Wednesday, October 21, 2009 MANILA: The Philippines prepared for the onslaught of a powerful typhoon Wednesday as it struggled to recover from the damage left by two deadly storms in the past month, officials said. The government weather station said Typhoon Lupit's advance had slowed, and that it was now likely to hit the country's north on Friday, a day later than forecast. Lupit will then cross the tip of the main island of Luzon before blowing out to the South China Sea over the weekend, it said. Rescue and relief units and supplies have already been positioned in parts of the northern Philippines, which are expected to bear the brunt of the typhoon.
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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