Sunday, August 09, 2009 TOKYO: A major 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Japan Sunday, the US Geological Survey said.The quake was felt from central to northern Japan, including Tokyo, at 19:56 (1056 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.The quake rocked buildings in the Japanese capital, but no damage was immediately reported in the city.Some local trains experienced moderate delays, East Japan Railway Co. said.The US agency estimated the quake to be extremely deep at 303 kilometers or 188 miles.
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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