Wildfires put Texas in state of emergency
AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- At least 73 wildfires were burning in north and central Texas Wednesday, where Gov. Rick Perry has declared a state of emergency.
In Gainesville, one woman died while trying to protect her home from an approaching fire, a Texas Forest Service official told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
"We've got fires everywhere," Texas Forest Service spokeswoman Traci Weaver told The Dallas Morning News. "We're losing homes in Hood County. Wise County has had three today. Cooke County's got a large one burning."
One state official said the outbreak was the state's worst in nearly a decade.
Perry ordered the deployment of the Texas Army National Guard and requested assistance from the U.S. Forest Service, and the Texas Forest Service hired a single-engine air tanker to drop water late Tuesday afternoon.
The National Weather Service warned that the dry conditions probably will continue for the next month.
8 dead, 5 hurt in Iraq prison shoot-out
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Four Baghdad prison guards and four inmates were killed Wednesday when a prisoner snatched a guard's assault rifle and opened fire during morning exercise.
Three prisoners and two guards were also wounded at the al-Adala facility that houses suspects accused of major crimes, including terrorism.
No prisoners escaped during the shootout, and the shooter was captured, CNN reported.
The shootout came only days after the United States said it would not hand over detainees to the Iraqi authorities until they raised levels of care in prison facilities, the BBC said.
Sunday, an official said Iraq had to meet U.S. standards after the discovery of 170 detainees at an Interior Ministry center, some apparently suffering from abuse and starvation.
Also Wednesday, two Iraqi police officers were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in northern Baghdad, police said.
U.S. senator says Saddam trial a mess
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- A U.S. Republican senator visiting Baghdad says judges at the trial of deposed leader Saddam Hussein need to regain control of the proceedings.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee told reporters Saddam's frequent outbursts, including one where he told the five judges to "Go to hell" needed to be addressed.
"I have been disappointed the way the court has permitted Saddam to dominate the proceedings, and I respect Iraqi sovereignty and I respect judicial independence, but it's also a fair comment to evaluate what is going on," Specter said.
He said he would recommend to the judges that U.S. and international law have precedents for holding disruptive defendants in contempt and trying them without their being present in the courtroom, The Washington Post said.
Saddam and seven other men are being tried on charges related to the retaliatory torture and killings of more than 140 residents of the southern town of Dujail after an assassination attempt on Saddam in 1982.
Deadly Toronto shoot-out gang-related
TORONTO, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- The spray of bullets in downtown Toronto that killed a 15-year-old bystander and injured six others was gang-related, the Toronto Sun reports.
The newspaper said police are looking for as many as 15 males in their late teens or early 20s, and a U.S. border alert has also been issued for the suspects, although their names were not disclosed.
"There will be more repercussions," a gang source said. "This is not the end of this."
A 15-year-old girl, whose identity has not been released, was shopping with her parents Monday when she was struck in the head by a stray bullet and convulsed on the sidewalk before dying.
Six other people were caught in the crossfire, including a man in his 20s, who is in critical condition, and an off-duty Toronto police officer, who had a minor injury.
Tuesday, investigators collected surveillance video from businesses along the city's main business corridor, hoping to find images of those involved in the shooting.
Islamic court, wife fight over burial
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- A Malaysian high court has ruled that a mountaineering hero who died last week will be buried as a Muslim, despite the wishes of his Hindu wife.
The high court sided with an Islamic court that ruled M. Moothy had converted to Islam last year, the BBC reported.
Moorthy was a Hindu when he became a national hero in 1997 as a member of the first Malaysian expedition to conquer Mount Everest.
After his death last week at age 36, family supporters and state Islamic officials jostled each another at the mortuary as each tried to claim his body.
An Islamic Sharia court subsequently upheld a claim by former army colleagues that he had become a Muslim last year, although his wife and family members deny that he had converted to Islam.
His family, who want him to have a Hindu funeral, were not allowed to appear before the court to dispute his conversion because they are not Muslims.
Lawyers for Moorthy's family say the ruling leaves non-Muslims little protection in family disputes considered under Islamic law.
