Ed Kalegi

Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday several thousand people died in this month's anti-government demonstrations, his first acknowledgement of the deadly scale of the unrest.

Some of those were killed, quote, brutally and inhumanely, unquote.

Khomeini said this without offering detail in a public meeting broadcast on state TV.

He accused the U.S.

and Israel of aiding the killings and said the Islamic Republic has evidence to support the claim.

Khomeini said Iran does not intend to push the country toward war, but won't allow either domestic or international criminals to go unpunished.

It was a down Friday and a losing week for the U.S.

equity market.

We get a wrap-up from Bloomberg's Charlie Pellett.

Congress is less than two weeks away from another government shutdown deadline, but lawmakers may be able to avoid the fiscal cliff this time around as we hear from Bloomberg's Nathan Hager in Washington.

Senator Gene Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, discusses Venezuela, NATO, and the limits of congressional power as global crises multiply.

Can Congress still check the commander-in-chief?

You can read all about it in Bloomberg's weekend edition, exploring the places where finance, life, and culture meet.

Find it now on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg Business app.

That's news when you want it with Bloomberg News Now.

I'm Ed Kalegi.

This is Bloomberg.