PARIS

Author says Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her in 2003

A French author has formally accused the former head of the International Monetary Fund of attempted rape, breaking her long public silence with an account of fending off an attacker who ripped at her clothes as they fought on his apartment floor.

Tristane Banon’s criminal complaint, which was filed Tuesday, was already spawning an ugly public battle that follows trans-Atlantic mudslinging over the Guinean chambermaid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of forcing her to perform oral sex in his New York hotel room.

The sudden weakening of the maid’s case because of New York prosecutors’ doubts about her credibility revived hopes in Strauss-Kahn’s Socialist Party that he could retake his position as the strongest potential challenger to conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 election.

Those hopes could be undermined by the 31-year-old writer’s legal action, which is expected to set off a lengthy preliminary inquiry by prosecutors into whether there is enough evidence to pursue a case in France.

Banon said the incident took place in 2003, when she was trying to interview Strauss-Kahn for a book project.

Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers Monday labeled Banon’s account “imaginary” and said they would file a criminal complaint of slander against her.

LOS ANGELES

Hate suggested as motive in killing of gay classmate

A Southern California teen driven by white supremacist beliefs executed a gay classmate at a junior high school with two gunshots to the back of his head, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday in her opening trial statement.

Ventura County Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox said Brandon McInerney acted on the white supremacist philosophy that homosexuality is an abomination.

However, defense attorney Scott Wippert countered that McInerney had reached an emotional breaking point over unwanted sexual advances by 15-year-old victim Larry King and should be convicted of voluntary manslaughter.

McInerney is being tried as an adult in the February 2008 slaying in Oxnard.

McInerney, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, pleaded not guilty to murder, lying in wait and a hate crime. He could face up to life in prison if convicted.

ST. PAUL, Minn.

Focus shifts to courtroom as budget talks restart

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP leaders restarted budget talks Tuesday for the first time since Minnesota’s government shut down five days earlier, but with no progress to speak of the focus shifted from the Capitol to a courtroom where recipients of government money pleaded for their services to continue.

Dayton, House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch met for about an hour and said they’d resume talks today.

The possibility of a lingering shutdown raised the stakes for dozens of groups that spent Tuesday in a courtroom before a court-appointed special master.

The shutdown that started Friday resulted from a budget impasse over how to erase a $5 billion deficit. Dayton wants to raise income taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents to provide more money for social services and public education. Republican lawmakers oppose any tax increase.

WASHINGTON

Dalai Lama will meet expatriated Tibetans

The elected prime minister of Tibet’s government-in-exile, Lobsang Sangay, says a grand religious gathering starting today in Washington will allow expatriate Tibetans a right denied their brethren inside China: to meet their spiritual leader.

The Dalai Lama arrived Tuesday for an 11-day Buddhist ritual, known as a kalachakra, that organizers expect will draw upward of 10,000 followers a day from America, Asia and Europe.

Celebrations will mark his 76th birthday today. He also will meet with lawmakers during his stay. The White House has yet to announce whether he will meet with President Obama.

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