Dominique Strauss-Kahn has resigned from his post as the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it was confirmed today.

The International Monetary Fund remains “fully operational”, a spokeswoman said today after its executive board met informally to consider the criminal charges filed against its managing director.

IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been charged with attempting to rape a New York hotel maid, in a scandal that upends his plans to run for president of France and throws leadership of the global lender into turmoil at the height of the European debt crisis.

Dubai: International Monetary Fund first deputy managing director John Lipsky said that the euro has a “solid” value and that any notion that the currency is under threat is exaggerated.

The IMF has said it expects Irish economic growth to return in "relatively short order".

Taoiseach Brian Cowen tonight denied he was clinging to power as the Opposition directly demanded he bring forward next month’s Budget.

FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy has said he wants to work with Russia to give developing nations a larger say in how to regulate the global economy.

FINANCE ministers were struggling last night to set up a fund worth potentially hundreds of billions of euro to shore up countries in danger of going bankrupt.

Asian stock markets fell today as worries about Greece’s debt crisis and India’s sudden interest rate hike rattled investors.