Iraq

Blasts kill 66

A suicide bomber exploded a device among a crowd of Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and another detonated a bomb inside a cafe north of the Iraqi capital, the deadliest of several attacks across Iraq on Saturday that killed at least 66 people. The killings, which also included attacks on journalists and Sunni fighters, are part of the deadliest surge of violence to hit Iraq in five years. The accelerating bloodshed is raising fears that the country is falling back into a spiral of violence.

United States

Back to work

For days lawmakers have debated which US government workers should be put back to work. US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ended the argument for most Pentagon civilian employees, ordering nearly all 350,000 back on the job. That's a large chunk of the estimated 800,000 federal workers on furlough because of the partial government shutdown. All those in the government off the job or working without paychecks would benefit from a bill the House approved on Saturday without dissent that orders them to be paid once the shutdown ends.

Terrorist captured

US special forces on Saturday carried out a raid in the Libyan capital to capture an al-Qaida leader linked to the 1998 US Embassy bombings in east Africa and wanted by the US for more than a decade, officials said. The Pentagon identified the al-Qaida leader as Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, known by his alias Anas al-Libi.

Argentina

Doctor's orders

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has been told by doctors to take a month off for health reasons, her spokesman said on Saturday. Fernandez, 60, was found to have a hematoma in a membrane in her brain when she was admitted to a hospital for checks, the spokesman said. The decision to discharge her suggests the hematoma is too small to be drained via surgery, said a doctor not involved in the treatment.

Syria

Weapons destroyed

A UN official says international inspectors have begun destroying Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons and the machinery used to create them. The official couldn't confirm what specifically was destroyed, but said that by the end of Sunday a combination of both weapons and some production equipment would be put out of order. He spoke anonymously because of the matter's sensitivity.

AP-AFP

(China Daily USA 10/07/2013 page2)