not able to run, the imf from a prison cell, dominique strauss-kahn resigns from one of the world's most powerful jobs, vowing to fight the charges of sexual assault. hello, it is 11:00 a.m. in paris, 5:00 a.m. in new york, i'm monita rajpal. you're watching "world one" live from london. also ahead, the white house says it is moving against

syria's president and his cronies. new sanctions as the u.s. calls for an end to the security crackdown. waiting for water levels to fall, for thousands of people forced out of their homes by the mississippi floods, life becomes a waiting game. and the disaster that rocked an economy to its foundations, japan sinks back into its third recession in a decade. dominique strauss-kahn has resigned as head of the international monetary fund to focus on clearing his name. his decision follows charges he tried to rape a hotel maid in new york. strauss-kahn denies the allegations but since he was arrested on saturday, he's come under increasing pressure to step down. one european minister said he should reflect on whether he was damaging the imf. just a few hours ago, strauss-kahn said this in a letter to the imf board, quote, i deny with the greatest possible firmness all the allegations against me. i want to protect the

institution i have served with honor and devotion. and i want to devote all my strength, time and energy to proving my innocence. well, in the next few hours strauss-kahn's lawyers will go to court to ask for him to be allowed out of jail. he's spent the last three days in the infamous new york rikers island prison. he's offering to post bail of $1 million and hand in his travel documents. he would also be confined to his manhattan home and be electri l electrically tagged. a source close to his legal team says strauss-kahn could be released as early as today. cnn's john defterios is following this from brussels. and jim bitterman is also in paris. first, john, who are the contenders to take the helm at the imf? >> monita, the first thing is, due process was not allowed to play out, at least for the

managing director's role of the imf, that is due in part because of the profile built by dominique strauss-kahn in the midst of the global financial crisis. now we moved into the phase of the european financial crisis with greece, ireland and portugal and the strong belief here is that you can't leave the seat empty. this is the president of the european commission, jose manuel barroso. >> in terms of leadership, i think it will be important as soon as possible to have this matter resolved. >> reporter: president barroso was also saying we shouldn't concentrate on the flag, ie, where the country where the next candidate will come from. although people have talked already locally with christine lagarde and angel guerria. it moves into this g20 horse trading phase. i call it phone diplomacy and

face-to-face diplomacy. watch out for meeting next week with president obama and david cameron. angela merkel had bilateral meetings over the weekend and nicolas sarkozy, wen jiabao, king abdullah of saudi arabia, all different countries that make up the g20, china, saudi arabia, raising the profile and share holdings in that process. it will get much more complicated. it will be accelerated in the next three to four days. >> all right, john, let's go over now to jim bitterman in paris. and jim, of course, while that's happening on the one side, the political side, let's take a look at how it's also this fallout has continued to take place in paris. tell us about, again, the scanned that'll continues to rock france. >> reporter: well, i think one of the things that happened here this morning was the idea that they saw this letter from dominique strauss-kahn, it's the first time anyone here has heard anything from him.

and the resignation letter to the imf was the first thing they heard. i'll read a little bit more of that. you read a bit in the introduction. he also said i think at this time first of my wife, who i love more than anything, my children, my family and friends and colleagues at the fund. to all i want to say i deny with the greatest possible firmness all the allegations that have been made against me. clearly he plans to continue denying everything and i would think that's what we'll hear in court this afternoon when he does appear. there's one other interesting development here this morning and it came out of the newspaper the figaro. they say they have a source at the hotel has told them there was a second person in the hotel room at about the same time as the alleged attack occurred. according to the figaro, their hotel source says this was a room serviceman who came up and was cleaning away trays and did not have to use his key card to get into the room, that the door to the room was open. that appears to contradict what

the maid told police. at least what we're seeing of the police reports. another small contradiction, according to this hotel source, there is no video camera in the corridor outside the hotel room. that also appears to contradict the information we heard at the very beginning. monita? >> all right, jim, thank you for that. jim bitterman there for us in paris. the role of managing director of the imf requires expertise in economics and international relations. manufacture the people now being described as contenders are from the developing world. let's begin with the first contender, kemal dervis. he's from turkey where he served briefly as the economy minister. he's former head of the united nations development program and spent more than 20 years at the world bank. up next, agustin carstens. he's experienced of the inner workings of the imf where he was one of three deputy managing directors. another contender is this

gentleman, montek-singh ahluwalia. he's from india, he joined the world bank after he graduated from oxford university and became the youngest ever divisional head at the age of 28. an early favorite was britain's former prime minister and finance minister gordon brown. his chances, though, seem to have vanished because the current prime minister, david cameron has not backed him. then of course we heard there from john defterios talking about this woman right here, christine lagarde. she's been the french finance minister since 2007, the first woman to hold that position in a g8 nation. she's a renowned lawyer and was an intern on capitol hill. he has talked about freedom and the spread of democracy, now it's time for barack obama to put his money where his mouth is. the u.s. president plans to offer economic assistance to egypt and to tunisia in a speech that will shed new light on his administration's policy in the region. let's get more now from cnn's brianna keilar.

>> reporter: president obama will be talking generally about just how historic the last few months have been in the middle east. he'll be talking about season this opportunity to help democracy grow in the region but he'll also be dealing with specifics when it comes to aid for egypt and tunisia. senior administration officials say you'll hear from him, economic proposals they say will be powerful incentives for other countries in the region considering democratic reforms. so specifically, what are some of the proposals here? pouring money into ngos, think tanks, universities, so they can help bolster the economy, make it run more smoothly and creating jobs, getting the droves of young people into the work force and also on a larger scale, proposals to forgive the debt of egypt and tunisia. we're talking about $1 billion here and also guaranteeing loans that would help grow financial systems in both countries. the idea essentially, pour money

into these countries, create economic stability, grow democracy from there and why these two countries you may ask? senior administration officials say egypt because it's a bellwether for the region and tunisia because that's where the arab spring uprisings began. brianna keilar, cnn, the white house. as president obama extends a helping hand to egypt and tunisia, he's taking a different tact elsewhere in the region. the u.s. is imposing sanctions on syria's president and other figures in the government and calling for damascus to end its brutal crackdown on opposition. arwa damon has been following the story. she joins us now. there are many who will say while these sanctions don't have a lot of practicality and teeth behind them, it's certainly symbol symbolic. >> reporter: it most certainly would appear to be that way, monita. in fact, the impact they're actually going to have is not likely to be all that severe when it comes to how the syrian

regime is choosing to deal with the uprising within its own borders. these sanctions are basically financial, they're freezing at sets of president assad and six of his top government officials. they are barring u.s. persons from doing business with those against whom they are leave individual. at this stage it's not known exactly how much financial assets syria actually has in the united states. analysts in fact believe the bulk of syria's assets would be in europe or more likely in the middle east. but at this stage, they do most certainly send a message to the syrian president, to the regime as a whole that they will be held accountable. whether or not that message will be strong enough or exert enough pressure on the regime in terms of it altering its behavior, that remains to be seen, again, not very likely, monita. >> has there been any word coming out of damascus as a result of the sanctions from the united states. >> reporter: monita, no.

we've been trying to reach out to damascus. we tried to reach out to the syrian embassy here in beirut. there's nothing as of yet on the syrian state-run news agency, the syrian-arab news agency. this say regime known for its defiance, especially in the face of international condemnation and in the face of sanctions that have already been slapped against the regime as recently as at the end of march when the syrian military went into the southern part of dara. we saw the military crackdown intensifying. at the same time, this is a regime that has been pulling to try to pull itself out of international isolation. the regime has been focusing a lot of efforts on trying to put forward the president's image of being a reformer. it's been an image that the international community has been willing to buy into. the syrian regime believes it still holds the upper hand when it comes to dealing with this

uprising within its own borders. it realizes and the reality is, the u.s. has very little real leverage against the syrian regime and it is also capable of fomenting, if it feels truly threatened, fomenting here in lebanon and also more importantly, fomenting unrest instability for america's number one ally in the region and that is israel. if we look at what happened on sunday as an indication of what syria is capable of, on sunday, palestinian ref hugees and dem strarts were in the golan heights. they were able to enter into previously off hi-limit areas. syrian regime, despite all of those sanctions does still remain in a fairly powerful position, monita. >> arwa dameen in beirut, thank you. you're watching "world one" live from london. we'll have the latest on the

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you're watching "world one," live from london. our top stories this hour, the head of the international monetary fund has resigned to focus on defending himself against charges of attempted rape. in a letter to the imf, dominique strauss-kahn said the allegations against him aren't true, but he was stepping down to protect the imf. his lawyers head back to court in just a few hours in a fresh appeal for him to be released from prison on bail. the u.s. is set to offer economic aid to egypt and tunisia. president barack obama is expected to make the pledge in a policy speech on the middle east, touching on uprises across the region. mr. obama hopes to help egypt and tunisia develop through political and economic reforms. a nation rose up and a

government fell. more than 800 people lost their lives in the protests that topple hosni mubarak's regime. among the recommendations to egyptian authorities, a full inquiry should be conducted into past violations and guilty parties brought to justice. victims of mistreatment should receive compensation and a formal apology should come from the highest levels of government. for more on that report and what it means for egypt's future, i'm joined via skype by amnesty egypt's researcher. in light of what we are expecting to hear from the president barack obama about his speech on the middle east, specifically when it comes to

aid to egypt and tunisia and taking into account what your report has found, what are you hoping he's going to say? >> this is a matter that regards the u.s. foreign policy towards egypt and africa. we have found abuses and violations of human rights have continued in a very bad manner after mubarak has left. this as you pointed out, includes the arbitrary arrest, detention and torture of peaceful protesters and others. >> so do you think -- let me jump in there, sir. do you think then that the united states should be offering aid to egypt if, according to your report, the country is still under a new administration, new regime is still having, i guess, violating human rights accords in that country? >> well, look, i don't want to

speak very much about the aid side of things. the u.s. has been providing aid to egypt for a long time. it's not something new there. and the conditionality on aid is something that has been discussed before many times. and tied to human rights violations. what we can say, as amnesty international is that torture continues in egypt. there are testimonies that we have gathered, before mubarak and after his fall. that point to similar abuses that we saw at the hands of the police and security agents, being implemented or committed by military police and armed forces. this means that low-informant officials are committing the same violations that we saw in the past. the police might have withdrawn

as law enforcement officials or martyrs. what we can see is the current law enforcement officials which are the military, have resorted to similar patterns of violations. >> what are you hoping this report will do? >> it's very important to reveal the truth about what has happened during that 21st of january revolution. many people have many accounts of what has happened. we look at them from a perspective of human rights and we document objectively and scientifically what has happened during this period. and we noted that beside the killings where a lot of people have spoken about already, killings of protesters, we want to point to the practice of torture that continues in egypt,

because this is the current state of affairs. >> mohammed lotfy, thank you so much. >> thank you. you're watching "world one," live from london. water levels on the mississippi are breaking records as forecasters say the floods will be around for weeks to come. we'll show you what's happening in one of the worst hit areas. plus, queen elizabeth opens a new chapter of reconciliation in the long and tangled relations between britain and ireland. eathes easily. eathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers.

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the flood swollen mississippi river is at record levels and it's not expected to fall to below flood stage until mid-to-late june. martin savage is there. he shows us the impact on local communities. >> all eyes continue to be

focused on the yazoo and mississippi rivers here in vicksburg. they hope it levels off. even when it does, the water will remain a problem for weeks. it's been creeping into communities here north and south of the city of vicksburg itself. going into a number of subdivisions. there are about 1,700 people who have been forced to flee the waters here. statewide in mississippi that number is closer to 5,000 and continues to grow as the water levels continue to rise in the southern part of the state. you start talking about the dollars and cents. downtown vicksburg, there is a dike created out of lumber, elected in three days to try to prevent further damage into the cats fish row, a popular place for tourists, restaurants. so far, that dike is working but

there are a lot of leaks and there's a lot of pressure from the water bearing down on it right now. that's one of the concerns, all the levees, hundreds of miles of levees in the state of mississippi and elsewhere, not to mention the dikes and flood protection systems have been under stress for weeks. they will be under stress for weeks more, which is why authorities say even after the crest, there is reason for great concern. however, that said, despite the homes that have been lost, despite the damage to crops and farmland, the real reality is there has not been a single death or injury as a result of this flood. back in 1927, the last high water mark that everyone refers to this in this country for the mississippi river delta, thousands of people died. this time is not the case at all. the levees, the improvements made since that time have worked. it is overall, a success story and many hope it will remain that way. in vicksburg, mississippi, i'm

martin savidge. back to you. meteorologist jen delgado joins us from the world weather center. >> a very slow process with the river actually cresting in several parts, right along the mississippi river. we are expecting today the river to actually crest in vicksburg. later on this morning and we're talking about 17.4 meters, that's roughly around 57 feet, incredibly high. record levels up and down the mississippi river. it looks like it will stay that way, cresting at least for the next five days. it's going to be dangerously high through many parts along the mississippi river. as we talk more about vicksburg and how it's been affecting the region, how widespread this flooding is. if you want to get an idea of the area affected, we're talking roughly the size of italy. 200,000 square kilometers. typically right along vicksburg, the mississippi river is roughly around 1 kilometer.

well, because the flooding is so bad and so widespread, we're talking 40 kilometers wide in some parts. you can see in this image right here, that's roughly miles. many homes are in jeopardy. when you're talking about water spreading out thatch past where it normally should be. we'll follow that again, we're expecting that to crest later on this morning. as we look at the radar, fairly quiet for areas down towards the south. you can see rain moving through parts of missouri but it's not going to be enough to actually affect river levels. finally, i want to talk about an incredible story coming out of middle east and asia. temperature near 45 degrees, roughly about 115 degrees fahrenheit. you think that sounds hot. when you add in the humidity, coming in that moisture off the arabian sea, temperatures, get this, monita, right near 65. that's what it feels like. 150 degrees. i always say i love the heat but in fact that's even too hot for me. that is going to be dangerous. those temperatures will stay

that way through friday. we'll see a little bit of relief by saturday. 150 degrees, can you imagine working around in that? >> no thank you. >> i know. >> i know a lot of people do live in those parts off pakistan and india as well where it's so, so hot this time of year. the important thing is to stay hydrated. thank you very much. >> you're welcome. you're watching "world one" live from london. coming up, a toast and a royal display of sympathy. britain's queen elizabeth looks to a new partnership between the uk and ireland. we'll take you live to dublin. just ahead of that, we go live to new york where the head of the international monetary fund is stepping down to try to clear his name. what is that? it's you!

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hello, this is "world one," live from london. i'm monita rajpal. our top stories this hour, dominique strauss-kahn has announced he's stepping down as head of the international monetary fund. he had been under increasing pressure to quit, following allegations he tried to rape a maid in a new york hotel. in a letter to the imf released just a few hours ago, strauss-kahn denied the charges and said he is resigning to devote his time to clearing his name. the u.s. president is about to unveil his plan for promoting development in egypt and tunisia. barack obama will explain washington's offer ever economic aid to the two countries in a speech on the middle east. the address will set out washington's policy stance in the wake of uprisings across the region. the flood swollen mississippi river was cresting at a record level wednesday night. the national weather service

said the river could reach over 17 meters at vicksburg, more than 4 meters above flood level. the river is not expected to fall to below the flood level until mid-to-late june. the massive earthquake and tsunami that rocked japan in march has just claimed another victim. the economy. the economic impact of the double disaster has officially pushed the country back into recession. thursday's gdp figures show a quarterly economic shrinkage of almost 1% implying an annualized contraction of 3.7%, much steeper than analysts had predicted. back to our top story now, an imf chief dominique strauss-kahn stepping down to focus on clearing his name. he denies he sexually assaulted a new york hotel employee. his lawyers go back to court today to try to get him released from prison on bail. right now, cnn's susan candiotti joins us live from manhattan. tell us about what this appeal

will entail. >> reporter: first of all, the timing of this is interesting, his resignation. his denial, his words are the first time we're hearing from him, even though it's on paper, saying that he denies as he puts it with the greatest possible firmness, all the allegations made against him. the question, of course, is whether he will be able to convince a judge to set him free. here's what's going to happen in court. he is asking the judge for the following requirements, that he will -- he himself will put up $1 million bail. he will agree to being detained at home 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. under electronic monitoring, probably an ankle bracelet at the very least and to stay in touch by phone with parole officers. he's already turned over his passport but he said he would also turn in a united nations travel document that he has as well. now, the judge declined some of these very same proposals when

he was in court on monday. the question is, will things be different this time, monita? >> that leads to the likelihood that the new york judge will actually agree to these suggestions made by his defense team in terms of whether or not they will grant this bail. knowing new york courts as you do, what's the likelihood of this actually happening? >> reporter: here's one important factor everyone has to consider. the question is will the manhattan district attorney argue against this plea offer being made by the defense attorneys? if they go along with it, that could certainly serve to help his cause and the judge may agree. regardless, it's still ultimately up to the judge to make that decision. and it's a different judge than was in court the other day. so at this juncture, it's hard to say what will happen. but if he does make bail, he could be released as early as today. but you know what, mow feet to,

he'll be right back in court on friday. that's when we're going to find out whether a grand jury has taken one more step and indicted the former french diplomat. >> yes. a lot of developments coulding happening the next couple hours. thank you so much for that, susan candiotti joining us from manhattan. for strauss-kahn, life on rikers island, in a prison cell is a world away from what he is accustomed to. who has been footing that bill for that lifestyle? we explain. >> reporter: a picture of dominique strauss-kahn, a socialist stepping into a porsche worth at least 90 grand. the car's not even his. but the head of the imf does seem to live well enough to afford the ride. take his salary, more than $440,000 a year. that's more than president obama makes and strauss-kahn pays no taxes on it, this at a time when

one imf critic says the institution imposes stark conditions on the government it lends money to. >> not only are taxpayers in borrowing countries paying for that salary but they're having to pay the costs in a second way, which is they have to undertake the policies the imf demands which often hurt particularly ordinary working class people. >> reporter: an imf spokesman responds pay increases for imf officials are below the rate of inflation. but dominique strauss-kahn's perks don't stop at his straight paycheck. one of strauss-kahn's best perks, an annual allowance of more than $79,000, tax-free to spend as he likes. according to his contract to maintain a scale of living appropriate to his position. plus he gets reimbursed separately for entertainment expenses. an imf spokesman says the institution does not pay for this $4 million house in washington or for other properties reportedly owned by strauss-kahn and his wife in paris and in morocco. imf staff assigned outside the u.s. do get housing allowances.

people like strauss-kahn who aren't american and work at the washington headquarters get other benefits. >> they get allowances for keeping their kids in school, they get health care. they get probably generous vacations. >> reporter: it's also in strauss-kahn's contract that he and anyone in his family fly first class whenever he's on official business. i asked john suel about strauss-ka strauss-kahn's take home. you don't have a problem with the salary. >> i think this is one of the world's most important jobs. it's reflected by the fact that dominique strauss-kahn played an absolutely central role in dealing with the global financial crisis we hopefully are moving out of. >> reporter: he also credits strauss-kahn with drastically reforming the imf and making it relevant again after a period when few countries wanted to borrow money from it. brian todd, cnn, washington. a new partnership, britain's queen elizabeth offered deep

sympathy to the victim of britain's and ireland's turbulent pass, underlying the spirit of reconciliation that has p has come with this visit. today, though, it is all about fun. the queen famously a lover of horses will head to the national stud in kildare, southwest of dublin. she's expected to meet some of the country's top horse trainers. ireland is a renowned center for breeding race ohorseracehorses. let's go live now to fionnuala sweeney. >> reporter: i believe her

expression of sympathy is genuine. so as you say, the visit continues. let's talk and bring in dumphy. the queen's visit in a nutshell? >> it's been an outstanding success. there have been some riveting moments, particularly at the garden of remembrance when she bowed her head in tribute to freedom fighters who had fought the forces of the crown. no words spoken but the gesture was most eloquent. >> reporter: some say the gestures without words were more symbolic and stronger than the actual words she said last night. but if i can ask you, where when she leaves ireland tomorrow will it leave anglo-irish relations? >> i think it will strengthen them and leave them more in sync with the real feelings of irish pell.

we watch english television, we follow the royal family, the royal wedding was hugely popular here, people brought televisions into work. i think it normalizes the relationships and i think also there's a special affection for this particular woman. we're not monikers but we respect this woman. she has been very impressive. >> reporter: it's possible to be nationalists and also welcome the queen to ireland sa what you're saying. where is ireland now, ireland known for its traditional music, u2, where are the younger generations, the younger musicians? >> that's a good question. they might be in west life, places like euro vision. you have to be careful of your cultural heritage and protect it and nurture it. many gifted irish people are going into television and film. of course we have some young

pl pl playwrig playwrights. they will always find an audience. as many other irish people say, work in england. we're very much part of the english language culture. yes. >> reporter: eamon dumphy, thank you for joining us. there will be a performance for the queen at the national convention center after she takes a few private pleasures in seeing the horses at the national stud. monita, back to you. >> certainly a day of fun for her. thank you very much for that. this is "world one" live from london. up next, what would you do, this is a serious question, what would you do if zombies invaded the earth?

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welcome back. the football club that claimed a piece of silverware on wednesday was guaranteed to be portuguese. here's kate giles to explain why. >> even i know that one. >> two portuguese teams. >> sc porto, the champions of the europa league. we're waiting for the champions league final. that was after they won in an all-portuguese final. porto's 33-year-old manager goes down in history as the youngest ever coach to win a european

trophy. big night for him and his team. there was just one goal in it. fittingly it came from the top scorer in the competition, falcao. it was his 17th goal in 14 games in the europa league, 1-0. the 2011 europa league silverware. the nba's eastern conference now, miami knew they had to regroup after losing the opening game of their series with chicago by 21 points. and their adjustments, they were put to the test on wednesday. this was game two of the best of seven series. tipping off in the windy city in chicago. the big game was needed from this man, dwyane wade for miami to step it up. derrick rose wanted to repeat his huge performance for the bulls from game one. the first quarter winding down here, luol dang with a buzzer-beating three-pointer. lebron james gets it to dwyane

wade for the alley-oop slam to tie the game at 32. james again here on the drive, this time he goes himself. lebron often playing his best when his back is against the wall. last night in america was certainly true for that. now to the third, james coming up with the steal. he goes in for the layup and the foul. a three-point play for lebron and the heat. but in the fourth quarter, the bulls back even. it did begin to look dangerous for miami. they were deadlocked at 73 apiece. the bulls beginning to charge. but the heat did have an answer. more specifically lebron james had an answer. james has come through when it matters in this postseason and he did it again as he chases his first nba title. lebron took over scoring 9 of miami's final 12 points, 29 points and 10 rebounds in all from him. miami win it 87-85. that's all we have for sports.

>> al hail king james, huh. >> exactly. >> interestingly enough, we were talking about the all-portuguese final. that's what's trending on the social media segment we'll talk about. number three, perfect porto as they're calling it. porto have won the europa league and their fans are sharing their joy online. there's also a lot of discussion as kate was talking about, the manager of the club, andre vilas-boas. ted nugent was interviewed by cnn's piers morgan. his controversial views on gun ownership and how apparently more guns equals less crime are getting a lot of attention online. see the exclusive clips by going to cnn.com.

and ever wonder what you need to survive a zombie invasion? the cdc has written a blog that gives you information on what you need to survive the apocalypse. it also has advice on what to do in tornadoes and hurricanes. this is say top trends. people sharing their advice on how to survive an attack of the undead. japan's double disaster claims another victim. how the earthquake and tsunami have dealt a blow to the country's economy. that's coming up on "world one." well, hotels know they can't fill every room every day. like this one. and this one. and oops, my bad. so, they give expedia ginormous discounts with these: unpublished rates. which means i get an even more rockin' hotel, for less. my brain didn't even break a sweat.

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welcome back. this is "world one," live from london. we are coming up on 6:00 a.m. in new york, noon in berlin, 7:00 p.m. in tokyo. the massive earthquake and tsunami that rocked japan in march has claimed another

victim. the economy. the impact of the double disaster pushed the country back into recession. thursday's gdp figures show economic output shrank in the first quarter at a rate equal to 3.7% a year. that's a much sharper slowdown on analysts expected. kyung lah brings us more from tokyo. >> reporter: the tsunami that leveled japan's northern coastline on march 11th is now two months later, destroying a new terrain, the country's economy. japan's government announced the nation's gross domestic product fell at a surprising 3.7% annualized rate in the first quarter of 2011. it's a second quarter in a row the gdp has fallen, meaning japan is now in a recession. >> it's a very deep hole that japan found itself in the last six month and it will have ahead of itself a long, steep climb as well. >> reporter: look deeper into the gdp fall and the numbers are

even more grim. industrial output which includes all the consumer products japan sends around the world plunged 15.3% in march. the worst ever recorded in japan's history. the auto industry hurt the most. car production fell almost 60% in march. nissan's president and ceo, carlos goehn re-opened a factory hard hit this week, leading workers in a rah-rah session. in the hard-region of miyaga prefecture, 00 companies expected to close. as far as tourism coming in, it's fallen off a cliff. airports are reporting a 35% to

6 a% drop in travelers. the nuclear crisis at fukushima is also fueling concerns of an energy shortage, impacting japan's ability to produce cars, tricks and parts fors no come. experts say japan's economy was struggling before the disaster. hsbc senior economist frederick newman believes there say chance the disaster could have an unintended positive outcome. >> the silver lining of this earthquake was that perhaps this will accelerate the reform pressures in japan, in a year, two years from now, emerge stronger than it had been in the runup to the earthquake. >> reporter: perhaps most concerning about today's gdp figures is that the tsunami hit late in the first quarter in march. this upcoming quarter, will be a much more accurate look at how this economy is truly struggling. kyung lah, cnn, tokyo. let's bring you up to date on our top stories on "world one." dominique strauss-kahn resigned

from one of the world's most powerful jobs. he's stepping down as head of the international monetary fund amid allegations he tried to rape a maid at a new york hotel. he denies the charges in a letter to the imf, strauss-kahn said he is stepping down to prove his innocence. queen elizabeth is extending her deepest sympathy to the victims of britain and ireland's turbulent past. her speech of reconciliation came during last night's state dinner at dublin castle. today is all about fun and culture as the british monarch prepares for a visit to the national stud horse breeding farm in kildare. three people have escaped a burning tanker plane after a crash in southern california. the boeing 707 went down during takeoff at a naval base air base, spewing large plumes of black smoke. the fire was put out about 3 1/2 hours later. you're watching "world one," live from london. i'm monita rajpal. thanks for joining us. stay with us here on cnn.

braking news on this "american morning," imf chief dominique strauss-kahn resigns just hours before his bail hearing. he insists he didn't commit a crime and is stepping down because he needs more time to defend himself. we'll tell you what he's prepared to promise the judge just to get out of prison. and al qaeda releasing a new audio tape claiming it was recorded by osama bin laden before he died. when and what does it say? new details this morning. plus, the first pictures of the other woman, the mother of arnold schwarzenegger's secret son. she's a former house keeper for the ex-governor and there's news this morning about a legal move made by maria schriever. plus the three ways you are about to waste money today. coming up next on this "american morning." >> there's only three?

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