'Somebody did something bad to me': What IMF boss 'sex attack' victim told horrified brother about 'assault' at New York hotel

Kept in custody: Strauss-Kahn, centre left, listens to Assistant District Attorney Artie McConnell, foreground left, as he is arraigned before Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson, right



Victim called her brother an hour after alleged assault
Claimed Strauss-Kahn 'twice forced himself on her'
IMF chief is denied $1million bail by New York court

Spends his first night in cell at Rikers Island prison

Police reportedly found blood on sheets in suite

Fresh claim he victimised other maids at same hotel

The alleged rape victim of Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a relative in her first phone call after the attack: 'Somebody did something really bad to me', he revealed tonight.

The woman phoned her older brother an hour after the alleged assault took place and gave him a horrifying account what the head of the IMF allegedly did to her.

Crying uncontrollably, she said that she had been trapped inside the hotel bedroom while the Frenchman twice tried to force himself on her.

She told him he was the first member of family to whom she had revealed the alleged attack.


He said he told her not to talk to anybody and immediately contacted a lawyer to represent her.

Speaking exclusively to Mail Online as Strauss-Kahn spent his first night in Rikers Island prison after being refused $1million dollar bail, the brother said: 'No family should have to go through this.

'She is a hard working woman who is just a victim. She is a wonderful west African immigrant who just wants to work hard.
'I love her, she is my little sister and she is doing better now she has had a chance to talk to a lawyer. She is somewhere very, very safe and will stay that way'.

The brother, 43, a restaurant manager from Harlem in New York, said his sister, 32, called him on Saturday in the afternoon, a mere hour or so after she claimed the attack took place. He recalled: 'She rang me and she said: "Somebody has done something really bad to me. I've been attacked".

'She was crying all the time'.

The brother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that he wanted to see Strauss-Kahn face a trial if he pleaded not guilty.

'I trust the American justice system and will let it do what it has to do,' he said.

'I want him to see justice. Justice will be served'.
Meanwhile Strauss-Kahn was spending his first night in an isolation cell at New York's notorious Rikers Island jail after he was denied $1m bail on charges that he raped the hotel maid.
Today prosecutors revealed graphic details of Strauss-Kahn’s alleged brutal sex attack on the maid at a bail hearing in front of a female judge at Manhattan's criminal court.
Police also reportedly found blood found on bed sheets in the hotel suite where the assault allegedly took place and DNA samples on carpet and fabric that they removed for testing.

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A rape kit is also said to have found DNA on the victim after she reported the attack.

Looking haggard and wearing the previous day's clothes Strauss-Kahn, 62, who should have been meeting with European finance ministers in Brussels, stood at the bench next to his lawyer Benjamin Brafman as prosecutors outlined the severity of the charges against him.

Net tightens on Kadhafi as arrest warrant sought

TRIPOLI (AFP) – Pressure mounted on Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi Tuesday as the International Criminal Court prosecutor sought his arrest, NATO jets pounded his capital and his truce offer was snubbed.

Compounding the strongman's woes, a security services building and the headquarters of Libya's anti-corruption agency were on fire in Tripoli early Tuesday after apparently being hit by NATO air strikes.

In The Hague, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo applied on Monday for warrants for the arrest of Kadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam and intelligence head Abdullah Senussi for crimes against humanity.

The Argentine prosecutor said there was evidence "that Moamer Kadhafi personally ordered attacks on innocent Libyan civilians."

A panel of ICC judges will now decide whether to accept or reject the prosecutor's application.

Moreno-Ocampo said thousands of people had been killed and around 750,000 people forced to flee since Kadhafi ordered his forces to crush protests against his four-decade autocratic rule that began on February 15.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague called on the international community to "fully support" the ICC.

"I welcome this announcement. The human rights situation in western Libya and the behaviour of the Kadhafi regime remains of grave concern," Hague said.

The rebels too hailed the move by the ICC but said that Kadhafi ought to be tried in Libya first.

"The National Transitional Council welcomes the decision of chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, to request an arrest warrant," the rebel administration's vice president, Abdel Hafez Ghoga, said.

"We would like him to be tried in Libya first before being put on trial in an international court," he added.

The Libyan regime however claimed the ICC prosecutor was acting on "incoherent" information.

"Unfortunately, the ICC was from the start of the Libyan crisis dependent on media reports to evaluate the situation in Libya. As a result, the ICC has usually reached incoherent conclusions," government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said in a statement.

On the ground, two buildings on Al-Jumhuriya Avenue, close to Kadhafi's residence were on fire early Tuesday, with firefighters battling to douse the flames that were tearing through the two facing buildings, said an AFP correspondent brought to the area with other journalists by Libyan authorities.

Government spokesman Ibrahim later said that the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) had directed NATO to attack the anti-corruption agency in a bid to destroy files related to former regime officials who have joined the rebellion.

"We believe that NATO has been misled to destroy files on their corruption cases," he told journalists.

Three explosions had also been heard late on Monday in the same area.

Parts of Tripoli have been targeted almost daily by NATO-led strikes launched on March 19 after a UN resolution called for the protection of civilians from Kadhafi's regime.

Russia was meanwhile to hold talks on Tuesday with envoys of the Libyan leader before having a separate meeting with rebel representatives at a later date.

"We have agreed Moscow meetings with representatives of both Tripoli and Benghazi," the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.

Russia has refused to accept the rebels as a legitimate power in Libya and still has formal ties with the Kadhafi regime.

On Sunday, Kadhafi's prime minister Baghdadi Mahmudi offered a truce to UN special envoy, Abdul-Ilah al-Khatib, in return for an immediate NATO ceasefire.

Mahmudi said after meeting Khatib that Libya wants "an immediate ceasefire to coincide with a stop to the NATO bombardment and the acceptance of international observers," the official Libyan news agency JANA reported.

There has been no immediate response from NATO nor the NTC but previous truce offers by the regime have been rejected by the rebels, who say they won't lay down their arms until Kadhafi's regime stops attacking civilians.

NATO said on Monday that its warships thwarted a bid by Kadhafi's forces to use small boats loaded with improvised explosive devices to threaten aid ships heading to the port city of Misrata.

It was the third time in nearly three weeks that NATO encountered Kadhafi forces off the coast, after catching them laying sea mines in Misrata's harbour on April 29 and beating back a boat attack on the port last week, NATO said.

A NATO bomb disposal team discovered around one tonne of explosives and two human mannequins inside a boat abandoned by the loyalist force. The explosives were destroyed by an allied warship using small arms fire.

"This is the first evidence of an attempt to use an improvised explosive device with decoy human mannequins to threaten commercial shipping and humanitarian aid in the area of Misrata," NATO said in a statement.

Drought worsens China power supply crunch

SHANGHAI – Much of central China is enduring its worst energy crisis in years, with factories and residents facing power cuts as supply runs short of demand — a problem worsening as drought dries rivers, reducing hydroelectric capacity.

Authorities are warning that manufacturers in booming industrial regions west of Shanghai may face even tighter power rationing when demand surges in the peak summer months while electricity generators curb output due to rising costs for coal and oil.

Though summer rains may eventually relieve the drought, with even the powerful Yangtze river running too low for shipping in some stretches, China appears to be hitting limits to its growth in a resource scarce-environment. The power crunch comes at time when worries over inflation make rising energy costs and crop failures less welcome than ever.

Hydroelectricity provides about one-fifth of China's power and with river beds running dry it has fallen by about 20 percent, according to a report by UBS analyst Tom Price.

The industry group China Electricity Council has estimated a power shortfall of 30 million kilowatts in the summer. That is only 3 percent of China's generating capacity, but the shortages are concentrated in key manufacturing regions such as Zhejiang and Jiangsu, near Shanghai.

Last week, the government ordered a suspension of diesel exports to help prevent shortages as factories hit by outages step up use of fuel-powered generators.

According to industry reports, petrochemical and plastics manufacturers and smaller factories are among those most affected. But Shanghai-based Baosteel Group, one of the country's biggest steel makers, is also among companies ordered to prepare for cutbacks, state media reported Tuesday.

Fast-growing China has long experienced periodic power shortages, especially in winter and summer when weather extremes boost demand for heating and cooling. But the problems this year stem mainly from a failure of government-controlled electricity rates to keep pace with the costs paid by utilities for the coal that fuels about three-quarters of the country's electricity generation.

Power companies are reluctant to invest in new projects, while many older, heavily polluting thermal plants are being closed down to help meet environmental targets.

The amount of new installed capacity is due to fall by 10 million kilowatts next year, compared to this year, while demand continues to climb at double-digit rates, Hu Zhaoguang, vice president of State Grid Energy Research Institute, said in comments posted on the Energy Research Observation Net.

The regional power distributor East China Grid Co. estimates that power shortages may reach 19 million kilowatts this summer in Shanghai and four other nearby provinces, the newspaper China Daily reported Tuesday.

The worst will be a shortfall of more than 11 million kilowatts, or 16 percent of total demand, in Jiangsu, upriver from Shanghai along the Yangtze, where drought has sapped water levels to their lowest ever at some points, stalling shipping.

The drought has left nearly 1,400 lakes in Hubei, in central China, so low they are unusable or virtually "dead," the provincial Water Resources Department said.

It said some 315,000 people and 97,300 head of livestock were short of drinking water.

The Yangtze Power Co., which runs the world's largest hydroelectric facility at the Three Gorges Dam, has been releasing extra amounts of water to help raise the water level downstream, but so far there was no real improvement, said Zhan Jianying, director of the Waterway Management department at the Yangtze Waterway Bureau in Hubei's capital, Wuhan.

Iran denies getting missile technology from NKorea

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's Foreign Ministry has denied reports that the country has received ballistic missile technology or components from North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions.

Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday that Iran is self-sufficient in missile production and doesn't need any outside technology.

He was reacting to a seven-member U.N. panel report to the Security Council which said prohibited ballistic missile-related items are suspected to have been transferred between North Korea and Iran.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press on Monday, said prohibited ballistic missile-related items are suspected to have been transferred on regularly scheduled flights of Air Koryo and Iran Air, with trans-shipment through a third country that diplomats identified as China.

Judges To Boycott Top Lawyer

Source: Roving Scouts of New Crusading Guide/Ghana -PeaceFmOnline


A bird within the corridors of the judiciary have whispered into the ears of our roving scouts that a ''tsunami'' is about to hit the ''professional territory'' of Dr. Raymond Atuguba, an eminent legal practitioner and the Executive Secretary of the Constitutional Review Commission(CRC).

The ''tsunami'' originating from the depths of the Ghanaian Judiciary appears to have been provoked by some categorical allegations of corruption against judges made by Dr. Atuguba at a roundtable discussion on the judiciary and Ghana’s justice system and which he subsequently re-inforced in an interview with JOY FM on Friday, April 29, 2011.

Dr. Atuguba had told his audience that ''nobody in the country can convince me that judges do not take bribes''. He went on to narrate his personal experience in situations where he witnessed some litigants allegedly bringing ''bribes'' to the official residences of some judges who received them and to the residences of others who rejected them.

“Between 1997 and 1999, I stayed in the house of a judge, and so there is nobody in Ghana who can convince me that judges are not corrupt,” he stated. According to him, “immediately they mention the title of the case, then you knew that, no, this is not a visitor coming to leave a gift, this a bribe for the judge next door.”

The Executive Secretary of the CRC continued that, in his association with a man he described as an “upright judge”, he noticed on a number of occasions when the judge returned bribes, adding, “at times I had to assist him to drive some of the people away”.

No specific names were however mentioned in his explosive narration.

Dr. Atuguba's explosive story, coming as it were from a lawyer of his standing, attracted front page coverage in the April 30, 2011 edition of the state-owned Daily Graphic and other leading Ghanaian private newspapers as well as the various electronic networks including myjoyonline.com, peacefmonline.com, citifmonline.com and ghanaweb.com.

The extensive coverage of Dr. Atuguba's story coupled with the recent wave of unsubstantiated allegations of corruption against judges and the near bastardisation of the judiciary by some politicians and social commentators, appear to have got the ''goat'' of the judges who it seems have decided to accept the challenge apparently being thrown out at them by the likes of Dr. Atuguba, Larry Bimi, Abraham Amaliba and David Annan; all members of the bar.

According to the whispering of the bird, the first reaction emanated from the corridors of the Supreme Court whose judges met last Tuesday, May 10, 2011 and prepared a formal complaint to the General Legal Council (GLC). Subsequently, on Friday, May 13, 2011, the National Executives and Regional Representatives of the Association of Magistrates & Judges of Ghana (AMJG) met and decided to take over the issue from the Supreme Court Judges. It was decided that the AMJG should pursue the matter by formally lodging a complaint to the General Legal Council (GLC).

The GLC is the statutory body with the responsibility to discipline lawyers in the country through its Disciplinary Committee. At the May 13th meeting it was also decided that the following lawyers who had made categorical statements on corruption in the Judiciary should be investigated and made to substantiate their allegations.

The lawyers in question are Larry Bimi, who is also the Chairman of the National Commission on Civic Education(NCCE), Abraham Amaliba, a private legal practitioner, David Annan, a member of the ruling NDC's Legal Team, and of course, Dr. Raymond Atuguba.

Statements made by the mentioned personalities categorically alleging corruption in the Judiciary in media outlets like the Daily Graphic, The Herald, The New Palaver and myjoyonline.com, including an oral/audio production of Dr. Atuguba's interview on JOY FM were critically examined by the members of the Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana(AMJG) who attended the May 13th meeting.

Subsequent to the above, and in view of the seriousness which was attached to the ''bribery story'' narrated by Dr. Atuguba, IT WAS RESOLVED THAT SINCE ATUGUBA SAYS THAT ALL JUDGES TAKE BRIBES, JUDGES WILL RECUSE THEMSELVES FROM ANY CASE IN WHICH HE APPEARS AS COUNSEL UNTIL HIS ASSERTIONS HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATED AND HE HAS BEEN GIVEN THE CHANCE TO SUBSTANTIATE THEM.

''Our position is that it is not that we cannot be criticised. But we insist that the criticism should be merited. To say all judges take bribes is a matter which should be investigated and those ones he can prove to be corrupt, named and punished. If he cannot substantiate that, then the necessary sanctions should be imposed on him'', articulated an angry member of the AMJG who spoke to our roving scouts on the condition of strict confidentiality.

Meanwhile this paper will continue to make frantic efforts to reach Mr. Atuguba for his reactions on the matter, as efforts to reach him yesterday proved fruitless.

This paper’s sources further indicated that a communiqué reflecting the views of AMJG is expected to be made public soon.

Guatemala: Massacre work of Mexico drug gang Zetas

A soldier stands next to a message written in blood at the site of a massacre in a ranch in La Bomba







SAN BENITO, Guatemala – Guatemala declared a 30-day state of emergency for the northern Peten region following the brutal massacre of 27 people at a cattle ranch. President Alvaro Colom called the killings sadistic and perverse, and said they were the work of a drug gang.

Colom said he would go to the jungle-covered region to personally direct operations aimed at rooting out what is believed to be a Mexican drug cartel that has taken up residence in Peten.

"Guatemala must face up to this aggression aimed not just at our country but at the whole region," Colom said in an address broadcast to the nation late Monday.

Such declarations traditionally give the army emergency powers, including permission to detain suspects without warrants.

The attack late Saturday and early Sunday on an isolated cattle ranch was of one of Guatemala's largest postwar massacres.

Gunmen believed to belong to Mexico's Zetas cartel killed 27 farm laborers, including two women and two children, and left their severed heads scattered across the pastures of the cattle ranch.

A message written in the blood of the victims was daubed across a wall of the ranch house, threatening the owner.

A 23-year-old laborer who survived the attack said he was stabbed in the stomach, but his attackers were distracted by an attempt by some of the other victims to flee. The chilling scene was related by the surviving farm worker, who spoke to The Associated Press Monday from his hospital bed in a nearby town. Authorities asked that the survivor not be named for security reasons.

The survivor said he fell to the ground as he was being stabbed, and at that moment some of the ranch employees tried to flee, distracting his attacker. He said he was able to walk, badly wounded, to safety.

"I don't know how I survived," he said.

The man had worked planting forage crops at the ranch, when gunmen arrived late Saturday asking for the owner — a man authorities said had links to the drug trade.

The only other survivor was a pregnant woman whose young daughter clung to her so fiercely and cried so loudly the killers let her go. Relatives of the woman said the attackers spoke with Mexican accents.

Mexico's brutal Zetas drug cartel has set up shop in Guatemala in the largely indigenous region along the countries' shared border.

The police finally came Sunday morning, but the violence continued Monday in nearby areas of Peten, a jungle-covered, strategic drug-trafficking region with a murder rate double the national average and far higher than the most violent parts of Mexico.

Colom, who toured the massacre site Monday, said as many as 40 to 50 armed commandos stormed the remote ranch on a one-lane dirt road about 19 miles (30 kilometers) from the nearest paved highway. They are believed to be part of a group called "Z 200."

Two men were killed and one suspect in the massacre was taken into custody after a confrontation with police Monday morning, while grenades were tossed at a home and business in a town near San Benito, where the bodies were taken for identification.

Authorities blamed the Zetas for all the attacks, which included the killing of the brother of a slain Guatemalan drug capo on Saturday.

Investigators are looking into ties between the ranch owner, Otto Salguero, and drug trafficking, Colom said. The message written in blood on one of the ranch building's walls said the killers were looking for Salguero, whose whereabouts is not known. Colom said Salguero owns four ranches and hundreds of head of cattle.

But none of the victims had ties to drug cartels, authorities said. Rather they were innocent ranch workers and their families caught up in an increasingly bloody war mirroring the Zetas quest for territory in Mexico.

The Zetas are blamed for two recent mass killings in Mexico as well, 183 bodies found in mass graves last month and a massacre of 72 migrants last August, both in the state of Tamaulipas bordering Texas.

Mexican drug cartels now operate virtually uninhibited in parts of Central America. U.S.-supported crackdowns in Mexico and Colombia have only pushed traffickers into a region where corruption is rampant, borders lack even minimal immigration control and local gangs provide a ready-made infrastructure for organized crime.

The Guatemalan government recently ended a two-month siege near Peten in the neighboring mountainous state of Alta Verapaz, also a prime corridor for smuggling drugs from Honduras to Mexico, where Zetas roamed the streets with assault rifles and armored vehicles and even controlled when people could leave their homes.

Peten has been a strategic drug-trafficking zone with jungle landing strips used by several cartels, according to the 2010 U.N. World Drug Report.

Both the Zetas and Mexico's Sinaloa cartel have interests in Peten and may be competing for territory, the report says.

But Peten is also popular with foreign tourists, who are drawn to the region's jungles and Mayan ruin sites like Tikal. The violence may wind up affecting the vital tourist trade in the largely impoverished region; the British Embassy issued a travel advisory citing advice from Guatemalan authorities to temporary avoid visiting Peten due to the violence.

Authorities blamed the Zetas for the murder Saturday of Haroldo Leon, the brother of alleged Guatemalan drug boss Juan Jose "Juancho" Leon. "Juancho" himself was killed in 2008 in an ambush

Nigerian oil delta militants say 'surrendered'

LAGOS (AFP) – A renegade militant group targeted in recent days by Nigerian troops in the southern oil producing delta on Monday said it had surrendered, but the military said it was unaware of such a declaration.

The military last week said it was engaged in an operation to flush out the militants in an area of Delta state in the Niger Delta region.

A spokesman for the group calling itself the Niger Delta Liberation Force (NDLF), said it had ordered its troops out of their bases and to prepare to lay down arms.

The spokesman said the group's leadership had directed its militants to return "to their various towns and villages" and to "hand over unconditionally all NDLF weapons."

The group has claimed responsibility for a number of incidents in the Delta, including attacks on oil facilities. On Monday it said bombs planted at oil installations in recent months had been "de-activated".

A spokesman for a military task force in the region said it was unaware the group had surrendered.

"We are not aware of any such declaration of surrender," Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Antigha told AFP. "There are internationally accepted procedures of surrender, and until they do that I don't know why we should take them serious."

The group is believed to be led by notorious gang leader John Togo.

"The (task force) is continuing in its bid to end the threat of banditry," he said.

Last week Antigha accused the militants, who he estimated numbered between 70 and 100, of being involved in criminal activity in the area, including robberies at sea.

A 2009 amnesty programme for Niger Delta militants was credited with bringing a sharp decline in unrest in the region that had long been hit by violence, but sporadic incidents continue to occur.

Nigeria is an OPEC member and Africa's largest oil producer, but the Niger Delta remains deeply impoverished.

The military operation followed last month's parliamentary, presidential and governorship elections in Nigeria that were viewed as a major step forward for Africa's most populous nation after a series of deeply flawed polls.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who won the election, is the first head of state from the Niger Delta region.

Togo was among the thousands of militants who signed up for the amnesty, but he later reneged on the deal and returned to criminality, according to the military.

Ex-Afghan spy chief: I knew where bin Laden was

WASHINGTON – Afghanistan's former intelligence chief says he knew Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan four years ago, but Pakistan's leaders rejected his claims.

In an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," Amrullah Saleh says Afghan intelligence thought bin Laden was in the Pakistani city of Mansehra — about 12 miles away from Abbottabad, where the terrorist leader was eventually found and killed by U.S. Navy SEALs.

Saleh has become a prominent critic of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's efforts to start peace talks with the Taliban. He says Pakistan should be recognized by the United States as "a hostile country."

He told CBS: "They take your money. They do not co-operate. They created the Taliban. They are number one in nuclear proliferation."

IMF chief handcuffed ?

NEW YORK – The chief of the International Monetary Fund was spending the night in jail at Rikers Island, a 400-acre penal complex that offers a strikingly different level of comfort than the $3,000-a-night Manhattan hotel suite where authorities say Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape a maid.

Strauss-Kahn was being held on a charge that would normally result in release, but he was denied bail Monday after prosecutors warned the wealthy banker might flee to France and put himself beyond the reach of U.S. law like the filmmaker Roman Polanski.

Strauss-Kahn's weekend arrest rocked the financial world as the IMF grapples with the European debt crisis, and upended French presidential politics. Strauss-Kahn, a member of France's Socialist party, was widely considered the strongest potential challenger next year to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Making his first appearance on the sex charges, a grim-looking Strauss-Kahn stood slumped before a judge in a dark raincoat and open-collared shirt. The 62-year-old, silver-haired Strauss-Kahn said nothing as a lawyer professed his innocence and strove in vain to get him released on bail.

"This battle has just begun," defense attorney Benjamin Brafman told scores of reporters outside the courthouse, adding that Strauss-Kahn might appeal the bail denial.

Because of his high profile, Strauss-Kahn will be held in protective custody on Rikers Island, away from most detainees, said city Correction Department spokesman Stephen Morello. Unlike most prisoners who share 50-bed barracks, he will have a single-bed cell and will eat all of his meals alone there. He'll have a prison guard escort when he is outside his cell.

Rikers is one of the nation's largest jail complexes, with a daily inmate population of about 14,000 — more than the prison populations of many states. Famous inmates have included rapper Lil' Wayne.

The complex's notable history includes accounts of run-ins between inmates and guards. In one such case last year, a guard was sentenced to six years in prison for ordering inmate beatings as part of a rogue disciplinary system. Prosecutors said he imposed order in a unit at the complex by having teenage inmates beat other teenagers who had stepped out of line. The union that represents jail guards said the prisoners fabricated the allegations.

Also last year, more than a dozen correction officers were injured while quelling fights between inmates awaiting pretrial hearings at a jail there. And in February, the city settled a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of an inmate who died after a scuffle with guards.

Strauss-Kahn was ordered jailed at least until a court proceeding Friday. He cannot claim diplomatic immunity because he was in New York on personal business and was paying his own way, the IMF said. He could seek that protection only if he were conducting official business, spokesman William Murray said. The agency's executive board met informally Monday for a report on the charges against Strauss-Kahn, the managing director at the international lending agency since 2007.

The French newspaper Le Monde, citing people close to Strauss-Kahn, said he had reserved the suite at the Sofitel hotel for one night for a quick trip to have lunch with his daughter, who is studying in New York.

Strauss-Kahn is accused of attacking a maid who had gone in to clean his penthouse suite Saturday afternoon at a luxury hotel near Times Square. He is charged with attempted rape, sex abuse, a criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching. The most serious charge carries five to 25 years in prison.

The 32-year-old maid told authorities that she thought the suite was empty but that Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her down a hallway, pulled her into a bedroom and dragged her into a bathroom, police said.

He grabbed her breasts, tried to pull down her pantyhose, grabbed at her crotch and forced her to perform oral sex on him during the encounter at about noon, according to a court complaint. She ultimately broke free, escaped the room and told hotel staffers what had happened, authorities said. She was treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

"The victim provided a very powerful and detailed account of the violent sexual assault," Assistant District Attorney John "Ardie" McConnell said. He added that forensic evidence may support her account. Strauss-Kahn voluntarily submitted to a forensic examination Sunday night.

Brafman said defense lawyers believe the forensic evidence "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter." Defense lawyers wouldn't elaborate, but Brafman said "there are significant issues that were already found" that make it "quite likely that he will be ultimately be exonerated."

Prosecutors asked the judge to hold Strauss-Kahn without bail, noting that he lives in France, is wealthy, has an international job and was arrested on a Paris-bound plane at Kennedy Airport. He had left the Sofitel hotel before police arrived, leaving his cellphone behind, and appeared hurried on surveillance recordings, authorities said.

At one point, Strauss-Kahn called the hotel "in a panic" about the phone, a law enforcement official said Monday.

Hotel security officers hadn't found a phone. But they were instructed by NYPD investigators to set a trap by informing him they had it and asking where they could get it to him, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation had not been completed.

Strauss-Kahn told them he was about to board a flight — unknowingly tipping off authorities to his whereabouts, the official said.

Prosecutors said they couldn't force Strauss-Kahn's return from France if he went there.

"He would be living openly and notoriously in France, just like Roman Polanski," said Chief Assistant District Attorney Daniel Alonso, referring to the film director long sought by California authorities for sentencing in a 1977 child sex case.

Defense lawyers suggested bail be set at $1 million and promised that the IMF managing director would remain in New York City. His lawyers said Strauss-Kahn wasn't trying to elude police Saturday: The IMF head rushed out of the hotel at about 12:30 p.m. to get to a lunch date with a family member, then caught a flight for which he had long had a ticket, they said.

Still, Criminal Court Judge Melissa C. Jackson said the fact that Strauss-Kahn was on a plane when arrested "raises some concerns," and she ordered him jailed.

The decision was one of the most widely watched of Jackson's career, but she's had her share of time in the courtroom limelight, presiding over cases involving rapper Foxy Brown, rocker Courtney Love and actress Rosario Dawson.

Allegations of other, similar attacks by Strauss-Kahn began to emerge Monday. In France, a lawyer for a novelist said the writer is likely to file a criminal complaint accusing him of sexually assaulting her nine years ago. A French lawmaker accused him of attacking other maids in previous stays at the same luxury hotel. And in New York, prosecutors said they are working to verify reports of at least one other case, which they suggested was overseas.

A lawyer for 31-year-old French novelist Tristane Banon said she will probably file a complaint alleging Strauss-Kahn sexually attacked her in 2002. Lawyer David Koubbi told French radio RTL that Banon hadn't pressed her claim earlier because of "pressures" but would do so now because "she knows she'll be taken seriously."

The Associated Press is identifying Banon as an alleged victim of sexual assault because she has gone public with her account.

A French lawmaker from a rival political party also alleged, without offering evidence, that Strauss-Kahn had victimized several maids during past stays at the Sofitel near Times Square.

The hotel issued a statement calling conservative lawmaker Michel Debre's claims "baseless and defamatory." Sofitel management "has had no knowledge of any previous attempted aggressions," the hotel said, adding that it had set up a hotline for workers to report incidents more than a year ago.

McConnell, the assistant district attorney, said in court Monday that New York authorities are working to verify at least one other case of "conduct similar to the conduct alleged." When the judge asked whether the potential other incident occurred in the United States, McConnell said he "believed that was abroad."

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers said they had no immediate response to the allegations emerging from overseas.

In France, defenders of Strauss-Kahn, a former finance minister who had topped the polls as a possible candidate in presidential elections next year, said they suspected he was the victim of a smear campaign.

The 187-nation IMF provides emergency loans to countries in severe distress and tries to maintain global financial stability.

Oil is exhaustible - Minister

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Alhaji Issahaque Salia, Upper West Regional Minister has observed that Ghana's oil and gas find is exhaustible and should therefore be utilised judiciously for the growth of the economy.


He advised Ghanaians to concentrate on deriving the maximum benefits from other resources such as gold, agriculture, tourism and telecommunication.


Alhaji Salia made the observation in a speech read on his behalf at the launch of the Jubilee First Oil Exhibition in Wa on Friday.


The ceremony was organised to help deepen understanding and transparency about issues surrounding the operations of the oil industry to encourage the people to take advantage of the opportunities associated with it.

He said the oil industry would inject some financial resources into the economy and other benefits in the form of employment in the banking sector, aviation and real estate.

The Regional Minister said dividends to the state would also help push the developmental agenda forward.


Alhaji Salia called on Ghanaians to develop active interest in the oil find and be knowledgeable about the quantum of financial resources due the country.


He said government was committed to making the operations of the oil find transparent and invest the revenue appropriately into the critical economic sectors to enhance the country's progress.


Mr Ken Noonoo, Assistant Communication Manager of Tullow Ghana Limited, said the oil find, was a resource belonging to the entire nation and all must be part of it.

He said Ghana's oil find was as important as it impact on the people and therefore it was necessary for all to understand what it entails so that realistic demands would be made on government.

Mr Noonoo expressed the need for the authorities to whip the interest of students to take advantage of courses related to the oil industry.

The Jubilee Oil took three years to sell oil and had since lodged 112 million dollars with the Bank of Ghana as revenue for government.


At present, the Jubilee Oil was producing 70,000 barrels daily and it was envisaged to increase the production to 120, 000 barrels daily in future with a life span of 35 years.


Mr Noonoo said despite all the opportunities abound, the oil find was not a panacea to Ghana's development challenges, noting that Nigeria was producing two million barrels of oil daily and yet it was faced with challenges.

"However, the good thing is that we are learning to avoid the mistakes some oil producing countries made," he said.


Mr Mark Dagbee, Regional Director of the Centre for National

Culture advised Ghanaians not think that the oil wealth was going to solve all their problems.

He said it would be better for Ghana to channel both human and material resources in other fields to complement the gains from the oil find to make the nation a better place for all.

GNA

Sixteen GIS officers interdicted for indiscipline

Cape Coast, May 14, GNA - Sixteen GIS officers, who displayed gross indiscipline, had been interdicted, the Director of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), DCOP Dr. Peter Wiredu had disclosed.

Dr Wiredu said he was disappointed at the level of indiscipline and warned that it would not be tolerated under his administration.

The Director said this in Cape Coast, on his familiarization tour to the Central Region.

He noted that discipline was the core of every organization, adding that, Officers and men should consider it a ritual and part of their behavioural pattern.

He said the purpose of the tour was to meet Officers of the GIS and learn at first hand, their difficulties and challenges.

DCOP Dr. Wiredu said he will also not countenance any form of "naked corruption" among personnel, since it paints a negative image of the Service, and urged the Officers to eschew all forms of corruption.
The Director observed that, the Service has an image problem, which must be corrected, adding that, as public servants they must be mindful of the way they relate to the public.

He said his administration would organize refresher courses for officers, sating that, the more enlightened they are, the better equipped they will be.
On transfers, he asked the personnel not to consider it as a punishment but part of their professional development and also to broaden their scope.
Addressing the grievances of the Officers, he gave the assurance that those whose promotions have been unduly delayed will be promoted by the end of the month.
He was disappointed that only about 10 percent of Officers in the Service were accommodated and suggested that the regional office make enquiries to acquire land for housing projects to help solve the accommodation problems.
"I will ensue that the needed amenities and accoutrements, which were not available, forcing you to acquire uniforms and shoes with their own monies, were provided from henceforth.

He called for their collective cooperation to build the required team-work for the growth of the Service.

AMA Mayor Rejects Resignation Call

Mayor of Accra Alfred Oko Vanderpuije has rubbished resignation calls by a group of market women.

He says the assembly will continue to enforce bye laws to decongest the capital city.

On May, 10, a group calling itself Market Women Association of Ghana called on the mayor of Accra to resign over hardships the decongestion exercise was creating in the economy.

The mayor Alfred Oko Vanderpuije insisted there are enough spaces at various markets to accommodate hawkers.

Commenting on the shift system, the metropolitan assembly said, about 40 classrooms are under construction.

Adding that, the millennium city school project which is aimed at reducing class congestion will be completed in August this year.

Mills camp rubbishes 90 million cedis for campaign

Source : citifmonline



A member of President Mills’ Campaign Team, Dr. Omane Boamah, has refuted claims that an amount of 90 million Ghana Cedis has been earmarked for President Mills' campaign, ahead of the NDC’s Presidential primaries in July.

A close ally to the Rawlingses Mr. Herbert Mensah said on Monday May 9, that he has picked up credible information from some security capos that the incumbent President has budgeted GHC 90 million for his campaign to win the NDC flabearership slot, calling it abuse of incumbency against her opponents, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah.

The New Patriotic Party has upon this allegation, cautioned against the misuse of public funds by the President to prosecute his campaign.

The party has in a statement condemned what it calls the “show of opulence, profligacy, and disregard for public order and time” following President Mills’ picking of nomination forms on Thursday May 5.

But Dr. Omane Boamah, a Deputy Minister for Science and Environment and a Member of President Mills’ Campaign Team, has described the NPP’s criticism as needless.

He has also described the 90 million Ghana Cedis claim as untrue and unfounded and has dared the accusers to make available any evidence to that effect since that will benefit their candidate in the presidential race.

He said the allegation is a calculated attempt by the President’s opponents to tarnish his good image. According to him, President Mills is a humble and trustworthy person who will not involve himself in vote buying or sanction the use of public funds for his personal gain.

Dr. Boamah said the NPP was hugely traumatised by the crowd that greeted President Mills hence their reaction.

“If we had that ninety million Ghana Cedis which is 900 billion old Ghana cedis, we will use that to expand the 3,000 laptops that we are distributing, and also expand the schools under trees that we are eradicating, the free exercise books that we are distributing, and the school feeding programme that we have added 230 more schools. I want to state that it is not true and let anybody who says he has a shred of proof to demonstrate that we are earmarking 90 million Cedis for this campaign to come out with it”.

He said President Mills will embark on a modest campaign devoid of profligate spending.

“The campaign itself will let Ghanaians know the difference. We have seen a lot of Presidential primaries in this country and Ghanaians will be the better judges in knowing which campaign is going to be based on expenditure. We are not in America or in the NPP where it is going to be who is going to splash cash the most. President Mills will constantly touch base with the people and the campaign team will also touch base with delegates and foot soldiers to ensure that our victory will be dependent on the goodwill that the President continues to deepen and not how much money any of us is going to spend” he noted.

Third Oil Discovery on Deep Offshore Block 17/06, Angola

Total announces that its subsidiary, TEPA (Block 17/06) Limited, and Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola (Sonangol E.P.), have discovered hydrocarbons in the north-eastern area of the deep offshore block 17/06.
Drilled in a water depth of 445 meters, the Canna-1 well discovered hydrocarbons in reservoir of Miocene age and produced more than 5,000 barrels per day of high quality oil (33° API) during a production test.Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola (Sonangol) is the concessionaire of the Block 17/06. TEPA (Block 17/06) Limited is the operator of the Block 17/06 with a 30% stake. Total's partners in the block are Sonangol Pesquisa e Produção S.A. (30%), Sonangol Sinopec International (SSI) Seventeen Limited (27.5%), ACREP Bloco 17 S.A. (5%), Falcon Oil Holding Angola S.A. (5%) and PARTEX Oil and Gas (Holdings) Corporation (2.5%).

Total Exploration & Production in Angola

Total is present in Angola since 1953. In Angola, Total operated 460,000 barrels oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in 2010, and its SEC equity production amounted approximately 163,000 boe/d. This production comes essentially from Blocks 17,0 and 14.
Deep offshore Block 17, operated by Total with a 40% interest, is Total's principal asset in Angola. It is composed of four major zones: Girassol-Rosa and Dalia, which are currently producing; Pazflor, a project under development for a production start in the second half of 2011; and CLOV (based on the Cravo, Lirio, Orquidea and Violeta discoveries), for which the development was recently launched.
Total is also the operator with a 30% stake in the ultra deep offshore Block 32, on which 12 discoveries were made, confirming the oil potential of the block. Pre-development studies for a first production zone in the central south eastern portion of the block are underway.
In addition, the Angola LNG project for the construction of a liquefaction plant near Soyo is designed to bring the country's natural gas reserves to market. This project, on which Total holds a 13.6% stake, will be supplied by the associated gas from the fields on Blocks 0, 14, 15, 17 and 18. The project is underway with production expected to begin in 2012.
In Angola, as in all countries where Total operates, the Group is committed to developing the Angolan oil industry while recruiting and providing professional training to local workers. Through its ambitious 'Angolanisation' and technology transfer plans, Total has strengthened the local economy and made of Hygiene, Safety and Environment awareness a top priority. Total E&P Angola has developed a transparent and solid corporate social responsibility policy around three main axes: health, education (opening of four high schools in the provinces in 2009) and economic community development.

Bin Laden’s Son Challenges Legality of Killing

The Obama administration responded to allegations made yesterday by the sons of Osama bin Laden that the U.S. had violated legal norms in killing him, saying the United Nations charter allows for a country’s self-defense.

The U.S. challenged criticisms written by Omar Osama bin Laden in a statement released to the New York Times. The son, who wrote that he disagreed with his father’s “ways,” said the U.S. military team that raided his father’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, should have arrested bin Laden, who was unarmed, and sent him to trial. He cited the example of trials for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

“We maintain that arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems” and justice must be done, the statement said. In addition to violating international law, the U.S. action contradicted the American right to a fair trial, the younger bin Laden wrote, adding that his father was “summarily executed.”

The Obama administration responded that al-Qaeda had declared war on the U.S. and took pride in killing Americans. The U.S. deemed the terrorist leader a combatant, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. The official, who wasn’t authorized to be named, cited Article 51 of the UN charter as guaranteeing a nation’s inherent right to self- defense.

Lengthy Pursuit
President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials have trumpeted the death of bin Laden as a milestone in their goal of disrupting, dismantling and defeating al-Qaeda. The May 2 operation capped a lengthy pursuit of bin Laden since the U.S. lost track of him in Afghanistan during the invasion that followed al-Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001, attack that caused almost 3,000 deaths at the World Trade Center in New York, at the Pentagon near Washington, and in a Pennsylvania field.

Vice President Joe Biden, asked on his way into an unrelated congressional negotiating session to respond to the allegation of illegality, said, “Are you kidding?”

Attorney General Eric Holder said last week that the killing of bin Laden complied with the law.

“The operation against bin Laden was justified,” Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee at a May 4 hearing in Washington. “It’s lawful to target an enemy commander in the field.”

Holder said bin Laden took no steps to surrender, and the U.S. actions were “consistent with our values.”

The New York-based nonprofit group Human Rights First said bin Laden’s son didn’t accurately describe international law in yesterday’s statement.

Bin Laden ‘Targetable’
“Assuming the existence of an armed conflict against al- Qaeda, Osama bin Laden was targetable unless he was surrendering or so injured” that he couldn’t have engaged the U.S. troops, Gabor Rona, the group’s international legal director, said in a statement on the group’s website.

Omar bin Laden said in his statement that he is the al- Qaeda leader’s fourth son and that he represented an unspecified number of brothers. He said he “always disagreed with our father regarding any violence and always sent messages to our father that he must change his ways and that no civilians should be attacked.”

The New York Times said it obtained the statement from American author Jean Sasson, who helped Omar and his mother, Najwa bin Laden, write “Growing Up bin Laden,” a 2009 memoir. A shorter, slightly different statement was posted yesterday on a jihadist website, the newspaper reported.

The son criticized the special operations forces for also killing another of bin Laden’s sons and a woman during the raid and shooting another woman in the leg.

Bringing In Lawyers
Omar bin Laden warned that in the absence of satisfactory answers, he and his brothers would force the issue in international courts with a “panel of eminent British and international lawyers.”

He also called for more evidence that the body the commandos took from the compound was that of his father. The U.S. military said it buried bin Laden at sea within the Islamic tradition’s requirement of 24 hours from the time of death.

Obama administration officials have cited evidence of identity that include verbal identification by one of bin Laden’s wives in the compound, facial recognition techniques, DNA samples that matched those of family members and al-Qaeda’s own statement last week confirming the death.