In brief: Push on to stop spread of cholera in Haiti

Port-au-Prince, Haiti – A spreading cholera outbreak in rural Haiti threatened to outpace aid groups as they stepped up efforts Saturday hoping to keep the disease from reaching the squalid camps of earthquake survivors in Port-au-Prince.

Health officials said at least 208 people had died and 2,674 others were infected in an outbreak mostly centered in the Artibonite region north of the capital.

But the number of cases in towns near Port-au-Prince was rising, and officials worried the next target will be hundreds of thousands of Haitians left homeless by January’s devastating quake and now living in camps across the capital.

Crush of crowd leaves seven dead

Nairobi, Kenya – Seven fans died in a stampede Saturday while trying to enter a stadium where a football match between two of Kenya’s most popular teams was being played, the Kenya Red Cross said.

Six people died when they were run over by the crowd outside Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi, and one died after being taken to Kenyatta National Hospital, said Red Cross spokesman Titus Mungo’u. He said at least four people were injured, but that number could be higher since several ambulance services were called to the scene.

Jack Oguda, the CEO of the Kenya Premier League, said he did not know why fans couldn’t get into the stadium properly because it wasn’t full.

Party leader: I was shot, beaten

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – The leader of a nationalist party that did better than expected during last month’s election in Kyrgyzstan claimed Saturday that he was wounded in an assassination attempt.

Kamchibek Tashiyev, head of the Ata-Zhurt party, made the claim at a news conference in central Bishkek where he appeared with a bandage over one hand and several fingers covered in dried blood.

Tashiyev said his home in suburban Bishkek was attacked by about 50 men on Saturday and that he was beaten with the bottom of a handgun.

Kyrgyzstan’s Security Service would not comment on Tashiyev’s claim about an attack, and police were not immediately available.