IMF chief in sex assault case; Gaddafi 'on way out'; Pak ‘terror ATM’ unwound in US

Correction: We ran a previous headline where the words “sex bust” were used inappropriately. We have changed the headline to say “sex assault” which is a more accurate reflection.

Sensational news from New York.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested in New York on Saturday (early morning Sunday in India) for allegedly sodomising a Manhattan hotel maid.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, was peeled off an Air France flight barely minutes before it was to take off from the Kennedy airport for Paris.

The details of the alleged sexual assault, as narrated by New York Post , which scooped the story:

“The trouble began around noon today, when a housekeeper entered Strauss-Kahn’s room at the Sofitel on West 44th Street.

“Strauss-Kahn was in his bathroom, said sources. He emerged from the bathroom naked, said the sources, and grabbed her.

“Then, Strauss-Kahn allegedly threw the housekeeper on the room’s bed and forced her to perform oral sex on him, said the sources.

“Strauss-Kahn let the maid leave — and soon afterward, headed off to Kennedy Airport for his flight to Paris.

The NYPD’s special victims unit is investigating the case, the sources said.”

Another one may bite the dust. Gaddafi ‘ón way out’ Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has realised his time is up, and is negotiating a “dignified exit” from power, according to media reports.

Evidently, the strongman who ruled Libya for over 40 years is “desperately trying to pave the way” for an exit from public life that will see him retire to a “godfather-like role”, and allowing reforms.

The British newspaper The Guardian reports, based on interviews with four members of the Gaddafi regime, that Gaddafi knows “his time is up.”“He wants to move to the background and lead a dignified life. He himself has said he wants to be like the Japanese emperor, or (Cuban leader Fidel) Castro.”   More here

Pak ‘terror ATM’ busted in US US law enforcement officials have indicted six persons, including a 76-year-old imam and his two sons, on charges of raising money for the Pakistani Taliban.

Three of the suspects were arrested late on Saturday (early morning Sunday in India); the three others are believed to be in Pakistan.

The case refocusses US law enforcement officials’ attention on global terror networks with links to Pakistan, and comes amidst increasing signs of friction between the US and Pakistan following the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last fortnight.

It also comes just as the trial in Chicago of David Coleman Headley, who laid the groundwork for the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, gets under way; that trial is expected to further expose the Pakistani intelligence agency’s support for terrorist networks.

More details on the latest indictments in the US here – and on the Chicago trial here .