Anthony attorney denies interview negotiations (AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. – The lead defense attorney in the murder trial of Casey Anthony denies reports that he is negotiating deals for a paid interview with his client.

A one-sentence statement attributed to Jose Baez and released through New York-based RMT PR Management on Friday says: "Contrary to recent published reports, I am not negotiating any paid interviews with anyone."

Reports of interview negotiations have been rampant since Anthony's release from jail on July 13. She was acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, on July 5, but convicted of four counts of lying to police.

Anthony left the Orange County Jail with Baez and has not been seen in public since.

At least one television producer claims to have met with Baez about a paid interview.

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Court denies motion to stop Loughner medication (AP)

TUCSON, Ariz. – A federal appeals court has refused to bar prison officials from forcibly medicating Tucson shooting rampage suspect Jared Lee Loughner with a psychotropic drug.

Judges from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Friday night denied the emergency motion on the medication from defense attorneys, and also rejected their request for daily reports about his condition at a federal prison facility in Springfield, Mo.

Federal prosecutors said in a filing earlier Friday that Loughner should remain medicated because he may be a danger to himself and his mental and physical condition was rapidly deteriorating.

Loughner, 22, has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the Jan. 8 shooting spree that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

He's been at the Springfield facility since May 27 after a federal judge concluded he was mentally unfit to help in his legal defense.

Mental health experts have determined Loughner suffers from schizophrenia and will try to make him psychologically fit to stand trial. He's expected to spend up to four months at the Missouri prison.

The 9th Circuit had previously scheduled an Aug. 30 hearing in San Francisco on an appeal by Loughner's lawyers over forced medication. It wasn't immediately clear if that hearing will still be held.

Calls to lead Loughner attorney Judy Clarke for comment Friday night weren't immediately returned.

On Thursday, Loughner's attorneys questioned whether the forced medication violates an earlier order by the court that forbid prison officials from involuntarily medicating Loughner as judges mull an appeal on his behalf. They also said their client has been on 24-hour suicide watch.

U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke wrote in his filing Friday that "despite being under suicide watch, Loughner's unmedicated behavior is endangering him and that no measure short of medication will protect him from himself more than temporarily because they do not address the mental state which underlies his self-destructive actions."

Loughner was forcibly medicated between June 21 and July 1 after prison officials determined his outbursts there posed a danger to others. He was given twice daily doses of Risperidone, a drug used for people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and severe behavior problems.

In a July 12 ruling, the appeals court upheld an earlier order that the treatments cease, saying Loughner's interest in not suffering the risk of side effects from powerful drugs is stronger than the government's interest in protecting him and those around him. But the ruling noted that authorities can take steps to maintain the safety of prison officials, other inmates and Loughner, including forcibly giving him tranquilizers.

The decision to resume involuntarily treating Loughner on an emergency basis came Monday after it was determined that he had become an immediate threat to himself, according to court documents.

If Loughner is later determined to be competent enough for trial, the court proceedings will resume. If he isn't deemed competent at the end of his treatment, Loughner's stay at the facility can be extended.

Loughner's lawyers haven't said whether they intend to present an insanity defense, but they have noted in court filings that his mental condition will likely be a central issue at trial.

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Deutsche Bank chairman denies Kirch conspiracy (Reuters)

MUNICH (Reuters) – The legal battle between Deutsche Bank and media mogul Leo Kirch looked no closer to being resolved after a day of hearings in a Munich court which saw Chief Executive Josef Ackermann in the witness stand.

Judge Guido Kotschy had sought to establish whether the lender had damaged Kirch's business with intent, in a bid to resolve one of Germany's most bitter, drawn-out corporate disputes.

Kirch is seeking around 2 billion euros ($2.9 billion) in damages from the bank and its former Chairman Rolf Breuer, alleging Breuer triggered Kirch Group's downfall by questioning the creditworthiness of his media empire in a 2002 Bloomberg Television interview.

Ackermann and chairman Clemens Boersig both appeared in court as witnesses as the court tried to establish whether Deutsche Bank had made an effort to seek a mandate to restructure Kirch's stricken media empire after it had fallen on hard times in 2002.

Deutsche Bank signaled it had sought such a mandate at its annual general meeting in 2007, the court was told, but Ackermann and other executives on Thursday sought to play down this possibility.

"I did not seek a mandate from Kirch," Ackermann told the court. And getting such a mandate was not discussed at a Deutsche Bank board meeting in 2002, Ackermann added.

The fact that the bank did not pursue such a mandate was further proof that no such plan was on the agenda, Ackermann told the Munich regional appeals court.

Ackermann further said that any comments which left the impression that the bank had sought such a mandate, such as his remarks at the annual general meeting in 2007, "lacked sufficient detail."

Deutsche Bank denied that it conspired to cause the collapse of German media mogul Leo Kirch's business empire.

Chairman Clemens Boersig told the court on Thursday the bank's management board had not discussed Kirch's business in detail at a meeting held a few days before the interview.

"That was a very marginal point," said Boersig, then-finance chief of Germany's biggest lender, adding that nobody who took part in the meeting had a strong interest in winning a mandate to help Kirch Group restructure if it failed.

Breuer earlier this year told the court the statements he made in the interview were an "accident."

Kirch, 84 years old and almost blind, has launched lawsuits in the United States and in several different courts in Germany to recoup some of his losses, but he has had little success so far.

Kirch originally built his business importing films from Hollywood and overseas into Germany. It eventually spanned television broadcasting, Formula One rights and publishing.

(Reporting by Christian Kraemer; Writing by Maria Sheahan and Edward Taylor; Editing by David Holmes and Elaine Hardcastle)

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