No one gets charged when the IMF screws a country so the ABC reports Shock as IMF chief charged over sex assault

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Sunday it remained “fully functioning and operational,” despite the arrest in New York of its managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on charges of sexual assault.

In its first statement since Strauss-Kahn’s arrest, the IMF said it had no comment and referred all inquiries to Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer and local authorities.

The IMF chief was arrested on Sunday and charged with a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment of a New York hotel maid, in a scandal that appeared to wreck his hopes of running for president of France.

The 62-year-old, a key player in the response to the 2007-09 global financial meltdown and in Europe’s debt crisis, was taken by police off an Air France plane about to leave for Paris from John F Kennedy International Airport.

It would appear that Mr. Strauss-Kahn, if guilty, was attempting international flight to avoid prosecution. NYPD must have physical evidence to have pursued the case this quickly, because they knew who the suspect was, and don’t always act immediately without a good basis when a suspect has pull.

Of course, it is possible that someone in the chain of command is fighting or suffered foreclosure and has a “problem” with financiers as a result.

The ABC reports that Azerbaijan takes home Eurovision prize.

This is a story that belongs in the “Offbeat” or “Strange” category, rather than “Entertainment”. The Eurovision song contest is a cruel joke played on television viewers. Ostensibly, it is a talent show, but it has more in common with The Gong Show than any attempt at finding people with talent.

It is best viewed in a local bar or pub that has a Mystery Science Theater 3000 tradition.

The BBC reports that Tepco halts Fukushima cooling plan

Japanese engineers have abandoned their latest attempt to stabilise a stricken reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The plant’s operator, Tepco, had intended to cool reactor 1 by filling the containment chamber with water.

But Tepco said melting fuel rods had created a hole in the chamber, allowing 3,000 tonnes of contaminated water to leak into the basement of the reactor building.
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Tepco says it will come up with a new plan to stabilise the reactor by Tuesday.

Japanese broadcaster NHK said Tepco was now studying a plan to circulate water from the basement through a decontamination filter and back into the reactor.

The Japanese government is still claiming that the cold shutdown will take place in January. This despite the fact that TEPCO has no idea what needs to be done to cool these reactors.

Maybe it’s time to ask someone who knows what they are doing to help before TEPCO manages to make the entire Pacific Ocean a dead zone?