TORONTO (AP) — Oscar Peterson, whose speedy fingers, propulsive swing and melodic inventiveness made him one of the world's best known and influential jazz pianists, has died. He was 82.

Peterson died at his home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga on Sunday, said Oliver Jones, a family friend and jazz musician. He said Peterson's wife and daughter were with him during his final moments. The cause of death was kidney failure, said Mississauga's mayor, Hazel McCallion.

"He's been going downhill in the last few months," McCallion said, calling Peterson a "very close friend."

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. (AP) — A neighbor of former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton was arrested Thursday in the slaying of his wife, who he claimed had been shot by a stranger on a dark suburban road.

Carlos Perez-Olivo, a disbarred lawyer who was wounded himself in the Nov. 18, 2006, shooting, was expected in county court later Thursday, said Lucian Chalfen, spokesman for Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore. Chalfen did not say what charge or charges Perez-Olivo faced.

Perez-Olivo's lawyer has said his client is innocent. He did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Thursday.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani was released from a St. Louis hospital Thursday after spending the night to undergo tests for flu-like symptoms.

"I feel great. Take care. Merry Christmas, I'm feeling fine thanks to the hospital. They did a good job," a smiling and waving Giuliani said as he left Barnes-Jewish Hospital en route to returning to New York.

His campaign said he would make planned stops in New Hampshire Saturday and Sunday.

The former New York mayor felt the symptoms while campaigning for the nomination in Missouri, and they soon became worse, campaign spokeswoman Katie Levinson said late Wednesday. She did not describe the symptoms beyond those being commonly associated with the flu.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Police used chemical spray and stun guns Thursday as dozens of protesters tried to force their way into a packed City Council chamber during a debate on the planned demolition of some 4,500 public housing units.

One woman was sprayed with chemicals and dragged from the gates. She was taken away on a stretcher by emergency officials. Before that, the woman was seen pouring water from a bottle into her eyes and weeping.

Another woman said she was stunned by officers, and still had what appeared to be a Taser wire hanging from her shirt.

"I was just standing, trying to get into my City Council meeting," said the woman, Kim Ellis, who was taken away in an ambulance.

NEW YORK (AP) — After all he had accomplished — four World Series titles, 12 straight years in the playoffs, almost certain entry into the Hall of Fame — and after all the indignities, this was one Joe Torre wasn't going to stand for.

He wasn't going to take a pay cut from the New York Yankees, no matter that he still would have been the highest-paid manager in baseball, and he certainly wasn't going to prove himself all over again.

Torre walked away Thursday, turning down a $5 million, one-year contract — $2.5 million less than he made this season

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators want to know whether Attorney General-nominee Michael Mukasey would uphold the administration's view of executive power, the president's eavesdropping program and a legal shield for reporters before they confirm him as So far, Mukasey has told senators he will reject any White House meddling in Justice Department matters and resign if his legal or ethical concerns about administration policy are ignored.

Senate confirmation seemed all but certain, but members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have more questions for him.

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Thousands of Kurds and supporters took to the streets in northern Iraq Thursday to protest the Turkish parliament's decision to authorize the government to send troops across the border to root out Kurdish rebels who have been conducting raids into Turkey.

Elsewhere, U.S. forces detained 15 suspected militants in raids, while an insurgent threw a hand grenade into a school in the south, wounding six boys.

The vote in Turkey on Wednesday removed the last legal obstacle to an offensive, but there was no sign of imminent action as the United States and the Iraqi government urged restraint.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits shot up by the largest amount since early February, a far bigger increase than had been expected.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless benefits hit 337,000 last week, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week. That was the biggest one-week surge since jobless claims jumped 42,000 the week of Feb. 10.

The increase was four times larger than the gain of 6,000 that economists had been expecting and could be a sign that the labor market is starting to weaken under the impact of a severe downturn in housing and the credit crisis that jolted financial markets in August.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Colbert has announced his candidacy for president on "The Colbert Report," tossing his satirical hat into the ring of an already crowded race.

"I shall seek the office of the president of the United States," Colbert said Tuesday on his Comedy Central show as red, white and blue balloons fell around him.

Colbert, 43, had recently satirized the coyness of would-be presidential candidates by refusing to disclose whether he would seek the country's highest office — a refusal that often came without any prompting.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — In an apparent about-face, Apple Inc. will allow third-party applications to work directly on the iPhone, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in a posting on the company's Web site Wednesday.

Apple infuriated developers and some iPhone users when it issued a software update Sept. 27 that disabled unofficial programs installed on the handsets.

Until Wednesday, Apple had tried to control which applications consumers had on their iPhones.

Now, Jobs said the company intends to release a software development kit in February that will let coders create applications to work directly on the iPhone and the iPod Touch. The Touch is the new iPod portable player that resembles the iPhone but lacks the function of a cell phone.