NATIONAL BRIEFS

WASHINGTON: G-8 to meet at Camp David

The White House announced abruptly Monday that it had scuttled plans to hold the G-8 economic summit in Chicago, and would instead host world leaders at the presidential retreat at Camp David in Maryland. It was an unusually late location change for a large and highly scripted international summit and came with little explanation. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff who personally lobbied President Barack Obama to hold the summit in Chicago, was informed only hours before the official announcement. National security spokesman Tommy Vietor simply said that Camp David would allow for more intimate discussions among the G-8 leaders. He said security and the possibility of protests were not factors in the decision, noting that Obama would still host the NATO summit in Chicago from May 20-21. The G-8 summit is to take place May 18-19.

Fewer Guantánamo recidivists

The Director of National Intelligence said Monday that far fewer detainees released from Guantánamo Bay rejoined terrorist activities than previously reported. The intelligence office now says just under 16 percent of detainees released -- 95 out of 600 -- were confirmed to re-offend. About 72 detainees are suspected of having rejoined terror groups, and are being watched. A Republican congressional report in February had come up with a much more dramatic rate of 27 percent of the roughly 600 detainees released returning to the battlefield. Republicans on a House Armed Services subcommittee cited Pentagon figures, because that was what was available at the time.

ARIZONA: Medicating Loughner OKd

Federal prison doctors may force antipsychotic drugs on Jared Lee Loughner, charged with killing six people and trying to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, on the grounds he is a danger to himself, a U.S. appeals court ruled in San Francisco. The court ruled, 2-1, that there was no violation of Loughner's constitutional due process rights when prison doctors were permitted to forcibly medicate him with antipsychotic drugs. The U.S. Supreme Court previously said it is permissible, after a hearing before a judge, to forcibly drug pretrial detainees such as Loughner to restore their competence to stand trial.