BAGHDAD – An Iraqi interpreter for CBS News kidnapped in Basra was freed on Wednesday, but a British journalist remained in captivity, police said. Police Brig. Gen. Shamkhi Jassim said the interpreter had been handed over to authorities at the same hotel where he was seized in Basra, 340 miles …

DANBURY, Conn. – A woman accused of groping Santa Claus at the Danbury Fair Mall won’t have to serve any jail time if she stays out of trouble. Sandrama Lamy of Danbury has been sentenced under an accelerated rehabilitation program that will wipe her record clean if she completes two …

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Hidden camera footage broadcast in the Netherlands on Sunday showed Dutch student Joran Van der Sloot saying he was with Natalee Holloway when she collapsed on a beach in Aruba. He said he believed she was dead and asked a friend to dump her body in …

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Jerry O’Connell is sick of Boston and it’s not just because he’s a New Yorker. The New England Patriots, who go into Sunday’s game against the Giants with a perfect record, are another example of Boston’s dominance in sports. The Red Sox are baseball’s World Series champs, …

WASHINGTON – Home foreclosures soared to an all-time high in the final quarter of last year, underscoring the suffering of distressed homeowners and the growing danger the housing meltdown poses for the economy. The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a quarterly snapshot of the mortgage market released Thursday, said the proportion …

WASHINGTON – The White House says that soaring oil prices are “not going to be solved overnight” and that “it would be wrong” of President Bush to promise otherwise. Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said Tuesday on Air Force One that “there are some things we cannot do.” Her comments came …

LOS ANGELES – Reality TV figure Jonny Fairplay will have to provide a court with more details about his tooth-busting dust-up with Danny Bonaduce before his lawsuit against producers of an awards show can go forward. “I think more facts should be set forth,” Superior Court Judge Michael C. Solner …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – French liquor group Pernod Ricard SA is buying Vin & Sprit, the maker of Absolut vodka, for $9.24 billion, the Swedish government said Monday. The deal ends months of speculation over who would take over the state-owned liquor group, which is being sold by the government as …

BAGHDAD – A female homicide bomber on Monday killed the head of a local group of Sunni fighters northeast of Baghdad who had turned against Al Qaeda insurgents, the leader’s brother and a provincial police official said. Sheik Thaeir Ghadhban al-Karkhi, his 5-year-old niece and a security guard were killed …

CHICAGO – The missing 23-year-old wife of a former police sergeant contacted a divorce attorney a few days before her disappearance for help to end her marriage. Stacy Peterson was reported missing on Oct. 28 after she failed to show up a friend’s house. Drew Peterson, her husband, is a …