In brief: Cholera protest blames Nepalese

Port-au-Prince, Haiti – Hundreds of protesters who blame U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal for Haiti’s widening cholera epidemic marched on a rural military base Friday to demand the soldiers leave the country.

Demonstrators waving tree branches and carrying anti-U.N. banners walked from the central plateau city of Mirebalais several miles to the gates of the base perched above a tributary of the Artibonite River – a waterway identified by health officials as a conduit for the infection.

The protesters chanted “Like it or not, they must go” as the Nepalese soldiers and other U.N. peacekeepers remained inside.

Cholera has sparked widespread fear in Haiti, where it was unknown before the outbreak was first noticed by authorities Oct. 20. As of Friday morning, more than 4,700 people have been hospitalized and at least 330 have died, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

There has been no scientific conclusion on the origin of the epidemic.

Baghdad – A suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt killed at least 21 people, mostly Shiites, on Friday in a town 45 miles north of Baghdad, shattering what had been weeks of relative calm, the town’s mayor said.

The blast in the town of Balad Ruz emphasizes the delicate nature of Iraq’s security gains and comes as the country is approaching its eighth month without a new government since the March elections.

The suicide bomber blew himself up inside a popular café as people were gathered to play dominoes and drink tea, said the town’s mayor, Mohammed Maaruf. An additional 65 people were injured.

The neighborhood where the explosion occurred is home to many Faili Kurds, a small sect of ethnic Kurds following the Shiite branch of Islam.

Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, blasts targeting Shiites are often the work of Sunni insurgents trying to stir up sectarian problems.