FREETOWN (AFP) - Voting in Sierra Leone's local elections, seen as a popularity test for president Ernest Koroma, got underway in Freetown Saturday under heavy police presence after a campaign marred by violence.

SANAA (AFP) - At least five people were killed in an explosion in central Saada, a town in northwest Yemen at the heart of a Shiite revolt, a witness said Saturday.

BERLIN (AFP) - A wax figure of Adolf Hitler had its head ripped off soon after the opening of a new branch of Madame Tussauds in Berlin on Saturday, police said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W.

At least 25 inmates were shot dead by Syrian security forces during a riot by political detainees, a human rights group says.

NICOSIA (AFP) - At least 25 inmates were shot dead by Syrian security forces during a riot by political detainees at a prison in mountains outside Damascus on Saturday, a human rights group said.

ULAN BATOR (AFP) - Mongolia was Saturday expected to lift a state of emergency implemented after unprecedented deadly election riots engulfed the capital of Ulan Bator, but residents feared renewed violence.

A man has torn the wax head off Adolf Hitler in Berlin, just minutes after a new branch of the Madame Tussaud's museum opened.

WELLINGTON (AFP) - The All Blacks reclaimed rugby supremacy Saturday when they overpowered world champions South Africa 19-8 in an immensely physical opening Tri-Nations Test here.

Representatives of the Dalai Lama and China made no headway on the status of Tibet in formal talks this week, an envoy of the spiritual leader said.

PARIS (AFP) - Ingrid Betancourt checked in to a French hospital on Saturday for tests that should reveal any medical problems following her six years as a captive in the Colombian jungle.

Mongolia lifts its four day state of emergency, but relatives are still waiting for news of those detained in the post-election riots.

PARIS (AFP) - The European Union should free itself from its dependence on Russian gas by developing renewable and nuclear energy, the former head of the International Energy Agency told EU ministers Saturday.

ASADABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) - An Afghan provincial governor said Saturday 16 civilians including women, children and doctors were killed in US-led coalition air strikes but the force insisted the dead were militants.