World Digest: Honduras's Interim Leader Backs Off Crackdown

HONDURAS

Leader Apologizes For Crackdown

The coup-installed president of Honduras backed down Monday from an escalating standoff with protesters and suggested he would restore civil liberties and reopen dissident television and radio stations by the end of the week.

Riot police ringed supporters of ousted president Manuel Zelaya who had gathered in Tegucigalpa for a protest march, setting off a day-long standoff. The government of interim President Roberto Micheletti declared the march illegal and sent soldiers to silence dissident broadcasters, just hours after suspending civil liberties for 45 days.

But in a sudden reversal, Micheletti said Monday afternoon that he wanted to "ask the Honduran people for forgiveness" for the measures and said he would lift them in accordance with demands from the same Congress that installed him after the June 28 coup.

Earlier, dozens of soldiers had raided the offices of Radio Globo. Officials also shut down Channel 36 television station, leaving it broadcasting only a test pattern.

-- Associated Press

PHILIPPINES

Death Toll Hits 240 In Wake of Storm

Officials say the death toll in the massive flooding in Manila and surrounding areas has climbed to 240 people, with 37 others missing.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council said Tuesday that the homes of nearly 1.9 million were inundated, with nearly 380,000 people taken to schools, churches and other evacuation centers.

Officials have called for international help, warning they may not have enough resources to withstand another storm that forecasters say is brewing east of the country and could hit as early as Friday.

Tropical Storm Ketsana, which scythed across the northern Philippines on Saturday, dumped more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours, fueling the worst flooding to hit the country in more than 40 years.