Man who tried to blackmail Cindy Crawford turns self in to German police

November 17th, 2009 90-year-old charged in Germany for Nazi-era crimesBERLIN — German authorities say a 90-year-old former member of the Nazi's SS has been charged with 58 counts of murder for the 1945 killings of Jewish forced laborers in Austria. The Duisburg state court said Tuesday that state prosecutors had charged the suspect with the killings of the Jewish laborers near Deutsch-Schuetzen on March 30, 1945.

November 12th, 2009 Documents say Crawford, husband being extortedLOS ANGELES — A German man was charged Thursday with trying to extort $100,000 from former supermodel Cindy Crawford and her entrepreneur husband Rande Gerber over a photo of their daughter bound to a chair and gagged, authorities said. Edis Kayalar, 26, has not yet been arrested.

November 11th, 2009 Verdict expected in German courtroom stabbingDRESDEN, Germany — A German court is expected to deliver its verdict today in the case of a man charged with murder for the courtroom stabbing of a pregnant Egyptian woman. Prosecutors are seeking a life prison sentence for defendant Alexander Wiens, a 28-year-old Russian-born German.

November 11th, 2009 LONDON - A man was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after being convicted of murdering a pregnant Egyptian woman in a German courtroom last July. The court ruled earlier Wednesday that Aleksandr Wiens, a German of Russian origin, was motivated by hatred of foreigners when he stabbed 31-year-old Marwa el-Shirbini to death in the same Dresden courtroom in Germany last July.

November 9th, 2009 Prosecutors demand life for court killing suspectDRESDEN, Germany — Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for a man who has admitted to fatally stabbing a pregnant Egyptian in a German court in a case that triggered outrage across the Muslim world. Prosecutor Frank Heinrich said in closing arguments Monday in a Dresden state court that the suspect acted out of hatred for foreigners and deserved to be convicted and given the maximum penalty.

October 27th, 2009 German court fines Holocaust-denying bishopBERLIN — An ultraconservative British bishop was fined $16,822 (€12,000) in Germany for denying the Holocaust in an interview with Swedish television, his lawyer said Tuesday. A court in the Bavarian city of Regensburg issued the fine against Richard Williamson for incitement in connection with his Holocaust denial, Williamson's lawyer Matthias Lossmann said.

October 27th, 2009 Not guilty plea entered for praying theft suspectINDIANAPOLIS — A judge has entered a not guilty plea for a man accused of robbing an Indianapolis check-cashing business after hugging and praying with a clerk. Twenty-three-year-old Gregory Smith apologized on television last week for the robbery and says he was driven to it after losing his job.

October 25th, 2009 German trial over stabbing death of Muslim womanBERLIN — The trial of a man accused of stabbing a pregnant Egyptian woman to death in a German court — an attack that outraged Muslims — opens Monday in the same courthouse, but under much greater security. Some 200 police officers are to secure the Dresden state court, and bulletproof glass has been installed in the courtroom where the alleged assailant, identified only as Alexander W., goes on trial accused of murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm.

October 21st, 2009 China sentences 6 to death in gang crackdownBEIJING — A court in southwest China sentenced six men to death Wednesday for gang-related crimes including blackmail and murder, the first convictions in a monthslong crackdown that has exposed a major city mired in violent organized crime. More than 1,544 suspects have been detained in Chongqing, China's largest municipality, since the gang sweep started in June, with more than a dozen criminal gangs busted.

October 21st, 2009 A kidnapping revives a French legal battlePARIS — The 74-year-old German man was snatched, beaten, tied up, whisked across the border and left outside a French courthouse in the middle of the night. Now, a grieving French father has been handed preliminary charges for alleged involvement in the kidnapping of Dieter Krombach, whom he believes was responsible for the death of his adolescent daughter 27 years ago.

October 12th, 2009 Top German court receives Demjanjuk appealKARLSRUHE, Germany — Germany's highest court says it has received an appeal from John Demjanjuk's lawyer seeking to block the 89-year-old's trial. However, the Federal Constitutional Court did not say Monday when it might rule on the request to halt the trial, which is scheduled to open in Munich on Nov.

September 27th, 2009 PANAJI - Ingo Grill, the controversial promoter of the famous 'Saturday nite market' in the quaint village of Arpora in Goa, is caught in a piquant situation. While the German national has been denied a visa by the union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to enter India, a local trial court has issued a non-bailable warrant in his name for cutting down trees without requisite permission.

September 23rd, 2009 John Travolta arrives for Bahamas extortion trialNASSAU, Bahamas — John Travolta appeared Wednesday for a trial for two people accused of trying to extort $25 million from the movie star, arriving at a courthouse surrounded by Bahamas police officers. Travolta, who is expected to testify for the prosecution, pulled up in an entourage of sport utility vehicles in his first appearance at the trial.

September 11th, 2009 Briatore threatens to sue Piquet over crash claimsMONZA, Italy — Renault's team principal has reportedly threatened legal action over Formula One race-fixing claims that he considers "outrageous lies" and akin to "blackmail." Renault chief Flavio Briatore is alleged to have asked the son of three-time world champion Nelson Piquet to crash at last year's Singapore Grand Prix to improve teammate Fernando Alonso's chances of victory. Governing body FIA is investigating the claims and Renault will go before the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Sept.

September 10th, 2009 UC Irvine settles lawsuits of stolen eggs, embryosIRVINE, Calif. — The University of California, Irvine has settled dozens of civil lawsuits over eggs or embryos stolen by two doctors more than a decade ago, in an effort to end the scandal over its fertility center.