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Canberra pauses as President arrives   The pending arrival of US President Barack Obama has the capital in lockdown. Julia Gillard has no public events ahead of US President Barack Obama's scheduled touch down in Canberra at 3.15 this afternoon. The PM and Governor-General Quentin Bryce will meet the President at Fairbairn airport. President Obama will then be driven to a 4.15pm ceremonial welcome at Parliament House. At 4.30pm, a private meeting between Ms Gillard and Mr Obama begins. At 6pm the pair will hold a joint press conference. The last event of the day begins at 7.30pm with a parliamentary dinner, featuring speeches from both leaders. Tony Abbott is in Canberra for the arrival of the president. He'll attend the parliamentary dinner this evening. Quiet please : Parliament House has moved into lock down this morning ahead of the President's visit. Most parliamentary staff have been given the day off. The roads surrounding parliament have

Abbott shifts ground on IMF bailout   As Julia Gillard flies out to the APEC meeting of world leaders, Tony Abbott has shifted ground on eurozone stability. Julia Gillard will attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at the Australian War Memorial this morning. This evening she'll fly out to Honolulu for the APEC meeting. Tony Abbott is in London still. Overnight Australian time, he met with British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne . The pair had a long conversation about the Eurozone crisis. He then went to a reception for International Democratic Union leaders at 10 Downing St, hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron . Tonight (11.11am tomorrow morning in London), Mr Abbott will join Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith VC at the Australian Remembrance Day Service at the Australian War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner. He'll lay a wreath during the service. First up : Following his meeting with Mr Osborne, Mr Abbott appeared to shift ground on his opposition

Abbott adds pokies to roll back list Tony Abbott has pledged to strike down mandatory pre-commitment if elected, as Julia Gillard strides the world stage at CHOGM in Perth. Julia Gillard is in Perth for CHOGM. She hanother full day of events, starting with a visit to Hoffmann Engineering Manufacturing Facilities, the Parkwood Primary School and bilateral meetings with Sri Lankan President Mahendra Rajapaksa and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan . Tony Abbott was wheels up and off to Perth this morning for the next three days of CHOGM-related events. Mr Abbott will attend the opening session of CHOGM and hold a series of meetings with political leaders. Chief among those meetings is a sit-down with British prime minister David Cameron and Foreign Minister William Hague that has been pencilled in - the pair could be delayed by events in Europe. First up : Mr Abbott will hold a doorstop on arrival in Perth. He'll face questions about his pledge la

Financial & Forex Info News Brisbane wins a reprieve   Rising waters in Brisbane have peaked below the level of the 1974 flood that hit the city. But the floods are still dominating the news today. Brisbane's close call is described by The Australian's website as " Queensland Flood Disaster'' , The Courier-Mail announces a " close call " while The Age says " A city's anxiety peaks ". As Milanda Rout reports from Brisbane: At 4am when the waters peaked about 4.45m, the city was a ghost town, with only the sound of building alarm systems blaring in the darkness...the Bureau of Meteorology said the river level at 3.30am (AEST) this morning "was 4.45m and rising with the high tide"....A peak slightly above this level is expected in the next few hours.The bureau said earlier this morning that the downgraded peak, to below 5m, was due to releases at Wivenhoe Dam being reduced quickly on Tuesday

FINANCIAL & FOREX INFO NEWS Organising folk dancing festivals The latest WikiLeaks cables have been released and there is more embarrassment for Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd.     First off: In the cables, Mr Rudd derides the contribution of France and Germany to the fight against the Taliban as ''organising folk-dancing festivals'' and confides that the outlook in Afghanistan ''scares the hell out of me''. Another of the cables sent to Washington in November last year by the US embassy in Canberra records the Australian special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ric Smith - a former secretary of the Defence Department - delivering a bleak assessment of the international community's Afghan strategy. ''Smith had just returned from a visit to Oruzgan and described the mission in Afghanistan and Afghan government presence as a 'wobbly three-legged stool','' the cable says. (more from Phili