It’s been a month since torrential rains triggered the worst floods in Pakistan’s recent history. Nearly 20 million people are homeless or hungry, with one million people displaced in the past week alone. The official death toll is at 1,760 but is expected to rise as survivors are threatened by diseases. Madiha Tahir, a freelance journalist in Pakistan, files a report from the Razzaqabad relief camp in Karachi. [includes rush transcript]

A new study shows the CEOs who fired the most workers during the economic recession have also taken home the highest pay. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, the CEOs of the fifty corporations responsible for the worst layoffs were paid an average $12 million—42 percent more than the average for the Standard & Poor’s 500.

It’s back-to-school season. As millions of children around the country begin a new school year, the Obama administration is aggressively moving forward on a number of education initiatives, from expanding charter schools to implementing new national academic standards. We talk to Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, and Lois Weiner, a professor of education at New Jersey City University. [includes rush transcript]

Another oil and gas rig exploded yesterday in the Gulf of Mexico, renewing calls for the government to impose a ban on offshore oil drilling. The fire broke out on a rig operated by Mariner Energy Thursday morning about 100 miles south of the Louisiana coast. The rig was anchored in 340 feet of water, relatively shallow compared to the BP Deepwater Horizon, which exploded in April setting off the worst oil spill in US history. [includes rush transcript]

• Another Oil Rig Explodes in Gulf of Mexico
• BP: Denial of Drilling Permit Threatens Gulf Coast Claims
• Calls Grow for Offshore Drilling Ban
• US Accused of Killing 10 Afghan Civilians
• Main Afghan Bank Faces Collapse
• Slain US Army Chaplain Is First to Die in Combat Since Vietnam War
• Israeli, Palestinian Leaders Agree to Further Talks
• Settlers: "We Are Building" All Over West Bank
• Companies Passing on More Healthcare Costs to Employees
• 4 Accused of Coercing 400 Thai Workers into Forced Labor
• LA Garment Factory to Pay Workers Unpaid Overtime, Allow Monitor
• Environmentalist Sentenced to 4 Months for Accepting Facebook Friend Request

• Mideast leaders agree to continue direct talks as key issues remain
• Construction materials still blocked from entering Gaza
• US issues indictment against Pakistan Taliban leader
• Argentina increases public spending on poverty, education

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Glenn Beck organized a much-publicized "Restoring Honor" rally on Saturday in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Beck’s fans reportedly number in the millions, and Saturday’s rally drew nearly 100,000 supporters. We speak with Alexander Zaitchik, author of Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance. [includes rush transcript]

A federal court in California has issued a ruling that’s raising widespread alarm among advocates for civil liberties. Last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said law enforcement agents can sneak onto a person’s property, plant a GPS device on their vehicle, and track their every movements. The court’s ruling means the spying is legal in California and eight other Western states. [includes rush transcript]

New York Governor David Paterson has signed into law a measure establishing a landmark set of working standards for housekeepers, nannies and other domestic workers. With the signing of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, New York becomes the first state where domestic workers will be guaranteed overtime pay after a forty-hour workweek, at least one day off per week, and at least three days off with full pay per year. [includes rush transcript]

In Pakistan, torrential rains a month ago that triggered unprecedented floods have moved steadily from north to south, engulfing a fifth of the country. Seventeen million people have been affected, and some five million have lost their homes. Meanwhile, a movement to cancel Pakistan’s external debt is now underway as campaigners plan a protest in front of Pakistan’s parliament house today to call on international institutions like the IMF to cancel the country’s debt. [includes rush transcript]

• Palestinians: Obama Vows to "Stop the Settlements"
• Biden Marks Nominal End to US Combat Operations in Iraq
• Over 60 Killed in Pakistan Air Strikes
• Justice Dept. Charges Mehsud with CIA Bombing in Afghanistan
• UN Increases Estimate of DRC Rape Victims
• Evacuations Ordered in NC Ahead of Hurricane Earl
• Armed Suspect Killed After Taking Hostages at Discovery Channel
• Judge Rejects Dismissal of Suit to Overturn Drilling Ban
• BP Ad Spending Tops $93M Since Spill
• Recession Spurs Sharp Decline in Undocumented Immigration
• Wyoming Town Near Drilling Told Drinking Water Unsafe, Potentially Explosive
• WikiLeaks Founder Speaks Out Against Swedish Probe
• Lawyer: Mental Health of Alleged Leaker Was Questioned

• Israeli settlers killed as peace talks set to begin in Washington
• In speech, Obama shifts war rhetoric from Iraq to Afghanistan
• Rampant deforestation in Pakistan a factor in current flood devastation
• New guidelines aim to end culture of corruption in gas and drilling oversight agency
• Mining project in Alaska could threaten wild salmon run

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US-brokered talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority begin today in Washington. Both sides agreed to sit down last month after the US successfully pressured Palestinian leaders to drop their precondition of an Israeli settlement freeze. On the eve of the summit, Palestinian militants killed four Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. We speak with Ali Abunimah, co-founder of The Electronic Intifada. [includes rush transcript]

While the US invasion and occupation of Iraq over the past seven years has inflicted multiple disasters on the country, many argue that the US assault on Iraq really began twenty years ago with the US-imposed economic sanctions. Joy Gordon, author of Invisible War: The United States and the Iraq Sanctions, writes, "U.S. policymakers effectively turned a program of international governance into a legitimized act of mass slaughter." [includes rush transcript]

In his Oval Office address Tuesday night, President Obama said the US had closed or transferred hundreds of bases to the Iraqis. But many US bases remain in Iraq, as well as the massive US embassy in Baghdad, the size of eighty football fields. We play a report on US bases in Iraq by independent journalist Jacquie Soohen of Big Noise Films. [includes rush transcript]

President Obama declared an end to the combat mission in Iraq Tuesday night in the second Oval Office address of his presidency. Although tens of thousands of US troops, special operations forces and private contractors remain in Iraq, Obama announced that Operation Iraqi Freedom is now officially over. We go to Baghdad to speak with independent journalist Nir Rosen. [includes rush transcript]