WASHINGTON — Despite fierce opposition in Congress, the White House insisted yesterday it has not ruled out releasing Guantanamo Bay detainees in the United States. But with narrowing options, the administration has begun shipping newly cleared inmates abroad to regain momentum in its effort to close the Cuba-based prison camp.

"We're not going to make any decisions about transfer or release that threatens the security of the country," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said at the end of a week in which nine detainees were transferred under high security to foreign nations, and one to the United States to face trial.

President Obama said last month that the cases of 50 detainees had been reviewed — and the administration said 48 of them were waiting for release to foreign nations.

U.S. SOLDIER KILLED BY BOMB IN IRAQ

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military says an American soldier has been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

A statement says the Multi-National Corps-Iraq soldier died yesterday during combat operations in Baghdad.

Violence in Iraq has dramatically dropped off, though insurgents continue to target U.S. and Iraqi security forces.

The death raises to at least 4,312 members of the U.S. military who have died in Iraq since the war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

HYDROGEN LEAK HALTS SHUTTLE LAUNCH

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA officials have canceled a planned launch today of space shuttle Endeavour due to a hydrogen leak.

The problem is similar to one the space agency faced in March during the launch countdown of Discovery.

The leak was discovered while the space shuttle was being fueled.

The astronauts had not yet suited up for the planned morning launch.

2 CLIMBERS DIE IN MOUNT MCKINLEY FALL

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Two experienced climbers have fallen to their deaths on Alaska's Mount McKinley.

National Park Service rangers recovered the bodies of 39-year-old John Mislow of Newton, Mass., and 36-year-old Andrew Swanson of Minneapolis.

The climbers, both doctors, were roped together when they fell Thursday afternoon along Messner Couloir, a steep, hourglass-shaped snow gully on the 20,320-foot mountain, North America's tallest peak.

Mislow and Swanson's deaths bring to four the number of fatalities at McKinley this climbing season, which runs through early July. Altogether, 106 people have died on McKinley since 1932, when the first two deaths occurred, according to Park Service statistics.

MAN INDICTED IN ARTIFACT THEFT FOUND DEAD

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah physician indicted in a federal investigation into the theft of ancient artifacts in the Four Corners region has been found dead in an apparent suicide, a sheriff's official said yesterday.

San Juan County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Grayson Redd, a distant relative, said James Redd's body was found Thursday afternoon by his local church leader near a dried-up pond on his property in Blanding.

Phil Mueller, a family member, said Redd died from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning in his Jeep.

James Redd, 60, was one of 24 people indicted Wednesday after a two-year investigation. Court papers say those involved stole, received or tried to sell American Indian artifacts, including bowls, stone pipes, arrowheads, pendants and necklaces.

CANADIAN GETS 15 YEARS FOR KILLING SAILOR

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — A Canadian man convicted of manslaughter in the stabbing death of a U.S. sailor was sentenced yesterday to 15 years in prison.

Cory Wright pleaded guilty two years ago to fatally stabbing Damon Crooks during a 2006 bar brawl at a Halifax, Nova Scotia, nightclub.

Crooks, a 28-year-old sailor from Jacksonville, Fla., was serving on the USS Doyle, one of two American naval vessels in Nova Scotia to take part in exercises with the Canadian navy.