IMF Strauss-Kahn Setup alleged

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/dominique-strauss-kahn/8517387/Dominique-Strauss-Kahn-conspiracy-theories-mount.html 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703421204576329690735300066.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

From the Media Research Center

While reporting on the sexual assault case against International Monetary Fund Chairman Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Tuesday's Today, NBC correspondent Jeff Rossen noted how the would-be Socialist Party candidate for the French presidency had "worried his political opponent, current French President Nicolas Sarkozy, would try to frame him with a fake rape..."

Rossen further added that Strauss-Kahn once told a French newspaper that the rape victim would be "promised 500,000 or a million euros to invent this story" by Sarkozy. Following Rossen's report, correspondent Michelle Kosinski highlighted French outrage over Strauss-Kahn's arrest: "I would say that the reaction ranges from disbelief to outright disgust. To see their VIP paraded before cameras, the socialists are calling it 'inhumane'....they're saying that this looks like a humiliating public exhibition like something from ancient times."

The headline on screen during the segment read: "French Conspiracy Theories; Was Banker Set Up as Part of Political Plot?"

After Kosinski's report, co-host Meredith Vieira discussed the case with the former head of the New York City Sex Crimes Unit, Linda Fairstein. Vieira began by touting: "There are some people in France who are speculating that this could be a political set-up." The headline on screen at that time had changed to read: "Sexual Assault or Political Plot?; The Case Against French Banker Strauss-Kahn."

Banks face 3.6 Trillion "Wall of Maturing Debt" according to IMF

Many European banks need bigger capital cushions to restore market confidence and help reduce the risk of another financial crisis, according to the IMF's report, published on Wednesday.

Banks around the world are facing a $3.6 trillion "wall of maturing debt" coming due in the next two years, and the rollover requirements are most acute for Irish and German banks, the report said.

"These bank funding needs coincide with higher sovereign refinancing requirements, heightening competition for scarce funding resources," the IMF said.

However the IMF said Spain's efforts to control its budget deficit have increased investor confidence and make it unlikely the country will follow Portugal in calling for a bail-out.

"The actions that have been taken in Spain recently have managed to decouple in the views of markets the fortunes of Spain relative to those of Portugal" and Ireland, said Jose Vinals, director of the IMF's monetary and capital markets department.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8448169/Banks-facing-3.6-trillion-wall-of-maturing-debt-IMF-Global-Financial-Stability-Report-says.html