NEW YORK — Call him the dealmaker-elect.

By his own account, President-elect Donald Trump has worked out a few agreements after a parade of weekend visitors who could land major appointments in his administration.

There were hints but no decisions to announce. Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee in 2012, was “under active and serious consideration” for secretary of state, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said. Trump himself said retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis was an “impressive” prospect for defense secretary.

“We’ve made a couple of deals,” Trump told reporters at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club before returning to New York. He gave assurances that “incredible meetings” would be brining “incredible people” into the government. “You’ll be hearing about them soon.”

More meetings are on Trump’s schedule. His transition team said former Texas governor and GOP presidential rival Rick Perry was expected to meet with Trump today.

CANNON BALL, N.D. — Tension flared anew on the Dakota Access pipeline as protesters tried to push past a long-blocked bridge on a state highway, only to be turned back by a line of law enforcement using water cannon and what appeared to be tear gas.

Sunday’s skirmishes began around 6 p.m. after protesters removed a burned-out truck on what’s known as the Backwater Bridge, not far from the encampment where they’ve been for weeks as they demonstrate against the pipeline. The Morton County Sheriff’s Department estimated 400 protesters sought to cross the bridge on state Highway 1806.

A live stream early today showed a continued standoff, with large lights illuminating smoke wafting across the scene.

The sheriff’s department said in a statement around 1 a.m. today that approximately 100 to 200 protesters were on the bridge or in the vicinity. It said law enforcement officers “had rocks thrown at them, burning logs and rocks shot from slingshots,” and that one officer had been hit on the head by a thrown rock.

At least one person was arrested. Protesters said a gym in Cannon Ball was opened to aid demonstrators who were soaked on a night the temperature dipped into the low 20s or were hit with tear gas.

PITTSBURGH — A noisy rooster’s piercing calls will no longer plague Pittsburgh.

Following several weeks on the lam, the male chicken was scooped up on Sunday afternoon by Frank Cantone, who runs a chicken rescue in St. Louis.

Cantone offered to help Henry Gaston remove the bird after he heard that Gaston was facing fines for having a rooster on his property. Roosters are banned in Pittsburgh, and neighbors told a city inspector the bird was waking them up early in the morning.

Cantone failed to apprehend the fugitive fowl on Saturday when it flew up into a tree. He and his two daughters managed to trap it the following day by luring it into a corner with a hen on a harness.

WEBSTER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts man sick of the mess seagulls leave at his dock and boat wants the neighbor he says is responsible for attracting the birds to pay up.

The Telegram & Gazette reports that Frank Yacino has sued Lisa Pezzella in small claims court.

Yacino lives on Webster Lake in Webster. He says Pezzella feeds the seagulls that hang around his neighborhood, leaving droppings all over his property and making it impossible to enjoy the water. He’s asking for $1,500 to replace his boat’s seat covers and $500 for the time he’s spent pressure-washing his dock.

The town has issued a cease-and-desist order to Pezzella, based on video officials say shows her feeding gulls.

Her lawyer calls the case silly and denies his client feeds the birds.

Two police officers have been shot in separate incidents in what authorities are calling targeted attacks. One died while the other was shot twice in the face but was expected to survive.

A San Antonio detective writing out a traffic ticket to a motorist was shot to death in his squad car late Sunday morning outside police headquarters by another driver who pulled up from behind, authorities said.

San Antonio police Chief William McManus identified the officer as Benjamin Marconi, 50, a 20-year veteran of the force.

Police said the search for a male suspect was still underway early today and that no arrest had been made. McManus said he doesn’t believe the suspect has any relationship to the original motorist who was pulled over, and no motive has been identified.

In St. Louis, a police sergeant was hospitalized in critical condition but expected to survive after being shot twice in the face Sunday night in what the police chief called an “ambush.” Police reported early today that the suspect was later killed in a shootout with police.

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber killed at least 28 people inside a Shiite mosque in the Afghan capital, Kabul, officials and eyewitnesses said.

The Public Health Ministry said that at least 45 others were wounded.

Faredoon Obiadi, head of the criminal investigation department for the Kabul police, said the attacker was on foot and detonated his suicide vest among the crowds inside the Baqir-ul Ulom mosque in western Kabul.

The attack took place on the first floor of the two-story building where Shiite worshippers had gathered to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and an iconic Shiite martyr, in Karbala, Iraq in 680 A.D.

“I was inside the mosque and the Mullah was reading the prayer, suddenly a huge explosion happened then everywhere was dark,” said Ewaz Ali, 50 who suffered minor injuries.

JUBA, South Sudan — Japanese peacekeepers, with a broader mandate to use force, landed in South Sudan today, the first overseas deployment of the country’s troops with those expanded powers in nearly 70 years.

The 350 Self-Defense Forces will replace a previous contingent of Japanese peacekeepers who served in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, but did not have mandate to use force. The new troops will be tasked with engineering and construction in the capital, Juba.

For the first time since the end of World War II, when Japan enacted a law enshrining pacifism in its military, these peacekeepers will have the ability to use force to protect civilians, U.N. staff and themselves.

For Japan, the deployment shows the growing trust the public places in its Self-Defense Forces, Sheila Smith, a senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations told the Associated Press.

However she said that many “people are worried that this first case of the Self-Defense Force’s greater powers could run into problems and be put into a bad situation in South Sudan.”

BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. officials plan to block new mining claims outside Yellowstone National Park as the Obama administration races in its last days to keep industry out of pristine and environmentally sensitive areas.

Mining claims on 30,000 acres north of the nation’s first national park would be prohibited for at least two years while a long-term ban is considered.

Details were obtained by The Associated Press in advance of today’s formal announcement by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

Interior officials last week blocked new oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean and cancelled 25 oil and gas leases in western Colorado and 15 in northwestern Montana.

Republicans and industry representatives have criticized the administration’s eleventh-hour actions to limit development and promised to seek their reversal once Obama leaves office.