Friday, June 05, 2009 LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced a battle to salvage his authority Friday after a minister insisted his continued leadership would spell disaster for Britain as he quit the government.In a shock move, James Purnell stepped down as work and pensions secretary, urging Brown to resign as the governing Labour Party braced for dire European Parliament and English local election results.Purnell left as the polls closed Thursday, with all eyes on whether other ministers would follow suit and turn against Brown. Brown now faces a difficult Cabinet reshuffle, which could take place later Friday if he decides not to hold off until Monday when the European election results will be known. Finance minister Alistair Darling and Foreign Secretary David Miliband are keen to stay in their heavyweight posts -- and could cause trouble if he ousts them.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
Comments