JAKARTA - Indonesians voted on Monday in their first truly free election in 44 years and are expected to bury decades of autocratic rule and set the country on what is likely to be an uneasy transition toward democracy.

KUALA LUMPUR - The sex trial of former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim got off to a contentious start on Monday when government prosecutors again amended the charges and the defence asked the judge to throw out the case.

LONDON - Britain said on Monday NATO had yet to agree with Russia over a U.N. resolution on Kosovo and said only time would tell if Belgrade was serious about a peace deal for the shattered province.

BRUSSELS - The Belgian health ministry said on Monday it planned to ban sales of butter, fearing the product could also be contaminated with the cancer-causing chemical dioxin in the country‘s widening health scare crisis.

LICHEN, Poland - Pope John Paul opened the largest church in Poland on Monday and asked God to strengthen the Christian faith in thousands of worshippers who had waited overnight in the rain to greet him.

JAKARTA - The neighbours of former Indonesian president Suharto thumbed their noses at the discredited strongman and his family on Monday.

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia‘s next general elections will be the dirtiest ever and the opposition will use the foreign media to try to topple the government.

ALGIERS - The Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), one of several rebel groups in Algeria, on Sunday declared an end to their guerrilla struggle against the government.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and British warplanes on Sunday struck two Iraqi military facilities after Western planes patrolling the U.N.-imposed no-fly zone in the south of the country were fired upon.

WARRI, Nigeria - Hundreds more residents fled the Nigerian oil town of Warri on Monday after overnight ethnic clashes.

PRETORIA - South Africa‘s ruling African National Congress on Sunday appeared set to fall short of one seat for a key two-thirds majority in the country‘s National Assembly.

BANJUL - Guinea-Bissau‘s ousted president Joao Bernardo Vieira arrived in Gambia on Sunday after the new ruling junta allowed him to leave for medical treatment, Gambian Foreign Minister Sadat Jobe said.

NEW YORK - Before New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani can sink his teeth into a likely race with Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate race, he must first beat back powerful opposition in his own Republican party.

PHNOM PENH - The first Khmer Rouge commander ever to appear in court went on trial on Monday for the murder five years ago of three Western tourists taken hostage during a bloody raid on a train in southern Cambodia.

HONG KONG - Typhoon Maggie, which killed four people in the Philippines and Taiwan, ripped through Hong Kong on Monday, shutting schools, banks, courts and the stock market but leaving minimal damage.

NAZARETH, Mexico - Some 300 supporters of Mexico‘s Zapatista rebels were forced to flee into nearby mountains after more than 1,000 troops took over their village in sou thern Chiapas state, witnesses said on Saturday.