OBAMA FOR USA

The president made his way to his family's vacation home in Hawaii while an ambulance was also seen speeding toward their compound.

White House aides said the speedy departure and return to the president's home was not a matter of national security or because of a threat to Mr Obama's safety.

According to The New York Times, the son of a family friend Eric Whitaker was slightly injured and needed stitches. A US administration official later confirmed a child of a family friend was injured and the first family was fine.

Mr Obama was playing golf when reporters who travel with him were quickly assembled for a return to the first family's neighbourhood.

Journalists saw an ambulance speed past with its lights on, heading toward the end of Mr Obama's street.

Earlier in the day, Mr Obama vowed that American forces would "not rest" until the people behind the failed Detroit airliner plot had been found.

Speaking during his holiday in Honolulu, he said he had ordered a review into airport security and the monitoring of suspected terrorists after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was charged with attempting to destroy the Christmas Day Northwest Airlines Flight 253. (telegraph)