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Monday 18 July 2011

IPCC said it was launching an investigation into four former and serving senior Metropolitan Police officers over their handling of the phone hacking scandal.

On the day Yates resigned as assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, he was also referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission over his alleged involved in helping a friend's daughter get a job.It understood that this woman is Wallis's daughter but neither the Met or IPCC would confirm this. Allegations: Sources have revealed this evening that John Yates allegedly secured work for the daughter of Neil WallisThe revelations come hours after the IPCC said it was launching an investigation into four former and serving senior Metropolitan Police officers over their handling of the phone hacking scandal.Five issues have been referred to the IPCC, including questions about the conduct of both Yates and Sir Paul Stephenson, who resigned last night.

Monday 11 July 2011

A store of munitions, seized from a vessel heading to Syria from Iran in 2008 could be at the heart of the explosion which reportedly killed twelve people this morning.

A store of munitions, seized from a vessel heading to Syria from Iran in 2008 could be at the heart of the explosion which reportedly killed twelve people this morning.
A picture of large scale devastation is emerging after a massive blast in a munitions dump at the Zygi naval base.
Electricity remains off in much of Cyprus, and state TV are showing pictures of ambulances and army trucks ferrying in injured people to a local hospital, many of them covered in blood. Large scale damage can be seen to a huge section of the barriers of the Larnaca-Limassol highway and a huge crater about one kilometre from the power station was shown on state TV.
The blasts, which happened just after 6am, caused extensive damage to property in the area and sparked wildfires in nearby scrubland in the tinder-dry summer conditions, the television said.
A police spokesman told the state CNA that two containers of gunpowder caught fire. In all, there were 98 containers in the depot.
The Evangelos Florakis naval base near Mari is used for local marine operations and training.
The explosion happened in a section of storgae area with containerized ammunition which were seized from a ship in 2008.
Zygi, on the outskirts of Limassol, is home to the transmitting station of the BBC World Service, which appears to be off air on 1323 AM.

Thursday 7 July 2011

Murdoch axes News of the World after phone hacking scandal

The News of the World will close after a final edition this weekend, News International chairman James Murdoch said today.

The tabloid newspaper will be published for the last time on Sunday after it was rocked by the phone hacking scandal.

Mr Murdoch said in a statement: "Having consulted senior colleagues, I have decided that we must take further decisive action with respect to the paper. This Sunday will be the last issue of the News of the World."

 

Monday 4 July 2011

The hotel maid who claims former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn raped her has been accused of working as a prostitute.


Allegations have emerged that the 32-year-old cleaner was was taking extra money from male guests at the hotel for sex.

'There is information... of her getting extraordinary tips, if you know what I mean. And it's not for bringing extra f**king towels,' a source close to the defence investigation told the New York Post.

The woman also had 'a lot of her expenses – hair braiding, salon expenses – paid for by men not related to her,' the source added.

As Strauss-Kahn was yesterday sensationally released from house arrest and had his security ankle tag removed, it emerged in a letter to court from Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon that the woman:

Lied in a U.S. asylum application that her husband was tortured in jail and died of injuries
Lied about having been gang raped by soldiers in Guinea to help her asylum application
Lied about waiting in the hall outside the suite of the 'attack' until Strauss-Kahn left
Lied by claiming a friend's child as her own for the last two years to get a higher tax refund
The Guinean hotel maid accused Strauss-Kahn of chasing her through his luxury New York suite, trying to pull down her pantihose and forcing her to perform oral sex.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, who have insisted that the encounter was consensual, refused to comment on the allegations that the maid was working as a prostitute in the hotel.

The French citizen was enjoying freedom today as he emerged smiling from his Tribeca apartment to hand his wife into a town car.

The couple had no luggage with them as they drove off together this afternoon at around 2pm. They were followed by a second black sedan.

Looking relaxed and ahppy, they showed no ill effects from their celebrations last night, when they dined on a $700 four-course celebration dinner with red and white wines at an exclusive Upper East Side Italian eatery.


Strauss-Kahn partied with his wife Anne Sinclair and another couple at the Scalinatella Ristorante in Manhattan hours after being sensationally handed his freedom without bail as damaging details emerged on the credibility of the hotel maid accusing him of rape.

The one-time candidate for the French presidency enjoyed an antipasti dish of prosciutto and 'orange flesh melon' accompanied by Pinot Grigio, before dining on pappardella with truffles.

Strauss Kahn, 62, then had a main course of Mediterranean sea bass served with Italian red wine.

The charges against Strauss-Kahn, which include attempted rape, have not been reduced, but background investigations of the 'victim' have created 'serious credibility issues' for prosecutors.


Taste of freedom: Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn exits the kitchen of the Scalinatella restaurant on the Upper East Side after being released from house arrest




Experts said that prosecutors could still pursue case against Strauss-Kahn though as it has not been dismissed.

Wearing a jacket but no tie, Strauss Kahn emerged from his house smiling last night before driving to the expensive restaurant with his wife and an elderly couple.

The meal cost between between $600 and $700, according to Luigi Rosso, the restaurant's owner who said the party did not have a reservation.

Strauss-Kahn thanked the chef after the celebratory feast before returning to the Tribeca apartment where he is living.




The 32-year-old hotel maid accused the International Monetary Fund ex-chief of chasing her through his luxury suite in May and raping her.

Forensic tests have revealed the pair definitely had a sexual encounter, but defence lawyers have claimed it was consensual - and public opinion is stunningly starting to shift in his favour.

The move in court signals prosecutors do not see the accusations as ironclad aymore. Strauss-Kahn had been under house arrest for weeks in a Manhattan loft on $6million in cash and bond.

‘It is a great relief,’ said Strauss-Kahn's attorney, William Taylor, adding that the case underscores ‘how easy it is for people to be charged with serious crimes and for there to be a rush to judgement.’

Strauss-Kahn arrived at the courthouse on Friday morning in a Lexus SUV and strode confidently up the granite steps with his wife, French journalist Anne Sinclair, at his side.

After the hearing, he walked slowly out with his arm on her shoulder, smiling slightly at the throng of reporters and members of the public gathered outside.

His passport remained surrendered, and he will not yet be allowed to leave the country. His other attorney, Benjamin Brafman, said Strauss-Kahn would be free to travel within the U.S.

Investigators have come to believe that the accuser lied about some of her activities in the hours around the alleged attack and about her own background, a law enforcement official said.




Prosecutors think she lied about details on her application for asylum in the U.S., including saying she had been raped in her native Guinea, the official said under the condition of anonymity.

In a letter to the court Ms Illuzzi-Orbon laid out in detail the problems with the alleged victim.

SO IS IT ALL A BIG CONSPIRACY?
Many in France have always insisted that he has been the victim of rough American justice.

Some even believe the sex attack charges are a conspiracy cooked up by his political opponents.

'Those who know Dominique Strauss-Kahn will not be surprised by this evolution of events,' one of his French lawyers, Leon Lef Forster, said in Paris.

'What he was accused of has no relation to his personality. It was something that was not credible.'

In her application for asylum to the U.S. for herself and her daughter in 2004 she said that the home she shared with her husband in Guinea was burned down by soldiers for the country's regime.

He was then supposedly put in jail and tortured where he died of his injuries.

This was a lie she later admitted.

She also claimed she had been gang raped by soldiers in Guinea to help her asylum application and cried when recounting this to prosecutors, but later admitted this was a lie.

In addition, she admitted that she lied to a Grand Jury that she waited in the hallway outside the suite where she was attacked until Strauss-Kahn left.

The reality is that she 'proceeded to clean a nearby room' then returning to the suite where she was attacked before cleaning that too. Only then did she report it to her supervisor.

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