UN: South Sudan violence may have left 100s dead (AP)

UNITED NATIONS ? Intertribal violence may have left hundreds dead over the last week in South Sudan, according to the official in charge of the U.N. mission in that country .

Speaking by video link from Juba, Lise Grande, U.N. Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, on Tuesday called the humanitarian situation in the region "grim," following an attack by members of the Lou Nuer ethnic group on the Murle tribe.

Grande could not confirm the death toll but estimated the number would be in the "tens, perhaps the hundreds."

The two tribes have traded violent attacks over the last several years that have killed thousands. Grande said the army had succeeded Tuesday in repelling the attacks with help from U.N. peacekeepers.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120103/ap_on_re_us/un_un_south_sudan

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Hawks vs Heat live online NBA coverage on pc HD streaming link

Bye Bye Mike Brown

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Source: http://www.sportsviews.com/blog/90290/Hawks_vs_Heat_live_online_NBA_coverage_on_pc_HD_streaming_link

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Federal Agent Shot Dead Getting Dad's Cancer Meds

NEW YORK ? ?An off-duty federal law enforcement agent who died while confronting a pharmacy robber was picking up his elderly father's cancer medication, a New York congressman said Sunday.

Veteran agent John Capano had chased down the suspect inside the store and was trying to subdue him on the ground when he died, said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. The robber, who was also shot to death, was identified Sunday by police as 43-year-old James McGoey of Hampton Bays.

"John was with him on the ground wrestling," said King, who has spoken with local authorities and Capano's family. "Next thing you know, shots are fired."

McGoey went into Charlie's Family Pharmacy in Seaford, a small shorefront Long Island town, at about 2 p.m. on New Year's Eve, police said. He announced a holdup and was given what he came for: painkillers and money.

Capano, a trained explosives expert who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, confronted McGoey as he tried to leave the store. Meanwhile, an off-duty NYPD officer and a retired Nassau County police officer who happened to be at a deli next door were alerted that someone was trying to rob the pharmacy, King said.

"This is a horrible confluence of events," King said. "They both hear this guy saying there's a robbery going on. They get their guns, they go next door."

It's not clear who shot either man. Capano, 51, died of a gunshot wound at a hospital. He was a 23-year veteran of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who taught U.S. military and local forces in Afghanistan and Iraq how to investigate blasts, said Rory O'Connor, assistant special agent in charge in the ATF's New York office.

"He was a veteran agent who did his job well," O'Connor said. "Even though off-duty, he felt the need to take action in an attempt to protect the public."

Capano lived in nearby Massapequa and was married with two children. His father, Jimmy Capano, was a retired NYPD detective and the "unofficial mayor" of Merrick Road, the main thoroughfare in town and the street where his son was killed, King said.

"Everybody in Seaford knows the Capanos," said King, who has lived in the town for 40 years. "They're good, solid people."

On Saturday night, King spent half an hour with Jimmy Capano, who is 82 and was about to run out of his cancer medication.

"He was going to walk down to the pharmacy," King said. "And someone said, `Hey, John will pick them up for you."'

King did not know what type of cancer Jimmy Capano is being treated for, but said his wife, Helen, died of breast cancer two weeks ago.

During a visit to the crime scene Sunday morning, King saw the elder Capano again: standing in front of the pharmacy where his son died.

"He was standing at the front window with his hands in his pockets, staring," King said. "He's very tough and very emotional at the same time. He was obviously still trying to figure out what happened. As a cop, he was trying to go through the timeline."

The area has been struggling with a growing tide of prescription drug abuse, said Razov Felice, owner of an Italian restaurant down the street.

"There is a lot of problem in Long Island with these drugs," Felice said. "I don't know what people are thinking. The more people talk about these drugs, the more people are trying them."

A message left at McGoey's Hampton Bays home wasn't immediately returned Sunday.

Armed robberies at pharmacies in the U.S. rose 81 percent between 2006 and 2010, from 380 to 686, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. On Father's Day, four people were gunned down by a drug addict during a pharmacy robbery about 30 miles west of the one in Seaford where Capano was killed.

His death is the latest in a string of shootings of off-duty officers in the New York area who were responding to a crime.

In May, a New York Police Department officer shot to death an off-duty colleague who was carrying a gun while chasing a suspected car thief in East Harlem.

In March, an off-duty transit authority officer shot a Nassau County police officer who was in plainclothes and carrying a rifle while both men were responding to a crime in the town of Massapequa Park.

And in 2008, Westchester County police officers killed an off-duty officer from suburban Mount Vernon while he intervened in a fight.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/01/pharmacy-robber-federal-agent-shot-dead-in-new-york/?test=latestnews

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LA arson attacks: 'Person of interest' detained

LOS ANGELES?? Authorities investigating a string of arson attacks in Los Angeles were questioning "a person of interest" early Monday, as firefighters tackled a dozen new fires.

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"A person of interest has been detained and is being questioned," said Erik Scott of Los Angeles Fire Department in an announcement on Twitter.

"It is too early to speculate if this person responsible for spree arson fires," he added.

Department spokesman Capt. Jaime Moore says 10 of the latest blazes occurred at carports and garages in Los Angeles and two were in West Hollywood.

"The last one was in West Hollywood," he told told the LA Times, which reported that the first of the latest round of fires broke out shortly after 1:30 a.m. PT (4:30 p.m. ET) at apartment carports in the Laurel Canyon and Hollywood areas.

At least 43 fires
Officials said Sunday that they have linked at least 43 fires to a series of arsons that began Friday morning in Hollywood.

At a news conference Sunday morning, officials said many of the fires have been started in cars and in some cases spread to carports, garages and apartments.

Video: More fires hit Los Angeles (on this page)

Police distributed DVDs on Sunday featuring footage of a person of interest. It was unclear if this man was the person detained early Monday or not.

NBC Los Angeles, which posted a video including the surveillance tape footage, said the man in the video was described as white, 5-foot-8 to 6-foot-2 with a ponytail and dark, receding hair. He is in his late 20s to mid-30s.

The man is wanted for questioning in connection with the rash of arson blazes, said Officer Sara Faden.?

He was seen on video Saturday after emerging on foot from inside an underground parking structure on Hollywood Boulevard where a car fire was reported.

Faden said investigators are asking for the public's help in identifying the man on the video.

Detectives spent early Sunday analyzing security video camera footage and following up on other leads after a half dozen more vehicles were set on fire on New Year's Eve.

The outbreak of arson fires has left a trail of smoldering debris in Hollywood, West Hollywood, North Hollywood and the Fairfax district of Los Angeles since Thursday.

A reward of $60,000 has been offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the arsonist.

Detectives served a search warrant at a home in the San Fernando Valley, Det. Gus Villanueva said Sunday. Several interviews were conducted, but no arrests were made.

"They are working on hundreds of clues, interviewing dozens of witnesses, picking up countless pieces of evidence," police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said of the detectives.

Authorities haven't said how the car fires were sparked or what was collected at the crime scenes. They were unsure if the rash of fires were the work of one arsonist or multiple people or copycats.

There have been no injuries.

Extra patrols were out in force on New Year's Eve. One of Saturday's attacks occurred at the Hollywood and Highland entertainment complex, a popular tourist destination and hotspot for holiday revelers. Firefighters responded to a report of a small car fire in a parking structure that was out by the time they arrived.

Firefighters routinely are called to put out burning cars, but this recent spate has been unusual because of the frequency and location of the fires. Crews have been responding to other emergencies despite the focus on solving the fire arsons, fire spokesman Erik Scott said.

Police urged residents to check their cars for any signs of tampering and take simple precautions such as locking their cars, keeping garage and carport lights on at night and reporting suspicious activity.

"We are not going to rest," Los Angeles Fire Department assistant chief Pat Butler said Sunday at a joint police-fire news conference. "We are going to work tirelessly."

Police officials were working with Sheriff's Department detectives, city and county fire investigators and members of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Msnbc.com staff and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

? 2012 msnbc.com

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45846126/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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Endorsement game intensifies, but does it matter? (AP)

MANCHESTER, N.H. ? It may be overrated, but the political endorsement race won't stop. In fact, it will only accelerate as voting in the GOP presidential contest nears.

Hoping to bolster credibility and build political muscle, Republican presidential contenders have jockeyed for months to woo governors and congressional lawmakers, state senators and county sheriffs, newspaper editorial boards and tea party activists. The game has been dominated so far by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who appears to have captured more endorsements than the rest of the field combined.

But Jeff Frost, like many Republicans in early voting states, isn't impressed. Frost, who is chairman of the Manchester Republican Committee, said New Hampshire voters don't much like being told which candidate to support.

"We're a stubborn bunch of horse traders," he said.

Indeed, candidates and voters alike suggest the impact of political endorsements is unclear at best. Any potential blowback, however, isn't enough to stop campaigns from trotting out new supporters as quickly as they can sign them up.

It didn't matter that the New Hampshire Union Leader has a spotty record of picking winners. Newt Gingrich claimed instant credibility after capturing its endorsement. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum proudly won over Iowa social conservative leader Bob Vander Plaats. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, while touring Iowa, recently dispatched his latest high-profile supporter, conservative businessman Steve Forbes, to New Hampshire.

In most cases, the campaigns shop their big-name backers to local reporters, arrange meetings with voters and use their names and voices in fundraising appeals. Some also offer an instant infrastructure to handle nuts-and-bolts political chores that have tripped up less-organized candidates. That was the case recently in Virginia, where leading Romney supporter Lt. Gov. Bill Boiling shared his political network to help collect thousands of signatures so Romney could qualify for the primary ballot. Gingrich and Perry failed to qualify.

There's also the buzz that comes with any endorsement, producing days or a few hours of positive media coverage that may inspire confidence among wavering supporters.

Republican candidate Jon Huntsman has struggled to attract big names but recently won the backing of three New Hampshire newspapers, including the capital city's Concord Monitor. His campaign blasted news of the endorsements to reporters.

But even Huntsman acknowledged their impact may be minimal come Election Day.

"It's recognition that you are a legitimate candidate and people think well of you," Huntsman said. "What it does in terms of bringing support around in real numbers that would be quantifiable, I don't have any way of measuring that. I just don't know if it matters at all at the end of the day. But anything that provides additional credibility is a good thing."

The people who endorse candidates are also freer to go negative. Romney supporter and former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu has repeatedly jabbed at Gingrich for "whining." Forbes did much the same thing in New Hampshire for Perry, suggesting that the Texas governor has more "soul" than Romney.

Forbes, once a presidential contender himself, is considered popular in New Hampshire. But a handful of public appearances and media interviews are unlikely to sway any voters, according to Phyllis Woods, one of New Hampshire's two members of the Republican National Committee.

"I think in New Hampshire, there are precious few people who will make their decision based on an endorsement," she said.

There are always exceptions.

Romney helped create an air of inevitability in the fall after earning the endorsement of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, an outspoken conservative favorite. That was strengthened when Romney subsequently won over a tea party favorite, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Dave Roederer, an unaligned Republican who was John McCain's Iowa campaign chairman in 2008, said such high-profile endorsements are helpful.

"Iowa's not a big endorsement-type state, but the fact of the matter is that people will obviously stop and listen to somebody who's a big name like that," Roederer said of Christie and Haley. "It helps."

Santorum hopes people will notice rounds of lesser-known Iowa Republicans, from pastors and politicians alike, whom he's courted with some success in recent weeks. His top prize so far has been Vander Plaats, whose Family Leader organization worked to oust judges who helped usher in gay marriage in Iowa. The organization itself, however, declined to endorse.

In the endorsement race, which candidate gets the most is also a contest.

Romney's campaign says he's collected more than 1,900 endorsements, including conservative activists and current and former elected officials in all 50 states. The list includes four governors, 48 House members and 11 senators.

No one else comes close.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_on_el_pr/us_endorsement_game

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Afghan president welcomes US remarks on Taliban

FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2011 file photo, President Barack Obama meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in New York. The Obama administration hopes to restore momentum in the spring to U.S. talks with the Taliban insurgency that had reached a critical point before falling apart this month because of objections from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, U.S. and Afghan officials said. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2011 file photo, President Barack Obama meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in New York. The Obama administration hopes to restore momentum in the spring to U.S. talks with the Taliban insurgency that had reached a critical point before falling apart this month because of objections from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, U.S. and Afghan officials said. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday welcomed remarks from the Obama administration saying that Taliban insurgents were not America's enemies.

Earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview with Newsweek magazine that the Islamist militants did not represent a threat to U.S. interests unless they continued to shelter al-Qaida.

Biden's comments came amid reports that the Obama administration and other governments are trying to establish a peace process with the Taliban to help end the 10-year war.

"I am very happy that the American government has announced that the Taliban are not their enemies," Karzai said in a speech to the Afghan Academy of Sciences. "We hope that this message will help the Afghans reach peace and stability."

A senior U.S. official has told The Associated Press that Washington plans to continue a series of secret meetings with Taliban representatives in Europe and the Persian Gulf region next year.

The U.S. outreach this year had progressed to the point that there was active discussion of two steps the Taliban seeks as precursors to negotiations, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Trust-building measures under discussion involve setting up a Taliban headquarters office and the release from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of about five Afghan prisoners believed affiliated with the Taliban.

On Tuesday, Karzai said his government would accept the Taliban establishing a liaison office in Turkey, Qatar or Saudi Arabia for the purpose of holding peace talks.

Meanwhile, NATO troops on Saturday handed over responsibility for security in three districts of the embattled southern Helmand province to Afghan forces.

Helmand governor's office said these included Marjah district ? the site of a major offensive by coalition forces last year. Coalition operations to rout the Taliban in February 2010 yielded slower than expected returns, but a troop buildup later in the year pushed insurgents out of the main center of the district.

Nad Ali, which had been run by British troops, also transitioned from NATO to Afghan security control, a statement said.

The handovers in Helmand are part of the second phase in a transition NATO and Karzai hope will leave Afghan forces in control of the entire country by the end of 2014, when the U.S.-led coalition's combat mission is scheduled to end.

Meanwhile, in London the Ministry of Defense announced that one of the two NATO service members killed in Afghanistan on Friday was a British soldier. The death brought to 394 the number of British troops who have died since the start of operations in Afghanistan in 2001.

A total of 27 NATO troops have died so far in December, while the year's toll is 543. The yearly total is considerably lower than for 2010, when more than 700 troops died.

___

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-31-AS-Afghanistan/id-7e2118aae14f459f80979bb5d6dfb851

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UN agency deplores killing of Somali community leader at refugee camp

The head of the United Nations refugee agency voiced deep regret today at the killing of a Somali refugee leader in the Dadaab complex in north-eastern Kenya, describing the slaying as senseless.

Ant" Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), issued a statement after last night"s killing of the chairperson of a community peace and security team in Hagadera camp, which is part of Dadaab.

The man " whose name has not yet been released " was shot several times as he entered his compound about 7:45 p.m., according to UNHCR, which said the gunmen reportedly escaped. The victim was rushed to a camp hospital and later The peace and security team which the man headed is run by refugee residents in Dadaab, and UNHCR said they have been instrumental in helping to maintain security inside the camp.died as he was being evacuated to Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, for further treatment.

The peace and security team which the man headed is run by refugee residents in Dadaab, and UNHCR said they have been instrumental in helping to maintain security inside the camp.

Dadaab is the world"s largest refugee settlement, home to more than 460,000 people, overwhelmingly Somalis who have fled famine and fighting in their neighbouring homeland.

Source: http://www.speroforum.com/a/OXKEENFACZ29/66080-UN-agency-deplores-killing-of-Somali-community-leader-at-refugee-camp

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