Merkel, IMF talks cancelled

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund, has been arrested on charges of attempted rape, criminal sexual act and unlawful imprisonment, New York City police said Sunday, the Associated Press reported.

A law enforcement official said Mr. Strauss-Kahn was taken into police custody Saturday after being removed from an airplane at Kennedy Airport.

The law enforcement official said Mr. Strauss-Kahn allegedly forced a cleaning woman onto his bed and sexually assaulted her at around 1 p.m. Saturday inside his room at the Sofitel Hotel near Times Square.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn's attorney didn't immediately return phone or email messages seeking comment.

Talks between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and arrested IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, set for Sunday, have been cancelled as the International Monetary Fund will not send a replacement to Berlin, a government source said.

The charges, if true, would strike a tremendous blow to France's current politics. The Socialist Party is holding primaries this fall, but candidates have been requested to apply between June 28 and July 13.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn's decision regarding his candidacy has been much awaited as polls have constantly shown over the past few months that he would beat Mr. Sarkozy as soon as the first round. His decision was expected as soon as the end of May, a person close to him told Dow Jones Newswires.

Planking death: man plunges from balcony

Planking, which involves participants lying flat on their stomach in different and sometimes dangerous settings and sharing photos of their efforts with fellow plankers, has made news in the past week with the arrest of a Gladstone man.

Police issued the 20-year-old with a court appearance notice on Tuesday night after he was discovered planking on a police car.

However today police said their fears had been realised with the death of a man attempting the new fad.

Shortly before 4.30am a man in his early 20s plummeted from a unit block in Main Street, in inner city Kangaroo Point, and died at the scene.

Deputy Commissioner Ross Barnett told reporters the man "may have fallen while attempting a planking episode.

Deputy Police Commissioner Ross Barnett today said his worst fears about planking had been realised.

“This morning we have seen a young man take this activity a step further and attempt to plank on a balcony. Unfortunately he has tragically fallen to his death,” he said.

Mr Barnett said the 20-year-old and another person had been out during the night and had been planking in various spots on their way home.

"He has tragically lost his footing and fallen to the ground below," he said.

"It is what we've been fearing."

Mr Barnett warned people against taking unnecessary risks in a bid to out-do each other for the ultimate photograph.

“Accepting a risk of injury for yourself is one thing, but the potential is there for others to be injured as a result of your behaviour,’’ he said.

Earlier this week, a man was charged in Gladstone for trespassing on police property when he "planked" across the back of a police car.

If other people break the law during this activity they will be charged as well," Mr Barnett said.

Mr Barnett said the man was reportedly preparing to lie on a balcony rail when he fell.

He said the man and another person had been out during the night and had been planking in various spots on their way home.

"He has tragically lost his footing and fallen to the ground below," Mr Barnett said.

"It is what we've been fearing."

The deputy commissioner could not say whether it was Australia's first death from the recent craze.

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Sony begins partial PlayStation Network operation

TOKYO—Sony began restoring its PlayStation Network service in the United States and Europe on Sunday after shutting down the service almost a month ago due to a massive security breach affecting over 100 million online accounts.

Restored operations are mainly limited to online gaming, chat and music streaming services. Sony said it aimed to fully restore the PlayStation Network by the end of May.

Sony also began Sunday a phased restoration of its Qriocity movie and music services which share the PlayStation Network's server, said Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka.

The first phase of the restoration of services for North America and Europe will include sign-in for PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, including the resetting of passwords, the restoration of online gameplay across PlayStation 3 and PSP, playback rental video content if within rental period of PlayStation Store Video Store on PS3, PSP and Media Go, the restoration of Q Music Unlimited, for current subscribers, on PS3 and PC, access to third party services such as VidZone and MUBI, restoration of the 'Friends' category on PS3, including Friends List, Chat Functionality, Trophy Comparison and the restoration of PlayStation Home.

Sony has warned that the restoration of services on a global scale may take some time and said on Saturday that it would take hours to restore the PlayStation Network across the US.

The company has been working with outside contractors to ensure Sony PlayStation Network, Qriocity and Sony Online Entertainment are far more secure then before the hack that saw millions if users data stolen.

Network security breaches are part of a trend that saw the costs of such invasions jump 48 percent, to an average of $318 per compromised record last year, according to a March report by the Ponemon Institute.

Malicious attacks in the U.S. are on the rise. They climbed 7 percentage points in 2010, with data breaches costing U.S. businesses an average of $7.2 million per incident, according to the Ponemon Institute report. The study found that about 85 percent of all U.S. companies have experienced one or more attacks.

The use of a hijacked or rented server to launch attacks is typical for sophisticated hackers. The proliferation of server farms around the globe has made such misdirection easier, said E.J. Hilbert, president of the security company Online Intelligence and a former FBI cyber-crime investigator.

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Teachers and principals wary of cash-bonus plan

(Australia Twitter)-Prime Minister Julia Gillard says education and training will be the budget's top priority, as she unveiled a new plan to help thousands of students with disabilities.

A week out from the federal budget, Ms Gillard visited a Canberra primary school to announce a $200 million plan for more speech and occupational therapy, technology, teacher aides, health professionals and specialised curriculums.

The payment -- varying from $8100 for experienced teachers to $5400 for those starting out -- would be based on NAPLAN test results, lesson observations and parental feedback.

No new details about the policy were released yesterday but Mr Garrett said the intention was to clarify the government's commitment to the scheme ahead of next week's budget.

She recognised that she had "a lot of hard work to do as prime minister".

"We've got a lot of hard work to do as a government and we'll get on with doing that work," Ms Gillard said.

Australian Primary Principals Association president Norm Hart said they welcomed additional investment in teaching but had concerns about the way the bonus scheme would be calculated.

All public and private schools that teach disabled students will be eligible for a share of the money, which will flow from early next year until mid-2014, when new school funding arrangements begin to take effect.

Mr Abbott said the funding was a "small step towards addressing a very big problem"

Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said the government was mistaken in thinking a one-off bonus was the right approach in retaining good teachers and addressing staff shortages.

"It is not a long-term solution to the problems we have," he said. Mr Gavrielatos said a similar scheme in the US "failed spectacularly.

Undersea robotic mining a concern for the Greens

(Australia Twitter)-THE AUSTRALIAN Greens leader Senator Bob Brown has told the ABC that he is worried about undersea mining using robot technologies.

Senator Brown will push for an Australian Senate inquiry into the impact of undersea mining.

Senator Brown said the committee hearings in Brisbane were told there were now "well less than 100,000" koalas left on the continent.

He said all the factors involved in the population disaster, such as land clearing and the destruction of trees, are continuing.

Senator Brown said the investment in tackling an AIDS-like disease and chlamydia is pathetic.

Papua New Guinea is the first country to have undersea mining projects.

Brown said he is concerned about the environmental impacts the Solwara One gold and copper projects would have, which he said is using new robot technologies to mine the sea floor.

It's the national icon (but) there are fewer left in Australia now than there were in the slaughter years in the 1920s, and the numbers are crashing.

"We have to deal with that.

t's a very, very worrying direction for mining to be taking."

The Greens have been vocal about their opinion that all mining should cease in Australia, with renewable energy sources used in its place.

Brown attracted a barrage of criticism in January, when he linked the devastating Queensland floods on climate change caused by coal mining.

Rudd: Bin Laden's Death Won't Speed Up Australia's Afghan Exit

(Australia Twitter)-Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has said the al-Qaeda leader's death in a US mission in Pakistan won't hasten a withdrawal.

But Senator Brown says it's time for the government to rethink its position.

Mr Rudd, who met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington DC on Monday, also re-affirmed Australia's troop commitment in Afghanistan.

The former Premier insisted that "we will stay the course in Afghanistan until our mission is complete."

Australia is the largest contributor - among non-NATO members -to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) with 1,550 troops currently deployed in the southern province of Uruzgan.

He said he was concerned a new contingent was about to be sent from Townsville to Afghanistan.

"The questions is: is this Australia's war? Is this where Australian troops should be deployed?"

Senator Brown said Australia shouldn't respond to threats made against allied troops since bin Laden's death.

Australian forces are deployed in the southern Afghan province of Oruzgan and Afghan President Hamid Karzai has set a timetable for Afghan forces to take charge of security by 2014.

Mr Rudd said Australian troops "will stay the course in Afghanistan until our mission is complete".

However, the question is whether the deployment of Australian troops and the continuing death toll, and the injury toll, which is heart-rending, is in Australia's wider interests.

"Our view is we should bring our troops home."

He also cautioned people not to "gloat at the death of this criminal.

We respect President Karzai's 2014 date, and we are well on track towards achieving that, and we see no change as a result of the events of the last 24 hours," he said.

Bin Laden was shot dead by US Navy SEALS who raided his compound in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has set a timetable for Afghan forces to take charge of security by 2014 and Mr Rudd said Australia was committed to that.

"We see no change as a result of the events of the last 24 hours," Mr Rudd said.

Bin Laden was shot dead by US Navy SEALS who raided his compound in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad, Pakistan.

Queensland roadshow underway

(Australia Twitter)-On a day when 200 Queensland tourism operators left the capital on a two-state bus tour to promote the state as a warm, sunny winter holiday destination, the skies over Brisbane opened, dumping heavy rain and sparking flash flood warnings.

Tourism Queensland today embarks on the next stage of its recovery as 200 operators begin a five-day roadshow from Brisbane.

Four groups will criss-cross New South Wales and Victoria promoting the Nothing Beats Queensland message.

During the campaign, the 200 operators will travel to 13 cities across New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT on two brightly branded Tourism Queensland buses.

They’ll include representatives from wineries to B&Bs and surf schools.

The tour is part of the State and Federal Government’s $12 million recovery package.

Cairns-based federal senator Jan McLucas said the campaign was ‘‘smart, cheap, and I believe it'll be very effective.

Federal tourism minister Martin Ferguson said: “The Queensland on Tour road show will roll into towns from Ballina to Bendigo and Wagga Wagga to Wollongong personally promoting a range of Queensland holiday deals and giveaways.

[Today’s weather] is an aberration. This is not what Queensland’s like. It’s not happening anywhere else in Queensland except just over Brisbane right now.’’

The buses left Brisbane today for the tour and will converge in Sydney on Saturday.

Review of SA laws that suppress the identity of accused sex offenders

(Australia Twitter)-The ALP state executive is due to meet at 10am today, in conjunction with a special meeting of the national executive, to suspend the MP from the party before state parliament resumes tomorrow.

The move allows the MP to remain in Parliament as an independent. However, conviction would result in immediate expulsion from office and the party.

Mr Rann led the push to have the Labor MP charged with child pornography charges suspended from the ALP during a phone hookup this morning, which included members of the state and national executive.

Mr Brown yesterday made no apologies for the hardline approach, even as some members of caucus expressed concern the presumption of innocence had been cast aside for political reasons.

Earlier, Mr Rann said he had asked the ALP to suspend the member while the MP's case was before the courts.

"I have asked the Labor Party both at the state and national level to suspend the MP who's been charged," Mr Rann said this morning.

Mr Iles said he could not reveal the "instructions" he had from the MP about whether he would take his seat in parliament as an independent if he were suspended from the Labor Party.

All references to the Labor MP have been removed from the ALP website.

Parliament will tomorrow be warned not to name the Labor MP at the centre of a child pornography scandal as doing so would jeopardise the court case.

Speaker Lyn Breuer yesterday said she would also intervene to prevent the accused being named if she believed an MP was intending to do so.

Mr Rau is the dominant Right faction's choice to replace Mr Rann, should he step aside or be forced to quit before the next election.

Mr Rann and possibly Right faction powerbroker Tom Koutsantonis will miss tomorrow's caucus meeting, the first since the child porn scandal erupted last month.

Ms Breuer said she would warn Parliament when sitting resumed of serious consequences for naming the charged Labor MP.

"It's about the impact it can have actually on the trial we've got to be careful about," she said yesterday.

"Sometimes somebody can release a name or something in public and the trial falls into a heap because the evidence has been distorted.

"They need to be very, very careful about what they say