Strauss-Kahn resigns amid race for top job

Dominque Strauss-Kahn Thursday resigned from his post as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amid allegations of sexual assault, triggering a global race for the top job.

• Germany‘s Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso’s comments come amid debate over whether the next IMF chief should come from the developing world.
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• The head of the Netherland’s central bank said Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, would be a “fantastic candidate”, while the prime ministers of 12 former Soviet republics have backed the candidacy of the Kazakhstan central bank chief.
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• Strauss-Kahn is in jail in the US, accused of trying to rape a hotel maid.
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• The European Commission said EU member states should agree on a candidate from the 27-nation bloc to replace Strauss-Kahn.
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• Strauss-Kahn had been coming under mounting international pressure to leave his post amid the furore over his arrest.
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• Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of China’s central bank, said the next candidate must be considered for their “morality, ability and diligence”.
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• The IMF’s executive board released a letter from the French executive in which the 62-year-old denied the allegations against him, but said he felt compelled to resign “with sadness”.
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• Strauss-Kahn’s deputy, John Lipsky, has been placed in interim control of the organisation, and the IMF says it will release information “in the near future” about the appointment of a permanent successor.
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• Strauss-Kahn is under suicide watch in an isolated cell in New York City’s Rikers Island jail, awaiting a grand jury decision on whether to indict him.