Austria Hastens to Close the Book on Ugliest Abuse Case

The moment that changed the course of Josef Fritzl’s trial was the unexpected arrival in court of his victim. Having initially pleaded not guilty to some of the charges in the case arising from his 24-year incarceration and repeated rape of his daughter in a squalid dungeon beneath his home, Fritzl reportedly broke down and wept when Elisabeth Fritzl, now 42, took the stand to testify against him

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Apologetic Fritzl faces incest sentencing

Austrian Josef Fritzl, who faces sentencing for imprisoning and raping his daughter for more than two decades, made a final apologetic statement to the court Thursday, but added, "I can’t go back and change it." On Wednesday Fritzl admitted guilt on all charges, including the murder of one of seven children he fathered by his daughter. Fritzl had already pleaded guilty to incest and other charges, but previously denied charges of murder and enslavement. But on Wednesday Fritzl told the court in St

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Massacre Raises Issue of Gun Control in Europe

Europeans might once have viewed massacres at educational institutions as a uniquely American scourge, but they no longer have that luxury: Friday found Germany still mourning the 16 victims of Wednesday’s carnage in Winnenden, while Scotland marked the 13th anniversary of Europe’s first mass school shooting, the bloodbath at Dunblane in which 16 grade-school students and their teacher were mowed down by a lone gunman. Clearly, Europe has a problem to which there’s no simple solution. “When you compare us to countries with enormous gun ownership like the U.S., it’s obvious we’re less vulnerable to gun violence,” says Christophe Soullez, chief of France’s National Observatory on Delinquency

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Family caught in Madoff swindle forced to sell Jewish heirlooms

Elisa Schindler says she is relieved her father, the late Rabbi Alexander Schindler, didn’t live to see the destruction caused by Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff. “Here’s a man who dedicated his entire life to making the world a better place and contrast that with a man who didn’t do that,” she says

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Coast Guard suspends search for 3 boaters

The Coast Guard ended its search Tuesday for two professional football players and a third man lost at sea, leaving the families to cope with unknown fates of the men and to organize a private search. “There’s a lot of things we have to come to grips with — we’ve all agreed unanimously we won’t give up hope,” said Bruce Cooper, father of Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper. Cooper, NFL free agent Corey Smith and former college football player William Bleakley are missing, with authorities believing a fishing boat carrying them and a fourth man overturned Saturday in the Gulf of Mexico

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