Officials: Obama mulling drone strikes in Afghanistan

Officials: Obama mulling drone strikes in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON — The White House is looking at expanding counterterror operations in Pakistan to refocus on eliminating al-Qaida instead of mounting a major military escalation in Afghanistan.

Two senior administration officials said Monday that the renewed fight against the terrorist organization could lead to more missile attacks on Pakistan terrorist havens by unmanned U.S. spy planes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have been made.

Top aides to President Barack Obama said he wants more time to decide.

The proposed shift would bolster the U.S. mission in the region on Obama’s long-stated goal of dismantling al-Qaida. White House and Pentagon officials are debating whether to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Iran’s president proud of comments on Holocaust

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s president said Monday he is proud to stoke international outrage with his latest remarks denying the Holocaust as he heads for the United Nations this week — showing he is as defiant as ever while his country comes under greater pressure to curtail its nuclear program.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes the world stage with a speech Wednesday to the U.N. General Assembly. He appears intent on showing he has not been weakened by three months of turmoil at home, where the pro-reform opposition has staged dramatic protests claiming Ahmadinejad’s victory in June presidential elections was fraudulent.

Watchdog reviews ACORN’s ties with Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON — An internal watchdog at the Justice Department said Monday he was reviewing the agency’s involvement with the activist group ACORN.

ACORN has come under fire for a hidden camera video involving a couple posing as a prostitute and her pimp. On the video, two ACORN workers apparently advise the couple to lie about her profession and launder her earnings to get housing aid.

Conservatives have called for a criminal investigation of the group.

Inspector General Glenn Fine wrote Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, that his office would examine whether ACORN sought or received any Justice Department grant money, or conducted any reviews of ACORN’s use of such money.

Toddler among 6 killed as storms drench Southeast

ATLANTA — Surging floodwaters ripped apart a west Georgia trailer home, drowning a 2-year-old boy swept from his father’s arms. In Atlanta, stranded motorists scrambled to the tops of their car as waters rose on one of the city’s busiest highways. To the north, crews worked furiously to shore up a levee holding a surging river back from an isolated town.

Storms that pounded the Southeast on Monday turned sleepy creeks into rivers, and rivers into raging floodwaters. Six people were killed across the region, including five in the Atlanta area.

At least two people were missing, including a Tennessee man who went swimming in an overflowing ditch on a $5 dare and a 15-year-old Georgia teen who never returned from a swim in the surging Chattooga River.

Ousted leader returns to Honduras, defies arrest

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Deposed President Manuel Zelaya made a dramatic return to Honduras’ capital Monday, taking shelter from arrest at Brazil’s embassy and calling for negotiations with the leaders who forced him from the country at gunpoint.

The interim government ordered a 15-hour curfew, but thousands of Zelaya supporters ignored the decreed 4 p.m. shutdown and remained outside the embassy, dancing and cheering.

The leftist leader’s homecoming creates a sharp new challenge for the interim government that has threatened repeatedly to throw him in jail if he returns.

Transit systems warned to watch for terrorists

DENVER — Counterterrorism officials are warning mass transit systems around the nation to step up patrols because of fears an Afghanistan-born immigrant under arrest in Colorado may have been plotting with others to detonate backpack bombs aboard New York City trains.

Investigators say Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old shuttle van driver at the Denver airport, played a direct role in a terror plot that unraveled during a trip to New York City around the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. He made his first court appearance Monday and remained behind bars.

Associated Press