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Testimony describes human sacrifice

By Times wires
Published March 13, 2008

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS

Charles Taylor rewarded militia fighters who killed babies during West Africa's civil wars and called one woman's unborn child an "enemy" who must die, a former militia commander testified Wednesday at Taylor's war crimes trial.

Joseph "Zigzag" Marzah said he committed hundreds of murders on the former Liberian president's orders. He said Taylor celebrated his rise to power by burying a pregnant woman alive in sand.

"We executed everybody: babies, women, old men," Marzah told the court.

Taylor, 59, is accused of orchestrating violence in neighboring Sierra Leone's civil war from his presidential palace in Liberia. .

He is on trial in a U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone.

PARIS

France's last WWI veteran dies at 110

Lazare Ponticelli, France's last veteran of World War I, died Wednesday at 110 after outliving 8.4-million Frenchmen who fought in what they called "la Grande Guerre."

"It is to him and his generation that we owe in large part the peaceful and pacified Europe of today. It is up to us to be worthy of that," President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement.

The 1914-1918 conflict killed millions. Only a handful of veterans are still living

CAIRO

A trio of mummy smugglers is caught

Egyptian police confiscated four mummies on Wednesday and arrested three antiquities smugglers who had stolen them from an ancient graveyard, a security official said.

The three suspects also were found with 10 small, ancient statues. They confessed that they had planned to sell the objects to antiquities brokers, an official said.

Elsewhere

Beijing: China is denying permission to climb the Tibet side of Mount Everest this spring, a move that reflects concerns by the government that Tibet activists may try to disrupt its plans to carry the Olympic torch up the world's tallest peak.

Mexico City: Mexican authorities announced Wednesday that they have captured Gustavo Rivera Martinez, a U.S. citizen alleged to be a top member of a major drug cartel. They say they will send him back to the United States immediately.

[Last modified March 13, 2008, 00:19:30]