New York Police boarded an Air France plane as it waited for takeoff at JFK this Saturday and took French economist Dominique Strauss Kahn into custody. The 62-year-old man was the head of the International Monetary Fund and until Saturday, was considered the likely candidate to challenge Nicholas Sarkozy in France’s 2012 elections. By Sunday, Strauss-Kahn was standing in a Manhattan court, in front of a crowd of tabloid reporters. The incident has caused a “political earthquake” as the IMF – and the French Socialist Party – struggle to replace him. Liz Alderman, chief business correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, joins from Paris to discuss the scandal.
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