Washington, May 19
Dominique Strauss-Kahn who is locked up in a New York prison on allegations of sexual assault today resigned as the managing director of the IMF, triggering a succession battle between the developing world and the Europe to lead the global lender.

“It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the Executive Board my resignation from my post of Managing Director of the IMF,” Strauss-Kahn wrote to the Washington-based IMF board.

“Dominique Strauss-Kahn has today informed the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of his intention to resign as Managing Director with immediate effect,” the IMF said in a statement after it received a formal letter in this regard from Strauss-Kahn.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, who has claimed innocence, is locked up in a New York prison since Saturday when he was bundled out of a Paris-bound flight and taken into custody on charges of sexually assaulting a chambermaid at a Manhattan hotel. “To all, I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me.

“I want to protect this institution which I have served with honour and devotion, and especially-especially-I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence,” he said.

In his letter Strauss-Kahn maintained his innocence and said he would fight off the charges. Later on Thursday, the former French finance minister was to make his second request to be released on $1 million cash bail and placed under 24-hour house arrest until his trial on charges of attempting to rape a hotel maid, his lawyers said.

The IMF said John Lipsky, the First Deputy Director, remains the acting MD of the agency. “The Fund will communicate in the near future on the Executive Board’s process of selecting a new Managing Director. Meanwhile, John Lipsky remains Acting Managing Director,” the IMF said in a short statement.

The 24-member executive board votes to fill the top post, with votes weighted based on member countries’ and region’s subscription quotas.

Strauss-Kahn’s resignation sets off the jockeying for his replacement, the New York Times said. Traditionally the US holds on the World Bank’s top job and a European candidate is appointed as the IMF chief.

But emerging market countries have increasingly insisted that the choice should be made on the basis of merit rather than geography.

The succession battle could well pit a European candidate — most likely Christine Lagarde, France’s current finance minister — against a nominee from an emerging market country, the Financial Times said. Kemal Dervis, previously Turkish economy minister and former head of the United Nations Development Programme and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the Singaporean finance minister who chairs the IMF’s ministerial steering committee, will be vying to head the global lender, it said. — Agencies

* The IMF said John Lipsky, the First Deputy Director, remains the acting MD of the agency

* Traditionally, the US holds the World Bank's top job and a European candidate is appointed as the IMF chief

* The succession battle could well pit a European candidate against a nominee from an emerging market country

* French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is the most 
likely candidate, but it might be hard to have another French person at the helm

I want to protect this institution (IMF) which I have served with honour and devotion, and especially-especially I want to devote

all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence

Washington, May 19
Al-Qaida has released the first audio message of Osama bin Laden after his death, praising the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and predicting that the revolt would engulf the entire Arab region.

“The winds of change started from Tahrir Square will blow over the entire Muslim world,” bin Laden is quoted as saying in the 13-minute message, apparently recorded months before he was shot dead by US forces at his Abbottabad compound in Pakistan.

The audio tape was released on-line yesterday to ‘jihadists’ websites by Al-Qaida’s media arm al-Sahab and was obtained and translated by America’s SITE intelligence group.

The “posthumous” tape has an apparent reference to revolts in Tunisia and Egypt and includes still images emblazoned with an old picture of the Al-Qaida leader.

“This wasn’t a revolution of starving and pain, but a revolution of giving and peace... The great oppression in our countries has reached great levels, and we have delayed enough the wave of change,” he says.

The Al-Qaida leader, who was killed by US forces in a special operation in Pakistan on May 2, asks Muslims to not let the new wave of revolution wear out.

In the tape, bin Laden accused Arab leaders of building themselves into idols and manipulating to stay in power. He tells Muslims to fight ignorance for the revolutions to succeed.

The US intelligence officials were aware that the recording was in the pipeline. But its unclear whether more such recordings are in the pipeline or whether this was the finals sermon from the the ‘merchant of death’. — PTI 

Islamabad, May 19
China has agreed to immediately provide Pakistan 50 new JF-17 Thunder multi-role jets under a co-production agreement even as talks are on for more fighter aircraft including those with stealth technology. China will immediately provide 50 JF-17 Thunder aircraft to Pakistan, an unnamed official was quoted as saying by the Dawn daily.

"We will get these planes in weeks," he said, adding that a formal agreement to that effect was likely to be signed today.

The official said Pakistan and China were already jointly producing the JF-17 aircraft, but these 50 planes would be equipped with more sophisticated avionics.

He said the war planes to be fully funded by China would help bolster Pakistan's defence and add to tactical capability of its air force.

The News daily reported that it is likely that these planes will be supplied by June next year.

It added that the two countries are also discussing the supply of Chinese J-20 stealth jets and Xiaolong/FC-1 multi-purpose light fighter aircraft to Pakistan. They are discussing the mode of payment and the number of planes to be provided to Pakistan, the report said.

With the supply of the new fighters, Pakistan Air Force will now have a total of 260 Chinese jets, making them the mainstay of the force.

Meanwhile, in a sign of greater cooperation between the two countries, China will also launch a satellite for Pakistan on August 14. The satellite will supply "multifarious data" to Pakistan, the report said.

Tripoli/Washington, May 19 
US President Barack Obama said today Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi would have to leave power and only then could a democratic transition in the North African state proceed.

Obama was speaking as part of a major address in Washington about the Middle East, which has seen a series of uprisings this year including ones that have toppled governments in Tunisia and Egypt as well as a three-month-old revolt in Libya.

"Time is working against Gaddafi. He does not have control over his country. The opposition has organised a legitimate and credible Interim Council," Obama said.

"When Gaddafi inevitably leaves or is forced from power, decades of provocation will come to an end, and the transition to a democratic Libya can proceed.

"Had we not acted along with our NATO allies and regional coalition partners, thousands would have been killed. The message would have been clear: keep power by killing as many people as it takes," he said.

His comments echoed those of NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen who said on Thursday military and political pressure were weakening Gaddafi's hold on power and would eventually topple him.

NATO allies including the United States, Britain and France, acting under a UN mandate, are conducting air strikes on the oil producer since Gaddafi used force to put down a revolt inspired by uprisings in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt.

Rebels control eastern Libya and pockets in the West, but the conflict has reached stalemate in military terms, with rebel attempts to advance on Tripoli, Gaddafi's stronghold, stalled.

That has left Western governments, under pressure from sceptical publics to deliver a decisive outcome, counting on Gaddafi's administration collapsing from within. "We have significantly degraded Gaddafi's war machine. And now we see results, the opposition has gained ground," Rasmussen told a news conference in the Slovak capital, Bratislava.

"I am confident that combination of strong military pressure and increased political pressure and support for the opposition will eventually lead to the collapse of the regime," he said. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

27 killed in Iraq blasts
Kirkuk: A spate of bomb attacks against the police in Kirkuk on Thursday killed at least 27 persons and injured 89. Three explosions, two car bombs and a magnetic "sticky bomb" attached to a car, occurred around one hour apart in the oil-rich ethnically-mixed city, security officials said. — AFP

Plane crash kills 22
Buenos Aires: A small commercial plane crashed in an isolated part of Patagonia in southern Argentina, killing all 22 persons on board, officials said. "We did not find anyone alive. There were no survivors. The plane is in multiple charred fragments. Everything is burnt," said local hospital director Ismael Ali. — AFP