TODAY’S HEADLINES IN BRIEF: HELP – SAYS SPAIN. WHILST AUSTERITY BITES - FRANCE SAYS YOU CAN RETIRE EARLIER. PRESSURE FOR MORE QE FROM THE BOE AND THE TAXING OLYMPIC SPORT
….THE PAIN IN SPAIN …..
GUARDIAN
SPAIN CALLS FOR NEW TAX PACT TO SAVE EURO
By Ian Traynor in Brussels and Nicholas Watt
Spain's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, is pleading for a direct eurozone rescue of the country's banks to avoid the humiliation of requesting a national bailout. Spain is warning that Europe's single currency will unravel unless its leaders decide within weeks to centralise budget and tax policies in the eurozone and agree on a strategy to pool responsibility for failing banks.
FINANCIAL TIMES
EUROPE WEIGHS UP LIMITED SPANISH RESCUE
By Peter Spiegel in Brussels, Victor Mallet in Madrid and Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt
European officials are weighing up a bailout programme for Spain that would aid its fragile domestic banking sector while imposing only “very limited conditionality” on Madrid, a concession that could make a reluctant Spanish government more willing to accept international assistance.
CITY AM
OVER TO YOU, MERKEL
By Tim Wallace
Europe’s political leaders must act now to restore confidence and stop their ravaged economies from collapsing any further, European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi insisted yesterday as he again refused to cut interest rates.
DAILY MAIL
DIVIDED ECB REJECTS CALLS TO CUT INTEREST RATES TO BOOST AILING EUROZONE
By Hugo Duncan
A divided European Central Bank yesterday resisted calls to cut interest rates despite declaring that the eurozone was under increasing threat. ECB President Mario Draghi warned that ‘heightened uncertainty’ was ‘weighing on confidence and sentiment’ as the central bank held rates at 1 per cent.
DAILY EXPRESS
STOCKS RALLY ON SPANISH RESCUE HOPE
By Edited by Peter Cunliffe
Hopes for further measures including a rescue of Spain’s troubled banks to counter a debt crisis tightening its grip on the eurozone economy lifted global stock markets yesterday. Although the European Central Bank held its main interest rate at 1 per cent some economists predicted a continuation of recent gloomy economic data would trigger more borrowing cuts.
…. THE OTHER NEWS …
DAILY TELEGRAPH
FRENCH PRESIDENT FRANCOIS HOLLANDE CUTS RETIREMENT AGE
By Emma Rowley
France's new socialist government cut the country’s retirement age in the face of the eurozone’s deepening crisis, citing “social justice” to explain a move that goes against austerity efforts across the region. Workers who entered employment aged 18 will be able to retire at 60 rather than 62. The decision follows pre-election promises from the new president Francois Hollande.
GUARDIAN
RECESSION PILES PRESSURE ON BANK OF ENGLAND FOR MORE QE
By Heather Stewart
Most analysts expect the monetary policy committee to leave interest rates on hold at their record low of 0.5% and hold back on further quantitative easing. Bank of England policymakers are under pressure to take action on Thursday to cushion the recession-hit UK economy against the turmoil in the eurozone.
FINANCIAL TIMES
LONDON HOUSE PRICES DIVERGE SHARPLY
By Ed Hammond, Property Correspondent
The gap in house prices between London’s boroughs has widened sharply over the past three years, polarising wealth. House prices in Kensington and Chelsea, have risen steeply since 2009. However, property prices in many of the city’s less well-heeled boroughs have flatlined or fallen during the same period.
SCOTSMAN
DIAGEO SPENDS £1BN ON DISTILLERIES TO GROW EMERGING MARKETS SHARE
By Peter Ranscombe
Scotland’s largest whisky maker yesterday named three sites for two new distilleries as it unveiled a £1 billion investment to keep up with the thirst for Scotch in emerging markets.
WWW.BBC.CO.UK
BANK OF ENGLAND CONSIDERS INTEREST RATES
Bank of England policymakers will meet on Thursday to decide whether to change interest rates or to pump in more money through quantitative easing .The majority of economists do not expect the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to alter policy.
…..AND FINALLY ….
DAILY TELEGRAPH
HMRC WARNING TO LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC TORCHBEARERS
By Richard Evans
Olympic torchbearers may have to pay tax if they decide to sell their keepsakes to the highest bidder, they have been warned by the taxman. The torches, which cost £495 but can be bought by bearers for a discounted £215, were intended as a nostalgic keepsake for runners. Dozens of them have already been put up for sale online, with bids currently reaching more than £5,000.
