Obama: We need strong middle class

Obama: We need strong middle class

WASHINGTON

A strong economy needs bustling Main Streets and a thriving middle class, not just a healthy stock market, President Barack Obama said in paying tribute to the American worker.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama on Saturday outlined what he’s done to help the middle class.

He spoke of efforts to create jobs, make college more affordable, help the middle class build retirement nest eggs, cut taxes on these families and stop health-insurance companies from refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions.

Death toll rises in Taliban attack

QUETTA, Pakistan

The death toll from a Pakistani Taliban suicide attack on a Shiite Muslim procession rose to 65 Saturday as critically wounded people died in hospitals, and a suspected U.S. missile strike killed seven insurgents in a restive tribal area.

About 150 people were wounded, and some remained in critical condition after the bombing Friday in the southwestern city of Quetta, police official Mohammed Sultan said.

Islamic scholar to Iran: Release hikers

PHILADELPHIA

As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan comes to an end this week, Akbar Ahmed, a prominent Islamic scholar, is asking Iran’s supreme leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to show “Islamic compassion” by releasing three Americans arrested more than a year ago. They are accused of illegally entering Iran.

Josh Fattal, 28, of Wyncote, Pa.; Shane Bauer, 28, of Minnesota; and Sarah Shourd, 31, of California, were hiking in a mountainous resort area of Iraqi Kurdistan and may have accidentally crossed Iran’s unmarked border, their supporters say. They were arrested July 31, 2009.

9 die in plane crash in New Zealand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand

A plane carrying skydivers crashed in flames near a popular glacier in New Zealand’s Southern Alps, killing five New Zealanders and four European tourists, police said.

The plane caught fire after takeoff Saturday from an airstrip near Fox Glacier township on South Island, said Ian Henderson, a spokesman for local ambulance services. But other locals said the fire started when the plane crashed into a fence at the end of the runway after it failed to lift off safely.

Pulitzer-winning cartoonist dies

LOS ANGELES

Paul Conrad used his pencil like a weapon. His long lines and jagged angles seemed to point directly at the leaders he deemed charlatans and fools in need of deflating.

In a career of more than 50 years, he won three Pulitzer Prizes and made Richard Nixon’s enemies list.

The political cartoonist with an unmistakable style died at 86 Saturday at his home in Rancho Palos Verdes surrounded by his family, his son David Conrad said.

Paul Conrad took on U.S. presidents from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush, mostly in the Los Angeles Times, where he worked for 30 years and helped the newspaper raise its national profile.

Bomb threat leads to casino evacuation

LAS VEGAS

A man claiming to have a bomb around his chest prompted an evacuation of a Las Vegas casino for several hours.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun report that the threat Saturday turned out to be a hoax, and the man was arrested after the incident at Arizona Charlie’s Hotel and Casino.

Combined dispatches