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Barack Obama has only been president since noon on Tuesday. He hasn't even been in office for a full week. Still, he's managed to get a number of things accomplished.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order today to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay within a year. The decision represents a critical break from Bush administration policies. James Yee, a former Muslim chaplain at the facility, discusses the move and those who say Guantanamo is a necessary tool in the war against terror.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) says she will challenge Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Gov. David Paterson's choice to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, in a 2010 primary. McCarthy says Gillibrand's 100 percent positive rating from the National Rifle Association makes her unacceptable.

Along with the order to shut down the Guantanamo detention camp, President Obama put a stop to the CIA's use of extreme interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists. That order requires U.S. intelligence agencies to abide by guidelines laid down in the Army Field Manual. Still, the new order left some questions unanswered.

New York Governor David Paterson has chosen U.S. Representative Kirsten Gillibrand to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Doug Muzzio discusses Paterson's choice.

Barack Obama has been sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. In his speech, the new president acknowledged that the country faced many challenges, but said he was confident they would be met. He also promised a new start with the Muslim world.

British playwright and Nobel laureate Harold Pinter has died. He was 78. Pinter was known for his brooding portrayals of domestic life and his barbed politics.

Crumpet the Elf is back for another Morning Edition Christmas. Crumpet is the not-so-secret identity of humorist David Sedaris, who was once a department store elf at Macy's. He wrote about the experience in his memoir The Santaland Diaries.

Playwright Harold Pinter came into prominence at a time when Tennessee Williams' and Arthur Miller's plays were being performed in the U.S. and Bernard Shaw and the Boulevard Comedies dominated London's West End. In contrast to the work at the time, Pinter's plays dealt with the theater of menace.

The National Retail Federation has urged Obama transition officials to devote some of the stimulus package to the creation of tax holidays next year. The group wants three, 10-day periods in which there will be no state sales tax.