Six In The Morning

IMF chief held on suspicion of sexual assault on N.Y. hotel worker

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund, is taken off a plane about to leave JFK, arrested and charged in the attack on a chambermaid in his luxury suite.

By Geraldine Baum, Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

May 15, 2011, 12:07 a.m.

Reporting from New York– Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, was hauled off a flight about to leave JFK airport for Paris on Saturday and arrested on allegations he sexually assaulted a maid in a Times Square-area hotel, a police spokesman said.

Strauss-Kahn, who is also an important figure in French politics, was taken to the Harlem headquarters of the Manhattan Special Victims Unit, which investigates rape and other sex crimes. He was charged with committing a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment in connection with a sexual assault on a chambermaid in the luxury suite of a midtown Manhattan hotel, said Paul Browne, deputy New York City police commissioner.

Greece’s islands will not be offered as loan collateral, warns prime minister

As EU finance ministers prepare for a meeting on the Greek crisis, George Papandreou insists: ‘To ask us for an island or a monument as a guarantee is nearly an insult’

Heather Stewart and Andrew Clark

The Observer, Sunday 15 May 2011

Greece’s prime minister has hit out at fellow European nations for demanding “islands or monuments” as security for bailout loans ahead of a gathering of European finance ministers in Brussels on Monday to discuss the country’s ailing finances.

Despite the conviction in financial markets that Greece’s debts are unsustainable and will ultimately have to be restructured, eurozone ministers appear determined to top up last year’s €110bn (£96bn) rescue package while forcing the beleaguered country into an ever tighter fiscal squeeze.

Pamela Geller: American patriot or extremist firebrand?

Robert Chalmers meets the right-wing blogger to find out

Sunday, 15 May 2011

Among the many new things I have learnt from the work of Pamela Geller is that President Obama reputedly used to knock around with a crack whore.

“That,” the author, blogger and broadcaster insists, “is not what I said. You are taking this out of context. The post [on her website atlasshrugs.com] was pointing out how people were reporting lie after lie about Sarah Palin. I said to myself, there is so much about Obama we don’t print. In his youth,” she continues, repeating a story for which there exists absolutely no foundation, “he supposedly liked a girl who was a crack whore. I never reported it as fact. They say all these vile things about Palin but do we ever talk about Obama and the crack whore?”

Helen Zille leads trio of women threatening ANC with Democratic Alliance election upset

A trio of women headed by Helen Zille, leader of the Democratic Alliance, is aiming to oust the ruling ANC from three South African cities in elections on Wednesday.

By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg

For decades under apartheid, running water, electricity and a brick-built house were little more than a pipe dream for most residents of South Africa’s second city.

Away from Cape Town’s manicured white suburbs, raw sewage ran in the streets, cheap 1960s buildings were crumbling and the only police patrols were in heavily-armoured vehicles, leaving locals at the mercy of violent gangs.

Today, parks and shopping malls have sprung up alongside new housing, most homes have access to basic utilities, and rubbish is collected weekly.

Pakistan condemns raid



 Nasir Jaffry

May 15, 2011

Pakistani MPs are demanding there must be no repeat of the US commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden and say drone strikes targeting terrorists near the border with Afghanistan must end.

The resolution followed a 10-hour parliamentary session in which MPs debated the ”situation arising from unilateral US action in Abbottabad”, the northern garrison town where Navy SEALs shot dead the al-Qaeda leader on May 2.

Pakistan has vowed to review intelligence co-operation after the embarrassing revelation that bin Laden had been living less than 1500 metres from one of its military academies in Abbottabad, prompting claims of official collusion.

Mugabe faces revolt over polls



By ZOLI MANGENA  

The politburo decision on Wednesday has put Mugabe on a collision course with senior Zanu-PF officials, including ministers and MPs opposed to elections this year as they want to finish their five-year tenures.

The decision has also put Mugabe on a confrontational path with Southern African Development Community and African Union leaders ahead of the extraordinary summit in Windhoek, Namibia, on May 20.