18 DEAD IN MASKED GUNMEN ATTACK IN IRAQ HOLY CITY

BAGHDAD» Masked gunmen opened fire at Iraqi protesters in the Shiite holy city of Karbala on Tuesday, killing 18 people and wounding hundreds, security officials said, in one of the deadliest single attacks since antigovernment demonstrations erupted earlier this month.

The overnight attack came as Iraqis took to the streets for a fifth straight day after a hiatus in the demonstrations that began earlier this month to protest government corruption, a lack of jobs and municipal services, and other grievances. The earlier protests also saw violence against protesters, and a total of 240 people have been killed since the unrest began.

Release of Mueller grand-jury materials to committee delayed.

WASHINGTON» The Justice Department got a reprieve Tuesday and does not have to immediately release to Congress certain grand-jury materials from Robert Mueller III’s specialcounsel investigation, a federal appeals court in Washington said.

The court order temporarily puts on hold a ruling from last week that required the department to hand over materials the House Judiciary Committee is seeking as part of its impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

The court order means the issue will not be resolved before Nov. 5, when the final filing from the parties is due.

Federal judge blocks Alabama abortion ban.

MONTGOMERY,

ALA.» A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Alabama’s neartotal abortion ban from taking effect next month and called the law — part of a wave of new abortion restrictions by conservative states — unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking Alabama from enforcing the law that would make performing an abortion a felony in almost all cases. The ruling came after abortion providers sued to block the law from taking effect Nov. 15. The injunction was widely expected and will remain in place until Thompson decides the full case.

“Alabama’s abortion ban contravenes clear Supreme Court precedent,” Thompson wrote in an accompanying opinion. “It violates the right of an individual to privacy, to make choices central to personal dignity and autonomy. It defies the United States Constitution.”

Chileans reject president’s concessions, plan new protests.

CHILE» Thousands of SANTIAGO,

Chileans filled a plaza in the center of the capital Tuesday in the 12th day of demonstrations that began with youth protests over a subway fare hike and transformed into a leaderless national movement demanding greater equality and better public services in a country long seen as an economic success story.

A move to meet one of their demands — replacing Chile’s dictatorship-era constitution — appeared to gain some momentum in the country’s congress.

The demonstrators, many in their 20s and 30s, pressed their call for changes to a marketdominant socio-economic model that has fully or partially privatized pensions, health and education. They hoisted signs calling for pension reform, an end to the private ownership of water rights or for the resignation of President Sebastián Piñera.

Small plane crashes, leaving pilot dead, houses ablaze.

The pilot who was left dead after his small plane crashed and exploded Tuesday in a neighborhood in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City was in touch with air traffic control until suddenly losing contact, federal investigators said at the scene of the wreck.

The wreck left two houses ablaze, though no one in the homes was injured, when the Cessna 414 went down not far from an elementary school about 11 a.m., according to National Transportation Safety Board investigator Adam Gerhardt.