Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, will not face a criminal investigation over the alleged group rape of a Belgian sex worker after French prosecutors dropped their preliminary inquiry.
Strauss-Kahn, once a Socialist French presidential hopeful, remains under formal investigation in France over alleged complicity in a pimping operation as part of an inquiry into a prostitution ring centred on the luxury Carlton hotel in Lille. Police are examining whether sex workers were procured for orgies with Strauss-Kahn and flown across the world to him while he was head of the IMF.
During police interviews for the Carlton case, two Belgian sex workers had described group sex in December 2010 at a Washington hotel with Strauss-Kahn and others, while he was head of the IMF. One detail in their testimony caught the attention of investigators. The witness statements suggested a sex worker had said no to certain sex acts, but that her wrists were held down and the acts went ahead. The sex worker in question, now 26, had said in her witness statement to Belgian police: "I didn't shout, but I clearly said in a raised voice that I didn't want to." Although the woman did not file a legal complaint for rape, French officials opened their own preliminary inquiry to establish whether rape charges could be brought against Strauss-Kahn and other men present.
The French prosecution service said on Tuesday that after a preliminary inquiry, the issue would not be pursued. The sex worker had written to judges saying that she had consented to the sex act and would not file a complaint. Le Monde reported that in her letter, the sex worker had said that if her hands were held down, it was because it was a "sex game" and she had initially "refused" but had then "accepted without force".
The Carlton hotel prostitution inquiry continues and Strauss-Kahn is still being formally investigated over pimping.
Sad news for lovers of topless dancing in Red Hook, as the controversial Paris Burlesque Club may ditch the topless dancers and actually become a real cabaret club featuring burlesque dancers. The Brooklyn Paper reports that Cynthia Thomas-Dicks, a Department of Education employee, has filed papers to rename the controversial jiggle joint Con Amore Cabaret and plans to eliminate the dancing ladies and replace them with jazz, improv and burlesque.
Maybe something is getting lost in translation here, but isn't burlesque mostly dancing ladies? Anyway, the community has hated the club since it originally opened, correctly predicting that the Paris would be a strip club despite the owner's protests that it would be a classy adult establishment. Now Thomas Dicks said that despite not making any changes to the club's interior or removing the infamous stripper poles, her new business plan means "we're giving back to the community." At least someone is thinking of the children!
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French investigators are looking into fresh claims that former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Khan and three of his associates gang-raped a Belgian sex-worker in a Washington hotel two years ago, media reports citing officials said Friday.
The Belgian prostitute involved is said to have testified earlier that she was forced to participate in sexual acts by Strauss-Kahn and three of his friends during a party held in a Washington hotel suite in December 2010.
A second Belgian prostitute present at the party has reportedly partially confirmed her statement. Although the two women have not sought to press charges in connection with the incident in France, the country's laws allow an investigation even without a formal complaint.
French prosecutors have already placed Strauss-Kahn under investigation in connection with an ongoing probe into a prostitution ring in the French city of Lille. He is suspected of active and continued involvement in the ring, which authorities believe procured prostitutes for high-profile clients including politicians, businessmen as well as senor police officials.
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PARIS — A French court on Wednesday found the manager of a sex toy shop guilty of violating pornography laws for selling his products within 200 metres (yards) of a school.
The manager of the "Love Shop", Nicolas Busnel, had denied that the shop's products such as dildos and vibrators were pornography following a complaint from a Christian group, the CLER Love and Family association.
But the court in Paris nonetheless found that Busnel had violated pornography laws with his shop in central Paris, which is 90 metres from a local elementary school.
The court ordered him to pay a symbolic one euro in damages to the association. He had faced up to two years in prison and a 30,000 euro ($40,000) fine under the anti-pornography law.
His lawyer Richard Malka said he would appeal and denounced the verdict as based on "the most retrograde morality and the most worrying puritanism."
(Reuters) - From a peroxide-blonde stripper who wants to get bankers meditating to a Rastafarian advocating tantrism as a national religion, a string of colorful outsiders are vying for a place in France's 2012 presidential election.
One wants to bring back the monarchy, another says leaders should be picked by lottery and a third is a clown who doesn't actually have any campaign proposals.
None are likely to drum up the 500 mayoral signatures required to run in the April-May election, but they all hope to strike a chord with voters fed up with mainstream politics.
"A clown won the last election, and we'll only get another one this time, so why not vote for me instead?" said Mimi the Clown, who is standing for a second time, complete with black-and-white panstick makeup, red nose and super-hero garb.
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