Brussels would gain greater control over the budgets of eurozone countries that breach debt and deficit rules if plans to be discussed at a European summit this week are approved.
Draft reports of an ambitious plan to turn the 17-nation bloc into a closer fiscal union have emerged - which would see Brussels given radical new powers to serve like a finance ministry.
The EU would also be allowed to re-write the national budgets of countries under the new rules. It would work with eurozone governments collectively agreeing their debt levels and the 'upper limits' of their national budgets on an annual basis.
Then, if a nation needed to increase borrowing levels, it would have to go to the other governments for approval.
A common EU bank supervisor could also be introduced. See Article
Daily Mail - Reverse gear on petrol tax: As fuel duty is scrapped it's great news for motorists... but another embarrassing U-turn for the Chancellor
George Osborne scrapped a 3p rise in fuel duty yesterday in yet another Budget U-turn.
The Chancellor said the move – greeted with delight by campaigners and motoring groups – reflected the ‘very difficult economic times’.
A duty rise in January had previously been axed and the latest freeze knocks £2.10 off the cost of filling up a typical family car. See Article
The Telegraph - How foreign students with lower grades jump the university queue
Exclusive: Foreign students are being offered places at top British universities with far lower A-level grades than school pupils in this country, a Daily Telegraph investigation discloses.
The official agent in Beijing for universities in the elite Russell Group claimed that it could secure over-subscribed places for a Chinese student purporting to have scored three C grades in their A-levels - when British students are required to have at least A, A and B.
Undercover reporters were also told to tell the UK authorities that the student would be returning home immediately after graduation - even if that was not their intention – in order to secure a visa.
Universities were accused of profiteering by rejecting tens of thousands of British teenagers, currently sitting A-levels, so they can fill places with more profitable foreign students.
Universities say that even the new £9,000-a-year tuition fees for British and European Union students do not cover their costs, and they need to turn to foreigners who are charged 50 per cent more.
Headmasters at some leading private schools have told The Daily Telegraph that some of their foreign pupils were being offered places with lower entry requirements than their British counterparts. See Article
The Telegraph - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp set to split in two
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is set to be broken up as the embattled media chief battles to stem the damage caused by the News of the World phone hacking scandal.
News Corp has confirmed it is considering splitting into two separately listed companies, ending Mr Murdoch’s 30-year project to build a coherent, global media business spanning newspapers, books, film and television.
The company did not give any details about how it will divide its assets, but it is expected to hive its newspaper and book publishing businesses into one unit, and house its much faster-growing film and television operations in the other. See Article
Daily Express - JOB SEEKERS SCHEME IS JUST ‘SLAVE LABOUR’
AN unemployed graduate is claiming she was used as “slave labour” in a Government back-to-work scheme.
Cait Reilly insists her enforced work experience of stacking shelves breached her human rights.
The 23-year-old had undertaken the unpaid job under “menace of penalty” and says the work at Poundland did not contribute to the public interest in any way as the chain was a successful private company.
Miss Reilly, who graduated in geology from Birmingham University in 2010, claimed job seeker's allowance from 2011 after failing to find work.
Her lawyers claimed at the High Court, in London yesterday, that she was pulled away from her “important museum-based voluntary work” and forced to take the “unpaid menial work” at the shop, near her home in Kings Heath, Birmingham, or risk losing benefits. See Article
Daily Express - WAGE SUBSIDIES SCHEME MOVED FORWARD
Wage subsidies for firms taking on young workers are to be brought forward in areas with the highest levels of long-term youth unemployment.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced that instead of coming in at nine months, the subsidy of £2,275 per person will start at six months.
The subsidy, equivalent to half the minimum wage, is part of the Government's £1 billion Youth Contract launched last autumn.
Mr Clegg will tell a CBI jobs summit in London on Wednesday: "Three months can make all the difference. See Article
Daily Express - CAMERON HECKLED BY GAMES VOLUNTEER
David Cameron has been told he should be "ashamed of himself" as he was heckled by an official London 2012 volunteer during a speech to mark the month-to-go countdown to the start of the Olympics.
The Prime Minister was making a speech to about 200 Games Maker volunteers at a specially-arranged visit to the official uniform distribution centre in east London when the protester stepped forward.
Just 22 seconds into Mr Cameron's speech, the protester, dressed in the purple and orange official uniform, shouted: "Shame on you, David Cameron - you are crippling the poor in London. Shame on you..."
The man tried to continue to speak but his words were drowned out by the other volunteers. He was then quickly ushered out of the room.
Mr Cameron, who was standing on a podium, responded by saying: "This is not about politics. This is about Britain. It is about volunteering. It is about our country. It is about a successful Olympics."
A London 2012 spokesman said: "People are allowed their political views. It was just a rather inappropriate place and time to air them."
No further information was given on the volunteer but London 2012 said he would continue in his role.
The embarrassing episode happened after London 2012 chairman Lord Coe was greeted with a standing ovation and a warm round of applause when he stepped into the room. He thanked the volunteers for their hard work.
Mr Cameron received the same reaction during the surprise visit before the intervention. The incident lasted a few minutes. See Article
How safe is the security for the Olympus, see video below from Friday Drivetime:
Exclusive: Undercover Reporter Infiltrates Security Firm to Expose London Olympics -- BCFM 22.06.12
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