WORLD BRIEFS

SOUTH SUDAN: Refugees fleeing into camp

Tens of thousands of refugees are swarming to a camp in Yida, South Sudan, and community chiefs expect a new wave from Sudan's war-torn Nuba Mountains, setting up what humanitarian workers warn could become a catastrophe. As many as 15,000 more could stream across the border from Sudan by the end of the year, straining a camp hit by malaria and diarrhea with many people arriving malnourished, said the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. Recent rains have made roads impassable, and the World Food Program has been forced to drop food from the sky. For the past week, large Ilyushin jets have screamed over the camp, dropping 64 metric tons each day from a height of 200 yards. The cheers of refugees, and some aid workers, accompany each drop. Yida's population rose since February from 17,000 to 65,000 by September.

MEXICO: Jailbreak linked to cartel

The brutal Zetas drug cartel is suspected of having orchestrated the mass tunnel escape of more than 130 inmates at a northern border prison, possibly to replenish its ranks after suffering blows from a rival gang. Jorge Luis Moran, public safety secretary of Coahuila state, said inmates in the Piedras Negras prison reported that those who plotted the escape were Zetas members and that some non-gang members were forced to go along. Late Tuesday, Moran said two inmates in a sport utility vehicle were captured after a shooting with state police.

ITALY: 23 guilty in CIA renditions

Italy's highest criminal court upheld the convictions of 23 Americans on Wednesday in the abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect from a Milan street as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, paving the way to possible extradition requests. It was the final appeal in the first trial anywhere in the world involving the CIA practice of abducting suspects and transferring them to third countries where torture is permitted. The Americans were convicted in absentia and would risk arrest if they travel to Europe.