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U.S. image around the world.
• Instead, he defended on Thursday his continued and expanded use of the spy drones, which have killed thousands of terror suspects and civilians, in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. He hinted in the speech that he would give law enforcement officials new authority to seize suspicious communications within the United States.
• And Obama defiantly promised to push forward with his longtime goal of closing the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where 166 terror suspects are being held -- but said it's largely up to a resistant Congress to get it done.
• ___

• LONDON (AP) -- Britain is bracing for clashes with right-wing extremists and possible copycat terror attacks after the brutal slaying of a young soldier.
• London's Metropolitan Police said more than 1,000 officers will be sent to potential trouble spots with armed response units. Only a fraction of Britain's police offi

cers are armed.
• Wednesday's bloody attack was captured on video by passersby and made for gruesome viewing -- one man is seen with his hands stained red and holding two butcher's knives as he angrily complained about the British government and troops in foreign lands. A lifeless body is seen on the street behind him.
• Terror analysts say the attackers wanted the publicity to inspire copycat attacks, and that they are already seeing an increase in chatter on extremist sites calling for such attacks.
• "We can see the tempo being raised," said Maajid Nawaz, a former jihadist who is now with the London-based anti-extremist Quilliam Foundation.
• ___

• NIAMEY, Niger (AP) -- Suicide bombers in Niger detonated two car bombs simultaneously, one inside a military camp in the city of Agadez and another in the remote town of Arlit at a French-operated uranium mine, killing 26 people and injuring 30, according to officials in Niger and France. A surviving attacker took a group of

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