■ United Kingdom
Stolen headdress found
An ancient headdress -- considered one of Peru's most prized artifacts and missing for more than two decades since being looted from an archaeological dig -- was recovered in a raid on a London law firm, police said on Thursday. Specialist art detectives seized the antiquity from the London firm after a lengthy investigation into stolen goods, London's Metropolitan police said. The centuries-old artifact -- fashioned from a sheet of embossed gold, with a feline face at its center and eight curving tentacles -- is estimated to be worth around US$1.9 million, experts said.
■ United States
Forced confession ruled out
Three Rwandan rebels charged with murdering two US tourists in Uganda were tortured and coerced into confessing, a federal judge ruled on Thursday, barring US prosecutors from using the confessions in court. The ruling dealt federal authorities a major setback in a case stemming from the 1999 deaths of eight sightseers, including two Americans, who had traveled to a remote rain forest hoping to see rare mountain gorillas. The three rebels said Rwandan officials bound and beat them until they confessed to the US investigators. Doctors said scars supported those claims.
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