16.05.2011
Police seek evidence of sex attack from IMF chief
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a married father of four whose reputation with women earned him the nickname "the great seducer," faced arraignment Monday on charges of attempted rape and criminal sexual contact in the alleged attack on a maid who went into his penthouse suite at a hotel near Times Square to clean it.
Strauss-Kahn was taken into custody on Saturday, then spent more 24 hours inside a Harlem precinct, where police say the maid identified him from a lineup, and was headed to a hospital for a "forensic examination" requested by prosecutors to obtain more evidence in the case, defense lawyer William Taylor said.
Another defense attorney, Benjamin Brafman, said the IMF managing director "intends to vigorously defends these charges and he denies any wrongdoing."
A member of France's Socialist party, Strauss-Kahn was widely considered the strongest potential challenger next year to President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose political fortunes have been flagging.
Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet lamented the shadow the incident could cast on all of France.
"I'm very surprised to see at what speed in France we rush to political conclusions about a subject that is a serious one. He is accused of very serious acts. We are hardly speaking at all of the alleged victim," she said Monday on Canal-Plus television. In addition to the hotel maid, Koscuisko-Morizet said there is another "clear victim, which is France."
Strauss-Kahn, 62, was nabbed less than four hours after the alleged assault, plucked from first class on a Paris-bound Air France flight that was just about to leave the gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
He was alone when he checked into the luxury Sofitel hotel, not far from Times Square, on Friday afternoon, police said. It wasn't clear why he was in New York. The IMF is based in Washington, and he had been due in Germany on Sunday to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The 32-year-old maid told authorities that when she entered his spacious, $3,000-a-night suite early Saturday afternoon, she thought it was unoccupied. Instead, Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her down a hallway and pulled her into a bedroom, where he sexually assaulted her, New York Police Department spokesman Paul J. Browne said.
The woman told police she fought him off, but then he dragged her into the bathroom, where he forced her to perform oral sex on him and tried to remove her underwear. The woman was able to break free again, escaped the room and told hotel staff what had happened, authorities said.
Strauss-Kahn was gone by the time detectives arrived moments later. He left his cellphone behind. "It looked like he got out of there in a hurry," Browne said.
The NYPD discovered he was at JFK and contacted officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport. Port Authority police officers arrested him.
The maid was taken by police to a hospital and was treated for minor injuries. Stacy Royal, a spokeswoman for Sofitel, said the hotel's staff was cooperating in the investigation and that the maid "has been a satisfactory employee of the hotel for the past three years."
Strauss-Kahn was arrested on charges of a criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. Authorities were looking for any forensic evidence and DNA.
His wife, Anne Sinclair, defended him in a statement to French news agency AFP.
"I do not believe for one second the accusations brought against my husband. I have no doubt his innocence will be established," said Sinclair, a New York-born journalist who hosted a popular weekly TV news broadcast in France in the 1980s and `90s.
The arrest could throw the long-divided Socialists back into disarray about who they could present as Sarkozy's opponent. Even some of his adversaries were stunned.
"It's totally hallucinating. If it is true, this would be a historic moment, but in the negative sense, for French political life," said Dominique Paille, a political rival to Strauss-Kahn on the center right, on BFM television. Still, he urged, "I hope that everyone respects the presumption of innocence. I cannot manage to believe this affair."
Candidates need to announce their intentions this summer to run in fall primary elections.
"If he's cleared, he could return — but if he is let off only after four or five months, he won't be able to run" because the campaign will be too far along, said Jerome Fourquet of the IFOP polling agency.
"I think his political career is over," Philippe Martinat, who wrote a book called "DSK-Sarkozy: The Duel," told The Associated Press. "Behind him he has other affairs ... I don't see very well how he can pick himself back up."
Strauss-Kahn is known as DSK in France, but media there also have dubbed him "the great seducer." His reputation as a charmer of women has not hurt his career in France, where politicians' private lives traditionally come under less scrutiny than in the United States.
In 2008, Strauss-Kahn was briefly investigated over whether he had an improper relationship with a subordinate female employee. The IMF board found his actions "reflected a serious error of judgment" yet deemed the relationship consensual.
But attempted rape charges are far more serious than extramarital flings and could do far more damage to his reputation in France and abroad.
"It's sure that a future president already mired in judicial problems is not well seen by the French," said Patricia Bous, a lab researcher in Paris' Left Bank on Monday.
"It's obvious that this is someone a lot of people were counting on, and because of this all of the cards are being reshuffled. So I don't know what's going to happen, but for me there is a presumption of innocence and we await the proof so we'll see," said university employee Hubert Javaux, also in the Left Bank.
French newspapers all put Strauss-Kahn on their front pages Monday morning, with grim headlines and photos. "DSK Out" read the banner headline on the left-leaning Liberation. "The Doors of the Elysee Are Closing for DSK" read that in Le Soir.
The New York allegations come amid French media reports about Strauss-Kahn's lifestyle, including luxury cars and suits, that some have dubbed a smear campaign. Some French raised suspicions about the sexual assault case as well.
"Perhaps this affair will unravel very quickly, if we learn that there is in the end no serious charge and that what was said by this woman was not true, and we all wish for this," former Socialist Party boss Francois Hollande said on Canal-Plus television. "To commit an act of such seriousness, this does not resemble the man I know."
A former economics professor, Strauss-Kahn served as French industry minister and finance minister in the 1990s, and is credited with preparing France for the adoption of the euro by taming its deficit.
He took over as head of the IMF in November 2007. The 187-nation lending agency provides help in the form of emergency loans for countries facing severe financial problems.
Sarkozy, who did not comment publicly Sunday, had championed Strauss-Kahn to run the IMF. Political strategists saw it as a way for Sarkozy to get a potential challenger far from the French limelight.
Caroline Atkinson, an IMF spokeswoman, issued a statement Sunday that said the agency would have no comment on the New York case. She referred all inquiries to Strauss-Kahn's personal lawyer and said the "IMF remains fully functioning and operational."
The fund's executive board was expected to be briefed on developments related to Strauss-Kahn on Sunday, but the meeting was postponed. John Lipsky, the IMF's first deputy managing director, would lead the organization in an acting capacity in Strauss-Kahn's absence.
Strauss-Kahn was supposed to be meeting in Berlin on Sunday with Merkel about increasing aid to Greece, and then join EU finance ministers in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday. The IMF is responsible for one-third of Greece's existing loan package, and his expected presence at these meetings underlined the gravity of the Greek crisis.
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Charlton reported from Paris. Associated Press writers Elaine Ganley in Paris, Colleen Long, Cristian Salazar and Verena Dobnik in New York and Martin Crutsinger in Washington contributed to this report.
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Iranian cleric warns president amid power struggle
The remarks by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati are the latest in a series of rebukes to the president, who has been locked for weeks in a simmering confrontation with Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The dispute appears to be part of a power struggle ahead of parliamentary elections next year and the vote for Ahmadinejad's successor in mid-2013.
Jannati, who until recently was a staunch Ahmadinejad supporter, did not refer to the president by name but stressed that "people do not depend on individuals" who hold office.
"Everyone should pay attention, no matter who he is," Jannati said during a Friday sermon in Tehran. "If he puts his foot on the wrong path, the popular supports will vanish."
On Wednesday, Jannati — who heads the Guardian Council, which oversees government adherence to the constitution — crossed swords with Ahmadinejad for the first time, when his watchdog slammed the president for trying to merge Cabinet ministries without parliamentary approval.
The council rejected Ahmadinejad's attempt and Jannati ruled that the new ministers would have to be submitted to the parliament for a vote of confidence.
Jannati's moves signal the president's support base may be melting after he challenged the all-encompassing authority of Khamenei. The internal political confrontations involve hard-liners on both sides locked in disputes over who should control the next parliament and government.
The troubles emerged last month when Khamenei vetoed Ahmadinejad's attempt to fire his intelligence minister, Heidar Moslehi, and take control of the intelligence department himself.
Although Ahmadinejad later publicly backed down in the confrontation with Khamenei, it emboldened his hardline rivals in parliament to challenge him. Ahmadinejad was re-elected president in 2009 in a hotly disputed vote that deeply split the country.
During Friday's sermon, Jannati also assailed unnamed political circles who he claimed were distributing cash, taking part in suspicious activities and sending signals to the United States — which Iran considers an enemy — to gain a stronger footing ahead of next elections.
"One day the people and the establishment will settle the score with them," the cleric added.
In the past weeks, authorities have reportedly arrested up to 25 Ahmadinejad loyalists and blocked half a dozen websites connected to them. Among those arrested is cleric Abbas Amirifar, prayer leader at the presidential palace.
Last Friday, another hard-line cleric, Kazem Sedighi, warned Ahmadinejad over attempt to get rid of Moslehi, reminding the president that Khamenei "is above the constitution ... his powers are absolute."
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Four injured in iPad fight at Beijing Apple store
Angry consumers began rushing the store on Saturday afternoon after a "foreign" Apple employee allegedly stepped into the crowd to push and beat people suspected of queue jumping, the Beijing News said.
After the employee retreated back into the store, a crowd of consumers smashed the glass front door and shoved security guards as they surged forward in anger over the alleged beatings, the report said.
Consumers have lined up for hours at Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai since the iPad 2, the updated version of the tablet computer, went on sale in the world's biggest Internet market on Friday.
The store in Beijing's chic Sanlitun commercial district closed early Saturday because of the altercation, but according to a voice recording on the store's phone was open for business Sunday.
Apple officials were not immediately available for comment when telephoned by AFP.
Police were investigating the incident and have interviewed four people hospitalised with injuries, the Beijing News said.
Lines for the popular iPad 2 have grown so long that people have begun selling their places in the queue, while a secondary market has also developed with consumers reselling their tablet computers for profit after leaving the store, the report said.
Late Saturday, the store posted a notice saying that queue jumping and the unauthorised sales of Apple products would not be tolerated, the paper said.
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