WORLD BRIEFS

RWANDA: Re-elected prez celebrates

President Paul Kagame celebrated an overwhelming election victory by dancing with thousands of supporters in the national sports stadium early Tuesday, after opposition parties were banned from the vote. Some Rwandans said they were forced to cast ballots for him. Human rights groups and other critics had decried the arrest of several opposition figures in the lead-up to Monday's election. The Tutsi-led government has denied any involvement in those attacks. It was Rwanda's second election since the 1994 genocide, when half a million people, mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were killed.

CHINA: Toll doubles in landslides

The death toll from landslides in northwestern China more than doubled to 702 Tuesday, as rescue crews struggled to reach survivors from flooding that has imperiled millions. Digging by hand through mud, rescuers found a 52-year-old man who had been trapped more than 50 hours in a leveled apartment building in the remote town of Zhouqu. More than 1,000 others were missing.

RUSSIA: Putin joins wildfire fight

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin climbed into a firefighting plane Tuesday and dumped water on two of the hundreds of wildfires sweeping through western Russia and cloaking Moscow in a suffocating smog. Putin has been a very visible leader in the battle against the fires, which have caused billions of dollars in damage and left thousands homeless in two weeks. The hottest summer since record-keeping began 130 years ago has cost Russia more than a third of its wheat crop.

IRAN: Plea for political prisoners

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on Iran Tuesday to release all political prisoners and expressed alarm about the fate of several specific detainees. Clinton, in Washington, said the United States believes several Iranians are in danger of imminent execution for speaking out against the June 2009 election. She named three: Jafar Kazemi, Mohammad Haj Aghaei and Javad Lari.