MISSION ACCOMPLISHED : STRAUSS-KAHN

FORMER International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn returned home to France yesterday for the first time since a New York hotel maid accused him of attempted rape, unleashing an international scandal that dashed his chances for the French presidency.

Mr Strauss-Kahn and his wife, Anne Sinclair, arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and passed rapidly through the terminal before being whisked away in a waiting car. They were smiling but made no statement to journalists.

Mission accomplished. He has been removed from the IMF and will not seek presidency of France .

WILL THE G20 KICK THE G8 TO THE CURB ?

The group of eight industrialized powers are now ineffectual in the worldwide financial crises, according to researchers and international affairs experts.

The G8 consiste of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan ,Russia and the United States. But the G8 depends on the G20 which includes Argentina, Brazil, China, India and South Africa.

Richard Portes, a researcher at the London School of Economics said "no substantive results have come out of the G8 for years. Portes said the G8 has become irrelevant. Barry Echengreen at UC Berkely said reform of the IMF could not be done without China, the largest reserve holder.

Kumor of the Indian Research Council said there should be a G4 , Japan, China, The United States, and the European Union.

MOSCOW CALLS FOR ANTI-U S ALLIANCE

The President of Russia has called on Europe's leaders to create a New World Order that would minimize the role of the United States. Dimitry Medvedev arrived in Evian France Wednesday to woo his fellow leaders into creating an anti-U S front.

Medvedev outlined plans for a new security pact to ban the use of force in Europe. He was playing the divide-and-rule tatics of Vladimir Putin. He proposed creating new financial systems to challenge the dominance of the IMF and the WTO, both of which had fallen under Washington's spell.