AlJazeera: Gaddafi 'being tracked by satellite'

Libya's National Transitional Council says that Muammar Gaddafi, the country's toppled leader, is in the southern desert region of the country, and that it is only a matter of time before he is captured.

Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, the vice-chairman of the NTC, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that satellites have been tracking the former Libyan leader south of Sabha.

"We have confirmed reports that Gaddafi is in the southern Libyan desert. He's not staying in one place. He is moving around with a small convoy which consists of his closest aides and bodyguards," he said.

Ghoga added that the fighters' priority is currently to take full control of Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown and one of the last places still contested between the NTC and Gaddafi loyalists.

"Once the liberation of Sirte has been achieved – our fighters will track down Gaddafi himself."

Battle for Sirte rages

NTC commanders have moved up tanks into the ousted leader's hometown to fire at buildings from close range to try to dislodge the remaining snipers loyal to Gaddafi who are now surrounded on all sides in one small part of the city.

Die-hard loyalists to the deposed leader have not given up the fight, answering NTC attacks in the city with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. An NTC commander said Gaddafi's besieged forces were no longer using heavier weapons.

"We have control of the whole of the city except neighbourhood 'Number Two' where the Gaddafi forces are surrounded," Khaled Alteir, a field commander in Sirte, said on Thursday.

"This operation is on its dying breath," said another commander, Colonel Mohammad Aghfeer.

The siege of Sirte, which began after the capital Tripoli fell to the NTC two months ago, has held up Libya's transition to normality as the country's new leaders say they will only start building a democratic system after the city is captured.

Green flags, the banner of Gaddafi's 42-year rule, still fly above many buildings in Sirte, but, another NTC commander said, the defending forces appear to have lost their cohesion.

"We've noticed now they are fighting every man for himself," said Baloun Al Sharie, a field commander. "We tried to tell them it's enough and to give themselves up, but they would not."

NTC officers say Gaddafi loyalists fear reprisals if they give themselves up.

NTC 'abuses'

Some captured fighters have been roughed up by NTC forces and Amnesty International issued a report on Wednesday saying Libya's new rulers were in danger of repeating human rights abuses commonplace during Gaddafi's rule. The NTC condemned practices highlighted in report.

 "Such acts could have possibly been perceived as acceptable at the beginning [of this revolution], given the brutal crimes committed by Gaddafis mercenaries – however today – they are unjustifiable," Ghoga said.

Close to the centre of the fighting in Sirte, government forces found 25 corpses wrapped in plastic sheets. They accused groups loyal to Gaddafi of carrying out execution-style killings. Five corpses shown to a Reuters news agency team wore civilian clothes, had their hands tied behind their backs and gunshot wounds to the head.

As the tanks pounded the apartment blocks where Gaddafi's men are holed up, pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns moved in behind, then infantry armed with AK-47s began their assault.

One field hospital received two NTC dead and 23 wounded on Thursday. One of the dead men had been hit while taking food up to the fighters on the frontline, doctors said.

In the skies, NATO aircraft have been carrying out reconnaissance missions and Britain said its jets had bombed and destroyed two pick-up trucks belonging to Gaddafi's forces in Sirte on Wednesday.

Air corridors

But as the battle for Libya draws towards what the NTC and NATO hope will be a close, both the new government and the Western alliance which helped topple Gaddafi are looking towards a return to normality.

The provisional Libyan government and NATO signed an agreement on Thursday to immediately open air corridors for international civilian flights from Benghazi, and domestic flights between the second city and Tripoli and Misrata.

This is one of the first steps toward NATO lifting its no-fly zone over Libya imposed after Gaddafi began a military assault on civilians protesting his one-man rule.

Philipp Roesler, Germany's economy minister, said 150 wounded Libyans would be treated in Germany. Berlin plans to support Libya with medical supplies and aid and help in training and educating young Libyans, he said.

"We are here because we see the most important raw material of Libya, it is not oil and gas...[it is] the younger people who started the revolution here. They need future and perspective after their victory," Roesler told a news conference in Tripoli.

Suspicious oil contracts

In another development, Ali Tarhuni, the NTC’s oil minister, vowed that Libya would investigate "every penny" of suspicious oil contracts signed under Gaddafi’s regime, which was responsible for what he called "unbelievable corruption".

"There will be specialised committees that will look into all these contracts and agreements starting with the oil sector," Tarhuni said, without giving details on contracts or companies.

Libya's oil production, which collapsed after the uprising in February, is expected to rise to nearly one million barrels per day by April from the current 400,000, Nuri Berruien, the head of the state-run National Oil Company, said.

 

Source: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/10/201110140613310311.html?utm_content=automateplus&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=SocialFlow&utm_term=tweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount

The Guardian: Dominique Strauss-Kahn attempted rape inquiry dropped

Prosecutors say they have evidence ex-IMF chief sexually assaulted young French writer, but he will not face charges

French prosecutors said there was evidence Dominique Strauss-Kahnsexually assaulted a young French writer, but they have dropped the investigation against him for attempted rape.

The legal case over claims the former head of the IMF had attacked Tristane Banon was officially abandoned after the French prosecutor's office said no legal action could be brought.

In a statement, the office declared that a three-month police investigation had found insufficient evidence to charge Strauss-Kahn with attempted rape.

It added, however, that it recognised there were "facts that could qualify as sexual aggression".

It cited the three-year statute of limitations for sexual assault and concluded: "However, having been committed in 2003 and not having been revealed until July 2011, these facts cannot be prosecuted."

Banon, a 32-year-old author and journalist, learned that her case would not be prosecuted on the same day she published a book, said to be a "novelised" version of the alleged attack.

Her lawyer, David Koubbi, had already vowed to bring a civil case against Strauss-Kahn if the criminal action was dropped. This would mean an independent investigating magistrate being appointed to reconsider all the evidence.

Banon and Strauss-Kahn were among at least 12 people interviewed over the writer's claim that he tried to rape her when she went to interview him for a book.

Banon said Strauss-Kahn behaved like a "rutting chimpanzee" during the alleged attack at an unfurnished Paris apartment in February 2003.

Strauss-Kahn described the allegations as "imaginary". She claimed the assault amounted to attempted rape, for which the statute of limitations is 10 years.

Banon's book, Le Bal des Hypocrites (The Hypocrites' Ball), is described as a 128-page novelisation of events in her life.

It appears to be the latest salvo in a vitriolic battle of words between her and Strauss-Kahn, once tipped to become the next president of France.

Banon does not directly name him in the novel, but describes a man who lured her to his flat and who she claims she had to fight off as the "pig" or "baboon".

Strauss-Kahn, 62, has admitted to police investigating Banon's claims that he made a pass at her and tried to kiss her, but denied any violence.

He has lodged a countersuit for defamation and threatened to sue media which repeat the allegations.

After Strauss-Kahn, once the French Socialist party's presidential hope, was arrested and accused of the sexual assault and attempted rape of a New York hotel maid in May, Banon said she spent weeks deciding whether to press charges.

When the US case against Strauss-Kahn collapsed in August because of doubts about the credibility of his accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, Banon made a formal complaint to the Paris prosecutor.

Strauss-Kahn returned to France with his third wife, television journalist Anne Sinclair, but his hopes of leading the country were finished.

In her book, an extract of which was published by Paris Match magazine, Banon writes of feeling sick when the man, assumed to be Strauss-Kahn, was being hailed as the next president before his arrest in New York.

"It was nine o'clock that Saturday morning and they were talking about the baboon on the television. He is a superhero, a Messiah, saviour … capable of everything.

"He would revive the country, lower taxes, understand the weakest and bring happiness and calm to each French household.

"They showed pictures of him; in action in the four corners of the world. Superman.

"When I saw him, his stare made me freeze, the television screen could not protect me, his smile was only for me, it forced its way into my stomach and the image only disappeared when I threw up my lunch.

"Suddenly his message on my telephone came back to me: 'So, I scared you?' That was eight years ago.

"The years have passed, but nothing has completely effaced the memory."

Banon, who is the goddaughter of Strauss-Kahn's ex-wife, first revealed the alleged attack on a French TV chatshow in 2007.

"I eventually spoke about it but I was too smiling when I did," she writes. "I should have cried so that people understood the real ravages it had caused.

"But alcohol had given my cheeks a rosy tint and, like Molière, I wanted to laugh about what had made me cry inside."

Banon says the show's other guests had waited until the cameras and microphones were off to say: "We knew, but …"

"But what? Nobody must make any waves, and above all not let the public know. Only the elite must know, only those of the elite know how to hold their tongues."

In response to why she had not complained to the police at the time, Banon writes: "Put yourself in my place."

It was widely reported that Banon's mother, Anne Mansouret – a Socialist politician – had dissuaded her daughter from going to the police, telling her she would be known for the rest of her life as "the girl who had a problem with the politician".

Banon wrote that her decision in June to make an official complaint for "attempted rape" was "taking the combat to the enemy".

In the book, published on Thursday, she also expresses shock that supporters have abandoned her.

"How many promised to give evidence if, in future, they were called to do so? How many assured me of unwavering support?

"How many suddenly disappeared the moment they were asked to sign a written declaration, when they had to photocopy their identity card to authenticate the statement?"

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/13/dominique-strauss-kahn-inquiry-dropped

The burka debate by Zubeida Mustafa

IT is a debate that is unending and can go on ad infinitum. The object of this global controversy is the contentious hijab that has had as many supporters as detractors. The arguments draw references from religion, culture, social norms, human rights and, above all, feminism.

Last week, Canada’s largest circulated newspaper, had a catchy headline for its lead story: ‘Hijab or dejab?’ Women who defended the hijab asserted they were not coerced by their male relatives. To cover their hair was purely their own choice — an act of defiance, a political statement or a spiritual awakening.

Those who had let go of the hijab said they had felt suffocated by it. Others said after wearing it for some time they had found their identity being defined by the little piece of cloth and they found that unacceptable. Others found nothing to defy because no one ever looked at them “strangely” when they covered their head. One said her school friend had described it as an “interesting fashion”.

So why does the brouhaha go on? It is not clear what Tariq Ali, the author and activist, was referring to when he said at the annual Marxism festival in London, “I’ve spoken to many young women who wear the hijab and aren’t even religious — they do it because they’re told they can’t do it. In France particularly this is the case.”

To the best of my knowledge, no one has been stopped selectively from wearing a hijab in public places in any country — if we follow the finer definition of the term. The hijab, the most popularly worn by Muslims in the West, just covers the head and neck. Since 2004, French public schools have prohibited the use of all religious symbols — the hijab, the crucifix and the Jewish yarmulka — on their premises.

They militate against the constitutional secular traditions, the French claimed. What has, however, been the subject of a ban in France is the niqab that veils the entire face with a small area around the eyes left uncovered and the “most concealing” burka that “covers the entire face and body leaving a mesh screen to see through”.

The law that came into effect in April 2011 in France does not target the wearing of a headscarf, hijab or sunglasses “as long as the accessories do not prevent the person from being identified”, the French interior ministry said in a statement. It is the all-concealing head coverings, the niqab and the burka, that are the focus of the law.

Critics have interpreted the law as an expression of Islamophobia and are now waging a battle against it. Those so shrouded — and I had seen quite a few in the pre-ban years in France — have virtually disappeared from public view. There have been a few protests but they have not created more than a few ripples. I chanced to see one burka-clad woman being booked in a metro station in Lyon. Her face was fully concealed and obviously she could not be identified. She was probably testing the waters. The police requested her to step aside and she was probably fined.

What is intriguing about the spirited defence of this act of defiance is that this adolescent behaviour has no takers back home among those professing progressive views. Many of us hardly see it as a human rights issue.

For us, security is more vital and today an individual shrouded in a burka can be an unsettling sight even though women in all-concealing garbs have been a part of our cultural environment for ages. That tolerance has melted away ever since Maulana Abdul Aziz tried to escape disguised as a woman in a burka from the besieged Lal Masjid in 2007. Masked men committing crimes have also contributed to the fear of the burka.

Security concerns should require everyone to be identifiable. Of what use will the cameras installed on street corners be if all they can film — when they are working — are hooded women (presumably) in niqabs? If you can have laws prohibiting people from riding in vehicles with tinted glass, how can masked people not be considered a security risk?

For many years now, guidelines issued by Britain’s education department have not allowed women in burkas in educational institutions. Apart from security concerns, the court upheld a school’s argument that “the veil made communication between teachers and pupils difficult and thus hampered learning”. It was said that “teachers needed to be able to tell if a pupil was enthusiastic, paying attention or even distressed, but full-face veils prevented this”.

Nothing wrong with that if we really care for education. Some of our teachers have expressed similar views. In a lecture in Karachi a few years ago, Prof Pervez Hoodbhoy argued that he considers eye contact with his students essential for him to connect mentally with those he is teaching. Isa Daudpota, another well-respected teacher, says, “Good sense demands modesty from both sexes everywhere. Proper communication in society, and especially in an educational environment, requires that facial expressions are not hidden”.

Those arguing for the rights of Muslims will have to reconsider some of their strategies. The burka debate can be counterproductive. As for countering Islamophobia which is on the rise in some western societies and manifests itself in many undesirable ways, it is important that Muslims move out of their seclusion and try to intermingle with people of all races at a social level. Thus alone can barriers be pulled down.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/12/the-burka-debate.html

Asian shares rise after France-Germany agreement

HONG KONG: Asian shares began Monday on a high after France and Germany said they had agreed a plan to support Europe's banks, while US jobs data also provided some lift.
However dealers remained cautious after Wall Street finished last week with a loss and Fitch downgraded the debt ratings of Italy and Spain.
Hong Kong gained 0.66 percent in the first few minutes, Sydney gained 1.20 percent, Seoul was 1.10 percent higher and Shanghai, which was closed last week for the Golden Week holiday, was 0.16 percent up.
Tokyo and Taipei were closed for public holidays.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel put on a united front Sunday and vowed after talks in Berlin a response to Europe's debt crisis within weeks.
Without announcing concrete details, Sarkozy said there would be "lasting, global and quick responses before the end of the month", amid rampant fears of a crippling credit crunch.
The announcement comes a few weeks ahead of a G20 summit in Cannes, and Sarkozy said Europe must "arrive at the (meeting) united and with the problems resolved".
It also came amid concerns that France and Germany, the two main powerhouses of the eurozone, were at odds over the best way to recapitalise the region's banks.
Germany, the effective eurozone paymaster, wants banks that are under pressure to turn to investors for funds before appealing for national or European cash.
It wants the EU's 440-billion-euro ($589-billion) European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) bailout fund to intervene only as a last resort.
But France, fearful of losing its top-notch AAA credit rating, would rather dip into European funds than its own coffers.
However, Sarkozy said Sunday that "agreement is complete".
"An economy is not prosperous without stable and reliable banks," he told reporters after the talks.
Merkel also said the two sides had "decided on doing what is necessary to recapitalise (the) banks in order to assure the granting of credit to the economy".
Also on Sunday, Belgium and Luxembourg said they had reached a deal to dismantle troubled bank Dexia, the first victim of the eurozone crisis.
Belgium's finance minister said Brussels had, in accordance with French wishes, agreed to guarantee 60 percent of the so-called "bad bank" assets, compared with 36.5 percent for France and 3.5 percent for Luxembourg.
The news from Europe added to the upbeat data from the United States, which showed the economy created a better-than-expected net nonfarm 103,000 jobs in September.
The Labor Department also revised upward the two previous months' job creation numbers, indicating that employment in the faltering economy had more momentum than previously believed.
The July payrolls totalled 127,000, not the 85,000 initially estimated, while August was revised from zero to 57,000.
However, Wellington-based ANZ bank strategists said in a note: "Some optimists are hailing an end to the risk of recession for the US, but given this data is volatile and prone to large revisions, we'll not make any significant judgements from one outturn."
But putting downward pressure on markets was Fitch's decision Friday to cut it ratings on Italy and Spain, citing the increasing pressure on them as the eurozone crisis makes it harder for them to raise cash.
"The downgrade reflects the intensification of the eurozone crisis that constitutes a significant financial and economic shock which has weakened Italy's sovereign risk profile," Fitch said.
The single currency was at $1.3454 against the dollar, from $1.3375 late Friday in New York, and at 103.25 yen, from 103.10 yen.
The dollar was at 76.70 yen, from 76.73. 
Crude prices were up in Asia Monday with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, adding 93 cents to $83.91 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for November delivery gained 53 cents to $106.41.
By 0210 GMT gold was at $1,652.10 an ounce, up from $1,653.97 at 1045 GMT on Friday. (AFP)

Source:http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=24263&title=Asian-shares-rise-after-agreement

Anti-Gadhafi fighters make gains in Sirte

SIRTE: Libya’s revolutionary forces seized a convention center Sunday that had served as a key base for fighters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi in the fugitive leader’s hometown, as they squeezed remaining regime loyalists in the besieged coastal city.

An anti-Gaddafi soldier breaks a picture frame holding a photo of Moammar Gadhafi inside Ibn Sina hospital in the centre of Sirte.

The inability to take Sirte, the most important remaining stronghold of Gadhafi supporters, more than six weeks after anti-Gadhafi fighters seized the capital has stalled efforts by Libya’s new leaders to set a timeline for elections and move forward with a transition to democracy.

Gadhafi supporters also hold the inland enclave of Bani Walid, where revolutionary forces have been stymied by challenging terrain.

But the transitional leadership has said it will declare liberation after Sirte’s capture because that will mean it holds all of the seaports and harbors in the oil-rich Mediterranean coastal country.

Libya’s de facto leader, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the governing National Transitional Council, said Sunday that anti-Gadhafi fighters have made huge gains in Sirte and Bani Walid, southeast of the capital.

”I do believe, God willing, that the liberation of these cities will happen within this week,” Abdul-Jalil told reporters in Tripoli.

He said that revolutionary forces are advancing on Bani Walid from five sides, while Libyan fighters in Sirte have punched their way into the city center in fierce fighting and are now cleaning out pockets of resistance.

Located 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli, Sirte is key to the physical unity of the nation of some 6 million people, since it lies roughly in the center of the coastal plain where most Libyans live, blocking the easiest routes between east and west.

After a three-week siege from the outskirts, revolutionary forces launched an all-out assault on Sirte on Friday, pounding the city with tank shells, field cannons, rockets and heavy machine guns.

Loyalists have put up fierce resistance, and fired back with sniper rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

On Sunday, the Ouagadougou Convention Center, an ornate complex that Gadhafi frequently used for international summits, lay in ruins.

Throughout the siege, Gadhafi fighters used the walled complex as a base and stronghold. From there they were able to dominate surrounding neighborhoods and assault revolutionaries trying to enter Sirte.

At the nearby Ibn Sina Hospital, scores of wounded civilians crowded the corridors, lying on gurneys and floors to protect them from the shelling and gunfire.

There was no electricity or water, and a handful of medical students and nurses were the only medical staff.

Revolutionary fighters roamed the hallways checking IDs and detained about 25 people suspected of being Gadhafi fighters or mercenaries.

”These are all Gadhafi people. They are snipers and we have captured them,” said Ahmed Rahman, a field commander, as his soldiers cuffed a suspected pro-Gadhafi sniper.

The revolutionary forces also now control the University of Sirte on the southern outskirts.

As they push forward, Gadhafi loyalists are fighting in an ever-shrinking defensive perimeter consisting only of a Gadhafi palace complex, some residential buildings and a hotel near Green Square in the city center.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/09/anti-gadhafi-fighters-make-gains-in-sirte.html

Euro lifted in Asia by France-Germany plan

SINGAPORE: The euro rose above $1.34 in Asia on Monday after France and Germany vowed swift action to shore up Europe's struggling banks, analysts said.

The single European unit bought $1.3450 in the morning compared with $1.3375 in New York late Friday, while it sat at 103.20 yen from 103.10 yen. 
The greenback traded at 76.75 yen from 76.73 yen.
The euro fell below $1.34 late Friday after Fitch downgraded the ratings of Italy and Spain, citing increasing pressure on them as the eurozone debt crisis makes efforts to stabilise their public finances even more difficult.
But Emmanuel Ng, currency economist of OCBC Bank in Singapore, told the "market is attempting to push the euro higher against the dollar".
Ng stated that the euro rally was led by traders encouraged by a promise from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday promising action to recapitalise troubled lenders within weeks.
"I think it's just from the spillover from the weekend comments arising out of the Merkel-Sarkozy meeting so it's just newsflow regarding the potential (bank) recapitalisation plans," he said.
Without announcing concrete details about the plans, Sarkozy said there would be "lasting, global and quick responses before the end of the month", amid rampant fears of a crippling credit crunch.
The news could ease concerns over a lack of direction in the eurozone leadership as France and Germany, the two main powerhouses of the bloc, had been at odds over the best way to recapitalise the region's banks.
It also comes a few weeks ahead of a G20 summit in Cannes, at which Sarkozy said Europe must "arrive at the (meeting) united and with the problems resolved". (AFP)

http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=24265&title=Euro-lifted-by-France-Germany-plan

French socialists’ primary race catches public eye

PARIS: It was billed as a fight to the death between egotists: a savage war of vengeful ex-partners, secret pacts, crash-diets and televised slanging matches.

But the French Socialist primary race to choose a leftwing challenger to Nicolas Sarkozy in next year`s presidential election has surprised the nation. The battle has been polite and focused. And, crucially, it also appears to have caught the public imagination – the first live TV debate got better ratings than the country`s hit version of reality cookery show MasterChef.

Francois Hollande, the wise-cracking rural MP and self-styled “Mr Normal”, is favourite to win the first round vote on Sunday. But because the party is making history with an open ballot that allows anyone on the electoral register to have a say – if they pay a euro and sign allegiance to the left – commentators are wary of pre-judging the outcome.

The French left is on a high. It has just won control of the senate for the first time in modern history and polls predict a Socialist win against the beleaguered Sarkozy, whose party and inner circle have been badly damaged by sleaze investigations. But the Socialists, who haven`t won a presidential election since Francois Mitterrand in 1988, are wary of poll leads and know how often power has eluded them at the ballot box.

Hollande, 57, who calls himself the “ordinary guy”, is MP for Correze in south central France and was Socialist party leader until 2008. He has undergone something of a metamorphosis, shedding 15kg and changing from dull portly joker to streamlined, perma-tanned man of ambition who drinks diet coke and rides a moped.

In polls, French voters say he is the most presidential of the six candidates and the most likely to beat Sarkozy. He has said that if the Socialists don`t win the 2012 presidential election the party will die.

Broadly centre-left, his two big themes are major reform of the tax system and stimulation that will provide jobs for France`s depressed, unemployed youth. Unemployment among young people in the country currently stands at around 20 per cent. “The next president has to be someone who inspires confidence. Confidence is the word,” he told his final rally in Toulouse this week.

Behind Hollande in the polls is Martine Aubry, 60, the mayor of Lille. The most recent leader of the party and architect of France`s 35-hour week, she has been portrayed as an “Angela Merkel of the left”, running a broad campaign on social rights emphasising housing, health and education.

Firmly on the left of the party, the former minister has been described as a technocrat and policy-wonk versus Hollande`s political animal. But this week she hit back at Hollande`s consensus-style, centrist politics saying a “soft left” would not beat the “hard right” in France.

Hollande and Aubry share similar ideas on tax reform, shrinking public debt and boosting growth and employment to save the French economy. Before the contest started French voters did not appear to trust the left to deal with the world financial crisis. But a poll this week for business magazine Challenges found people would trust Hollande or Aubry more than Sarkozy if faced with a financial crisis of the magnitude of 2008.

Segolene Royal, the failed candidate in the last presidential election, Hollande`s former partner and mother of his four children, had been predicted to take third place. But she is facing competition from the young outsider Arnaud Montebourg, a lawyer and MP in eastern France whose agenda focuses on anti-globalisation and cracking down on speculation by banks. Another outsider, Manuel Valls, an MP and mayor in the Paris suburbs, is considered to be on the right of the party and has pushed a hard line on spending cuts to tackle France`s public deficit.

The Socialist race was thrown wide open in May when the one-time favourite Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York on charges of attempting to rape a hotel maid. The criminal case against him was dropped but his presidential hopes for 2012 are over; he still faces a civil case in New York and another accusation of attempted rape in France.

If no clear winner emerges on Sunday, a second round run-off between two candidates will take place a week later.— Dawn/ Guardian News Service

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/09/french-socialists-primary-race-catches-public-eye.html