21.   Philippine officials have stressed that the American soldiers will be limited to observing and advising the Philippine troops and will not undertake combat operations against the Abu Sayyaf.

22.   Sex-change operations have been undertaken in most Western nations and also in such neighboring Asian nations as South Korea and Taiwan which have similar cultural backgrounds.

23.   Some limited control operations had been undertaken recently in the affected countries, the report said.

24.   The agreement comes against a background of NATO reform aimed at enabling the Europeans to undertake military operations with NATO equipment without involving US troops directly.

25.   The area had been cordoned off by armed police and troops for several days before owners of charred buildings were allowed into undertake salvage operations.