Daybreak: DSK May Claim It Was Consensual
Plus Assad admits mistakes were made, and more in the news
May 18, 2011
DSK yesterday during his arraignment.(Emannuel Dunand-Pool/Getty Images))
• Dominque Strauss-Kahn, currently at Rikers Island, may claim consensual sex as a defense to the allegations that he sexually attacked a maid at his hotel. In fairness, the guy’s got killer abs I hear. [NYT]
• The Obama administration is deciding whether to offer not only same but an actual new move in favor of Mideast peace in the president’s speech tomorrow on the Arab Spring. More at 10. [NYT]
• President Assad said his poorly trained police had made mistakes and caused more deaths. So, like, they tripped when they were brutally putting down the Syrian people’s uprising against him? [AP/WP]
• Thomas Friedman calls on Prime Minister Netanyahu to put his money where his mouth is: Stop building settlements and propose an actual two-state map. [NYT]
• A new World Bank report on Palestinian corruption is mixed, praising further prevention thereof but tsk-tsking a failure to prosecute past offenders. [AP/WP]
• Former President Moshe Katsav’s seven-year rape sentence has been delayed pending appeal, so he won’t do jailtime for now. [Haaretz]
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.
