The Daily Blog

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Freed Without Bail By Judge.

NEW YORK — Former IMF leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn walked out of court without bail and free from house arrest Friday after prosecutors acknowledged there were questions about the credibility of the hotel housekeeper who accused him of sexual assault.

Strauss-Kahn had been confined for weeks to a ritzy Manhattan loft on $6 million in cash and bond. The charges, which include attempted rape, have not been reduced, but the changes signal that prosecutors do not believe the accusations are as ironclad as they once seemed.

The 32-year-old hotel maid accused Strauss-Kahn of chasing her through his luxury suite in May, trying to pull down her pantyhose and forcing her to perform oral sex. Authorities have said they have forensic evidence of a sexual encounter, but defense lawyers have said it wasn’t forced.

“It is a great relief,” said Strauss-Kahn’s attorney, William Taylor. “It is so important in this country that people, especially the media, refrain from judgment until the facts are all in.”

After his arrest, Strauss-Kahn resigned from his post leading the International Monetary Fund and watched his presidential ambitions seemingly crumble.

The stark turn in the case came after the woman admitted to prosecutors she had made up a story of being gang raped and beaten in her homeland to enhance her application for political asylum, prosecutors said in a letter to defense lawyers.

She also misrepresented what she did after the alleged attack – instead of fleeing to a hallway and waiting for a supervisor, she went to clean another room and then returned to clean Strauss-Kahn’s suite before telling her supervisor that she had been attacked, prosecutors said.

She also misrepresented her income and claimed someone else’s child as her own dependent on tax returns, they said.

The details speak to the maid’s credibility and whether her story would stand up under oath in a prosecution that would rely heavily on her testimony.

Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, Rwandan Woman And First Ever Convicted Of Genocide, Given Life Sentence.

ARUSHA, Tanzania — The U.N. Court trying suspects of the 1994 Rwanda genocide found a female former government minister and her son guilty of war crimes on Friday and gave both life sentences, marking the first time a woman has been convicted of genocide.

Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, Rwanda’s former minister for family and women affairs, and her son, Arsene Ntahobali, a former militia leader, were both found guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape.

The court found that the mother and son helped to abduct hundreds of ethnic Tutsis who were assaulted, raped and killed in the southern region of Butare.

Nyiramasuhuko is the only woman to be charged before the special genocide court. Hanna Brollowski, an international law researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Instuut in The Hague, said she is the first woman convicted anywhere in the world of genocide.

At least 500,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered during Rwanda’s 100-day genocide.

Butare was among the last strongholds to have fallen to the killings. The court established that between April and June 1994 the mother and son, with assistance of the extremist Hutu militia known as the Interahamwe, went to Butare and abducted hundreds of ethnic Tutsis.

“Many were physically assaulted, raped and taken away to various places in Butare, where they were killed. During the course of these repeated attacks on vulnerable civilians, both Nyiramasuhuko and Ntahobali ordered killings. They also ordered rapes. Ntahobali further committed rapes and Nyiramasuhuko aided and abetted rapes,” said the judgment read out by presiding Judge William Sekule.

The court on Friday also sentenced to life in prison a former mayor, Elie Ndayambaje. Three others in the joint trial were given sentences ranging between 25 and 35 years. The court said all six would be credited with time served.

The judgments come 10 years after trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda began on June 12, 2001, and 16 years after some of the accused were arrested. The court is based in Tanzania, which borders Rwanda.

The proceedings lasted more than 700 days and the court heard from nearly 180 witnesses.

Though Nyiramasukuko is the first woman to be convicted of genocide, she is not the only woman to be charged with genocide.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavsic was indicted in 2000 for charges including genocide for her role in Serb atrocities in the 1992-95 Bosnian war. The genocide charge was dropped as part of a plea bargain that saw her convicted by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in 2002 of persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds, a crime against humanity.

Comedian Katt Williams Arrested in Assault on Tractor Driver.

PALMDALE, Calif. (KTLA) — Actor and comedian Katt Williams will be in court Tuesday, after being arrested in a standoff with a tractor driver at a home in Palmdale.

Williams was arrested Saturday afternoon for felony intimidating a witness.Police say several women on the property allegedly pelted a tractor driver with rocks.

When the driver tried to leave the property, Williams allegedly blocked the exit with his SUV, and would not move until Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies arrived.

Deputies arrested the three women for assault with a deadly weapon and Williams for felony of a witness.

Belly Dancing Sinks NYC Woman’s Disability Claim.

A New York City woman who was getting $850 a month in alimony because she was supposedly disabled and unable to work had her payments slashed after her ex-husband spotted online photos of her belly dancing.Dorothy McGurk told the court that the dancing was physical therapy for injuries she suffered in a car accident in the mid-1990s.

A judge didn’t buy it — and reduced her payments to $400 per month.

The judge also ordered her to pay her ex-husband’s legal fees and 60 percent from the sale of their home.

Brian McGurk went to court after discovering a blog that showed his 43-year-old ex-wife dancing at a gallery.

In other Internet postings, she wrote about dancing vigorously for several hours every day.

Serena Williams Sports a Neon Pink Bodysuit.

Serena Williams, long known for her bold style on and off the court, was back in action this week — in full regalia.

In her first session after an 8-month injury-related hiatus, the powerhouse athlete sported a full-length, neon-pink lycra bodysuit. Meeow. She showed it off, twitpic-ing her latest style with the text, “Look who I spotted on the court. Her first day back … “

Perhaps Williams was feeling electric on her long-awaited return to work. She started training Tuesday in Palm Beach Gardens after a break following emergency treatment for a pulmonary embolism in February. Prior to that, she had been out of commission since July due to tendon surgery when she lacerated her foot on some glass at a restaurant in Germany.

Williams’ electric-hued training gear ups the ante from her sister Venus’ attention-grabbing nude shorts look from last year.

Arizona Immigration Law Ruling Refuses To Lift Ban On Enforcing Major Aspects Of Measure.

PHOENIX — A federal appeals court is refusing to lift a stay blocking major parts of a tough Arizona law targeting illegal immigrants from taking effect.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday turned down an appeal filed by Gov. Jan Brewer. The governor asked them to lift an injunction imposed by a federal judge in Phoenix the day before the law was to take effect on July 29, 2010.

The U.S Justice Department sued to block the law. It argued it violates the constitution because enforcing immigration law is a federal issue.

Brewer’s lawyers said the federal government hasn’t effectively enforced immigration law and that the state law will assist federal authorities.

The law would require police to check immigration status when enforcing other laws, among other provisions.

Obama Calls for Passage of Workplace Fairness Act for Women.

President Obama, who has two young daughters, pressed Saturday for passage of a bill meant to make it easier for women to have their day in court when they feel employers are underpaying them simply because of their gender.

Obama, in his weekly address, said he was disappointed when the Senate fell just short of approving the Paycheck Fairness Act last year. He urged Congress to take another crack at it and vowed, “I’m going to keep up the fight to pass the reforms in that bill.”

The legislation would treat gender discrimination involving wages in the same manner as discrimination related to race, age or disability — effectively opening up another avenue for court challenges. Many business interests oppose it because they fear a flood of litigation.

“At a time when folks across this country are struggling to make ends meet — and many families are just trying to get by on one paycheck after a job loss — it’s a reminder that achieving equal pay for equal work isn’t just a women’s issue. It’s a family issue,” Obama said. “It is something I care deeply about as the father of two daughters who wants to see his girls grow up in a world where there are no limits to what they can achieve,” he said.

Women have made great strides, he said. For instance, they are now more likely to attend college than men. Yet American women are also more likely to live in poverty and still earn only 75 cents for every dollar made by male workers, the president said.

For the Republicans Saturday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) talked about energy costs as the price at the pump for motorists continues to rise in part due to the crisis in Libya. Murkowski acknowledged the upheaval in oil-producing Libya and the middle east. But she said the U.S. needs to produce more of its own energy from the Gulf of Mexico, the Rocky Mountain states and Alaska. “Our own shortsightedness and restrictions have played a role” in the cost increases, she said.

AC/DC Drummer Pleads Guilty in New Zealand Pot Bust.

Proving that pot isn’t just for jam bands, chillwave acts and Willie Nelson, AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd was convicted of marijuana possession in a New Zealand court.

Rudd, 56, pled guilty on Tuesday at the North Island’s Tauranga District Court after being nabbed with 25 grams of cannabis on his boat at a the city’s Bridge Marina on Oct. 7, according to the Herald Sun. Rudd, born Phillip Hugh Witchke Rudzevecuis, paid a $250 fine and $132.89 in court costs.

If that seems dirt cheap for a millionaire drummer, the marijuana conviction could be far more costly for Rudd, who may have trouble touring certain countries. Rudd’s lawyer, Craig Tuck, was reportedly hoping for the case to be discharged, arguing that in the past year he had traveled the globe as a drummer in one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

The sentencing magistrate, Robyn Paterson, apparently told Rudd, “It was not just an accident — you were blindly ignoring the law. You have been playing Russian roulette.”

Rudd — an Australian native who lives in the Tauranga area — first played with the legendary hard rock band in its 1975 to 1983 heyday, but was fired due to his struggles with drugs. He rejoined the group 1994 and has been behind the kit for the band ever since.