Barack Obama, the US president, celebrated a "season of progress" at an end-of-year news conference on Wednesday.

Basking in a series of victories, Obama showed no interest in discussing one of his biggest unmet promises: the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison.

The Obama administration had pledged to close the controversial prison within a year but that policy has met a string of obstacles and is now facing fresh challenges.

Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan reports from Washington.