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.

自5月14日在纽约机场被捕以来，卡恩一直面临这样的困境，如果这宗轰动一时的案件进行审判后发现他有罪，他将面临长期监禁。但是对他进行仓促控告之后，曼哈顿检控官不得不承认，他们失去了对所谓的受害者和目击证人Nafissatou Diallo的信任。他们说，这名女服务员经常说谎，今天法官终于赞同了他们的说法。最初，卡恩被告知必须等待合法上诉之后才能离开美国。但是他只等待了几个小时。

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.

北美东海岸遭遇地震袭击，华盛顿，纽约和大范围地区的城镇受到影响。美国地质调查局表示，震级为5.8级，震中位于佛吉尼亚州。华盛顿，Jonny Dymond报道。