HEADLINES IN BRIEF: THE PROBLEM WITH OIL ON TROUBLED WATERS. THE FACEBOOK ANGER AT IMF. THE IRISH TOWN THAT HAS RETURNED TO THE PUNT AND ECONOMIC SOLUTIONS FROM THE CBI
FINANCIAL TIMES
OLIVE OIL PRICE DIP ADDS TO EUROPEAN WOES
By Javier Blas, Commodities Editor
Spain, Italy and Greece, already fighting a financial and economic crisis, are now facing an oil crisis. Olive oil, that is. The price of the Mediterranean diet staple has plunged to a 10-year low as domestic consumption in the top producing southern European countries has fallen because of the economic crisis. That fall has coincided with a bumper olive crop in Spain, the biggest grower, creating a glut that has forced the EU to intervene to reduce the surplus amid worries about rural incomes.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
IRATE GREEKS VILIFY IMF CHIEF ON FACEBOOK AFTER SHE BRANDS THEM TAX DODGERS
By Alistair Osborne, Business Editor
The head of the International Monetary Fund has been forced to express her sympathy for the Greek people after politicians and irate locals vilified her for saying the country was a nation of tax dodgers. After being bombarded on her Facebook page with 10,000 messages, many of them obscene, Christine Lagarde took to the social networking site to say she was “very sympathetic to the Greek people and the challenges they are facing”. Despite the emergence this afternoon of a new Facebook page titled “Greeks are against Lagarde”, she reiterated that everyone should pay their taxes.
GUARDIAN
IRELAND'S SMALL-TOWN SOLUTION TO EURO UNCERTAINTY: BRINGING BACK THE PUNT
By Henry McDonald in Clones
Three days before Ireland's crucial referendum on the eurozone's fiscal pact – a vote that could complicate further the debate over austerity in Europe – the citizens of Clones are already taking matters into their own hands. Butchers, bar owners, shopkeepers, barbers and ordinary citizens of the County Monaghan town have in effect resurrected the old Irish currency bearing the faces of past Irish heroes such as Catholic emancipator Daniel O'Connell as the punt exchanges hands and is tucked into the tills
THE SCOTSMAN
CBI URGES PENSION FUNDS TO BUILD RETURNS THROUGH INFRASTRUCTURE
By Dominic Jeff
THE UK can secure a £250 billion infrastructure spending boost to rescue the ailing economy by making investors such as pension funds “an offer they can’t refuse”, the CBI says. In a new report published today the business group says Britain can find “the elusive growth boost” if it commercialises its approach to upgrading its “creaking infrastructure” while using state guarantees to boost the credit rating of investments. The changes could also help pension funds by giving them safe, long-term, dividend-paying projects to invest in.
GUARDIAN
SPAIN HOPES TO DRAW EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK INTO FUNDING BANKIA BAILOUT
By Giles Tremlett in Madrid
Spain's government plans to force Europe's central bank into sharing the task of bailing out its troubled financial sector in a potentially controversial move that could spark objections from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. Details remain sketchy, but sources in Madrid confirmed that a refinancing involving the ECB was the most probable way forward for a Spanish government that will have trouble raising €19bn itself at a manageable interest rate.
CITY AM
END IN SIGHT FOR CONSUMER WOES
By Tim Wallace
Income tax cuts and falling inflation will at last end the long squeeze on households and start to stimulate an economic recovery, top economists predicted this morning. After five gloomy years, consumers will see disposable incomes stabilise through 2012 and accelerate next year, Ernst and Young’s Item club believes, creating a “slow and steady recovery on the high street”. Combined with increases in the tax-free income allowance, the average consumer will be £482 better off this year and £624 in 2013, which is expected to start feeding through to the high street.
DAILY MAIL
INSURERS ARE FORCING UP PREMIUMS BY 'AUCTIONING OFF' INJURY CLAIMS TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER
By Daniel Martin, Whitehall Correspondent
Motorists’ premiums are going up because insurers are auctioning off personal injury claims to the highest bidder, a lawyer warned last night. John Spencer, who worked at firms which used to engage in the practice, said insurers were conducting auctions among solicitors for bundles of claims as part of a ‘morally repugnant’ money-making scheme. For years, insurers have been selling personal injury cases – usually drivers involved in accidents – to solicitors for ‘referral fees’, a commission which lawyers must pay to represent individual claimants.
DAILY EXPRESS
EU FORCE NEW RISE IN PRICE OF PETROL
By Macer Hall
Anger erupted last night over a new “green” fuel drive by the European Union that could slap 4p a litre on petrol and diesel. Hard-pressed motorists would pay the price of a draconian new quota on the amount of fuel from environmentally friendly sources to be sold in the UK. Under a Brussels directive, one in every 10 litres of fuel sold would be made up of sustainable alternative biofuels rather than fossil fuel by the end of the decade. It is feared that this will have a significant impact on petrol and diesel costs when world oil prices are already rising relentlessly.
WWW.BBC.CO.UK
LLOYD'S 'HAS PLANS FOR EURO COLLAPSE'
Richard Ward Richard Ward told the Telegraph: "I'm quite worried about Europe."
The insurance market Lloyd's of London is preparing contingency plans for the possibility of the euro collapsing, its chief executive has said. With Greece facing new elections in June and anti-bailout feelings high, there are fears Athens may be forced to exit the eurozone. In a Sunday Telegraph interview, Richard Ward said Lloyd's needs to "prepare for that eventuality".
….AND FINALLY ….
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Chinese art collectors scramble to buy battered pot from Bristol charity shop
A badly damaged pot donated to a charity shop has thrilled the art world after it sold for £360,000.
The small damaged pot donated to St Peter's Hospice charity shop that sold for £360, 000. The Chinese bamboo brushpot was taken to the shop in a carrier bag along with household bric-a-brac, but staff spotted that it might be of some value. It turned out to have been made between 1662 and 1722 by one of the most celebrated artists of the day, Gu Jue.
