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YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

ToryDiary: Lib Dem insider tells Guardian that getting Tories to help jobless is "like getting a vegetarian to go and buy a kebab"
"Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says a £1bn plan to provide subsidised work and training placements will "provide hope" to thousands of young people. The three-year youth contract scheme will give employers subsidies worth £2,275 to take on 160,000 18-to 24-year-olds for six months." - BBC
"The money – to be spent over three years – will provide opportunities including job subsidies, apprenticeships and work experience placements for 500,000 unemployed people." - BBC
"Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has been rebuked by Commons Speaker John Bercow for announcing his new scheme to tackle youth unemployment to the press before MPs." - Daily Telegraph

STRIKES

"Heathrow airport has warned airlines that passengers could face 12-hour delays next week when immigration officers go on strike over pensions." - BBC
"Councils are preparing for major disruption to schools and services when public sector workers strike on Wednesday." - BBC
"Shadow cabinet members are growing increasingly frustrated over Ed Miliband’s untenable position on next week’s public sector strikes. With Government figures showing that the walk-outs will cost the economy half a billion and lead to direct job losses, Mr Miliband has failed to say whether he supports or condemns them. ... The Labour leader is also playing straight into the hands of the Tories, who are quite rightly accusing him of being in the pockets of his union paymasters. From the Prime Minister down, Tory ministers have been gleefully pointing out that 86per cent of Labour’s funding has come from trade unions since Mr Miliband became Labour leader." - Kirsty Walker for the Daily Mail

EUROZONE CRISIS

"Italy’s borrowing costs shot higher on Friday as Rome was forced to pay euro-era high interest rates to investors in what analysts called an “awful” auction of short-term debt.Yields on two-year bonds jumped above 8 per cent after an auction of this debt and six-month bills raised the full targeted €10bn but at the cost of sharply higher yields." - FT (registration may be required)
James Forsyth: "That Italy is now paying around 7.8 per cent for two-year borrowing, compared to the 4.5 per cent it was paying just last month, is a reminder that the imposition of a technocratic government was far from a solution to the country’s problems."
"Despite Ireland's strong progress toward its budget targets in the year since receiving a bailout, its 10-year bond yield has rocketed 1.6 percentage points this week to 9.8% and the Irish yield curve inverted further, a sign of increased near-term credit risk. The country is a victim of the euro-zone's shambolic crisis response." - WSJ Europe (£)
"French appeals for Germany to sanction extra powers for the European Central Bank have been firmly rejected, despite warnings from politicians, economists and even the Vatican that it is the only way of "averting a catastrophe"." - Daily Telegraph
Ben Brogan: "The betting in Team Dave seems to be that the game is as good as up for the single currency."
Fitch downgrades Portuguese banks following yesterday's sovereign downgrade - Reuters

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