intelligence value of the Bush administration programs for stressful interrogations and expanded surveillance powers. ...

The president-elect must take the utmost care in changing the rules of engagement in a war in which intelligence tools are critical. There should be no return to the Clinton era's rigid rules that discouraged intelligence officials from intercepting communications among suspected terrorists.

Above all, the incoming commander in chief should not rush into changing the leadership of the intelligence agencies just because some Pelosi Democrats are demanding trophy heads. He must be not be trapped into mistaking political symbols for reality.