Weather

Reuters - A powerful typhoon approached Japan's main islands Wednesday, closing car factories, disrupting flights and threatening heavily populated industrial centers with torrential rain and strong winds.

AP - Rainy weather is predicted to continue over the Eastern half of the country on Wednesday as an intense low pressure system pushes eastward through the country, moving over the Great Lakes and into the Northeast.

AFP - President Barack Obama has sent condolences to the Philippines, still reeling from deadly storms and flooding that have left at least 300 people dead and hundreds of thousands stranded.

AFP - A storm threatens to wallop the Philippines but a huge computer that dominates the forecasting room of the nation's weather service is in screensaver mode showing a cartoon pattern of unexploded bombs.

AP - Children swarmed into the streets clutching begging boxes and yelling "please help me" Wednesday as an aid convoy reached villages deep in Indonesia's quake zone.

AP - Federal recovery teams were to deliver tents and other shelter materials to 75 American Samoa families from tsunami-ravaged villages who have been staying in emergency shelters, authorities said Tuesday.

Reuters - Tropical Storm Henri formed in the Atlantic Ocean, east of the Caribbean's Leeward Islands, on Tuesday, but was expected to dissipate within two days, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

AP - The United Nations appealed Tuesday for $74 million to help 1 million flood victims in the Philippines, which has been lashed by two major storms.

AP - Forecasters say Tropical Storm Henri (awn-'REE) is weakening in the Atlantic Ocean and is likely to be short-lived.