Cholera cases grow

Cholera cases grow

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 were rising, and officials worried the next target will be hundreds of thousands of Haitians left homeless by January’s quake and living in camps across the capital.

Judge lets girl wed without parents’ OK

COLUMBUS

An Ohio judge allowed a pregnant 17-year-old to get married without her parents’ consent after the girl said she could be forced to have an abortion if she stayed at home.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the couple got married Tuesday after a hearing.

Ohio law requires parents to sign off on the marriage of anyone younger than 18, but judges can waive the requirement. The bride’s mother says she’s outraged the judge did so without hearing from her or her husband. She also denies pushing her daughter toward abortion.

Naples trash crisis

ROME

The European Commission warned Italy on Saturday it may face sanctions if it doesn’t remove the 2,400 tons of trash that have piled up in the streets of Naples in the country’s latest garbage crisis.

For over a week, protesters in Terzigno, a small town near Naples, have torched vehicles, burned Italian flags and hurled stones and firecrackers at police to protest the stench and filth at a local dump.

Associated Press