Friday, June 05, 2009 LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will reshuffle his government Friday, Downing Street said, following the resignation of five ministers and as poor local election results came in."We can confirm it's going to happen today," a Downing Street spokesman told, after Work And Pensions Secretary James Purnell called on Brown to go in his resignation letter Thursday.Purnell is one of three cabinet ministers who have resigned in the past week. Two other ministers outside the cabinet have also resigned. British news agency reported that finance minister Alistair Darling, who is leading Britain's response to the recession, would stay in his job, despite talk that Brown could replace him with his ally, Schools Secretary Ed Balls. Purnell said he was quitting because Brown's continued leadership made a victory at the next general election by the main opposition Conservatives "more, not less, likely."The first local election results were out early Friday, with Labour losing councillors to the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats' gain, after voters went to the polls Thursday. European poll results are being held back till Sunday, in line with other EU countries. Britain's 72 seats in the European Parliament were up for grabs, while voters in various parts of England also chose 2,318 local councillors and three mayors. Opinion polls suggested Labour could finish behind the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and even fringe euro skeptics the United Kingdom Independence Party
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.
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