World News from the BBC

A court in New York has

dismiss

ed the sexual assault charges against the former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Prosecutors said they could not

disprove

his assertion that the encounter with a hotel chambermaid was consensual. An appeal by the chambermaid's lawyer was quickly rejected, and Mr Strauss-Kahn is now free. Matt Wells reports from New York.

Ever since his arrest at a New York airport on 14 May, Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been facing a prospect of a lengthy jail sentence if this

sensational

case had gone to trial and he'd been found guilty. But after hastily indicting him, public prosecutors here in Manhattan

were compelled to

admit that they've lost faith in their star witness, the alleged victim Nafissatou Diallo. She was a serial liar, they said, and today the judge agreed. At first, Mr Strauss-Kahn was told he'd have to wait for a legal appeal before being allowed to leave the country, but that was crossed within hours.

An earthquake has hit the North American east coast, shaking Washington, New York and other towns and cities over a wide area. The US Geological Survey says the tremor measured 5.8 and was centred in the state of Virginia. From Washington, here's Jonny Dymond.

In just a few moments, the streets of Washington were full of workers evacuated from their buildings. At street level, the quake felt like an underground train passing close; but up in the offices of cities from Washington to Boston, the trembling was more