Killer typhoon turns back towards Philippines

A typhoon that has killed hundreds of people and left tens of thousands homeless in the southern Philippines has turned back towards the country and will hit it again, forecasters said Saturday. Typhoon Bopha will slam into the northern tip of the main island of Luzon early Sunday, packing gusts of up to 160 kilometres (around 100 miles) an hour, the state weather service said. It was likely to bring heavy rainfall to the area, civil defence office director Benito Ramos told a news conference. "People there need to take precautions," he added. The eye of the cyclone was 230 kilometres west of the northern town of Sinait at 4:00pm (0800 GMT) and moving slowly northeast, the service said. Heavy to intense rainfall was expected within the typhoon's 400-kilometre footprint, it added. Bopha smashed into the east coast of the southern island of Mindanao with gusts of up to 210 kilometres an hour on Tuesday. At least 548 people have been killed and about 500 others missing. Some 212,000 other people have also been left homeless, according to the civil defence office.