FINANCIAL TIMES
EURO’S GREEK HONEYMOON SHORT-LIVED
By Robin Wigglesworth in London, Chris Giles in Los Cabos, Mexico and Kerin Hope in Athens
The election victory for pro-austerity parties in Greece failed to assuage fears over the eurozone’s future. Spain’s benchmark borrowing costs rose to a new euro-era high. The optimism was swiftly deflated by dismal bad bank loan figures in Spain that underlined the country’s woes.
GUARDIAN
SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE DROPS 15-MONTH INVESTIGATION INTO VINCENT TCHENGUIZ
By Simon Bowers
Property tycoon to seek damages that could total £100m after SFO abandons inquiry following 'inadvertently miscast' warrant. Lawyers for Vincent Tchenguiz will be seeking aggravated and exemplary damages which could take the final bill over £100m.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
CABLE CALLS FOR STATE SUPPORT TO BOOST NEW HOUSE BUILDING
By Philip Aldrick, Economics Editor
In a speech to Centre Forum, the Business Secretary called on the Government to guarantee new borrowing by housing associations to reduce their costs and help trigger an urgently-needed building boom. Drawing comparisons with the 1930s, when the UK built its way of recession with almost 300,000 new homes a year, Mr Cable said: “The public sector balance sheet has to be used to leverage in private capital, particularly in housing. Demand has to be created, it does not emerge simultaneously.”
THE SUN
WE NEED BIG FAT GREEK REBRAND
Economist wants end of ‘lazy’ image
Greece must “rebrand” if it hopes to survive, one of the stricken nation’s top economists warned yesterday. Dr Nick Skrekas said it was “outrageous” that the world sees Greeks as lazy — and this was putting off vital foreign investors.
DAILY MAIL
PROPERTY ASKING PRICES HIT RECORD HIGH
By Simon Lambert
New high: Asking prices have hit a record level, but sellers may be being over optimistic says Rightmove.
Property asking prices have hit another record high, but a rush of new homes for sale and the sporting summer could apply the brakes, according to the latest figures from Rightmove. Optimistic homesellers, mainly in London and the South East, have pushed up asking prices to a new national high for the third month in a row, the property listing website has said.
DAILY EXPRESS
TESCO TO LEAVE JAPAN
Tesco is to quit Japan, nine years after embarking on an attempt to crack its notoriously difficult grocery market. Britain’s biggest supermarket will sell a 50 per cent stake in the loss-making business for a nominal sum to Japanese retailer Aeon. The two will form a joint venture into which Tesco will invest £40million to finance restructuring. Analysts expect Aeon to buy the remaining 50 per cent once that is complete.
AND FINALLY...
DAILY TELEGRAPH
THAILAND'S GOT TALENT REBUKED OVER TOPLESS PAINTER
A contestant auditioning for the popular "Thailand's Got Talent" show shocked judges and earned producers a government dressing down after she doused her breasts with paint and used them to paint a canvas.
