Floods in Pakistan

Floods in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan

The death toll from massive floods in northwestern Pakistan rose to 1,100 Sunday as rescue workers struggled to save more than 27,000 people still trapped by the raging water.

The rescue effort was aided by a slackening of the monsoon rains that have caused the worst flooding in decades in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province. But as flood waters started to recede, authorities began to understand the full scale of the disaster. The flooding, which the U.N. estimates has affected 1 million people nationwide, comes at a time when the Pakistani government is already grappling with a faltering economy and a war against the Taliban.

Spin on Afghanistan

WASHINGTON

As the war in Afghanistan faces a loss of public and congressional support and U.S. casualties rise sharply, the Obama administration is painting its goals for the war as humble and achievable while warning there is no quick fix.

“Nobody thinks that Afghanistan is going to be a model Jeffersonian democracy,” President Barack Obama said in a television interview that aired Sunday.

“What we’re looking to do is difficult — very difficult — but it’s a fairly modest goal, which is: Don’t allow terrorists to operate from this region. Don’t allow them to create big training camps and to plan attacks against the U.S. homeland with impunity,” Obama said in an interview broadcast by CBS’ “Sunday Morning.”

Plan to attack Iran

WASHINGTON

The U.S. military has a plan to attack Iran, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday, although he thinks a military strike is probably a bad idea.

Not long after Adm. Mike Mullen’s words aired on a Sunday talk show, the deputy chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was quoted as saying there would be a strong Iranian response should the U.S. take military action against his country.

Mullen, the highest ranking U.S. military officer, often has warned that a strike on Iran would have serious and unpredictable ripple effects around the Middle East. At the same time, Mullen said the risk of Iran’s developing a nuclear weapon is unacceptable.

Suspect in slaying

RICHMOND, Va.

A Virginia inmate who warned prosecutors he would kill again if not given the death penalty for strangling his cellmate was involved in the death of another inmate, authorities said.

Wise County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ron Elkins confirmed late Saturday that Robert Gleason Jr. was “involved” in the death of 26-year-old Aaron Alexander Cooper, though Elkins refused to elaborate. Gleason, who was already serving a life term for murder before killing his cellmate last year, has not been charged in the death.

Cooper died Wednesday in the recreation yard for inmates housed in segregation at the maximum security Red Onion State Prison in southwestern Virginia.

Cooling system stops

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

Half of the International Space Station’s cooling system suddenly shut down during the weekend, forcing the astronauts to power down equipment and face the likelihood of urgent spacewalking repairs.

After huddling Sunday, NASA managers gave preliminary approval for a pair of spacewalks. Two of the Americans on board already were scheduled to conduct a spacewalk Thursday for routine maintenance, though the repairs would supersede the original chores.

Officials stressed that the six occupants were in no danger, and that the orbiting complex was in a stable situation. The trouble arose Saturday night when one of the two ammonia-fed cooling loops shut down.

Associated Press