Man detained in 4 homeless killings

Man detained in 4 homeless killings

ANAHEIM, Calif.

Investigators are “extremely confident” that a man in their custody is responsible for all four recent killings of homeless men in Orange County, Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said Saturday.

Welter said at a news conference that investigators have tied 23-year-old Itzcoatl Ocampo of Yorba Linda to the killings, which have struck fear into the area’s homeless community for the past month.

Ocampo was detained Friday night after a fourth homeless man was found slain in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant.

Three other homeless men have been found stabbed to death in north Orange County since mid-December, and a task force of police officers, deputy sheriffs and FBI agents had been looking for the single suspect they believed was responsible for all three.

ElBaradei pulls out of presidential race

CAIRO

Egypt’s reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei withdrew from the presidential race Saturday, saying a fair election is impossible under the military’s grip nearly a year after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster. Many fear that the ruling generals will push through a candidate of their own to preserve their power.

The Nobel Peace laureate’s pullout is a slap to the military and the credibility of its plans for Egypt’s transition. He was seen as the most pro-revolution of the candidates and the strongest advocate of deep change in a country long under autocratic rule.

2 shot in Mo. mall

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

A young man and woman were wounded Saturday in a shooting that locked down a suburban Kansas City mall and sent panicked shoppers running for cover.

Independence police spokesman Tom Gentry said two young men have been identified as persons of interest in the afternoon shooting at Independence Center. He said the two men had an altercation with the victims while going through a doorway, and the shooting happened when the two pairs met up later.

Gentry said the victims were taken to a hospital with wounds that weren’t considered life-threatening.

No agreement to end Nigeria strike

ABUJA, Nigeria

Nigeria’s government and labor unions failed to end a paralyzing nationwide strike over high gasoline costs, potentially sparking an oil- production shutdown in a nation vital to U.S. oil supplies. It was not immediately clear early today whether a major oil workers’ union had gone ahead with its threat to have its members walk off their jobs starting at midnight in an effort to halt oil production. But the fact labor unions left quickly from their meeting with the government and no one announced when talks would resume raised concerns the impasse would see Nigeria go through more days of disruptive strikes.

Protesters, police clash at St. Peter’s

VATICAN CITY

Protesters unhappy about the Vatican’s wealth clashed with police in St. Peter’s Square, with one of the demonstrators scaling the towering Christmas tree.

A few dozen “indignados” protesters, from Spain, France and Italy, tried to pitch two small tents in the square and shouted slogans Saturday afternoon. After police detained three protesters, including the tree-climber, to identify them in a space behind the square’s giant Nativity scene, a clash erupted, with officers swinging clubs and dragging away some demonstrators.

Associated Press