EUROZONE / FRANCE : "DSK" Released From House Arrest; Serious Credibility Doubts Uncovered.

NYTIMES... 2 screen combined.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was was released from house arrest after prosecutors told a  judge that they had serious problems with his case.
His $6mn cash bail and bond were returned.
Prosecutors will also hold his passport but he will be free to move about the USA.

The Times reports that  “prosecutors in Manhattan doubt the credibility of the hotel employee who accused Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault”...that “...the alleged victim lied several times and now have doubts about her asylum claim and suspected relationships with criminal activities as drug trafficking and money laundering.” 

GUARDIAN VIDEO: 1:33...The French respond to the DSK release.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/jul/01/dominique-strauss-kahn-video

BRASIL / IMF: Leading Candidate Lagarde Seeking Support Of Emerging World.

M.PRESS/

    French FM Christine Lagarde began her worldwide tour in Brasil to garner support for the IMF chief job.
    She is reportedly offering emerging economies a greater say at the IMF...especially in speeding-up the existing 5-year period for voting/influence recalculations.
    But the 187 member IMF has already approved giving emerging economies increased voting rights and board seats by the end of 2012.
    Under 2008 plans, Brasil’s IMF voting weight will go from 1.4 %...to 2.3 %...by 2012.
    Today, 4 of the BRICS...India, China, Russia and Brasil...account for less than...12% of the vote.
    Brasil FM Guido Mantegna says he will not oppose an EU candidate...but has not come out and endorsed Lagarde.
    Russia's PM Putin has endorsed Lagarde...as have the UK, Sweden and Germany.
    According to BLOOMBERG, Brasil wants Lagarde to run the IMF...only until the end of next year... when DSK's term would have expired.
    Mexico's Augustin Carstens, the only other announced candidate, has kicked off his campaign in Spain.
    However, many nations regard Carstens as too orthodox a market economist...even with his extensive IMF experience.
    One argument against Lagarde's candidacy is...that she is a lawyer...not a trained economist.
     But if selected...she would be the first woman to head the trillion dollar IMF.

IMF: In NYC...Now Notorious"DSK"...Has Housing Problems.

LINK CHANGE/  1:30 AP Video Report/

    Dominique Strauss-Kahn may have found $1mn usd for bail...but he is finding it difficult to get a new home in NYC.
   The former head of the IMF hoped to move into a $14,000 per month apartment in the luxe Bristol Plaza that his wife found...on Manhattan's exclusive upper east side...after a judge allowed bail on charges of attempted rape of a chambermaid.
    But the news attracted a media chaos outside the building and residents objected.
    Police even had to put up barricades to hold back the TV crews and cameramen.
    DSK has been released from Rikers Island jail...and is living in a temporary apartment  in Lower Manhattan near Ground Zero...where he will be detained under armed guard.

EUROZONE / IMF: 16 May UPDATE: Dominque's Lawyer Says It Ain't So; France Defends Strauss-Kahn's Innocence Until Proven Guilty; Arrest Dismays Distressed Greeks; Bail DENIED.

 LINK CHANGE: NYTIMES

    A NYC judge has denied bail for Dominique Strauss-Kahn...on grounds that he is a flight risk.
    The shocking arrest of IMF head Strauss-Kahn in NYC for sexual abuse has also unnerved Greek officials.
    Strauss-Kahn was to attend a eurozone finance ministers meeting Monday in Brussels to discuss worsening debt problems there.
     Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, (pictured above) managing director of the IMF for the past 3.5 years, was arrested in NYC and accused of attempted rape and 6 other charges...5 of them felonies...against a 32-year-old chambermaid in the Sofitel hotel. The maid reportedly worked at the hotel for 3 years.
    He was arrested while boarding a plane bound for Paris.
    The French government has declared that he “is innocent until proven otherwise”.
    His lawyer and his wife have told the media that “his client will plead not guilty of the crimes alleged against him”.
     One observer described the 7 charges as..."the worst case scenario" for the defendant.
     Since he was in NYC on private business...there can be no immunity claim...say some experts.
    A police spokesman says the woman claimed she entered Strauss-Kahn's room at about 1pm when "...he came out of the bathroom naked, ran down a hallway to the foyer where she was, pulled her into a bedroom and began to sexually assault her, according to her account. She pulled away from him and he dragged her down a hallway into the bathroom where he engaged in a criminal sexual act, according to her account to detectives. He tried to lock her into the hotel room."
      The maid picked-out his photo and was treated for rape...with forensic DNA samples taken.

      Noted criminal lawyer Benjamin Brafman (above) said :"This battle has just begun." 
     Strauss-Khan has favored giving Greece another financial lifeline to prevent collapse...despite recently angering Greeks when he described them as being "in deep shit".
     In 2008, the IMF cleared the thrice married Strauss-Kahn of harassment and favoritism over an affair with a Hungarian economist colleague...calling it a "serious error of judgement".

     Now, another woman is claiming he sexually harassed her in 2003.

    French journalist/novelist Tristane Banon (below) told LE FIGARO that the episode occurred during an interview when she was just 22.
    She described Strauss-Kahn as a "rutting chimpanzee."

        What is it about these powerful silverbacks?
        All these new revelations are all too reminiscent of Italy's  pathetically lecherous old PM...Silvio Berlusconi...but allegedly...without consent!