Filmmaker Roman Polanski has launched a fresh appeal to drop child sex charges from the 1970s, offering details of what his lawyers called improper dealings by prosecutors and the judge, court documents showed Friday. Polanski's lawyers petitioned a California appellate court, citing secret "communication" between two top officials in the district attorney's office and the original judge in ...

Over 1,000 rich Germans with accounts at Swiss bank Credit Suisse found themselves under investigation Friday following the purchase by authorities of a CD containing the names of tax dodgers. "State prosecutors have launched 1,100 investigations against customers and staff of Credit Suisse," Dirk Negenborn, spokesman for prosecutors in Duesseldorf, western Germany, told AFP. "The Credit Suisse clients ...

The Europeans are still the big cheeses. Swiss and Austrian cheesemakers took top honors Thursday at the 2010 World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison, beating out some 2,300 entries from 20 countries ranging from Argentina to Switzerland. Cheesemaker Cedric Fragniere took top honors with a Gruyere ...