warrant for moammar gadhafi on suspicion of committing war crimes. a national disaster devastating floods for thousands of people in the u.s. to abandon their homes. space shuttle "endeavour" is preparing for its last mission. although he is one of the most powerful men in finance, but today, the head of the international monetary fund will appear in court to answer charges of attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. right now, come niece straus-khan is accused of committing rape. the married 62-year-old denies the charges and has agreed to undergo a medical and physical examination. this is the hotel where the alleged attack took place. police say the maid ran to the front desk for help. by the time they arrived, the imf chief had already left for the airport. susan candiotti brings us the latest. >> reporter: it was an extraordinary day of waiting. all day long and night long at this courthouse, waiting for the very first court appearance by the defendant in this case. ahead of the imf, come nike straus-khan. however, as the hours went on and on, he did not appear in court. there was no explanation why. finally, during the middle of the night, the lawyers representing him came outside and talked with reporters and explained that he was agreeing to an examination of his body, looking for any dna evidence that might have been left behind or any scratches on his body. here is what the lawyer said. >> our client consented to an examination tonight at the request of the government. that's being done in light of the hour we've agreed to postpone the arraignment tomorrow morning and we expect to be in court with him tomorrow. >> cnn has learn from a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the investigation that the alleged victim was able to pick straus-khan out of a lineup at the police station, chose him as the person who allegedly attacked her. cnn knows very little about the victim because the police haven't said much. however, the general manager where she worked said that she worked there for three years and that in their view, her behavior and her work has been very satisfactory, as they put it. so, again, the defendant in this case is expected to appear in court later this day. susan candiotti, cnn, new york. >> straus-khan was considered to be in with a serious chance of contesting france's presidential election in 2012. let's go to paris with jim birthman. what happens to that now, jim? >> well, i think the best summary of that was probably in the socialist leading newspaper this morning. they summarize it this way, dsk for dominique straus-khan out, out. it seems almost impossible at this point that he could somehow revive his political career. among other things, until his trial takes place, if the judge takes away his passport, he'll be stuck in the united states. pretty hard to imagine you could campaign for president of france while you're in the united states facing criminal charges. here in france, a thunder clap keeps rumbling on and a lot of people who would be contenders on the socialist side have come to the fore and that's what's going to happen. russ, the number two in the public opinion polls is likely to rise to the top in the absence of dominique straus-khan. and on the right, it's not a reason for president sarkozy to rub his hands in glee because he was so far back in the polls that he has a lot of other contenders that could put him out of the palace. it's a very unfair game at this point and all cards are off the table now and we'll have to see how this plays out over the next few days and weeks and months. monita. >> what kind of a man was he perceived to be before all this? he had been dogged by allegations and accusations numerous times, well before this incident happened, but yet he was still considered a serious contender against nicolas sarkozy in 2012. >> well, i think the closest brush he had to anything like this was back in 2008 when he was accused by a subordinate at the imf who said that he had -- he was guilty of sexual harassment. she charged him with sexual harassment and he was cleared of those charges. and because he was cleared of those charges, i think people tended to discount them. although, there have been roomers that have been circulated for years around his personality about sexual indiscretion. his wife always stuck by him, however. she's now sticking by him again. ann sinclair, a high profile television personality. he's helped by the fact that he's a brilliant economist, an able political organizer, negotiator and whatnot. the as such, a lot of these things on the personal side tended to be discounted and private life here in france, it tends to not enter into the public exposure that you can see in other countries. but nonetheless, this is beyond the pale. when you have criminal charges brought against a possible presidential contender, you have to say this is something that people can't ignore. on the streets, i think we've been hearing people are basically saying they want to reserve judgment, but nevertheless, the summary that the sociologist newspaper said this morning, dsk out, that summarizes what the situation is in terms of most french, i think. >> jim bittermann in paris, thank you. the allegations to straus-khan could be a blow to the imf. later in the show would be we'll look at what his arrest could mean for the financial world. moammar gadhafi may be facing action from the international criminal court. a source tells cnn the court's chief prosecutor will seek warrants for the arrest of the libyan leader and two other people on suspicion of committing crimes against humanity. our senior international correspondent nic robertson will be speaking with the prosecutor shortly. nick joins us right now on the line from hague in the netherlands. give us an idea of what kind of charges we're expect to go be brought against the libyan leader. >> well, crimes against humanity including murder and persecution. what the chief prosecutor's office is saying is that they have expensive and solid evidence of systematic and widespread attacks on the civilian population and what they're intending to do is to bring criminal proceedings against those who bear the greatest responsibility. moammar gadhafi seems to be the most likely among the three names to be announced. also very possible among the other people two who will have requests for arrest warrants issued today, a very likely to be moammar gadhafi's safe and his brother-in-law, the intelligence chief. both very senior and influential people within the regime at the moment. the international criminal courts say they have been investigating this since the 15th of february. they've had 30 mission toes 1 states, examined 1,200 documents examine interviewed or preinterviewed 50 wpss so far. mow nita. >> nick, many have said, those that have been indicted by at this cc have been for the business perhaps another piece of paper that they will likely ignore. is that likely to happen in libya, as well? >> absolutely it is. we heard from the foreign minister earlier today saying that's how libya would treat it, another signatory to the rome statute that enforces the powers here, that they will just reject this as another -- essentially as another piece of paper and they point to the presidents of neighboring sudan who have been indicted by the court here. omar al bashir who has been traveling the world while he is wanted by this court to come and stand trial. so for the libyans, this is something they say they're going to reject out of hand and when they look at other examples in the region close to them, they can see that there are plenty of countries or certainly a handful of countries that certainly won't enforce any indictment and any call for arrest, even if it's hand down. and we're still not at that stage, monita. >> and when it does happen, we will bring you that news as soon as it does happen. nic robertson, thank you very much. as the court issues a warrant for moammar gadhafi's arrest, this is the kind of company he'll be in. former ug shroff president s slobdan milosevic. he was charged in 1991. he was arrested in 2001 pep died in 2006 when his trial was in progress. ratko mladic, he remains a fugitive to this day. there are other war crimes charges. ex liberian president charles taylor is still being tried at the hague. he was tried in 2003. >> al bashir remains in office and has no plans to turn himself in. coming up here on world one, a different kind of pressure on moammar gadhafi. the u.n. is in sicily pressing for a cease-fire. also coming up, demonstrations on israel's border turn into confrontation and we'll head to jerusalem for the latest on that. then thousands of people forced out of their homes as the mississippi rivers leave communities under water. tanktops! 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[ female announcer ] positively radiant. and try skin brightening daily scrub, only from aveeno. discover the power of active naturals. welcome back. our top stories this other, one of the world's most powerful men will appear in a new york court today to answer charges of sexual assault. dominique straus-khan who heads up the international monetary fund is accused of the attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment of a hotel maid. he denies the charges and has agreed to undergo a physical test. naefl forces fired warning shots at a malaysian ship. it was heading to gaza. the group says the israel navy forced the ship to retreat to egyptian waters. separately, the u.n. is calling for restraint on all sides after clashes between pro-palestinian demonstrators and government sources along palestinian borders. confrontations between police and protests happened outside cairo. cnn's kevin flower joins us now liech on the line from our jerusalem story with both of these stories. let's start with the mv finch being forced to retreat into egyptian waters. what happened? >> well, what we know, monita, is that a small ship was intercepted by a israeli ship this morning. warning shots were made across its bow the as it tried to make its way to the gaza strip. according to the crew on board, the ship, which is a moldovian flagship, they were trying to break the gaza strip which israel says it maintenance to stop the transfer of weapons. now, the crusade that their ship -- that the ship was actually in international waters when the israels intercepted it. of course, the israels are maintaining that it had come into israeli territorial waters. so all of this is somewhat striking because this comes almost a year after the date of the very tragic flotilla ships that tried to make it to the gaza strip last may in which a number of turkish and turkish american activists were killed as israel naval commandos stormed those strips trying to prevent them from going to the gaza strip and it comes as there are plans to put a new flotilla. multiple ships making their way to the strip to try and break that brigade. >> as a result of that flotilla and the tragedy that ensued from last year, we thought that israel had said they were loosening their grip on that area, on the -- as ships were -- i guess when it comes to humanitarian goods heading into gaza. what happened? >> well, in fact, following the consequences of the flotilla last year, israel came under a great deal of pressure about its block aid of the gaza strip. so, in fact, a number of regulations, a lot of restrictions lifted. so there are more goods and more types of goods that are able to go across israeli land crossings. but that does not apply in any way, shape or form to the naval block aid that has been in place on the gaza strip. israel still allows no ships to cross. it allows no air traffic, of course, over the gaza strip. it fully controls air and the water around the gaza strip, monita. >> kevin flower in jerusalem, thank you. this is "world one." coming up, it's all systems go for the shuttle "endeavour's" final launch. how old will you be when you die? if you'd like to know the answer to that, we'll tell you just where to find it, just ahead. emergency crews along the mississippi river are opening flood gates like this one in morganza, louisiana, and trying to bring the water levels down before it can flood major cities further south. but there is a human price being paid in all of this. barbara hall explains. >> as the flood waters continue to run steady, so do the flood gate openings. it's day two of the morganza spillway opening. the u.s. army corps of engineers opened two additional flood gates sunday morning and could open even more. the first mandatory evacuation order has been issued for nearly 2,000 residents in one louisiana parrish. when you have an evacuation order from a local elected official or a local law enforcement official, you need to understand what's important to you. pack up a few important things and get your family and heed their advice. >> other residents have left voluntarily, using levees and sandbags as protection for their home. >> we took a chance and purchased the property because we love the river. the river has always been a part of our lives. if the river destroyed properties, then that's what happens to be. >> the usda says farmers who are covered for crop damage will be eligible for crop insurance. and as the spillway is expected to be open for weeks, evacuees will have to wait at least that long to return home. i'm barbara hall, reporting from atlanta. >> let's go to our meteorologist with more on this. ivan. >> we're trying our best to follow the mississippi river. we're trying to relieve the pressure on the south by using the morganza spillway. that's the one that will be flooding farmland and those small towns like the one that will be under water here. it is necessary so we can save baton rouge and so we can save new orleans from a potential catastrophic levee breerchb. here is morganza. we'll be opening more gates. it will be a gradual process here. we don't want a tsunami moving through the region here. they're successively opening a few gates at a time. if you less the mississippi do its thing, this would be the track it would take through the gulf of mexico. we need fresh water in baton huge and new orleans. this is the way it meanders right now. but a lot of water is going there and about 8,000 square kilometers we're thinking could be flooded. but the good news is, we're keeping because of that more began squaw spillway, we're keeping the flood situation steady here along new orleans. we'll keep you posted if that changes. hopefully it won't. the other big story here, we're just got new video. this is dramatic stuff. we'll take you to alberta, canada, where the town of slave lake there, essentially, half of the town is an inferno now. it's under fire. here we have about 7,000 residents that live in the resident there. mandatory evacuations are well under way. this happened very rapidly as a forest fire essentially breached the town's protection there and got into it. the city hall is on fire, the police station is on fire. it is a state of emergency out there. we'll continue to for that story as folks are moved out of harm's way. this is slave lake, about 200 slom ters to the northwest of edmonton in alberta, canada. monita. >> ivan, thank you. what caused an air france jet to fall out of the sky over the atlantic? it's a question that's gone unanswered for almost two years, but today, investigators plan to release a communique shedding some light on the state of the flight recorders on the doomed air france airbus. the so-called black boxes were recently discovered among the wreckage on the ocean floor. now, if someone could tell you how long you've got left to live, would you want to know? a new blood test is offering to tell you just that. the controversial test will go on sale in britain's public later this year at a cost of around $725. telamirs are structures at the tips of the chromosomes that show the speed at which the cells are aging. and it's been compared to a pretzel, an octopus, even a toilet seat. and it caused quite a stir at the royal wedding. now princess beatrice's famous hat is now up for bid with a donation to charity. it has a dedicated fable page with more than 140,000 fans. you're watching world one, live from london. the work of the international monetary fund goes on even as its leader prepares to respond to sex charges. we'll look at what awaits dominique straus-khan back in europe. and he has defied international calls to step down. now moammar gadhafi could be the target of an international crimes court. irline credit cards promise flights for 25,000 miles, but... 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[ male announcer ] cardboard no, delicious yes. thbe pt delicious gourmet gravy. and she agrees. wi fcyest gravy lovers, uratannjoy the delicious, satisfying taste grmet gravy every day. fay as the best ingredient is love. this is world one live from london. i'm monita rajpal. our top stories this hour, one of the world's most powerful men will appear in a new york court today to face sexual assault charges. he's accused of attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment of a hotel maid. he agreed to undergo physical and forensic tests. the italian prime minister is expected to appear at a bribery trial on monday. mr. beryl skonny's image has been battered by a sex scandal and three corruption trials. gautt mall lan police have launched a murder investigation after 27 bodies were found near the mexican border. most of the victims were decapitated. an army spokesman says that the investigators can't rule out that the killings are related to drug trafficking. half a million people are expected to gather at the kennedy space center in the come hours to watch the space shuttle "endeavour" to lift off for the final time. the originally scheduled launch on april 29th was scrubbed because of problems with a heater. we return now to our top story and the arrest of the head of the imf, dominique straus-khan. today, he had been due to attend eu financial crisis talks in brussels on how to handle greece's debt crisis. on sunday, he was supposed to discuss greece's problems with german chancellor angela merkel. the imf and the european central bank are the key players in the eu bailout. so what effect could his arrest have on the imf's handling of the euro zone debt crisis? john paris joins us now live from brussels. what happens now, john? >> needless to say, it's kind of rejigged the complete outlines here in brussels. anecdotal anecdotally