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PARIS — Nine years ago, Anne Mansouret dissuaded her daughter from filing a legal complaint for attempted rape against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a prominent member of the Socialist Party in France and the former husband of one of her best friends. But now she is speaking out about what happened and what other Socialist leaders knew. And some Socialists — deeply embarrassed by the allegations against the wealthy man who was likely to be their presidential candidate next year — have called for her expulsion from the party. In a series of interviews, Mrs. Mansouret — by turns defensive, emotional, argumentative...

After Osama bin Laden was killed, a prominent French radio station called me for an interview. It turned into a mildly hallucinogenic experience. Everybody from the president of the United States to Al Qaeda itself was saying Bin Laden was dead, but my interviewer kept pressing me for “the proof.” I talked about DNA samples, the word of the American president, the accumulated intelligence, but it was clear that a Gallic conspiracy reflex — especially active with regard to France’s sometime American savior — had kicked in. The view that this might all be some U.S. plot or hoax had...

"It is hard for me to evaluate the real political underlying reasons and I do not even want to get into that subject, but I cannot believe that everything is as it seems and how it was initially presented," he said. "It does not sit right in my head." Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested at JFK airport in New York on May 14 for allegedly sexually assaulting a hotel chambermaid. Mr Putin's public support for Mr Strauss-Kahn comes days after a French politician alleged that the former IMF chief had said before his arrest that he thought Mr Putin was actively...

  Anne Cottavoz is of two minds about the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair, her American mind and her French mind, though she concedes that after living in the United States for 27 years, there may be some blurring of the two. Ms. Cottavoz, a Frenchwoman who owns a health food store on the Upper West Side, said Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s arrest exposed a “slippery slope” in France between what she called “chauvinist behavior” and something more aggressive, like the sexual assault of a hotel housekeeper that Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has been accused of. In...

The sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, which continues to crowd out much other news here, is becoming something of a civics lesson in American justice — one that has inspired both biting criticism and some respect. Legal experts say much of the consternation here over what many consider rough treatment in the news media and the courts is rooted in a general unfamiliarity with an American justice system that differs profoundly — in procedure, tone and philosophy — from the French model. “There is an aspect of pageantry that we don’t have in our country,” said Judge Marie-Blanche Régnier,...

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the disgraced ex-chief of the International Monetary Fund accused of sexually assaulting a New York City hotel maid, is out on bail and living in luxury in a 6,800-square-foot Manhattan town house with its own private spa, movie theater, gym, bar and rooftop terrace with barbecue grill. Strauss-Kahn, charged earlier this month in the alleged attack on the 32-year-old maid, posted $1 million bail last week and agreed to remain under house arrest. But since then, Strauss-Kahn has had to live in temporary housing because his first choice for an apartment fell through when his prospective neighbors complained...

Kahn and the Obamas at a dinner during the G-20 conference in September 2009. Photo: The IMF Flickr Some pictures say a thousand words. This one just says two: No Touching. .

This is your "what the hell?" video of the morning. Treasury Secretary Geithner is asked if he knew about the "predatory atmosphere" at the IMF. He says "this is a hard question to ask a man." Except, it's not a hard question, for a man or for anyone. "Were you aware of the culture of rape at IMF" has two possible answers: "yes, I noticed" or "no, I just didn't see it." But, of course, he can't say either because if he saw abuse then the follow-up question is going to be why he didn't do anything about it. And...

Accused last week of attempting to rape a hotel chamber maid in New York, former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn (known as DSK in France) can now rely on Guidepost Solutions detective agency, in addition to his top-flight legal defence team. According to the New York Times, Guidepost Solutions’ directors include a former head of the criminal division at the New York prosecutor’s office, a former head of security at IT giant IBM and a former federal prosecutor who has worked closely with the US Secret Service. Finding the slightest fault These investigators have been hired to uncover any elements that...

The former head of the International Monetary Fund accused of sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid will receive a $250,000 severance payment -- paid in part courtesy of the American taxpayer -- unless U.S. lawmakers can stop the "golden parachute" from landing in the French politician's bank account. The IMF claims it has no discretion in the matter of Dominique Strauss-Khan, who was already pulling down nearly $500,000 as managing director when he resigned after being arrested in New York. The one-time severance, along with a much smaller annual pension, was part of his contract. But considering the heavy...

Ever since the news broke, a week ago Saturday, of the IMF head’s surprise arrest, for alleged attempted rape, in the first-class cabin of an Air France jet minutes from takeoff on the JFK tarmac, the Dominique Strauss-Kahn meltdown has caused France to experience a kind of cosmic O.J. moment. Specials take up every slot between news bulletins on all cable channels as well as on network prime time. Talking heads and supposed experts are called in to wall-to-wall illustrate, commentate, and pontificate. Every front page and magazine cover features a tieless, unshaven, haggard DSK—as he is known here—snapped during...

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, was not just rich and powerful. He was also, until last Saturday, the likely next president of France. So commanding was his lead that rumors had been flying since April that his chief rival for the Socialist nomination, would soon drop out of the race.  Even if the idea of DSK as head of state is something the French were trying on for size, no people can be comfortable seeing their potential leader marched around as an accused rapist, particularly under the customs of an alien legal system. The French are...

Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a New York City hotel maid, “Don’t you know who I am! Don’t you know who I am?” while pinning her down during the alleged sexual assault, law enforcement sources close to the investigation told FoxNews.com. That and other details of the maid's complaint to police emerged Monday as police confirmed that disgraced ex-International Monetary Fund boss Strauss-Kahn's DNA was found on the maid's shirt

Friends of alleged hotel sex fiend Dominique Strauss-Kahn secretly contacted the accusing maid's impoverished family, offering them money to make the case go away since they can't reach her in protective custody, The Post has learned. The woman, who says she was sexually assaulted by the disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund, has an extended family in the former French colony of Guinea in West Africa, well out of reach of the Manhattan DA's Office.

A New York assemblyman says he wants the state to require hotels to provide their housekeepers with an emergency "panic button" that would help protect them from sexual assaults on the job. Assemblyman Rory Lancman, a Democrat from Queens, said he will introduce the bill Monday. The move comes a week after former International Monetary Fund Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged with sexually assaulting a Manhattan hotel maid. "We send hotel workers, housekeepers into rooms by themselves without any other staff, without any other security," Lancman said at a news conference Sunday outside the Sofitel Hotel, the site of Strauss-Kahn's...

According to the maid’s account, as told to investigators and relayed to FoxNews.com, the maid entered the room and was confronted by a naked Strauss-Kahn, who emerged from the bathroom and began grabbing the maid’s breasts while trying to pin her down on his bed. The maid is deeply religious, investigators said, and immediately put her hands over her eyes so she wouldn’t see the naked Frenchman. He ran to her, began grabbing her breasts and pulling her down the hallway inside the luxury suite toward the bedroom. The maid said she tried a variety of tactics to get herself...

so·cial·ism: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the of production and distribution of goods That definition of socialism provided by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary seems relatively simple and anyone with a fifth grade knowledge of American history can recognize it’s not a traditional American political philosophy. But according to HBO’s Bill Maher, it’s a philosophy Americans could learn to embrace – that is with the help of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the embattled former head of the International Monetary Fund who was recently indicted by a grand jury on charges of criminal sexual assault, attempted...

Yes They Kahn!Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the other elevated souls of the governing class are above your bourgeois standards. Back when he was still the officially designated Next President of France and not an accused rapist, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was glimpsed at the annual IMF soccer tournament wearing a T-shirt emblazoned “YES, WE KAHN!” (Monsieur le directeur was not participating in the game: The field he likes to play requires more horizontal exertions, as even the deferential and protective French media have begun belatedly to acknowledge.) In consciously mimicking the slogan of another and very successful presidential candidate, the IMF boss and...