Haitian cholera toll surpasses 200
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Doctors and relief workers in Haiti say they fear a cholera outbreak north of Port-au-Prince will reach the capital as the disease's death toll reached 208.
Officials said some 2,674 cases have been confirmed and those people are being treated with hydration and antibiotics, The New York Times reported.
However, since first appearing earlier this year in the town of St. Marc, 60 miles north of the capital, efforts to contain the disease haven't been entirely successful, as five residents of Port-au-Prince were diagnosed with cholera Saturday, the report said.
The disease is generally acquired by contact with infected human feces, which is common among the poverty-stricken tent cities where more than 1 million Haitians live after January's massive earthquake, officials told the Times.
Federica Nogarotto, a Doctors Without Borders coordinator in St.-Marc, said in a statement the hospital in St.-Marc "does not have the capacity to handle a cholera emergency" and efforts were under way to create isolation treatment areas.
Yemen offensive starts in al-Qaida redoubt
SANA'A, Yemen, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Yemen says it has launched a new offensive against elements of al-Qaida with possible ties to the shootings at a U.S. Army base in Texas.
More than 1,000 Yemeni troops and police moved into Shabwa province, the suspected base of militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the government said in a statement posted on the Internet Sunday.
Al-Awlaki exchanged e-mails with U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is accused of opening fire at Fort Hood, Texas, last year, killing 12 people. He also had been in contact with the Nigerian man who tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight headed for Detroit on Christmas Day.
Yemen did not say its current operation was aimed at al-Awlaki. CNN said the government is treading carefully because al-Awlaki's tribe is politically powerful in Shabwa.
The head of Yemen's counterintelligence service said earlier that al-Awlaki was not immune from arrest and prosecution, CNN reported. Yemeni nationals, however, may not be extradited to nations where they could face the death penalty.
Al-Qaida leader urges Motor City jihad
DETROIT, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- An American-born al-Qaida operative is urging Muslims living in Europe and in Detroit to carry out attacks in defense of Islam.
A new 48-minute recording released this weekend apparently came from Adam Gadhan, the California farm boy who has become an English-speaking voice of the international terrorist organization.
"It is the duty of everyone who is sincere in his desire to defend Islam and Muslims today, to take the initiative to perform the individual obligation of jihad," Gadhan said.
CBS News said the recording was made available by SITE, a U.S. organization that monitors terrorist activities.
Gadhan specifically called on Muslims living in "the miserable suburbs of Paris, London and Detroit" to rise up and attack.
The call didn't sit well with leaders of Detroit's large Muslim community. "He obviously doesn't know Muslims in Detroit," Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Detroit Free Press. "It appears to be a desperate plea by al-Qaida, which has virtually no support among Muslims in any Western countries."
Iraqi PM frets over leaked U.S. documents
BAGHDAD, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The release of classified U.S. military documents about security operations in Iraq is leading to more political instability, Iraq leader Nouri al-Maliki said.
The prime minister said in a statement Saturday opposition groups are poised to use the data released by the WikiLeaks group on Friday against him, The Washington Post reported.
The nearly 400,000 documents allege prisoner abuse by Iraqi forces and claim U.S. soldiers killed at least 700 Iraqi civilians.
Maliki's statement said the allegations would be taken "into consideration in order to achieve justice for our citizens."
In elections last March, Maliki's Shiite Muslim-dominated government didn't win enough seats for a majority against opposition Sunni Muslims and the country has foundered politically.
Omar al-Jubouri, a Sunni politician, told the Post the release of the documents claiming abuse and neglect proved what Sunnis have been saying since the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
"These releases haven't brought anything new to us, because for four or five years we have been calling for these practices to stop," al-Jubouri said.
Activists chide paper's ban on gay notices
MANCHESTER, N.H., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Gay activists in New Hampshire say they aren't surprised by the refusal of the state's largest newspaper to run homosexual wedding announcements.
The Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader issued a statement signed by publisher Joseph McQuaid saying the paper had no plan to start featuring same-sex couples in their wedding and engagement pages despite the 2009 legalization of homosexual marriages in New Hampshire.
"While the law sanctions gay marriage, it neither demands that churches perform them or that our First Amendment right to choose what we print be suspended," McQuaid's statement said.
The statement did not sit well with homosexual rights activists who took issue with the claim the Union Leader was "not 'anti-gay.'"
"The Union Leader's opposition to gays and lesbians being treated equally under the law is no secret to those of us that live in New Hampshire," Mo Baxley, executive director of N.H. Freedom to Marry, said in a written statement.
The Keane (N.H.) Sentinel said Sunday that U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., sent a letter to McQuaid Friday night demanding the newspaper "respect the law of New Hampshire" and allow same-sex couples the same access as heterosexuals.
