WORLD IN BRIEF : FAR EAST : Typhoon Aiming at Vietnam; Toll at 41

Typhoon Dan intensified as it churned across the South China Sea toward Vietnam, having left at least 41 people dead and 250,000 others homeless in the storm-ravaged Philippines. The storm’s destructive sweep brought to 159 the death toll from powerful back-to-back storms that have pounded Manila and neighboring provinces in the past week. Dan, the 15th storm of the season, was listed as a tropical storm when its 60 m.p.h. winds swept across the Philippines Wednesday, but the Manila Weather Bureau upgraded it Thursday to a typhoon, measuring its winds at 75 m.p.h.