Obama retakes 'fluffed' oath

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Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the oath to President Obama at the White House on Wednesday out of what officials called "an abundance of caution".

The president did not have his bible with him, but said that the oath was binding anyway.

The US constitution is clear about the exact wording of the oath and as a result, some experts have said that a repetition was probably unnecessary but could not hurt.

Two other previous US presidents have repeated the oath because of similar issues - Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur.

Meanwhile, on the second full day of his presidency, Mr Obama has signed an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre for terrorist suspects.

The order will close the much-maligned US prison in Cuba within a year, honouring a key promise of Mr Obama's presidential campaign.

The administration has already suspended trials for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo for 120 days pending a review of the military tribunals.

Mr Obama's package of measures overhauling US treatment of terror suspects also included orders to review military trials of terror suspects and ban the harshest interrogation methods.

The three executive orders and a presidential directive signed on Thursday showed Mr Obama's determination to reshape how the US prosecutes and questions al Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters who pose a threat to Americans.