Estrada's lawyer said the petition is the first direct challenge to the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was sworn in Jan. 20 as street protests forced Estrada to leave the presidential palace.

"We believe that Gloria usurped the office of permanent president. She is only acting president," lawyer Rene Saguisag said. If Estrada wins the case, he will take back his office only "if it's in the national interest."

"He does not want to add to the divisiveness," Saguisag said. "If it will help in the healing process, he is prepared to sacrifice."

Separately Tuesday, Macapagal-Arroyo named a chief Estrada opponent, Teofisto Guingona, 72, as vice president. Guingona was the first senator to make public the corruption allegations against Estrada.

Ukrainian protesters demand president resign

KIEV, Ukraine -- Thousands of protesters Tuesday demanded the resignation of President Leonid Kuchma over a scandal involving a missing journalist.

Many of the 5,000 demonstrators marched to the capital from provincial towns, carrying banners giving their hometowns along with pictures of the president with his face crossed out.

Critics accuse Kuchma of playing a role in the disappearance of Heorhiy Gongadze, an opposition journalist who criticized alleged high-level corruption. Gongadze disappeared in September, and authorities say a headless body found in woods outside Kiev is probably his.

The release of what purports to be a recording of Kuchma fuming in obscene language about Gongadze to his top security officials has galvanized opponents.

Kuchma has fiercely denied he issued orders to silence the journalist.

Czechs arrested in Cuba are on the way home

HAVANA -- Two prominent Czechs jailed for more than three weeks in Cuba headed home Tuesday after they admitted breaking the law in a case that strained relations between two former Cold War allies.

Czech lawmaker Ivan Pilip and Jan Bubenik were arrested Jan. 12 after meeting with Cuban dissidents. They were released Monday night after crafting an admission signed before diplomats from several nations.

"They understand they offended the Cuban people and that was not their intention," said Anders Johnson, secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which helped mediate the release.

Havana had accused Pilip, 37, a former finance minister, and Bubenik, 32, a former student leader, of traveling to Cuba on behalf of American interests, accusations U.S. authorities called "ludicrous."

In recent weeks, Cuban President Fidel Castro called the Czech Embassy in Havana "a cave of spies." The Czechs faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted of acting against Cuba's security and inciting a rebellion.

U.N. prosecutors charge three in Timor with rape

DILI, East Timor -- In a legal first for East Timor, U.N. prosecutors on Tuesday filed multiple rape charges against an Indonesian army officer and two anti-independence militia leaders.

The men allegedly committed the attacks during a wave of violence before and after a 1999 referendum in which the vast majority of East Timorese voted to break away from Indonesian rule.

"This is the first time we have filed indictments for sexual crimes," said U.N. chief prosecutor Mohamed Othman.

Elsewhere

BUFFER ZONE AGREED: After months in a stalemate, senior Ethiopian and Eritrean officials agreed Tuesday to set up a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in an area where the two neighbors fought a bloody border war for 21/2 years. A 16-mile-wide temporary security zone will be established Feb. 12.

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