Sculptor Gormley wants us to get inside his head

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's foremost living sculptor Antony Gormley wants us to get inside his head with his latest work "Model", a 100-tonne steel maze of cubes and squares, dark corners and splashes of light on show at the White Cube gallery in London.

The giant grey-black work, based on a human form lying down, is entered via the right "foot", and combines the fun of an adventure playground with the unnerving quality of a labyrinth often plunged into darkness.

For the first time, the Turner Prize-winning artist who has always been preoccupied with the human form allows us to get inside, and draws parallels between the body and the architectural spaces we inhabit.

"I think we dwell first in this borrowed bit of the material world that we call the body," Gormley told Reuters, standing beside the imposing structure made up of interlocking blocks.

"It has its own life that is unknowable. But the second place we dwell is the body of architecture, the built environment," he added.

"We're the most extraordinary species that decided to structure our habitat according to very, very abstract principles of horizontal and vertical planes."

Model has plenty of surprises. The more nimble visitor can crawl through its left "arm", which is a passage around three feet high, or clamber on to a roof bathed in light.

"There are places that you wouldn't necessarily know are there," Gormley said. As if to prove his point, he disappeared into a large raised "aperture" invisible in the darkness.

Sound also plays a part, with the resonance of voices and rumble of footsteps giving clues to the size of each space.

PLAYGROUND

The artist said he encouraged people to explore the work rather than just look, unlike most sculptures which are strictly off-limits.

"Psychological architecture suddenly starts to reverberate with human life," he explained, adding that the sense of unease when entering the dark spaces was part of its appeal.

"I think creepiness is good," he said in the pitch-black "head". "I think it's necessary to get under people's skin. You don't want them to easily ingest or accept something."

Several times he referred to the Seagram murals of American painter Mark Rothko, works that inspired him as an artist and which he had in mind while making Model.

"Their surfaces give you this idea of space, or an invitation, they seat you at a threshold and allow you to dream of what exists beyond that threshold," he said.

"You could say this is the literal version of that."

Gormley, born in 1950, won the Turner Prize in 1994 and is probably best known for his 20-metre high public "Angel of the North" sculpture located near Newcastle in northern England.

He would not say what price the White Cube gallery had put on Model, and the gallery itself could not immediately provide a figure when asked, but Gormley has become one of the most sought-after British artists at auction.

A life-size iron maquette for Angel of the North fetched 3.4 million pounds ($5.4 million) at an auction at Christie's in October last year.

Early critical reaction to Model was mixed.

"We think of the pyramids, of tombs in lightless spaces," wrote Michael Glover in the Independent. "We have entered this space hoping for a visceral response of some kind, but it never quite happens."

Model is on display at White Cube, Bermondsey, until February 10, 2013.

(This story has fixed typos in paragraph six)

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Ecuador says WikiLeaks' Assange suffering lung problems

QUITO (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is suffering from a chronic lung ailment that could worsen at any time and is being checked regularly by doctors, the Andean country's ambassador to Britain said on Wednesday.

Assange, 41, whose website angered the United States by releasing thousands of secret diplomatic cables, has been holed up inside Ecuador's embassy in London since June to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations. Assange has denied any wrongdoing.

"He has a chronic lung complaint that could get worse any time. The Ecuadorean state is covering Mr Assange's medical costs and we have arranged for regular doctor visits to check on his health," Ambassador Ana Alban told a local TV network during a visit to Quito.

British authorities say Assange will be arrested if he sets foot outside the embassy. The building, located just behind London's famed Harrods department store, is under constant police surveillance.

Ecuador said last month it is worried about Assange's health and asked Britain to guarantee him safe passage to hospital from the embassy if he needs medical treatment.

That would allow him to return to the embassy after treatment with refugee status.

Assange took refuge in the embassy after running out of legal options to avoid being sent to Sweden. Ecuador granted him asylum in August and said it shared his fears that he could be sent from Sweden to the United States to face charges over WikiLeaks' activities.

U.S. and European government sources say the United States has issued no criminal charges against him, nor launched any attempts to extradite Assange.

Assange is said to be living a cramped life inside the modest diplomatic mission. He eats mostly take-out food and uses a treadmill to burn off energy and a vitamin D lamp to make up for the lack of sunlight.

On Tuesday, the Australian former computer hacker accused "hard-right" U.S. politicians of pressing European credit card firms to block more than $50 million in donations to WikiLeaks, and said that had forced the website to reduce the volume of documents it posted online.

Speaking to reporters in the embassy's gilt-corniced conference room, Assange said his stay there had been "difficult in many ways" and that any resolution of the standoff would be "a matter of diplomacy."

He refused to comment on his health or how long he may have to stay in the embassy, declaring those subjects "off-topic."

In late August, Assange said he expected to wait six months to a year for a deal that would allow him to leave the embassy.

(Editing by Daniel Wallis and Jackie Frank)

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Robert Kennedy's son is sued for assault

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A son of slain U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was sued for assault on Tuesday by two nurses at a New York hospital who say they sustained injuries while trying to stop him from leaving the maternity ward with his newborn son.

The $200,000 civil suit also accuses Douglas Kennedy, 45, of negligence, battery and emotional distress and comes a week after a criminal court judge acquitted him of child endangerment and harassment charges related to the incident.

Two maternity ward nurses, Cari Luciano and Anna Lane, tried to physically block Kennedy from taking his boy outside for some fresh air on January 7 in Westchester County, just north of New York City. That led to a seven-minute confrontation in which Kennedy kicked Luciano into the air and twisted Lane's arm, according to the civil complaint.

Kennedy, a Fox News correspondent and the 10th child of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, categorically denies all allegations the nurses have made and expects to be completely exonerated, his attorney Michael Bono said.

The attorney representing Luciano and Lane did not immediately return calls requesting comment.

Kennedy's actions violated Northern Westchester Hospital's policy on transporting infants, Mount Kisco Town Justice John J. Donohue said in a ruling on the misdemeanor charges released on November 20, but did not rise to the level of criminality.

Kennedy's kicking of Luciano was a spontaneous response to her attempts to physically retake his baby, and Lane's allegations of arm-twisting were "not supported by any evidence except her own testimony," Donohue wrote in his ruling.

On the charges of child endangerment, there was no evidence to suggest "that the mere act of taking his child outside the building would likely be injurious to the child's physical welfare," Donohue wrote.

In a February appearance on NBC's 'Today' show, Luciano and Lane said Kennedy physically hurt them during the incident and that they were seeking a public apology from him.

There was "no basis at all for the nurses to lay claim to one penny from Douglas," said Robert Gottlieb, the attorney who represented Kennedy in the criminal suit.

It was an "utter disgrace that the nurses continue to abuse" the justice system, said Gottlieb, who is not representing Kennedy in the civil suit.

(Additional reporting by Chris Francescani; editing by Daniel Trotta and Todd Eastham)

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Qatar, Arab Spring sponsor, jails poet for life

DOHA (Reuters) - A court in Qatar, which has supported Arab uprisings abroad, jailed a local poet for life on Thursday for criticizing the emir and inciting revolt - a sentence that drew outrage and cries of hypocrisy from human rights groups.

In his verses, Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami praised the Arab Spring revolts that toppled four dictators, often with the help of money and other support from the tiny, energy-rich Gulf state. But he also criticized Qatar's own absolute monarch and spoke, for example, of "sheikhs playing on their Playstations".

"This is a tremendous miscarriage of justice," said defence lawyer Nagib al-Naimi, who conveyed the verdict to Reuters after a trial held behind closed doors in the capital Doha.

At the prison where he has been held for a year, Ajami, 36, later told Reuters he believed the emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, to be "a good man" who must be unaware of his plight. Lawyer Naimi said the defence would appeal. A royal pardon may also be a possibility.

Ajami was not himself allowed in court and Naimi said the defence was barred from making oral arguments, although he contested the prosecution case that Ajami called for revolution in Qatar - an offence which carries the death penalty.

For Amnesty International, Middle East director Philip Luther said in a statement: "It is deplorable that Qatar, which likes to paint itself internationally as a country that promotes freedom of expression, is indulging in what appears to be such a flagrant abuse of that right."

Amnesty described Ajami's arrest in November 2011 as coming after he published a poem named "Jasmine" - for the symbol of the Tunisian revolt in January last year that launched the Arab Spring. In a broad criticism of Gulf rulers, he had written: "We are all Tunisia, in the face of the repressive elite."

"PLAYING WITH PLAYSTATIONS"

Ajami "did not encourage the overthrow of any specific regime", Naimi said. He described the charges as having been "inciting the overthrow of the ruling regime", a capital offence, and criticising the ruler, which is punishable by up to five years imprisonment under the Qatari penal code.

Among offending passages from the poem, translated from Arabic, was the line: "If the sheikhs cannot carry out justice, we should change the power and give it to the beautiful woman."

In another section, Ajami accused a fellow poet of being "with the sheikhs, playing with their Playstations."

Naimi, who has been largely in solitary confinement, spoke to Reuters in the presence of prison guards and others: "The Emir is a good man," he said. "I think he doesn't know that they have me here for a year, that they have put me in a single room.

"If he knew, I would be freed," he said, noting the Qatari ruler's past promotion of a more open society, including his hosting of the groundbreaking television channel Al Jazeera, which has given a voice to many opposition groups abroad.

"This is wrong," Ajami said. "You can't have Al Jazeera in this country and put me in jail for being a poet."

Qatar, a close U.S. ally and major natural gas producer with a large American military base, has escaped the unrest seen in other Arab countries. The emir has taken a high-profile role at times in calling for human rights - for example, when he went to Gaza last month, the first foreign leader there in years.

Al Jazeera has assiduously covered the Arab revolts, though it gave scant coverage to an uprising last year in neighboring Bahrain - ruled by another Gulf Arab monarchy.

The Qatari government has also taken a prominent role in the confrontation between, on the one hand, Sunni Muslim-ruled Arab states like itself and Saudi Arabia and, on the other, non-Arab Iran and its Shi'ite allies in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere.

"DOUBLE STANDARDS"

Qatar is backing the rebels in Syria's civil war. It supported the NATO-backed uprising in Libya and street protests that ousted rulers in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen. The emirate's maroon and white flag has been a common sight on the streets of Arab capitals where demonstrators have challenged autocracy.

But freedom of expression is tightly controlled in the small Gulf state, home to less than two million people. Self-censorship is prevalent among national newspapers and other media outlets. Qatar has no organized political opposition.

In October, Human Rights Watch criticized what it said was a double standard on freedom of expression in Qatar and urged the emir not to approve a draft media law penalizing criticism of the Gulf emirate and its neighbors.

In neighboring monarchy Saudi Arabia, human rights activist Ali al-Hattab said: "We are shocked by the verdict.

"Qatar has tried to help other countries like Libya and Syria become more democratic, but they won't accept it at home.

"It's shameful, and a double standard."

(Additional reporting by Rania El Gamal in Dubai and Dasha Afanasieva in London; Editing by Andrew Hammond, Mark Heinrich and Alastair Macdonald)

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WikiLeaks' Assange downplays health concerns

LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, holed up in London's Ecuadorian embassy for nearly six months, played down concerns about his health on Thursday, saying he enjoyed being at the centre of the legal and diplomatic storm.

Assange, 41, whose website angered the United States by releasing thousands of secret diplomatic cables, took sanctuary in Ecuador's embassy in June, jumping bail after exhausting appeals in British courts against extradition to Sweden for sexual assault allegations.

Ecuadorian officials have said the former computer hacker is suffering from a chronic lung ailment as a result of his long stay in the embassy.

Dressed in a dark suit and white shirt fastened with silver-colored cufflinks in the shape of a 'W' and an 'L', Assange showed no outward sign of health problems.

"The confinement, the circumstances are obviously difficult," was all Assange would say when questioned about his health by Reuters.

"I rather enjoy being swept away in the storm of it all. You only live once so it's important that we do something that is meaningful with our time," he said.

He is said to be living a cramped life inside the modest diplomatic mission. He eats mostly take-out food and uses a treadmill to burn off energy and a vitamin D lamp to make up for the lack of sunlight.

The whistleblower said he has used his time at the embassy to focus on his work, including a book "Cypherpunks" in which he warns that the growing amount of personal data we store online could render society a "slave to the internet".

Speaking in a gilt-corniced conference room, accessed via an entrance hall decorated with a beaming portrait of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, Assange spoke vehemently about the dangers of cyber-surveillance by governments and private companies.

(Reporting By Alessandra Prentice)

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Serbia's richest man faces police questions over business deals

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's richest man, Miroslav Miskovic, will appear for police questioning over his business activities, his Delta Holding said on Thursday, weeks after the deputy prime minister vowed to investigate corruption allegations against Delta affiliates.

Last month, Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia's deputy prime minister and defense minister, accused Miskovic of plotting to remove him from office and topple the ruling nationalist Serbian Progressive Party because of its efforts to fight corruption.

"A long and exhaustive probe into Delta Holding business has been undertaken, during which the company has answered all inquiries," the retail, agribusiness and real estate company said in a statement.

"Miroslav Miskovic will respond to the summons in line with his civic duty and appear for questioning," it said, adding questioning would take place on Monday.

Earlier this month, Delta Holding, one of Serbia's biggest companies, said in a statement: "We are stressing that so far Delta has never had any irregularities in its businesses, both in domestic and foreign markets."

Since it came to power in July, the Nationalist-Socialist government has pledged to root-out organized crime and corruption, a key condition for Serbia's bid to join the European Union.

In an address to parliament on Thursday, Vucic said the government was drawing up a law to establish the origins of the wealth of Serbia's richest citizens, as part of its anti-corruption drive.

"The first drafts of the strategy are completed and the draft law of the origins of property should be debated by end January or in early February at the latest," he said.

Serbian authorities were investigating 24 privatization deals completed after former strongman Slobodan Milosevic was ousted in 2000, Vucic said.

In recent months, police have arrested more than a dozen prominent businessmen, including two ex-ministers from the former ruling Democratic Party, who have been charged with corruption, fraud and abuse of office.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Sophie Hares)

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Mauritanian president says returning to France for treatment

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said on Thursday he will once again travel to France for medical treatment for a bullet wound he suffered in mid-October.

The Western ally in the fight against al Qaeda in Africa already spent nearly six weeks in France recuperating from the wound to his abdomen, which his government said was caused when a Mauritanian patrol accidentally fired on his car.

He returned to Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott, last Saturday, easing fears concerning the state of his health and uncertainty over who was managing the country - which has suffered two coups since 2005.

"I leave tomorrow for appointments in France," Abdel Aziz said in a press conference broadcast on national television. "I need to do further testing and X-rays. I will leave only for a few days," he said.

He has repeatedly said that he has remained in charge of the country throughout the ordeal, and that his injury was not life threatening.

Straddling black and Arab Africa on the continent's west coast, Mauritania, a country of 3.2 million people, is an iron ore, copper and gold producer with a budding off-shore oil and gas sector.

The country has launched at least two airstrikes on Islamist camps in neighboring Mali since 2010, raising fears of a fresh attack on Mauritanian soil.

The northern two-thirds of Mali is now in the hands of al Qaeda-linked rebels since a coup earlier this year, and African and western governments are mulling an international intervention to retake the zone.

On Thursday, rebels from Islamist group Ansar Dine took control of a Malian town near the Mauritanian border after ousting Tuareg rebels from the MNLA separatist group.

(Reporting by Laurent Prieur; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Lindsay Lohan risks return to jail after double trouble

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lindsay Lohan on Thursday faced the possibility of being sent back to jail after a tumultuous 24 hours in which she was arrested in New York for assault, and charged in California with reckless driving and lying to police over a June car crash.

Lohan, 26, who has been to rehab, jail and court multiple times since a 2007 arrest for drunk driving and cocaine possession, is still on unsupervised probation in Los Angeles for a 2011 jewelry theft.

But prosecutors in Santa Monica, California, said in a statement on Thursday that the "Mean Girls" actress lied to police when she told them she was not at the wheel of her Porsche when it smashed into a truck on a busy highway in the summer.

They charged Lohan with three misdemeanor counts stemming from that collision, hours after the troubled starlet was arrested on suspicion of punching a woman in the face at a Manhattan nightclub.

Lohan's New York attorney Mark Heller said the actress was "a victim of someone trying to capture their 15 minutes of fame."

"From my initial investigation, I am completely confident that this case will be concluded favorably and that Lindsay will be completely exonerated," Heller said in a statement on the nightclub incident.

Frank Mateljan of the Los Angeles City Attorney's office, which handled the 2011 jewelry case, said prosecutors were still awaiting paperwork from New York and Santa Monica to determine if they will pursue a probation violation case against Lohan.

A Los Angeles judge told Lohan in March that she must obey all rules until 2014, and advised her to stop night-clubbing and focus on her work.

The two incidents came during a rough week for the former "Parent Trap" child star, who was once considered one of the most promising young actresses in Hollywood.

Her comeback performance on Sunday as screen legend Elizabeth Taylor in the TV movie "Liz & Dick," was panned by critics and watched by a disappointingly small U.S. TV audience of 3.5 million.

In New York, Lohan was briefly arrested shortly after 4 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Thursday on a third-degree misdemeanor assault charge against a 28-year-old woman, police said. The victim suffered minor injuries, New York Police Sergeant John Buthorn said.

Celebrity website TMZ.com said Lohan had been drinking heavily and lashed out in a stand-off over one of the members of British boy band The Wanted, who were also at the club after playing a concert in New York.

Lohan's recent visits to New York have featured run-ins with police and public spats over the last three months.

In October, police were called to the Long Island home of Lohan's mother, Dina, after a loud argument, though no arrests were made. In September, Lohan was arrested in Manhattan after a pedestrian told police her car had struck him in an alley, but charges were not filed.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in New York and Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles; Editing by Xavier Briand and Eric Walsh)

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Korean pop rides "Gangnam Style" into U.S. music scene

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Gangnam Style," the catchy Korean song by rapper Psy, may have danced its way into the American charts but the Korean pop industry isn't horsing around when it comes to capitalizing on the singer's phenomenal U.S. success.

With "Gangnam Style" topping the current Billboard Digital Songs chart and becoming the most-watched video on YouTube ever with more than 800 million views, fellow Korean pop, or K-pop, artists are positioning themselves for similar U.S. breakthroughs.

Korea's pop music industry is thriving. Over the past two years, a handful of K-pop acts including girl group 2NE1, boy band Super Junior and nine-piece band Girls Generation have embarked on mini-promotional tours around the United States to build their audience.

"Psy has opened doors and is shining a spotlight on K-pop. People are paying attention to what's being done there," Alina Moffat, general manager at YG Entertainment group, which manages Psy, told a recent entertainment industry conference in Los Angeles.

Psy's vibrant music video, featuring his invisible pony-riding dance, also featured K-pop artists Kim Hyun-a of girl band 4Minute, and Deasung and Seungri of boy band Big Bang, all of whom are attempting to crack the U.S. market.

"YouTube has really changed the awareness of K-pop. Both American kids and second-generation Korean American kids are discovering it," Kye Kyoungbon Koo, director of the Korea Creative Content Agency, told a panel at a Billboard and Hollywood Reporter conference in Los Angeles in October.

MARKETING THE NEXT BIG THING

For U.S. companies looking to invest, K-pop is being marketed as the next big thing, boasting young, stylish and influential artists who command devoted fan followings.

Moffat said car companies and mobile phone brands were among those being courted at KCON, a convention held in October in Irvine in Southern California that showcased K-pop artists.

"Kids are coming, they're engaged, they want to spend money and sponsors saw that," Moffat said.

Whether Psy or other K-pop artists can command a global following to rival Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber or Rihanna remains to be seen, but John Shim, senior producer at MTV World, believes it is the right genre to compete with pop music's biggest names.

"K-pop admittedly is a very niche genre but I also think it's the best equipped of Asian pop to cater to the U.S. audience," Shim told Reuters.

Psy has helped to break down language barriers, keeping "Gangnam Style" in its original Korean form instead of adapting it to English when it became an international hit.

The singer told Reuters he was persuaded to keep it that way by his manager Scooter Braun, the talent scout responsible for Justin Bieber's success, who signed Psy to his record label.

"I thought, 'Should I translate this or not?' because (the fans) have got to know what I'm talking about, and lyrics are a huge part," Psy said.

CHATTING IN ENGLISH

But industry executives say at least one member of each K-Pop group is usually taught to be fluent in conversational English.

"The investment in language is costly, but effective," said Ted Kim, president of South Korean music television channel Mnet. "It really matters that Psy can go on the Ellen DeGeneres TV show and have a conversation."

Psy said he was proud his song succeeded in Korean, but he now wants to branch out into English.

"'Gangnam Style' is not the sort of thing that's going to happen twice. I've definitely got to make something in English so I can communicate with my fans right now," the singer said.

In Korea, bands such as SM Entertainment's Super Junior and Girls Generation have became branding powerhouses, scoring endorsements ranging from cosmetics, fashion, video games, electronics and beverages.

In the United States, companies such as Samsung have already jumped on the K-pop train, sponsoring Korean boy band Big Bang's U.S. tour.

But while the genre is gaining steam in the charts, it has yet to spill into ticket sales for tours, according to Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief at Pollstar.com, which tracks concert sales.

"Psy may be able to sell out arenas in Asia, but not yet here. For the American audience, he has to prove that he's more than a novelty act," Bongiovanni said.

"K-pop has to prove itself before large companies spend money on it," he added.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)

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Strauss-Kahn in preliminary civil case deal with maid

NEW YORK/PARIS (Reuters) - Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has reached a preliminary agreement with the hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault last year to settle a civil lawsuit she brought against him, sources familiar with the case said.

While a source in New York cautioned that the agreement could still fall apart, influential French daily Le Monde reported, citing people close to Strauss-Kahn, that the parties had agreed on a payment of $6 million to settle the case - an element dismissed by Strauss-Kahn's lawyers as "fanciful".

Le Monde said 63-year-old Strauss-Kahn and the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, would meet a judge in New York on December 7 to sign the deal and close an affair that ended the Frenchman's International Monetary Fund career and wrecked his presidential ambitions.

"The discussions have been going on for weeks, months. The agreement should be confirmed at the start of next week," Michele Saban, a friend of Strauss-Kahn who saw him recently, told Reuters in Paris. She could not confirm the sum involved.

"We are moving towards the end of a tragedy," she said, adding that Diallo had always been open to negotiating a settlement despite reticence from her lawyers.

Le Monde reported that Strauss-Kahn planned to take out a bank loan for $3 million and would be lent the other $3 million by his wife Anne Sinclair, despite the fact the couple separated in the summer and now live on different sides of Paris.

Lawyers for Strauss-Kahn and Diallo based in Paris would not confirm whether a deal had been agreed and lawyers in New York did not immediately respond to requests made on Thursday evening.

"Neither Dominique Strauss-Kahn nor his lawyers will comment on proceedings in the United States. That said, however, they strenuously deny the erroneous and fanciful information relayed by Le Monde," said a statement from Strauss-Kahn's Paris legal defense team.

The New York Times, which first reported the development, also said the pair would appear before a judge in New York next week. It said the settlement sum could not be determined.

END OF THE AFFAIR

News of the U.S. deal comes as Strauss-Kahn is awaiting a decision by a French court on December 19 on whether to call off a sex offence inquiry involving parties attended by prostitutes, where he risks trial on a charge of "aggravated pimping".

If that case is dropped and Diallo ends her civil case, Strauss-Kahn would have a freer rein to pursue his consultancy work and could even consider a tentative return to public life in France, where he has been shunned since the Diallo scandal.

Images of the then IMF chief paraded before TV cameras in handcuffs before being charged with attempted rape shocked the world and led to French media raking over smutty details of the former finance minister's private life.

"That's the end, not only of this affair, but of any potential affair because one of the reasons for signing this kind of agreement is that both parties agree that they will never again bring a lawsuit," Christopher Mesnooh, a U.S. lawyer who practices in France, said of the Diallo agreement.

"There will always be people who wonder about what happened in New York and in Lille, but from a legal standpoint if he gets all this behind him, he's a free man," he added.

Diallo alleged that Strauss-Kahn forced her to perform oral sex on May 14, 2011, in his suite at the Manhattan Sofitel.

The criminal prosecution fell apart after doubts emerged concerning Diallo's credibility as a witness and the attempted rape charges against Strauss-Kahn were eventually dropped.

Strauss-Kahn has maintained that the sexual encounter was consensual, although he admitted in a TV interview after his return to France that he regretted his "moral error".

Strauss-Kahn filed his own countersuit against the maid earlier this year, claiming that Diallo's accusations had destroyed his career and harmed his reputation.

In recent months, Strauss-Kahn has been making a comeback under-the-radar with a handful of speaking engagements at private conferences and by setting up a business consultancy firm in Paris.

(Reporting by Noeleen Walder in New York and Emmanuel Jarry, Johnny Cotton and Thierry Leveque in Paris; Writing by Catherine Bremer; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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