Key meeting in Strauss-Kahn case

22 August 2011 Last updated at 16:29 GMT Dominique Strauss-Kahn was considered a possible candidate for the French presidency before the case Prosecutors are to meet the hotel maid accusing former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, amid reports the case is about to collapse.

Nafissatou Diallo's lawyer has said they expect to learn the case will be dropped when they meet New York prosecutors at 15:00 (20:00 BST).

Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested in May accused of sexually assaulting the African immigrant.

He also faces a civil lawsuit filed by Ms Diallo this month.

Mr Strauss-Kahn is expected to appear in a Manhattan court on Tuesday, when prosecutors will outline how the case is to proceed.

If the charges are thrown out, he would be free to return to France.

'Abandoned'

Authorities in Paris are still considering whether to press charges against him over an allegation by French writer Tristane Banon that he tried to rape her during a 2003 interview.

Nafissatou Diallo, shown with her lawyer Kenneth Thompson, has defended her case in the media

An international media frenzy erupted on 14 May when Ms Diallo, a 32-year-old immigrant from Guinea, told police that Mr Strauss-Kahn had sexually assaulted her in a suite at the Sofitel Hotel in New York City.

The 62-year-old IMF director was arrested that day on board an Air France jet and was later marched out of a New York police station in handcuffs.

Authorities in New York said they had DNA evidence showing a sexual encounter occurred and that Ms Diallo's account of the alleged assault was credible.

Lawyers for Mr Strauss-Kahn said that any sexual encounter between the two had been consensual.

Ms Diallo's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, has told US media he expects prosecutors to inform them on Monday that the case will be dropped.

Mr Thompson also told France's RTL radio on Sunday that his client "feels abandoned" by the Manhattan district attorney and felt "that she's being investigated more than Strauss-Kahn".

'Inconsistencies'

Mr Strauss-Kahn had been touted as a leading contender to take on French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the April 2012 presidential elections.

French novelist Tristane Banon claims she was attacked by Mr Strauss-Kahn

After his arrest, he was forced out of his job as director of the International Monetary Fund and later placed under house detention.

Within weeks the case was called into question as prosecutors said there were inconsistencies in Ms Diallo's background and her account of the alleged assault.

Prosecutors also said Ms Diallo had not been truthful on an asylum application form in her account of a gang rape she said she suffered back in Guinea.

Mr Strauss-Kahn was later freed from his restrictive bail conditions.

Ms Diallo then took the unusual step of giving media interviews, defending her allegations against Mr Strauss-Kahn.

On 8 August, she filed a civil suit against him.

An opinion poll released in July showed two-thirds of French people do not want Mr Strauss-Kahn to be a candidate in the 2012 elections.

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Protests due at BP annual meeting

14 April 2011 Last updated at 02:55 GMT The rig exploded last April and sank off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 workers BP could face a wave of protesters and angry shareholders at its first annual general meeting since a disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

It is almost one year since 11 workers were killed when a drilling rig leased by BP exploded, unleashing millions of barrels of oil.

Fishermen from the US are set to be among protesters at the AGM in London.

Meanwhile, BP is trying to save a £10bn alliance with the Russian state-owned oil company, Rosneft, from collapse.

The share swap deal would have resulted in both companies jointly exploiting potential vast new energy reserves in the Russian Arctic Circle.

It was a key part of BP's turnaround strategy and aimed at delivering future growth.

But it was put on hold after Russian partners in its current Russian joint venture won an injunction.

BP had until Thursday to complete the deal. If it is to be saved, they will need to secure more time.

The handling of the deal with the Russian oil company is likely to stir up anger at the AGM, already set to be a noisy, angry affair.

On top of shareholder ire over boardroom bonuses, some fishermen and women, whose livelihoods were affected by the oil spill on 20 April 2010, will be at the meeting as shareholders.

They will be joined by indigenous communities angry at BP's involvement in extracting tar sands - a heavily polluting form of oil - in Canada.

Outside, a protest is set to be staged by environmentalists, with more planned over the next week across London.

And workers involved in a dispute at a BP-owned biofuels plant near Hull will also demonstrate, some dressed as an oil slick, linking their row with the firm's behaviour in the Gulf.

They say they have been "locked out" of the contract to build the new plant at Saltend, near Hull, after the project fell behind schedule.

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