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US Treasury secretary Timothy F. Geithner says France’s Christine Lagarde and Mexico’s Agustin Carstens are both qualified to run the IMF. He may have little choice but to support Lagarde. Under an unwritten agreement that dates back to the end of World War II, the IMF has always been led by a European while the World Bank has been headed by an American. Backing a non- European for the IMF could mean relinquishing US control of the World Bank —an outcome members of Congress who decide on funding for development banks are not ready to contemplate. “For the sake of influencing policy and lending, as well as maintaining congressional support, it is very important that the World Bank continue to be led by an American,” representative Nita Lowey of New York said.

Truce holding as Yemenis celebrate Saleh’s absence

Yemenis on Monday celebrated what many hope will be a new era without President Ali Abdullah Saleh, now recuperating in Saudi Arabia after an operation to remove shrapnel from his chest a day earlier. An opposition party coalition, which joined months of street protests to end Saleh’s three-decade rule, said it backed as a first step transferring power to the vice-president who is now the troubled country’s acting leader. The Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council, in a statement from its secretary-general, urged all parties to work to end violence and said it was is ready to contribute to any mediation. But the future

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