If a French prosecutor gets his wish, the former Miss Topless Belgium and two friends who set a poolside sex trap which helped collapse Princess Stephanie's marriage will get prison sentences. Muriel Houtemann was seen romping with Stephanie's then-husband, Daniel Ducruet, at a private pool in videos and photographs taken in 1996. They led to Prince Ranier of Monaco banishing Ducruet and to his divorce from Stephanie later that year. The prosecutor here wants Houtemann to have a one-year suspended sentence. But he wants photographer Stephane de Lisiecki - said to have masterminded the trap - and Houtemann's former companion, Yves Hoogewys, to get six months behind bars, and another six months' suspended sentence and a $22,100 fine each. Lisiecki admitted setting the trap at a Riviera villa; Houtemann testified she was unaware she was part of a scam. The three are being tried for breaching the intimacy of Ducruet's private life. Ducruet says the three framed him by spiking his drink so he'd be prone to Houtemann's charms, says Reuters. A court verdict is expected April 27.
TIRANA, ALBANIA - Police have hauled in a record 5 million contraband condoms from Greece, said to have a street value of $700,000. A truck driver told police his cargo was exempt from customs duties since they were a gift from humanitarian groups to encourage safe sex among Albanians, says Reuters. Police are guarding the haul while authorities decide what to do with it. Albania has been trying to suffocate smuggling, since customs duties are said to account for about 60 percent of its budget revenues.
--- Compiled by Humphrey Pennyworth
