S. Sudan talks planned as rebels attack

• NEW: Warring sides in South Sudan agree to peace talks, a U.N. representative says


• Rebels and government troops are fighting in Bor and Bentiu towns


• The rebels are loyal to former South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar


• President Salva Kiir has said his forces “will fight” if Machar will not agree to talk

Juba, South Sudan (CNN) — Warring parties in South Sudan have agreed to peace talks where a cessation of hostilities between President Salva Kiir’s forces and supporters of former Vice President Riek Machar will top the agenda, the United Nations special representative to South Sudan told CNN on Tuesday.

The two sides have agreed to nominate delegations to be sent to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, home of the African Union, for the talks that are likely to begin Thursday, Hilde Johnson, the special representative, said.

The announcement by Johnson contradicted earlier reports in the day that a cease-fire had been reached.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development, along with the African Union and other countries, has been mediating between the battling parties following an outbreak of deadly violence in South Sudan.

Despite word of the pending peace talks, fighting continued Tuesday in the towns of Bor, capital of oil-rich Jonglei state, and Bentiu, in Unity state, with no sign of a cease-fire in sight.

East African leaders on Friday gave the warring factions four days to lay down their arms, in a bid to bring more than two weeks of violence to an end.

The fighting began after Kiir, from South Sudan’s Dinka ethnic group, accused troops loyal to Machar, from the Nuer community, of trying to launch a coup.

The two men have long been political rivals, and Kiir dismissed Machar, along with the Cabinet, in July.

Negotiating peace

A source close to Machar told CNN on Tuesday that the rebel leader has sent a delegation to Addis Ababa for talks with the South Sudanese government.

South Sudan on edge

Kiir: African leaders should’ve helped

Inside a refugee camp in South Sudan.

Dina Mufti, a spokesman for Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Kiir and Machar would meet in the city.

But the source close to Machar, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told CNN he was not going himself but was sending a team that includes Rebecca Garang, the widow of former leader John Garang, and the acting governor of Jonglei state.

Mufti said the discussions would have an “unstructured agenda,” with the talking points to be decided in the course of the meeting.

The talks will be chaired by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who’s the current chairman of the African Union and Intergovernmental Authority on Development. Other parties will also mediate in the talks, Mufti said.

CNN has been unable to reach anyone from the South Sudanese government for comment on the talks.

Kiir told CNN on Monday thatAfrican nations should have acted quickly to help quell the rebel forces.

As soon as an attempted coup took place and violence broke out, “the original leaders and all African leaders should have come in with military support,” so that the rebels would have been “crushed once and for all,” he said.

If the other side, led by Machar, does not agree to talk, then “we will fight,” Kiir vowed. “In both cases,” he said, peace “will be restored.”

Sanctions threat

The leaders of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development warned Friday that they would “take action” to stop the conflict that the United Nations says has killed more than 1,000 people and forced about 122,000 from their homes.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, at a news conference, said that if Machar did not agree to talks, the other countries would “go for him.” Asked what that means, he said, “defeat him.”

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union, which met Monday in Gambia, called on all sides to “immediately and unconditionally cease hostilities” and engage in dialogue.

It also warned it would take measures including “targeted sanctions” against those who incite violence and ethnic strife, hinder humanitarian efforts or harm civilians.

White Army

Bor, a strategically important town in the center of the country, has been a flashpoint for violence.

It was recaptured by the army last week in a bloody battle. But the latest clashes suggest that rebels loyal to Machar are unwilling to let go easily.

Sudan People’s Liberation Army spokesman Col. Phillip Aguer warned over the weekend that about 20,000 ethnic Nuer from the so-called White Army, an ethnic militia loyal to Machar, were headed to Bor.

South Sudanese Deputy Information Minister Rachel Nyedak Paul told CNN on Monday that government officials had persuaded the White Army to retreat from the town.

But members of the militia were involved in Tuesday’s clashes, according to Paul — suggesting that the agreement had broken down.

The youths are known as the White Army for the white powder they use to cover their skin as an insect repellent.

Fighting first broke out on December 15 in the capital city of Juba. It then quickly spread across the country, with reports of mass killings that were lent credence by mass graves.

‘No clean water, no food’

The violence has sparked a growing humanitarian crisis.

Of at least 122,000 people displaced since the fighting began, about 63,000 have taken refuge in U.N. bases in the country, according to the United Nations.

The nongovernmental organization Doctors Without Borders said Monday that aid is urgently needed for 70,000 people who have fled the fighting in Bor.

They have sought shelter in the town of Awerial, in neighboring Lakes state, but the town is ill-equipped to cope with the influx, it said. “Living conditions are verging on the catastrophic,” the group said in a prepared statement.

Aurelie Dupont, emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Awerial, said the situation for women and children who’ve fled their homes with few belongings was alarming.

“There is no clean water, no food, and no place to shelter or sleep,” she said. “They are relying solely on the help of the local population.”

A report submitted to the African Union council meeting said the situation on the ground remains “very volatile,” amid worsening ethnic tensions.

“There are reliable reports that a large number of civilians died in a series of selective killings in Bor town, in Jonglei State, and Bentiu town, in Unity State, that looks very much like an ethnic pogrom,” it said.

South Sudan formally split from Sudan in 2011 after a referendum, following decades of conflict. Numerous armed groups remain active in the oil-rich country.

CNN’s Arwa Damon and Antonia Mortensen reported from Juba and Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London. CNN’s Chelsea J. Carter, Lillian Leposo and Nana Karikari-apau, and journalist Michael Atsbeha contributed to this report.

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10,000 carolers sing to dying girl

• Laney Brown, 8, has leukemia and doctors say she will die soon


• She asked to meet singer Taylor Swift and to hear Christmas carolers at her home


• On Friday she had a video chat with Swift


• Saturday night, for one hour, people packed the street and serenaded her

(CNN) — Eight-year-old Laney Brown will never see Christmas again. Her doctors say leukemia will take her soon.

Laney loves music. Loves to dance, loves Taylor Swift, loves Christmas carols.

As her dying wishes, she asked to meet the country superstar and for some people to come by her house for a night of caroling, CNN affiliate WFMZ reported.

On Friday — her birthday — Laney and Swift video chatted through FaceTime, a software application that allows callers to see each other on Apple products.

Saturday night the singers came. At first it was hundreds of people, then thousands. Then it was 10,000.

They came to her home in West Reading, Pennsylvania, and even though she was too weak to go to the window, she heard the wonderful music.

“I can hear you now!!! Love you!” she said through a photo her family posted to a Team Laney Facebook page showing the girl, two thumbs up despite a breathing mask, lying in bed.

Laney was diagnosed with

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Heroin labeled 'Obama Care' seized

A photo supplied by Massachusetts State Police shows the packets of heroin marked “Obama Care”

• “Obama Care” was printed on packages of heroin


• New: “It’s just a branding so you can say if this brand is good or bad.”


• Four people arrested Friday in Hatfield, Massachusetts

(CNN) — What do heroin and Obamacare have in common?

Nothing — save for more than 1,200 packets of heroin that had the words “Obama Care” and “Kurt Cobain” printed in red on the packaging that Massachusetts State Police say they uncovered in a drug bust.

State police said the labels are nothing more than marketing ploys.

“It’s a branding by the particular drug dealer so when the drug gets out to the population, you know what it is,” said Police Lt. Daniel Richard. “It’s just a branding so you can say if this brand is good or bad. It’s like putting Pepsi or Coca-Cola on a bottle.”

Trooper Joseph Petty stopped a vehicle with four people in the Town of Hatfield on Friday morning after noticing the vehicle was committing several traffic violations.

Tyler Robenstein and Ashley Beaulieu of Vermont and Marquese Jones and Sherod Green of New Jersey were taken into custody and face conspiracy to violate drug laws and possession charges.

The driver, Robenstein, was charged with speeding, unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and failure to change lanes for an emergency vehicle, police said.

The Hampshire County Jail in Northampton said late Saturday afternoon that Robenstein and Beaulieu had been released on bond. Jones and Green were still being held.

CNN’s Allie Malloy contributed to this report.

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Morsy faces trial for '11 jail break

• Morsy will be tried along with members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Palestinian Hamas


• This is the latest in a series of legal woes for the deposed leader


• He already faces charges of incitement to murder in connection with protests last year

(CNN) — Ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy and 132 others will face trial for escaping from prison in 2011, state media reported Saturday.

Morsy will be tried along with members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Palestinian Hamas, al-Ahram newspaper reported.

He is also charged with raiding other prisons, and killing soldiers and officers in Rafah, it said.

This is the latest in a series of legal woes for the deposed leader.

This week, state media reported that Morsy and 35 Muslim Brotherhood members will be tried for allegedly collaborating with foreign organizations to commit terrorist acts and revealing defense secrets, according to al-Ahram.

Morsy is accused of spying for the Palestinian group Hamas, which the United States classifies as a terrorist organization, and assisting in acts of terror inside Egypt, judicial sources told al-Ahram.

He has been in custody since his ouster in July. He already faces charges of incitement to murder in connection with protests against his rule last year.

Morsy has refused to recognize the court.

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Latest NSA leaks point finger at UK

The town of Bude is known for its picturesque bays and a facility at the heart of a global eavesdropping network run by the NSA.

• Reports detail surveillance facility in bucolic setting


• Spanish media jump on latest revelations


• NSA: We don’t steal trade secrets of foreign companies

(CNN) — The town of Bude in the southwest of England is best known for its long sandy beaches and picturesque bays. Nowhere on its tourist brochures is a complex of white domes and dishes at Morwenstow mentioned.

After the latest revelations published by the Guardian, New York Times and Der Spiegel, Morwenstow may become a little more familiar.

The site — now officially known as GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) Bude — is at the heart of a global eavesdropping network run by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). It has more than 20 antennae orientated toward global communications satellites over the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Africa and the Middle East, according to declassified sources.

Based on documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the three newspapers reported Friday that GCHQ Bude is a critical hub in eavesdropping on the communications of government figures, and many others, in Europe and beyond.

Among some 1,000 organizations and individuals whose e-mail or phone numbers appear in the documents: the European Commission, the government of Israel, African heads of state, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the NGO Medecins du Monde.

None of the newspapers published any of the documents they were shown, and the volume of information collected on any particular individual or organization is unclear. The New York Times reported that, “The documents include a few fragmentary transcripts of conversations and messages.”

But one of the many hundreds of phone numbers listed in the documents from 2009 was that of a senior European official, Joaquin Almunia, who is Spanish. At the time — just as Europe’s financial crisis gathered pace — Almunia was the European Union’s economic and monetary affairs commissioner. According to Der Spiegel, he had a “personal identification code in the British target database, with the code name “Broadoak.”

Almunia has since become the competition commissioner, handling antitrust disputes, and has been in a long-running dispute with Google over search-engine practices.

In an apparent reference to the allegations about Almunia, the NSA said in a statement Friday: “We do not use our foreign intelligence capabilities to steal the trade secrets of foreign companies on behalf of — or give intelligence we collect to — U.S. companies to enhance their international competitiveness or increase their bottom line.”

‘This is not the type of behavior that we expect’

According to The New York Times, the French oil company Total and defense contractor Thales also are mentioned in the documents.

The NSA statement concluded: “The U.S. Government is undertaking a review of our activities around the world — looking at, among other issues, how we coordinate with our closest allies and partners.”

The European Commission reacted swiftly to the latest revelations.

A spokeswoman in Brussels said that if proven true, they “are unacceptable and deserve our strongest condemnation. This is not the type of behavior that we expect from strategic partners, let alone from our own Member States,” meaning the UK.

“The Commission will raise these new allegations with US and UK authorities,” she added.

Spanish media also pounced on revelations about Almunia’s communications.

The headline in El Pais translated as: “The US and UK spied on Commissioner Joaquín Almunia’s mobile,” while La Republica also focused on “los servicios secretos británicos” as the perpetrator.

The British government is likely to come under further scrutiny from its European partners over its intelligence gathering activities. UK criticism of the NSA program has been more muted than that of France, Germany or Spain, in part because of the long intelligence partnership between the two countries.

Review: NSA snooping programs should stay in place

According to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron did not join in a vigorous debate at the EU summit in October on the NSA eavesdropping, rather expressing his “silent acquiescence” to a strongly-worded statement in which Britain was indirectly warned that “a lack of trust could prejudice the necessary cooperation in the field of intelligence gathering.”

By then, Der Spiegel had already reported that the documents leaked by Snowden showed that GCHQ had been involved in a cyberattack against Belgium’s state-run telecom company, Belgacom.

The company would only say at the time that “the intruder had massive resources, sophisticated means and a steadfast intent to break into our network.”

GCHQ shares much of the information it collects with the NSA.

More than eyes on the sky?

The Guardian reported earlier this year, again based on documents provided by Snowden, that the NSA had provided some $ 25 million to update the Bude facility. But it is also likely that the NSA has been and is still be able to gather directly data harvested by GCHQ Bude.

Nicky Hager, an investigative reporter and author of several books on intelligence, told a committee of the European Parliament in 2001 that “communications were screened for keywords entered into the system by the USA using ‘dictionary managers’. The British therefore had no control over the screening process and had no idea what information was collected in Morwenstow, since it was forwarded directly to the USA.”

Der Spiegel reported Friday that GCHQ Bude may do more than gaze into the heavens.

“Important undersea cables land at nearby Widemouth Bay,” it reported. “One of the cables, called TAT-14, begins at German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom’s undersea cable terminal.”

TAT-14 links terminals in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the United States.

That may explain how so many German telephone numbers appear in one 2009 document provided to the newspapers by Snowden.

“Other documents indicate that the British, at least intermittently, kept tabs on entire country-to-country satellite communication links,” like those between Germany and Turkey, Der Spiegel reported.

Morwenstow has long been part of a global network of stations involved in intercepting satellite communications.

The 2001 European Parliament report concluded: “In Morwenstow….GCHQ, working in cooperation with the NSA and in strict accordance with the latter’s instructions, intercepts civilian communications and passes on the recordings to the USA as raw intelligence material.”

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6 reasons 2013 was bad for Obama

• President Barack Obama’s credibility takes a hit in a tough year


• NSA revelations, botched Obamacare rollout harm his presidency


• Some controversies were unavoidable, but others were self-inflicted


• Washington dysfunction halts progress on policy priorities

Washington (CNN) — How bad of a year was 2013 for President Barack Obama? The economy is strengthening as he starts to wind down America’s longest war, but his poll numbers are the lowest since he took office almost five years ago.

Usually, a growing economy and bringing the troops home mean public love for the commander in chief, but not this time.

The flush of success from Obama’s re-election last year faded quickly as his administration faced a series of controversies — some unavoidable and some self-inflicted — that eroded Obama’s credibility along with the belief that he can bring about the kind of change he called for in running for president.

“People don’t think he’s as competent as they used to think,” said CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger. “They don’t think he’s as trustworthy as they used to think.”

Here are six reasons for the President’s difficult year, starting with his greatest achievement toward the promised change of his first term that became perhaps his biggest liability: the health care reforms known as Obamacare.

1)Obamacare blues

Like your health plan … keep it?

If one day in 2013 exemplified Obama’s change in fortune from his first term, it was October 1.

That was the launch of the long-awaited HealthCare.gov website that would, in Obama’s words, make getting health insurance required under the Affordable Care Act as easy as shopping on Amazon.com.

Obamacare site down… and back up

On the same day, a highly unpopular government shutdown started because of Republican demands to dismantle Obamacare as part of a needed spending measure to keep federal agencies running.

It should have been a decisive double play for Democrats, with public anger at Republicans over the eventual 16-day shutdown rising as Americans finally got to experience the full benefits of the health care reforms they had been promised since the law was passed in 2010.

But the website malfunctioned badly from the start, with repeated stalling and error messages that made successful navigation impossible for most users.

Once the shutdown ended on October 16, media focus shifted to the full extent of the Obamacare website problems.

CNN poll: Democrats lose 2014 advantage in Obamacare uproar

That gave Republicans fiercely opposed to the health care reforms a new opening to attack both the overall law and the big government approach of Democrats.

On top of all this came reports that insurers were sending cancellation notices to individual policy holders that undermined Obama’s repeated pledge of previous years that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it.”

While less than 5% of the population, the individual health insurance market comprised several million people whose stories of canceled policies took over the media narrative. PolitiFact declared Obama’s false promise its “lie of the year.”

Now Republicans trying to dismantle the reforms warn of more hidden impacts including higher premiums and canceled coverage in the first full year of Obamacare in 2014.

“This really represents the single … biggest instance of consumer fraud in the nation’s history,” GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas told reporters this week. “And the American people are increasingly led to the conclusion they cannot trust this administration to say what it means or mean what it says.”

Obama brought in outside tech experts to get the website working better, and enrollment figures increased in November and December. However, it remained unclear if the administration can regain control of the narrative.

On Friday, the website was down again for a few hours, but Obama boasted to reporters at his year-end news conference that more than 1 million people had enrolled so far.

2)How low can you go?

Carney: Everyone has taken a hit

Polls show Obama’s support at the lowest levels of his presidency.

A new CNN/ORC International survey released Friday showed a drop of 14 percentage points since January in the President’s approval rating, down to 41%.

Meanwhile, an ABC News/Washington Post poll this week showed 45% of Americans trusted Republicans to do a better job handling the economy compared to 41% for Obama.

It was a different story last December, when the President had a 54%-36% advantage on the same question just after his re-election.

Obama won’t scramble jets for Snowden

The Patriot Act passed after the 9/11 attacks led to a huge NSA surveillance network that operated under review by secret courts, with little public knowledge.

Then former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked a trove of classified documents about it in June.

Suddenly, a program Obama inherited became a major problem, as Snowden’s revelations showed the government routinely collected phone records — but not the content of calls — for possible use in tracking terrorism suspects.

Suspicions that the government spied on its own people ensued, fueled by incomplete or misleading administration responses such as when Director of National Intelligence James Clapper denied to a congressional committee that such surveillance occurred.

Snowden’s leaks also made public embarrassing revelations of U.S. spying on allies such as Brazil, France, Mexico and Germany.

While Obama never personally bore the brunt of direct responsibility for the extent of the NSA surveillance, the Snowden leaks enhanced a public perception of an administration steeped in secret activities that it denied or tried to continue hiding.

Rep. Issa expands IRS investigation

An inspector general’s report in May that showed the IRS targeted conservative groups in determining extra scrutiny of applications for tax-exempt status was the scandal du jour in Washington before being relegated to back-burner status by the Snowden leaks.

Republicans called the targeting a conspiracy of Nixonian dimensions, while Democrats condemned it as bureaucratic rather than political malfeasance.

Cruz: Obamacare is hurting millions

CNN Chief National Correspondent John King called Obama “0 for-2013″ in terms of what he proposed in his State of the Union Address in February with what got passed by Congress.

No immigration reform. No jobs program. No tax reform. No increase in the minimum wage. No expanded background checks on gun purchases in the wake of the Newtown school massacre despite a major push by the President.

Obama and Democrats blame Republicans for obstructing possible progress in a divided government with different parties controlling the House and Senate.

“This last year has been totally obstructed. Everything we’ve tried to do, we have been stopped,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid complained on Thursday.

Republicans contend it was Obama who prevented progress by refusing to seriously consider their positions or concerns, accusing him of a “my way or the highway” approach.

The partisan impasse was most evident in the repeated showdowns over federal spending that culminated in the October shutdown.

Conservative Republicans got the most blame for the shutdown because of their failed effort to tie the budget negotiations to dismantling Obamacare.

But polls showed public anger at everyone over the brinkmanship that economists said hindered the nation’s slow but steady economic growth.

A budget compromise worked out after the shutdown amounted to rare bipartisan cooperation on spending issues.

The House and Senate easily passed the two-year spending framework that puts off further shutdowns over the budget until after next year’s congressional elections, and Obama has signaled he will sign it.

“It’s probably too early to declare an outbreak of bipartisanship, but it’s also fair to say that we’re not condemned to endless gridlock” that led to the government shutdown in October, Obama said on Friday.

The question is whether election year politics will bring the usual hardening of partisan positions, or if legislators believe further compromise will boost their standing with voters.

Obama called for Congress to make 2014 a “year of action” on issues such as immigration reform, job creation and expanding background checks on gun buyers.

However, he refused to budge in his rejection of Republican calls for concessions in return for their agreement to increase the federal borrowing limit — known as the debt ceiling — when required as soon as early March.

6) Reality versus perception

Jon Stewart, others take on Obamacare

What do you remember about Obama’s speech at Nelson Mandela’s funeral?

For most people, the answer will be the interpreter accused of making up sign language, or Obama huddling with the Danish and British prime ministers for an apparent “selfie” photo, rather than anything the President said.

He isn’t the first President to be trivialized by the media and joked about on late-night talk shows, but coupled with the endless Republican attacks and low poll numbers, the perception of Obama has changed dramatically from the freshly re-elected leader praised for a dynamic inauguration speech last January.

Critics enjoyed skewering him over a series of diplomatic jabs scored by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ignored a U.S. request to return classified leaker Snowden to face prosecution and intervened diplomatically in Syria after Obama failed to muster an international force to punish the Syrian regime for crossing his “red line” on using chemical weapons.

In the end, though, Obama appeared to get what he wanted without putting any U.S. troops at risk, as Syria — under pressure from ally Russia — handed over control of its known chemical weapons arsenal to the international community.

A bad year for sure, but not the death knell of his presidency.

“Can he turn it around? Sure he can,” CNN Political Commentator Ryan Lizza said. “I think his fortunes will be about the improving economy, and there’s a lot of good economic news coming out right now and 2014-2015. If the economy turns around, those (poll) numbers that we saw will turn around.”

CNN’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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Nigella aides not guilty of fraud

• NEW: Police say they have no plans at this stage to investigate claims of drug use


• Nigella Lawson slams drug claims, says she’s victim of a campaign to ruin her reputation


• Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo are cleared of defrauding Lawson and her ex-husband


• Grillos’ lawyer: “This has been a long, hard fight played out in the gaze of the world’s media”

London (CNN) — Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson spoke out angrily Friday against what she said were false claims of habitual drug use made against her in the trial of two former personal assistants.

Sisters Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo were each cleared of fraud Friday by the jury in the London court that heard the case.

Francesca Grillo had been accused of defrauding Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi of 580,000 pounds ($ 950,000), and Elisabetta Grillo of defrauding them of 105,000 pounds ($ 172,000). Both had denied the charges.

The case has gripped UK media, thanks to revelations of drug use by Lawson and insights into her troubled marriage to Saatchi, a millionaire art collector. The couple divorced this year.

Lawson, who was a prosecution witness, said she was “disappointed but unsurprised” by the verdict, and she slammed what she said was a sustained campaign to ruin her reputation.

Nigella Lawson Testifies

Celebrity chef on the stand

“Over the three week trial the jury was faced with a ridiculous sideshow of false allegations about drug use which made focus on the actual criminal trial impossible,” she said in a prepared statement.

“My experience as a witness was deeply disturbing. When false claims about habitual drug use were introduced I did everything possible to ensure the (Crown Prosecution Service) was aware of the sustained background campaign deliberately designed to destroy my reputation.”

‘Maliciously vilified’

Lawson called for reform to the judicial system to allow witnesses to rebut false claims against them.

“I did my civic duty, only to be maliciously vilified without the right to respond,” she said.

“Even more harrowing was seeing my children subjected to extreme allegations in court without any real protection or representation. For this I cannot forgive the court process.”

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Half brother: Obama's father abusive

• “I remember the sounds of my mothers’ screams,” Mark Obama Ndesandjo says


• Barack Obama apparently met their father once


• The president’s parents got divorced soon after he was born

(CNN) — Barack Obama’s father was more abusive and violent than the president was aware of, according to his half-brother, who has written a memoir about their father.

Mark Obama Ndesandjo, who is several years younger than the President, described their father as a brilliant man. But he was also an alcoholic, a “social failure” and an abusive husband, he said.

“I remember the sounds of my mothers’ screams and I remember the sounds of breaking, things breaking,” he told CNN. “And I remember that I couldn’t protect her. That’s something that no child ever forgets.”

He said he especially remembered a violent episode when he was 6 or 7.

Barack Obama’s father with his third wife, Mark Obama Ndesandjo’s mother.

“My father actually broke — came in the door, against the restraining order, and held a knife to my mother’s throat,” he said.

Barack Obama apparently met their father once because his parents got divorced soon after he was born. Ndesandjo and the president have the same father, but Obama’s mother was the second wife while Ndesandjo’s mother was his third wife.

Unlike Obama, Ndesandjo grew up with his father.

The president is lucky he never lived with his father, according to David Maraniss, author of “Barack Obama: The Story.”

“It would have been a much more difficult upbringing,” he said.

Divergent views of family history have caused some strain among Obama relatives, according to Ndesandjo.

“Barack I don’t think accepts — or at least does not want to know — the details of the beatings that occurred in our family,” he said. “I love my brother. He’s a great president. Sometimes he’s a lousy brother.”

The White House did not respond to e-mails and phone calls Thursday about the president’s half-brother’s book. But in a 2009 interview with CNN, the president said he was not blind to the flaws of his father.

“It’s no secret that my father was a troubled person. Anybody who has read my first book, “Dreams from My Father,” knows that, you know, he had an alcoholism problem, that he didn’t treat his families very well,” he said. “Obviously it’s a sad part of my history and my background. But it’s not something that I spend a lot of time brooding over.”

Mark Obama Ndseandjo and his wife with Barack Obama.

Ndesandjo and Obama have several things in common: similar good looks, biracial ethnicity, the same father and each had an American mother.

Despite their similarities, this is not the first time the two have been at odds.

When they first met in Kenya in the 1980s, Ndesandjo was growing up there and trying to connect with his American roots, he said.

At the time, Obama came from America and was “really looking for that African side of him, and was trying to find more about himself and his identity. And I respect that. But I also felt that there was a rejection of a lot of Western culture,” Ndesandjo said.

“I felt that my brother — at that time – felt that I was too white,” he said. “And I thought he was too black.”

When they first met, Ndesandjo said, his half-brother came on strong. “That imposing voice, and also that commanding presence — he was almost like a barracuda with his questions,” Ndesandjo said.

But even if their diverging views of the Obama family’s history sometimes put the two siblings at odds, Ndesandjo said there were also things he was grateful for. His brother’s example, he said, helped him re-embrace the Obama name that he had long shunned.

And some years ago, when they met after 20 years of separation, they shared some good times.

“We laughed, and we hugged, and that was one of the most wonderful moments of my life. And Barack made it possible,” he said.

Ndesandjo, who lives near Hong Kong, hopes to raise awareness of domestic violence when the book is published in February. Some of the proceeds, he said, will go to

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Heather Mills 'abused Paralympic boss'

Heather Mills announced in late 2010 she was bidding to make the British Paralympic team for the 2014 Games.

• Heather Mills accused of verbally abusing an International Paralympic Official


• Mills has given up on her hope of making the British team for the 2014 Winter Olympics


• A problem with her adaptive boot for skiing meant she was ineligible to compete


• IPC says she physically harassed the organization’s skiing chief Sylvana Mestre

(CNN) — Heather Mills’ dream of skiing at the 2014 Winter Paralympics is over but the recriminations keep on flying.

Earlier this week the British Paralympic Association said Mills had made herself unavailable for selection in Sochi after an issue with an adaptive boot she uses to ski.

Mills, former wife of Beatles star Paul McCartney, had her left leg amputated below the knee after a road accident in 1993 and declared her intention to try and make the Games over two years ago.

But now she has been accused of grabbing an official from the International Paralympic Committee during a discussion about the eligibility of her equipment.

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Craig Spence, the IPC’s director of communications, told the UK Press Association that Mills had to be restrained after an alleged confrontation with the organization’s skiing chief Sylvana Mestre.

Now Mills could be fined for her outburst, though the sequence of events presented by the IPC has been disputed by her own team.

“She was screaming, ‘you’re a b***h, you’re a b***h, you don’t know who I am, I’m going to make your life miserable,’” Spence was quoted as saying by the UK Press Association.

“Sylvana tried to walk away and Heather moved and grabbed at her and had to be restrained by the British coach.

“Heather has subsequently claimed in her statements that she has got an injury caused by the IPC forcing her to wear a heavier boot, but as far as we’re aware she has been using the unapproved boot all season.

“We had notified her and her coach that if she continues to compete on that boot she would be disqualified but that her results from the season and Monday would still stand.

“Heather’s subsequent statement that she had been disqualified is nonsense.”

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It read: “Heather waited patiently — as the IPC confirmed — to try and explain to Sylvana Mestre that her left boot was legal and purely cosmetic to abide by the archaic IPC rules.

“It was just cut down and the buckles removed to stop more weight limb damage.”

The statement went on to claim Mestre had shouted at Mills, refusing to let a Great Britain coach who was present explain the situation, before storming off.

Mills has won a series of medals since launching her bid to make the British Paralympic team, but has also suffered a string of injuries, fracturing her shoulder, snapping her cruciate ligament and damaging her scapula.

She married former Beatle Paul McCartney in 2002, four years after the singer’s late wife Linda died, but the couple divorced six years later.

The British Paralympic Association said in a statement on Tuesday that Mills had decided to resign from British Disabled Ski Team (BDST), and thus give up any chance of being picked for Sochi.

It added: “Occasionally in sport equipment issues arise, especially with adaptive equipment and the interpretation of the rules in relation to its use.

“Therefore we are all saddened that she has decided to retire at this stage, rather than working with BDST and IPC Skiing to resolve the issue.

“Heather has shown determination and made great progress over the past few months and is to be commended for the success she’s had in her skiing career.”

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Don't reject 'Duck Dynasty' family

S.E. Cupp, here with the Robertsons, calls the “Duck Dynasty” family compassionate and goodhearted.

• S.E. Cupp has gotten to know the family featured in A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” series


• She says they are a Christian family that celebrates their religion and Scripture


• She disagrees with Phil Robertson’s views on gays but says they’re not a surprise


• Cupp says A&E’s suspension of Robertson from show is an ungracious act

Editor’s note: S.E. Cupp is co-host of the new “New York Daily News and a political commentator for Glenn Beck’s “The Blaze.”

(CNN) — I had the pleasure of getting to know the Robertsons — the duck call mogul stars of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” — over the past couple of years. I’ve hunted ducks with Phil, the patriarch, and enjoyed Miss Kaye’s home cooking. They are good, kindhearted, compassionate and generous people.

The brouhaha over Phil Robertson’s comments to a GQ reporter is disconcerting, not because I disagree with his views on homosexuality — and I do, demonstrably — but because his views are neither surprising nor unique.

“Duck Dynasty” is a show about a Christian family. They pray at the end of every episode. They go to church, or school as Phil likes to call it. Phil’s son Allen is an evangelical pastor. Phil quotes Scripture regularly on the show (and in real life.) They do not hide their Christianity, but rather they celebrate it.

That Phil would therefore express a biblically literal interpretation of homosexuality may offend some, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone.

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A&E has the right to its decision, but suspending Phil for his beliefs, even if expressed crudely, seems ungracious. The Robertsons’ Christian values are, in large part, exactly why the show is so popular. Millions of viewers have made it the top reality show of all time because they reject the moral bankruptcy of other reality families. Indeed, the Robertsons’ Christianity has been very profitable for A&E.

The outrage over Phil’s intolerance also seems blindly hypocritical. Many of his most indignant critics, including prominent voices in the media, are the very same people who are overtly intolerant and dismissive of Christians, regularly condemning them as idiots, fanatics and loons.

A colleague of mine — someone I like very much — once said that parents who taught their children the creation story should be charged with child abuse. Another colleague of mine likened a Christian community in Florida to

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