WORLD BRIEFING

CONGO

Cholera in camp spreads to town

A cholera outbreak in a sprawling refugee camp has spread to Goma, a provincial capital in eastern Congo, increasing fears of an epidemic amid a tense standoff between troops and rebels, officials said.

Cholera cases rose slightly in the towns of Goma and Kibati, with at least 90 known cases. Officials with Doctors Without Borders said the cases they were treating were well-contained. Only four new ones were reported at the group's clinic in Kibati camp.

But dozens of people have died of cholera in recent weeks elsewhere in eastern Congo.

TAIWAN

Ex-president may be arrested

Former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian said he expected to be arrested after being questioned over alleged corruption at prosecutors' offices, and police surrounded the building as dozens of his supporters gathered.

Chen, who insists he is innocent of the charges, has been the object of a six-month probe into allegations that he laundered money and made illegal use of a special presidential fund during his eight years in office that ended in May.

Prosecutors had no immediate comment, but were expected to make an announcement on his fate later.

SOMALIA

Gunmen kidnap nuns in Kenya

Gunmen firing automatic weapons dragged two Italian Roman Catholic nuns from their home in rural Kenya and drove them into lawless Somalia in a rare cross-border kidnapping, officials said.

The nuns -- Maria Teresa Olivero, 60, and Caterina Giraudo, 67 -- were working on hunger and health programs in the northeastern town of El Wak, about six miles from the Somali border.

The kidnapping highlights concerns among regional security officials that chaos in Somalia could lead to troubles in neighboring Kenya, which is struggling to patrol the border.

BRITAIN

Militant preacher faces hearing

Extremist preacher Abu Qatada, once called Osama bin Laden's ambassador to Europe, faces a hearing after being rearrested in West London.

Abu Qatada was taken into custody over the weekend, apparently for violating his strict bail conditions, according to British newspaper reports.

British government officials maintain that the Palestinian-Jordanian preacher had ties to convicted would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid and to Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person convicted in the United States for the Sept. 11 attacks.

MEXICO