john lipski is filling in as managinging atting director and as he told richard quest, they're wasting no time. >> the board of directors will meet shortly the next day or so. they'll agree on let's call it the technical process and details of how the search will be made and the selection will be made once the process is agreed and transmitted, then it will be put in place and the selection process will begin. >> but that's the formal, if you like, nuts and bolts of it. but you know as well as i do that the jockeying for position around a consensus candidate gets under way pretty much while you and i are talking now. >> it's important to note that the members recognize the role of the fund and the importance of having talented and effective leadership and leadership that can create consensus around decisions and action. so this process is likely to be under way soon. the formal process will be under way soon. and hopefully a consensus will emerge in a very expeditious and effective way. >> i need to ask you bluntly. can you hold the job? >> richard, my term ends on august 31st, and it'

israel is taking a tough line against the middle east violence >>> a john lipski was the number two man of the imf the head of the organization is face attempted rape charges in new york. yesterday in court, dominique strauss-kahn did denied the allegations made by hotel maid but the judge denied bail after prosecutors made a case that he is a flight risk. >>> for the first time in a century, a british monarch is visiting the republic of ireland. queen elizabeth arrived this morning dressed in bright green. she received a full state welcome from ireland's president. it's designed to highlight strong relations and neighboring peace. there were more than 8,000 police to protect the queen. >>> no joke, explosions in china. what is exploding? water melons. chinese television is reporting that they put too much chemical on on their watermelon crop and make more money for the farmers. the result, exploding water melons. they are battling abuses in additives and fertilizers in the wake of food scandals. >> meteorologist mike nicco has the forecast. >> clouds of exploding over the bay area and

we should also mention that john lipsky, the acting m.d. of the imf who was the deputy of strauss-kahn will be leaving his position a month after the selection process is complete. june 30th. he said already he's going to be going by august. so, you know, it seems one of those emerging market countries could get that second coveted job. i mean, who knows. let's move things along. >>> upset with their country's economic woes, some spaniards vent and others instead seems are voting their anger and frustration. >>> another volcano erupts in iceland. will it mean more air travel disruptions across europe? we still have that just ahead on "world business today." stay with us. >>> welcome back. you're watching "world business today." in spain, opposition conservatives have cruised to victory in elections as public frustration with high unemployment and severe economic downturn grows. voters rejected the ruling socialist party in both local and regional polls. on sunday, protesters packed city centers around spain to express their anger over europ

john lipski was the number two man, his boss is being held bail in a new york jail on an attempted rapeharge. john hendron has more. >> he went from a $3,000 hotel suite to rikers island jail. >> dominique strauss-kahn has been talked about the next president of france. instead he was in court unshaiw as the prosecutor accused him of sexually attacking a maid. he is head of the imf, this isn't the first time he has been accused of sexual misconduct. four years ago on a tv talk show she said he attacked her but never filed charges. this time the judge denied bail the lawyer says it's a mistake. >> he is innocent of these charges. the intention is to try and clear his name. >> wildfires in northern canada have forced the evacuation of nearly 7,000 people. remote community in alberta lost a third of the buildings when the winds shifted and sent the flames directly into town. it also blocked some of the highway that has swerved as evacuation routes. fortunately nobody was hurt or killed but residents are taking shelter 80 miles away. >>> congresswoman gabrielle giffords chose the song that

israel is taking a tough line against the middle east violence >>> a john lipski was the number two man of the imf the head of the organization is face attempted rape charges in new york. yesterday in court, dominique strauss-kahn did denied the allegations made by hotel maid but the judge denied bail after prosecutors made a case that he is a flight risk. >>> for the first time in a century, a british monarch is visiting the republic of ireland. queen elizabeth arrived this morning dressed in bright green. she received a full state welcome from ireland's president. it's designed to highlight strong relations and neighboring peace. there were more than 8,000 police to protect the queen. >>> no joke, explosions in china. what is exploding? water melons. chinese television is reporting that they put too much chemical on on their watermelon crop and make more money for the farmers. the result, exploding water melons. they are battling abuses in additives and fertilizers in the wake of food scandals. >> meteorologist mike nicco has the forecast. >> clouds of exploding over the bay area and

the number two person john lipski appointed by the u.s. in fact announced a couple of weeks ago that he would leave office at the end of august. now the two top positions are in play. there was a general sense among the g-20 economies when they met at the recent summits that it's now the turn of the emerging markets to have somebody at the top. europe is going to say to the u.s. and other emerging market questions, you want us to give up the top position. why don't you the u.s. give up the second position? it will become a very complicated political battle. >> ifill: let's talk about that and walk us through what the state is now of the french presidential election. you said he was the shoe-in for the socialist nomination. that is likely not to happen unless unless he is completely exonerated. so how do the other dominos fall? >> well, even if he's exonerated, it will be a little bit too late for him to get into the field. here's the story. the french presidential election is going to be in april. it takes place in two rounds. the socialis

. >> john lipsky is the new acting managing director of the international monetary fund. the imf. dominique strauss-kahn has resigned. strauss-kahn is indicted on seven counts of sexual assault. the just installed managing director, lipsky, says the imf's 24 member executive board will move quickly to replace strauss-kahn. but the selection process may turn out to be long, rather than short. competition is building with notables such as former head of the uk, gordon brown, and french finance minister, christine lagarde. but a growing lobby of developing economies wants the new managing director to come from a non-european country particularly since europe has filled the job since the imf began 65 years ago in 1946. that lobby includes -- brazil, india, japan, and technically china. another growing lobby of developed countries from europe want the tradition of a european managing director to be continued. they said that because of difficulties with debt, among western european economies, namely greece, ireland, portugal, spain, the european tradition should remain in place. questio

. >> john lipsky is the new acting managing director of the international monetary fund. the imf. dominique strauss-kahn has resigned. strauss-kahn is indicted on seven counts of sexual assault. the just installed managing director, lipsky, says the imf's 24 member executive board will move quickly to replace strauss-kahn. but the selection process may turn out to be long, rather than short. competition is building with notables such as former head of the uk, gordon brown, and french finance minister, christine lagarde. but a growing lobby of developing economies wants the new managing director to come from a non-european country particularly since europe has filled the job since the imf began 65 years ago in 1946. that lobby includes -- brazil, india, japan, and technically china. another growing lobby of developed countries from europe want the tradition of a european managing director to be continued. they said that because of difficulties with debt, among western european economies, namely greece, ireland, portugal, spain, the european tradition should remain in place. questio

. >>> a stanford grad is now running the imf. 64-year-old john lipsky got his masters and ph.d. in economics at stand ford. >>> new outrage pg&e. how millions of dollars meant for pipeline repairs went unspent. >> the governor made it clear he still needs to raise taxes. we'll tell you how much it would really cost. >>> and blackberry's newest tablet is a big bust. the fatal flaw prompting a major recall coming up. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, >>> another cool one in the bay area today. temperatures well below average, only 62 for san jose and concord, 60 in oakland and only 58 in the city. >>> cyclists in the amgen tour of california will be biking in the rain again today as they pedal from auburn to modesto. after sunday's snowout at lake tahoe the race finally got started on a shortened course yesterday. they went 76 miles from nevada city to sacramento. tomorrow the race will run from livermore to san jose. >>> governor jerry brown is easing the pain a little bit with a new revised version of his state budget plan. he unveiled details yesterday in sacramento. it considers an unexpected

acting chief john lipsky today called the global economy shaky. speaking to world bankers, lipsky said the global recovery is "fragile and beset by uncertainties." >> susie: joining us now to talk more about all this-- scott macdonald, head of economic research at aladdin capital. hi, scott. >> hi, susie, how are you doing? >> susie: i'm good, thank you. let's start out by talking about who is going to get the job. and the two names that everyone is talking about is the christine laguard, france's finance minister and also jean claude trichet, the head of the european central bank. what are your thoughts? >> i think both candidates have impressive resumes. i think lagarde has done a good job as finance minister of france and it appears there's a could laesing behind her by other europeans. it will be critical for her to get support from people like angela merckel. but either candidate is very well qualified. the big issue here is do the europeans get the chance to put another person from europe into that seat. >> susie: that's right, because we ha

in the meantime, john lipsky, a former vice chairman at jpmorgan, will remain as acting director. >>> now to what appears to be osama bin laden's last recorded message to his followers. in the audio recording, a voice, thought to be the al qaeda leader, praises the protest movements in the middle east and north africa, and predicts they will spread to the whole muslim world. the 12-minute message apparently was recorded shortly before bin laden was killed by u.s. commandos in pakistan. it was released on islamic militant websites. >>> the u.s. raid on bin laden's compound has complicated america's relationship with pakistan. some say pakistan's leaders must have known where bin laden was all along. but secretary of defense robert gates says, that may not be the case. >> i've seen no evidence at all that the senior leadership knew. in fact, i've seen some evidence to the contrary. but -- and we have no evidence, yet, with respect to anybody else. my supposition is somebody knew. >> gates also said he believes pakistan was humiliated by the raid. >>> this morning, president obama will d

the fund named john lipski's number two official as acting managing director. the twice divorced but currently married strauss-kahn admitted an affair with a subordinate three years ago but kept his job. a former french economic minister and member of france's opposition socialist party, he's expected to run for president of france next year. on the streets of paris, reactions were mixed. "let's wait for proof," this man said. he can do things for france. "it doesn't surprise me," said this woman. "it's a shame that he wasn't more careful and a political future is now on hold." michelle miller, cbs news, new york. >> mitchell: turning next to the great mississippi flood, army engineers today opened more floodgates at the morganza spillway. that's upriver from new orleans bringing the total to four. they are diverting millions of gallons into the atchafalaya basin sparing new orleans while flooding thousands of square miles of cajun country, dean reynolds is in henderson tonight. good evening. >> good evening, it's the moment of truth for a lot of folks who live

after john lipsky departs in july. it's very interesting i'm sure they're doing the soundings the europeans will formally. come together and agree on a candidate the americans will formally do so themselves but it may well be that these new big bondholders. metropolitans the chinese and others that was so generous and important when they came to the aid of the i.m.f. and the global economy they may say well it's actually time for to change this routine and we need an emerging market candidates how do you think that will change things in the eurozone considering all the troubles there. well it's very interesting because strauss card is obviously european he led from the front right at beginning when he brought the g twenty together and told him how serious the crisis was and they should all cooperate and rescue the global called me and they did and he would be leading the crisis ever since it's it's it's rumbled on and we see seeing it rumble around europe now and he's been very important he has been very personally ver

in the meantime, the first deputy director, john lipsky will fill that role. let's go to john defterios. a sense of relief, perhaps, that the resignation has been tendered and now the process of finding a successor can begin? >> reporter: that's a fair comment, andrew. i almost look at it as book ends on both sides of the atlantic that stood up yesterday with the calls for the resignation. timothy geithner, the u.s. treasury secretary and now here at the business summit of the finance ministers, the president of the european commission, jose manuel berrosso. that was the critical turning point on both sides of the atlantic for the managing director to step aside. the institution has built a higher profile under him which ironically was the reason he needed to step away because of the higher profile of the imf. >> there has been a mott of speculation, a lot of names have been brought up in relation to a successor. is there an obvious front-runner at this stage? >> i think we should look to the fable of the hare and the tortoise, andrew, i'm not trying to be cute

and already in replacement of john lipski, there are rumors there is a candidate from india, a candidatexico and potentially a candidate from china as well. so it is changing the dynamics ever since we had that lehman collapse in the autumn of 2008, it was always the structure of a european leading the international monetary fund, an american at world bank. i think it is fair to say there is a big question mark over the proceedings at the international monetary fund right now. also let's watch what comes out of an informal board meeting from washington after the ruling by the judge not to grant bail to mr. dominique strauss-khan. >> thank you, john. >>> time right now, 24 minutes past the hour. time for some top stories. >>> businessman donald trump has announced that he will not run for president in 2012. in a press release he said, after considerable deliberation and reflection, i've decided not to pursue the office of the presidency. this decision does not come easily or without regret." stay tuned to cnn for updates on this developing story. >>> in louisiana, water from the mississip

john lipsky will be stepping in as managing director. here's a quick look at what the ims does. the fund is like the world savings and loan. it has around $650 billion to lend to 200 member countries. the u.s. contributes $7 billion to that fund. >>> an arrest warrant could be issued to muammar gadhafi for crimes against humanity. a source close to the court tells cnn to expect a formal charge tomorrow. >>> sony plans to start a gradual restoration of its playstation services today. this is after a security breach knocked it off line april 20. that breach exposed certain details of 7 million playstation users. >>> the space shuttle "endeavour" is expected to launch tomorrow. the shuttle's commander is mark kelly. his wife, recovering arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords, is back to watch that launch tomorrow. they are to deliver supplies to the international space station. >>> i sat down with major baseball commissioner bud sealig, and he talks about all three topics, next. aking. to a ceo, it's powerful. to a teacher, it's the future. if you ask a child, she might call it m

the acting imf director, john lipsky is also there. let's go to cnn's jim bitterman joining us from paris. let's talk about the letter from dominique strauss-kahn to the staff. that's pretty interesting. >> it is. it's a very personal letter when you read the whole letter. he sign it is "dominique" at the end. and very personal, it tells the staff to be proud of their accomplishments over the last three and a half years under his leadership and never, ever admits anything to close to guilty. he said he's going to be exonerated of all of the charges. in any case, that's what the tone of the letter was, was basically to the staff, who he had worked closely with over the last three and a half years. now onto the g-20 meeting this morning. labor ministers who are meeting here, president sarkozy said he was going to make sure they focused on labor and social issues, as well as food and markets. that sort of thing. did he that this morning in his speech to the labor ministers, telling them they should concentrate on unemployment problems and

. >>> a stanford grad now running the imf, 64-year-old john lipsky. he got his masters and ph.d.sed to retire in august. >>> governor brown easing the pain a bit with a new revised version of the state budget plan. it considers an unexpected $6.6 billion in new revenues that allow the governor to put $3 billion more towards education compared with a plan he released in january but the plan still calls for the continuation of increases in some taxes and fees. cbs 5 did some number crunching. the sales tax increase cost the average californian $121 a year. vehicle license fee an extra $150 for a $30,000 car. >> so when some people say hey, you got some more money, we're out of the woods? untrue. >> of course, the democratic governor needs a little help from some republican lawmakers in sacramento to get these proposals passed. >>> cyclists in the amgen tour of california will be biking but they will be biking in the rain again today. >> yeah. they are getting used to it. today's stage one from auburn to modesto after sunday's snowout at lake tahoe. the race finally started on a sho

and they have in john lipsky -- it's not the constitution or the succession, but the legal order of successionique strauss-kahn's native france. people are asked what they think of the case, more than half of them believe that strauss-kahn is a victim of conspiracy. >>> the grand jury in new york will marry the alleged victim's story today. cnn's dib bra feyerick tells us where it stands now. >> the 32-year-old west african is set to testify before a grand jury today. that's according to her lawyer who spoke on a morning show earlier. after laying low, we were told that she was finally reunited with her teenage daughter yesterday. that's according to a friend. now, this woman is set to testify before the grand jury and will likely recount the story how she allegedly walked into the hotel room in order to clean it. that's what she has said that strauss-kahn grabbed her from behind and the sexual assault took place. the lawyer, her private lawyer, says this incident has turned her world upside down. >> she's frightened. yes, totally frightened. this is a person who assaulted her, raped her. and

s deputy managing director, john lipski, should assume full responsibility of the i.m.f. and process to determine a replacement should commence at once. i encourage the united states executive director to the i.m.f., meg ludzinger, to strongly advocate for mr. strauss-kahn's resignation or termination and aid in the search for a more worthy replacement. and with that, mr. president, i yield back. mr. brown: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i appreciate the senior senator from virginia who is about to speak, and i just will be brief. i wanted to applaud the president today on his comments, his comments and then there were the administration's comments, especially trade ambassador kirk and gene sperling, the president's top economic advisor. they have made it clear that we will not submit the three free trade agreements, one with colombia, one with panama, one with south korea, until legislation has come to their desk to take care of the issue of trade adjustment assistance. this congress, because of some obje

strauss-kahn fights to clear his name john lip ski will be taking over as the acting director of the imf while the search begins for a permanent replacement. lipsky has been a managing director for five years and has several decades of experience as an economist and investment banker with soloman brothers and jp morgan. >> to president obama's future vision for the middle east. the president outlined his proposals in a major speech that addressed the upheaval in the arab world and israeli/palestinian peace talks. >> his plan to return to borders that existed in 1967, before the six-day war, as a starting for negotiations, controversial and rejected by israel. the president later talked about the plan to the bbc. >> our argument is, let's get started on a conversation about territory and about security. that doesn't resolve all the issues. you still end up having the problem of jerusalem and still end up having the problem of refugees. but if we make progress on what two states would look like and a reality sets in among the parties, this is how it's going to end up, then it becomes easier for both sides to make difficult concessions to resolve th