Europe, Imf Sex Scandal | featured news

French prosecutors say they are dropping an investigation into former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn over a "gang rape" alleged to have taken place in Washington. The woman who made the complaint has retracted her evidence, they added. Mr Strauss-Kahn, 63, is still under investigation with three other men over their alleged roles in a prostitution ring. He denies the allegations.

A French prosecutor on Monday opened a preliminary investigation into allegations of rape in a Washington hotel by former IMF chief and one-time French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was taken into custody in connection with an investigation into an alleged prostitution ring operating in France and Belgium.

After investigating a complaint filed against former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, in which a journalist accused him of attempting to rape her in 2003, French prosecutors said there was a lack of sufficient evidence to file charges.

Former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn was believed to be heading to his native France.

Cleared of sex assault charges, Dominique Strauss-Kahn could be back in France within days but may not get a hero's welcome, if sober newspaper editorials and cautious statements by his Socialist allies are anything to go by.

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted a housekeeper in a "violent and sadistic attack" in his hotel suite in Manhattan in May, a civil lawsuit filed on Monday alleges.

If the New York sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn ever goes to trial, much will doubtless be made of his accuser’s background. But what about his? Since his New York arrest, a French writer has brought a criminal complaint in Paris about an attempted rape she says she suffered at Strauss-Kahn’s hands in 2003. The New York prosecutors made an apparent allusion to her claim at Strauss-Kahn’s first court appearance in May.

Dormant anti-Americanism has been reawakened in France, fueled by a sense that the culture of the United States has undermined fair play.

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will plead not guilty on Monday to charges he sexually assaulted a New York hotel maid in a case that cost him his job and a chance at the French presidency.