IRAQ
18 KILLED IN BLASTS AND SHOOTINGS
Two explosions struck on Saturday near a checkpoint in Baghdad where Iraqis were gathered to enter a holy Shiite shrine, leaving 11 people dead and 48 wounded, according to an official at the Ministry of Interior. Seven other police and security officers were killed in shootings in Baghdad and Mosul, the authorities said.
The explosions near the shrine, in the Khadimiya neighborhood, came as shoppers were busy stocking up at a nearby market for a Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, which begins this week.
While Iraq has become much safer since the height of its sectarian war in 2006 and 2007, Shiites are commonly targeted by Sunni insurgents. The insurgency has shown no signs of abating since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq at the end of last year, and several news reports recently suggested that al-Qaida in Iraq was becoming stronger.
INGLEWOOD, Calif.
Dad and son killed, 3 hurt in shooting
A masked gunman who set fire to his home before shooting five members of a Southern California family was in a dispute with the victims, police said Saturday.
Inglewood police Chief Mark Fronterotta said a manhunt was continuing for Desmond John Moses 55, after the early Saturday shooting rampage, which left a father and his 4-year-old son dead and three others wounded.
The father was shielding two of his children when he was shot. The mother and the couple's 6-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter are hospitalized.
WILLOW BEACH, Ariz.
1 dead, 6 seriously injured in bus crash
A charter bus carrying tourists back to Las Vegas from the Grand Canyon crashed on an Arizona highway, killing the driver and injuring more than 20 passengers, six of them seriously, authorities said.
The bus was northbound on Highway 93 on Friday night when the driver may have had a heart attack, the company said.
Libya
Gadhafi spokesman denies being held
A man purported to be Moammar Gadhafi's former spokesman has issued an audio recording denying that he has been captured and saying he is outside Libya.
Saturday's recording posted on Moussa Ibrahim's Facebook page dismissed government claims that he was detained outside the besieged Libyan city of Bani Walid. The interim prime minister's office said Ibrahim, who became the international face of the regime in its final months, was captured as he was trying to flee Bani Walid.
The audio recording could not immediately be verified.
Kuwait
Second election set amid protests
Kuwait's government on Saturday set parliamentary elections for Dec. 1 in a bid to ease months of deepening political turmoil that has pit the pro-Western ruling family against Islamist-led opposition forces. The elections will be the second this year.
Times wires
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