WORLD BRIEFS

CHINA: Two lawyers barred from leaving country

Police prevented two human rights lawyers from leaving China on Tuesday, the latest in moves against activists and dissidents since jailed pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Mo Shaoping was one of the two not permitted to board a flight to attend an International Bar Association conference in London. The police produced no written notice, the lawyers said, but offered only that they might "threaten national security" if allowed to travel.

MYANMAR: 20,000 return after fleeing election violence

About 20,000 refugees headed home to Myanmar Tuesday after fleeing to Thailand as fighting followed a general election that is certain to keep the military and its allies in power. The country's first election in two decades, on Sunday, was billed by the ruling junta as a key stage in its self-proclaimed road to democracy. Thai authorities said Myanmar officials assured them the situation had stabilized in Myawaddy, a border town where ethnic Karen guerrillas attacked Sunday. The refugees had fled to nearby Mae Sot, in Thailand's Tak province.

HAITI: Cholera confirmed in capital

Health workers feared a surge of cholera in the shantytowns and tent camps of Port-au-Prince as suspected cases piled up Tuesday and a laboratory confirmed cases in the overcrowded city. Hundreds suffered the cholera symptoms of fever and diarrhea in hospitals and shacks along the putrid canals of slums like Cité Soleil and Martissant. At least 73 city cholera cases had been confirmed, but most of those people had been infected outside the capital.