■ Canada
Iraq hostage returns home
A Canadian woman who was held hostage in Iraq for 16 days in September returned to her home in Vancouver on Friday after receiving treatment in Dubai in recent weeks. "It is great to be home," 38-year-old Fairuz Yamulky told reporters, surrounded by her family. Yamulky was freed Sept. 21 after convincing one of her captors to liberate her. She was found by US forces and later went to Dubai for treatment. She declined to give details about the man who saved her, but she said "he is in a safe place." She denied promising to help him emigrate to Canada, as her father had indicated.
■ United States
Jury convicts Peterson
California fertilizer salesman Scott Peterson, 32, was convicted on Friday of the Christmas Eve 2002 murder of his pregnant wife, Laci, in a case that riveted Americans caught up in the tragic story of a seemingly perfect couple. The jury, which must still decide whether to impose the death penalty, found Peterson guilty of first-degree murder for killing his wife and second-degree murder for the death of their unborn child. Peterson, 32, was charged with killing his eight-months pregnant wife in a crime prosecutors said was motivated in part by a desire to carry on an affair with his massage therapist mistress.
■ United States
Blair to focus on climate
Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday he will make climate change a major theme of Britain's presidency of the Group of Eight next year, even though the US remains opposed to the Kyoto international climate treaty. In an interview with British Broadcasting Corp in Washington, where he had met with US President George W. Bush, Blair said he's determined to have the G-8 industrialized nations agree about the science of global warming and find a way of combatting it. Bush remains firm in his rejection of mandatory curbs.
■ United States
Man bites dog
Police say a man bit an officer and his dog Friday after trying to stiff a cab driver on an early morning fare. Mark McClarty, 28, of Kansas City, Kansas, was charged Friday with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and stealing. Captain Rich Lockhart said the suspect broke the skin on an officer's hand when he bit him. The man then nearly bit the ear off the police dog. Lockhart said a cab driver told a police officer at 2:15am that someone had refused to pay a fare. When the officer found the man nearby and got out of his car to stop him, Lockhart said, but the man spun around and punched the officer. Lockhart said the officer used a remote control to release his police dog from the patrol car, and the dog joined the fight. After the dog bit the suspect, the man bit back and nearly took off the dog's ear.
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