Fulham manager Mark Hughes admits loan move for Manchester City star Shaun Wright-Phillips will be difficult

Welsh boss believes Fulham deserved something from Liverpool defeat

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A Chief Digital Officer for New York

City picks entrepreneur to lead digital efforts. Meet Rachel Sterne. The 27-year-old entrepreneur was tapped by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to be the city’s first “chief digital officer.” Stern, the founder of a citizen news portal called GroundReport, told The Wall Street Journal she’s “so excited” because “roles like this just didn’t exist five, six, seven years ago.” Her first order of business? Expanding the city’s digital footprint and re-jiggering the city’s website, nyc.gov. She might even take a cue from her snarky friends, who posted suggestions like these on her Facebook profile: “maybe while you’re there you can teach mike how to check accuweather.com.”

Small banks to get $30 billion in aid. Remember the “Small Business Lending Fund” President Obama plugged in his last State of the Union address? One year later, the money is about to start flowing, according to Bloomberg Businessweek . The fund offers community banks capital that becomes cheaper as they boost their lending to small businesses. But the Washington Post says the plan is facing a big hurdle : many banks and businesses have no intention of tapping the fund, “either because they were well capitalized or weren’t seeing loan demand.”

“The Beer Industry’s Mad Inventor.” The BottomsUp beer dispenser functions as its name implies: it fills a cup with beer from the bottom. But what makes the product so unique is how quickly the cups are filled. A YouTube demonstration proves it can fill 56 cups in 60 seconds-an “unofficial world record.” OPEN Forum reports the story of the product’s inventor, Josh Springer, a 28-year-old with a vision for a faster pouring dispenser. According to OPEN, the YouTube video “helped transform Springer’s invention from an online oddity into a breakthrough product that is now filling beer cups in some 25 venues around the country, including National Football League stadiums in Jacksonville and San Diego as well as Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals.”

Want to buy a pink cow? You’ll need some “Facebook Credits” for that. Facebook said third-party game developers must use its virtual currency in all game apps played on the social network. According to the Wall Street Journal , “Facebook is aiming to build an online payments business that observers believe could one day augment its advertising business, the company’s primary source of revenue…But Facebook’s push to drive adoption of its virtual currency has been controversial among game developers because the social network takes a 30% slice of every transaction made with Facebook Credits.” The requirement takes effect July 1.

A veteran innovator. The Department of Veteran Affairs is using your tax dollars to help veterans with the latest technology. Craig Newmark , founder of Craigslist, reports on his website that software written by VA employee Renford Patch to evaluate a veteran’s hearing loss is being used to expedite the claims process. Not only will this cut red tape, but vets may actually start receiving services as soon as they need them.

Twitter blocked in Egypt. As with the Iranian protests of 2009 and the recent Tunisian uprising, Twitter and Facebook are increasingly being used to rally the masses for a political cause. Egypt is the latest country to block the microblogging service after violent protesters poured into the streets of Cairo, demanding President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation. TechCrunch has the story.

A one-stop shop for the news. What else is new? Ongo, a two-year-old start-up, Ongo , is the latest to take a crack at aggregating news while also turning a profit. Debuting online today, the site is backed by three media giants: Gannett, which publishes USA Today,The New York Times Company and The Washington Post Company.

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Birmingham City v Aston Villa: live

Birmingham give debut to new signing David Bentley while Villa give first league start to Kyle Walker, both on loan from Spurs.

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Bank boss set for bonus showdown

Barclays chief Bob Diamond is under intense pressure to lead by example and give up payout

Britain’s best-paid banking boss, the Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond, will face intense pressure from MPs to waive his multimillion-pound bonus this week in recognition of the austere economic conditions and public intolerance of outsized City pay cheques.

An appearance by Diamond in front of the Treasury select committee on Tuesday is set to become a key clash between Westminster and the City as the coalition’s efforts to tame bankers’ pay falter.

Last night MP John Mann, a Labour member of the committee, said he and others would call on Diamond to forgo any bonus for 2010, when he was head of Barclays’ investment banking arm.

“He will be asked not to take any bonus at all,” said Mann. “We will want to know exactly how much these executives are getting in bonuses and other payments and why. There will be some tough questions.”

Mann said that the committee would also press Diamond to disclose whether top Barclays staff were to receive “supplementary salaries”, which MPs suspect are being handed out in addition to official remuneration.

The issue of bankers’ pay has become highly toxic at Westminster, with MPs acutely aware that sky-high payments are fuelling public resentment over government cuts and the coalition’s plans to triple university fees.

US-born Diamond, who took the top job at Barclays this month after five years running the group’s investment banking operations, is, however, understood to be reluctant to give up his bonus.

Insiders say the entire industry is watching. One City source said: “If Bob were to say no to a bonus, that would mean, in practice, that everyone else would have to say no.”

Diamond has made £75m over the past five years. But since the credit crunch in 2008, the heads of all of Britain’s top banks have agreed to surrender their bonuses entirely or to donate them to charity. Diamond, along with many of his rivals, is thought to be shaping up for a fight this year, insisting that the time for “gestures” has passed.

The bonus season will kick off on Friday when the US bank JP Morgan, which employs 11,000 people in Britain, reports annual profits. Analysts at Bernstein Research expect JP Morgan’s accounts to reveal that it has set aside $6.8bn (£4.4bn) to fund salaries, benefits and performance-related pay for its staff. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup will follow later in the month and between them are likely to pay their staff as much as $80bn for 2010.

Britain’s banks will follow next month. Barclays is likely to pay out about £2.5bn and in a particularly contentious move, government-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland, which was bailed out by taxpayers in 2008, is hoping to pay £1bn, including cash payments of up to £50,000 a person.

Despite an explicit pledge in the coalition agreement to address bankers’ pay, the government’s attempts to do so have floundered. Banks have shifted a large proportion of staff rewards from cash into longer-term share payouts, and they have attached “clawback” rules allowing them to recoup payments if losses come to light. But the headline figures paid to brokers, traders and deal-makers have barely shifted, with banks defiantly threatening to quit the Square Mile in favour of Switzerland, Hong Kong or Tokyo if targeted by legislation.

Diamond’s appointment has caused concern to some Liberal Democrats who have been campaigning for the investment banking arms of banks to be hived off from their deposit-taking high street operations. Lord Oakeshott, a Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said: “Capitalism needs buccaneers like Bob Diamond but he’s utterly unsuitable to run a core British bank.” As soon as we split basic banking from casino banking, Britain’s economy will be a far safer place”.

Diamond is expected to make it clear to MPs that Barclays is committed to lending to the small and medium-sized enterprises that the government is so eager to foster to provide another engine for a sustained economic recovery.

His predecessor John Varley, who stepped down as chief executive at the end of 2010 but will stay on for another 2011 in an advisory capacity, is understood to continue to be leading talks with the government to attempt to deter any tax on bonuses this year. Varley has been the brains behind project Merlin through which the major banks -Lloyds, RBS, HSBC, and Barclays – have offered to lend £200bn to businesses and show some sort of “restraint” on bonuses.

The proposal was presented to Vince Cable, business secretary, and chancellor George Osborne just before Christmas but is yet to be accepted. Fresh talks are expected to take place before the end of the month when Cable returns from a scheduled trip to India. Executive pay and bonuses Banking Bob Diamond Andrew Clark Jill Treanor Toby Helm guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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HMV warning after grim Christmas

– Job losses expected at HMV – First profits warning of 2011 – Next also lost sales in the Big Freeze – Games Workshop sees fall in sales

HMV is to close 60 stores across the UK after suffering a sharp fall in sales over the crucial Christmas period.

The struggling high street chain issued the retail sector’s first profits warning of 2011 this morning, dashing hopes that the company’s fortunes had improved. In an unscheduled trading statement, HMV admitted that like-for-like sales across its UK and Ireland outlets had plunged by 13.6% in December. It also warned that it may breach the terms of its lending agreements with its banks.

HMV shares, which have already lost more than two-thirds of their value over the past year, slumped another 15% to 27.25p in early trading this morning.

The company did not say which stores will be closed, but it appears likely that there will be significant job losses across the group.

Today’s profits warning comes less than a month after HMV alarmed the City by reporting a £40m loss for the first half of this financial year . The company had been pinning its hopes on a strong Christmas, but last month’s Arctic blast appears to have scuppered its chances.

“The challenging entertainment markets, combined with the severe weather over our peak trading period have had a negative impact on our trading year to date. In addition, there are well-reported consumer headwinds as we enter 2011,” said the company. Many retailers have warned that Britain’s austerity measures, such as the VAT rise, will hurt them this year.

“Given the difficult trading conditions over Christmas and the likely outturn for the year, the board now expects that compliance with the April covenant test under the group’s bank facility will be tight and is taking further mitigating actions during the next four months to address this,” HMV added.

Chief executive Simon Fox insisted that HMV remained “a profitable and cash-generative business and a powerful entertainment brand”.

Analysts, though, have already been expressing doubts over the firm’s long-term prospects. Before today, HMV was expected to make a profit of between £46m and £60m. It now believes earnings will be at the “lower end” of expectations.

At Waterstone’s, also owned by HMV, comparable sales fell by 0.4% in December.

Fellow high street retailer Next was also counting the cost of the snow today. It reported that around £22m of full price sales were lost in December as shoppers shunned the high street, although the company’s Directory arm benefited as people ordered Christmas presents from home instead.

Fantasy games specialist Games Workshop also warned today that its profits will not meet market expectations. Its sales fell 4% in the six months to 28 November, followed by “difficult trading conditions” in December. HMV Retail industry Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Los Angeles Agency Launches EV Testing Program

LOS ANGELES – The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) is testing 10 BYD F3DM dual-mode electric sedans at its offices. HACLA expects each vehicle will significantly reduce fuel costs and reduce CO2 emissions by almost 37 lbs. annually.

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Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz not interested in Lazio loan move

Forward doesn’t want to leave family for six months

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Manchester City midfielder Michael Johnson admits moving to Leeds United on loan is an ‘ideal scenario’

City boss Roberto Mancini could send him away to regain form

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City struggles to move beyond piecemeal approach to earthquake retrofitting

@font-face {“Cambria”; }@font-face {“Swift-Light”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 12pt;”Times New Roman”; }p.BodyCopy-NoIndent, li.BodyCopy-NoIndent, div.BodyCopy-NoIndent { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 11pt; font-size: 8.5pt; color: black; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } San Francisco’s piecemeal approach to seismic retrofitting took a big hit when voters rejected a $46 million bond to retrofit affordable housing and residential hotels. This was the third time in as many years that the city sought the ability to borrow money to fix structures that were most vulnerable to a major earthquake.

Advocates say this measure’s passage could saved the lives of some of the city’s most vulnerable residents. But seismic safety experts argue it was only a fraction of what is needed to prevent widespread building collapses when the next big quake strikes.

While this year’s bond measure, Proposition A, could have saved as many as 156 buildings, the city has identified at least another 2,700 similar structures that are not covered by any retrofit program.

The city has taken a piecemeal approach to seismic tune-ups for two decades. Since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, city voters have given a go-ahead to 13 local and regional bond and tax measures. Two of these measures aim to repair San Francisco General Hospital and privately owned unreinforced concrete masonry buildings.

Some earthquake safety advocates see such a piece-by-piece approach as too laid back. However, this strategy is advised not only by the city’s financial planning staff in order to maintain a solid credit rating, but is also politically prudent, said Jason Elliott, a policy adviser to Mayor Gavin Newsom and also a key campaigner for Proposition A. Elliott said city officials try to put forward measures that “could get two-thirds on the ballot.”

With all the other financial challenges the city faces, “the piecemeal approach is what we’re stuck with,” said Chris Poland, a structural engineer and key player in the city’s seismic retrofitting initiatives.

The speed of retrofitting work, however, could pick up in 2011 if the newly elected Board of Supervisors makes some of the quake work mandatory.

Since early spring, officials have been preparing a new requirement that would apply to all soft-story buildings – wood-frame structures with large openings on the ground floor – built before 1973. City officials now estimate that the plan will not be ready for consideration for about six months. Still up for debate is whether there will be funds to help building owners comply.

The debate is timely: Seismologists predict that a 6.7-magnitude earthquake has a 63 percent chance of hitting the Bay Area in the next 30 years. Loma Prieta was magnitude 6.9, and it killed seven people in San Francisco and collapsed seven buildings in the Marina District, all of which were soft-story. CONCRETE BUILDINGS ALSO IN DANGER While this year’s efforts focued on soft-story buildings, some seismic safety engineers say more must be done.

Nonductile concrete buildings also pose a serious quake risk and are costly to revamp. The Concrete Coalition , a volunteer group of engineers and planners, estimates that there are as many as 3,000 such buildings in San Francisco, both commercial and residential.

An advisory committee, called the Committee Action Plan for Seismic Safety , which reconstituted in 2008 after years of inactivity, has been pushing for an inventory of vulnerable structures the city should act on.

“I would have preferred a substantial amount more to cover private buildings that are rent controlled,” said Debra Walker, a member of the committee who also ran for supervisor in District Six this fall. “In some ways they’re more dangerous than wood-frame buildings. But there are less of them and they affect fewer people and businesses,” Walker said.

“It’s not enough,” said Sarah Karlinsky, deputy director of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association . “We should be looking at nonductile concrete buildings, other SRO buildings with different vulnerabilities – all kinds of buildings,” she said, adding that Proposition A would have been a step in the right direction.

“If casualties are a concern, you should go after older concrete buildings,” said Lauren Samant, a consultant evaluating seismic safety for the city.

“There are a number of buildings that are considered to be quite dangerous,” said Stephen Mahin, professor of structural engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and director of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center . “There are many levels of danger and soft-story buildings are in the top two or three.”

But in the financially strapped city, getting a green light for more funding is no easy feat. The Capital Planning Committee of the General Services Agency often discourages bond ideas that cost too much.

Proposition A, however, seemed affordable to the committee. “It doesn’t impact on the city’s ability to do future capital projects,” Elliott explained. But anything more would have been “more than the city can afford.”

Proposition A wasn’t the first program designed to toughen up the city’s buildings.

In 1992, a bond measure gave the city the authority to lend out hundreds of millions to fund retrofitting of unreinforced masonry buildings. Nearly two decades later, however, $270 million remains, and the mayor’s office says that tapping into that fund is complicated.

Though about 95 percent of the approximately 2,000 such masonry structures have been retrofitted, according to building inspection officials, the city was only able to find willing borrowers for a fraction of the $350 million that was available at that time.

The reason is that the loans offered by banks came with better terms than those the city offered.

Kevin Kitchingham, housing director of the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center – an organization that owns buildings that might have benefited from the Proposition A loans – expressed disappointment that this $270 million fund has not been used.

“There was more money available for that bond issuance than the mayor would sign off on,” Kitchingham said. “We wanted to take the unspent bond authorization from the prior issuance and repurpose that money along with these funds.”

Repurposing the unreinforced masonry building bond would require sending two ballot measures to the voters. One would deauthorize its current use and another would reauthorize it to pay for seismic retrofits in other types of structures.

The city’s financial rating agencies have assumed the bond, authorized in 1992, will never be sold. Repurposing it might weaken the city’s bond rating. VOLUNTARY MEASURES In April, the Department of Building Inspection rolled out a voluntary seismic retrofit program to encourage owners of soft-story building to safeguard their properties against potential damage and collapse.

The participation rate, however, has been minimal. Despite the offer of expedited permits and waived fees, only 14 building owners have applied for permits.

The Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety even went as far as recommending fines for noncompliance. The mayor’s office, however, is opposed to the fines.

Poland, chair of a mayoral committee preparing the mandatory ordinance, said the proposal was ready in September but got bogged down in debates about funding incentives.

The basis for the Proposition A effort was a report published by the Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety in February 2009. It identified risks and issued recommendations regarding soft-story buildings. The city prioritized residential hotels in part because they house so many people.

Poland said that because the buildings damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake were all soft-story structures, people are more aware of their dangers: “Whenever there’s an earthquake and a particular building is damaged, it causes the public to be concerned and for us to focus on that.”

Identifying which kinds of danger the city should try to avoid is not straightforward.

“If your priority is to make sure people aren’t thrown out of their houses after an earthquake, then these wood-frame soft-story buildings are more important,” said Samant, a project manager for the community action plan and consultant for the Applied Technology Council. “Not only those covered by Prop. A, but also smaller ones with three or four units.”

Samant explained that the focus on buildings with only five or more units is somewhat arbitrary, as the number of units in a building says little about its size or risk of collapse. MORE PRESSURE FOR REFORM

Despite its numerous recommendations, the Community Action Plan has little ability to act. As an advisory group, its recommendations on legislation and programs are passed on to the Department of Building Inspection and politicians, where the fate of these programs is decided.

“Ultimately it’s the job of the city, the Board of Supervisors and the mayor to move forward with these recommendations,” Walker said.

Three more reports will be published by the Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety before the end of the year. These include a detailed study of what is likely to happen in San Francisco in the event of a major earthquake, a report clarifying which buildings will need to be repaired and retrofitted after an earthquake and a list of risk-mitigation recommendations for the city.

Though the city contracts for the Community Action Plan are due to expire soon, the advisory committee, composed of volunteers, will continue its work.

“Even without money from the city,” Poland said, “there’s a strong army of volunteers interested in doing this for San Francisco.”

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More Than 5,000 Families Flee Mexico’s Murder Capital

More than 5,000 homes in this border city have been abandoned in the last six months amid intensifying drug-related violence blamed for more than 2,700 deaths this year, Mexico’s National Fund for Worker Housing Institute, or Infonavit, said Friday.

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U.S. Mayors Cutting Road Repairs, City Services As Result of Economic Downturn

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Nearly 70 percent of American mayors are cutting back on road maintenance and projects as a result of the prolonged economic downturn, based on a new Harris Interactive survey commissioned by Reader’s Digest.

The survey found road services to be the most cited way for local governments to reduce costs. As cutbacks are occurring in every corner of local government, the impacts are affecting not only core city services but the quality of life of citizens.

“This Harris poll confirms that despite all the talk of economic recovery our towns and cities are still hurting,” commented Dan Lagani, president of Reader’s Digest Media.

Recent data suggests nearly two in every five cities have reduced police or fire department staff or services as a result of the struggling economy. Another 40 percent are cutting library service while nearly a quarter have drastically slashed after-school and extracurricular programs for kids.

Despite exhibiting cautious optimism for the long-term financial health of their communities, the survey found, three out of four city leaders said they expect financial challenges to worsen in the coming year, and 39 percent said the worsening will be substantial:

• Some of the primary areas local legislators have already cut back include:
• Reduced maintenance and services at parks and gardens (41 percent)
• Reduced hours, staff or services at local libraries (39 percent)
• Reduced hours or closing of recreational facilities (30 percent)
• Cancellation of town-sponsored festivals and events (28 percent)
• Reduced/cancelled after-school programs targeting kids (22 percent).

Should the economic downturn continue, municipalities said they will be affected in several key ways, among them:

• Reducing maintenance and/or canceling road, highway, or bridge projects (69 percent)
• Canceling or delaying planned building projects (63 percent)
• Cutting services and/or staff in police and fire departments (41 percent).

Despite the budget constraints, the mayors were resisting cutting back on services that have an immediate impact on residents. Only 9 percent said they have reduced public transit service; just 6 percent have reduced assistance to needy citizens; and only 2 percent say they have cut services or staff in city-run hospitals.

Mayors noted that both citizens and city employees were rising to the challenges of keeping their communities strong. Among the actions being taken, according to mayors:

• 63 percent said city workers were accepting early retirement or reduced overtime
• 41 percent said volunteerism were increasing in their city
• 30 percent said there were increased town-hall meetings to discuss needed changes and cutbacks
• 22 percent said the city had received private financial donations to help offset service cutbacks.

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Cowen faces bailout questions in Dáil

– Lisa O’Carroll with minute-by-minute coverage as Ireland’s ruling coalition faces imminent collapse amid turmoil over the EU’s potential €90bn bailout – Read Lisa O’Carroll’s lunchtime summary

4.36pm: Is this a different Brian Cowen in the house today? Gone is the angry, defensive taoiseach, replaced by a conciliatory, calm Cowen. “I’m not questioning your attempt to be constructive or your offer to be constructive,” he says gently to Kenny, the Fine Gael leader.

4.34pm: Cowen is on his feet again. He says he can’t bring forward the budget until the tax take for November is in at the end of next week. (November is a big tax month.)

4.31pm: Enda Kenny now notices the absence of the Green party and asks the taoiseach whether “they’ve been sacked or about to be sacked”. He reiterates his offer to facilitate the sitting of the house outside normal Dail hours to facilitate a budget next week.

4.25pm: Brian Cowen says he is not trying to cling to power. He says it is “very important that we proceed with the budget as we have set out and that timeline has been agreed with the commissioner when he came here”.

Cowen, who appears serene but may simply be worn down by the events of the last two weeks, is now defending his government’s denial that a bailout preparation was under way 10 days ago.

4.24pm: Kenny says:

There are two dates that are within your grasp that can restore stability and confidence. The first is the budget … Tomorrow the four-year fiscal plan will be announced. What I want to do know in the interests of certainty and confidence will you tell the Dail now that you’ll bring forward the budget for next week?

Kenny says he will facilitate bringing forward the budget.

4.22pm: Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny is addressing the house. He says people have watched in horror as the IMF, ECB and EU have arrived in Dublin and within three days the government has asked for a formal bailout. And there is “an ongoing attempt to cling to power at all costs”, he says. People need confidence and stability, he adds.

4.22pm: Cowen has arrived in the house.

4.13pm: Expecting the taoiseach to announce the cabinet has agreed the four-year plan within the next half hour. Brian Cowen has been taking regular questions in the Dáil and will return shortly to take more questions on the financial crisis. We’ll keep you posted.

4.02pm: So as Ian says Europe is strangely silent. What about this grim assessment I’ve just spotted deep in one of Landon Thomas Jr’s pieces in the New York Times ?

“It will be the same story with all these countries [Spain, Portugal] – Ireland is just ahead of the game,” said Desmond Lachman, a former policy executive from the International Monetary Fund who is now with the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. “They all have a fixed exchange rate and have to make these massive adjustments, so people are asking whether they are on the right path.”

3.05pm: My colleague Ian Traynor sends this from Brussels, which he says has gone strangely silent on the Irish and the euro, perhaps because many of the top people involved are out of town.

Olli Rehn, the key European commissioner dealing with the crisis, has been five hours down the road in Strasbourg, where the European parliament is sitting, along with another central figure, Jean-Claude Trichet, the head of the European central bank.

In Dublin a couple of weeks ago, Rehn took time to try to cultivate opposition MPs in the Dáil. In retrospect, given the madness of the past 48 hours, Rehn may have been on to something first – that the Cowen government would be on its last legs as soon as the bailout went public and that opposition tolerance would be needed to get Brian Lenihan’s crucial budget through.

Rehn was at it again in Strasbourg today, trying to soothe Irish MEPs of all political stripes.

But perhaps we should be thankful for the peace and quiet in Brussels since feet in mouth have been a recurring problem when the eurocrats and the politicians seek to out-argue the markets.

Luke Baker at Reuters Brussels bureau has been highlighting the politicians’ hamfisted attempts to talk their way out of trouble today. Joshua Chaffin at the FT in Brussels also pointed up the problem last week.

Rehn lamented the problems of “communicating properly” on the crisis, voicing muted exasperation with the blunders of his superiors.

Chief among these is Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European council, who last week made a bad situation worse by observing that the EU was fighting for its survival. He might have succeeded in getting his name in the papers, but for all the wrong reasons.

A few days before that in a speech in Berlin, he drew an asinine connection between Euroscepticism and war, suggesting that anyone but a true believer in the “European project” was a troublemaker.

Van Rompuy has been in Stockholm today where the Swedes, like the Brits outside the euro but unlike the Brits eschewing any Schadenfreude at the euro’s travails, are keen to help the Irish, to help the euro, and will take part in the bailout.

Van Rompuy kept his feet strictly out of his mouth, sticking to the bland formulation: “We look forward to the rapid conclusion of the ongoing negotiations for a programme.”

2.56pm: A bit of a sideshow going on here on RTE’s ever-popular phone-in with Joe Duffy.

Green TD Paul Gogarty is being mauled for taking his 18-month-old daughter Daisy (left) into the bombshell press conference yesterday at which the party called for a general election (see 9.12am).

He said he had behaved entirely “professional” and had been unable to get childcare for his daughter for the 25-minute press conference.

He said the conference was called at short notice and his normal childcare arrangements weren’t available, adding:

If I wanted to show her off the telly there were plenty of other opportunities.

My child was more comfortable sitting on my knee and I wanted to show solidarity with my leader John Gormley.

I would rather my child be comfortable sitting on my knee than be uncomfortable. I had to be there. There was an important message to send.

But listeners were having none of it. Paul Carroll fumed: “For him to think it’s acceptable to come into an international media conference with a young child on his lap … ”

Carroll said if he had brought a child into an important presentation he probably would lose the business.

Gogarty says he worked seven days a week and was just stuck without childcare. “give me four out of 10 for politics but 10 out of 10 for being a father.”

He said he didn’t parade his child in front of the media normally and didn’t use his family in promotional literature.

2.53pm: My colleague Graeme Wearden sends this from the business desk:

Spain and Portugal came under more pressure from the financial markets today, despite the EU’s best efforts to prevent the contagion spreading from Dublin and Athens.

The difference between the yield (or rate of return) on Spanish 10-year government debt and the German equivalent hit its highest level since the euro was created – rising to 233 basis points. That’s a sign that Spanish debt is seen as a riskier bet. The spread between 10-year Portuguese and German debt also widened, to 444 basis points, as traders paid little heed to the words of the EU president, Herman Van Rompuy.

Van Rompuy insisted today that Portugal (seen as the next weak link in the eurozone chain) did not need financial help, pointing out that it had not experienced a Irish-style housing boom.

But Jim O’Neill, Goldman Sachs’ highly regarded chairman of Asset Management, warned that Spain and Portugal were lurking in the background of the current crisis. O’Neill warned that the rescue package being created for Ireland is flawed because it does not fix the problems at the heart of the single currency.

“Unless there’s an underlying solution to not just the debt challenge, but also to … how European monetary union sits together involving all these domestic political partners, how can we forget about the problems lurking with Portugal and Spain,” O’Neill said on Bloomberg TV this morning.

2.45pm: And here’s an update on the Irish banking sector:

Irish bank shares fell again today 24 hours after the government announced restructuring was on the way and the governor of the central bank confirming the Irish banks are “for sale”.

Shares in 36%-state owned Bank of Ireland fell 23% to 30c giving it a market capitalisation of around €1.77bn (£1.5bn), half what it was a month ago. Allied Irish Banks, whose government ownership will rise to around 95% after a planned rights issue, traded down 13% to 35c.

Irish Life & Permanent, the only Irish-owned bank to so far not have received any state aid, fell 4.5% to €0.80, following a 27% drop yesterday.

“The market is on its way to deciding there is no equity left in the banks,” said Gary McCarthy, head of Quest, the quantitative research unit of broker Collins Stewart.

He said “the best thing could be to remove one big bank, such as AIB, from the state balance sheet”.

1.37pm: First pictures of the vandalisation of minister Noel Dempsey’s constituency home have emerged – screenshots can be seen here .

The damage is quite a spectacle.

Patrick Honohan, the governor of the central bank, has quipped that the Irish banks are for sale. It’s the second time he has indicated this; two weeks ago he said he would welcome Chinese owners in response to a question from the Financial Times’s Gillian Tett.

Local wags reckon it would be great news – because it would mean the banks would actually be open for business early morning and on Saturdays. Banks in Ireland don’t open until 10am.

1.22pm: On his way into the cabinet meeting today, Brian Lenihan, the finance minister, reiterated his party’s commitment to tough it out:

We need to pass this budget. We need to publish our plan tomorrow, which we will be doing; the plan has been finalised, the budget will be introduced, and the necessary funding for the budget will be obtained. They are the priorities for this country at present.

1.22pm: Here’s more from rebel Fianna Fáil TD (MP) Noel O’Flynn:

There are no excuses acceptable to me for your government being in denial all of last week. I feel betrayed and humiliated as do my own supporters and citizens of the state by you, taoiseach, as leader of the state. The public are living in fear of the unknown; they are deeply disappointed, angry and fearful of the future for themselves and their families.

1.07pm: Here is a lunchtime summary:

– Olli Rehn, the EU commissioner for monetary affairs, has warned dissenting opposition parties Fine Gael and Labour they need to put politics aside and support the government’s four-year economic plan and the budget in exchange for the IMF bailout (see 11.22am). Rehn said:

It is essential that Ireland will pass the budget in the timeline foreseen and certainly sooner rather than later because every day that is lost increases uncertainty. Let’s adopt the budget, let’s get it out of the way, and let’s move on.

Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole said the difference between “farce and tragedy” in Ireland was now “indistinguishable”.

– Anger continues over the Green party’s decision to pull out of the government and call for a January election. An independent TD in Thursday’s Donegal byelection announced on local radio today she was withdrawing from the race and called on voters to “boycott” the election in protest against the Greens’ supposed treachery (see 11.22am).

– The Labour party and Fine Gael are calling for an election in the next four weeks (see 10.51am). A minister has called this “impractical”. Pressure is growing on Brian Cowen to stand down (see 1.01pm).

– The two British banks with the biggest exposure to Ireland saw their shares fall again in London this morning (see 11.26am).

– There is growing concern that the euro is now under serious threat and some predictions that peripheral countries such as Ireland may be able to withdraw, devalue and then return at a later date (see 9.52am).

1.01pm: Pressure is growing on Brian Cowen to stand down as leader of the Fianna Fáil party as the cabinet meets to pass its crucial four-year economic plan.

Rebel TD (MP) Noel O’Flynn has warned that there would be a “bare-knuckle” fight within the party after Cowen’s handling of the financial crisis, which has left Fianna Fáil’s reputation in tatters.

He is one of a number of backbench TDs who are planning to meet tonight ahead of a parliamentary party meeting to discuss a motion of no confidence. Dublin TD Chris Andrews may also be at the meeting – he has called on Cowen to stand down “in light of developments this week”.

There is now a sense of growing mutiny within the party – Cowen loyalists are insisting that he will lead the party into the next general election, but there is widespread feeling that he will have to fall on his sword.

One unnamed Cowen loyalist is quoted in the Irish Times as saying : “I just believe that for Brian Cowen the game is over, and I don’t say that easily.” The deputy added: “The parliamentary party will not accept going to the country with the present leadership.”

The chances of Brian Lenihan becoming leader now appear to have waned. The reputation of the finance minister and one-time favourite for the post has been badly scarred by the events of last week, when the government sent out justice minister Dermot Ahern to dismiss press reports of a bailout as “fiction”. Lenihan, Ahern (probably mortally wounded by “fictiongate”), foreign affairs minister Michael Martin, transport minister Noel Dempsey and culture minister Mary Hanafin are being touted as the forerunners.

Hanafin was first out of the traps. She has already indicated she would put her name forward “if the leadership became available”. Scenting blood, opposition parties are calling for a snap general election and are refusing to be slapped down by Brussels, which is watching the political disarray with horror.

12.13pm: Here is some audio of the EU commissioner Olli Rehn on the Irish crisis and the upcoming budget vote:

Rehn has warned it is “essential” that opposition parties put electioneering behind them and pass the budget in order to get the IMF bailout Ireland so desperately needs (see 11.22am). Rehn said:

It is essential that Ireland will pass the budget in the timeline foreseen and certainly sooner rather than later because every day that is lost increases uncertainty. Let’s adopt the budget, let’s get it out of the way, and let’s move on.

Rehn was speaking after a summit of Irish MEPs in Strasbourg this morning.

The Irish cabinet is meeting now to finally sign off on the four-year plan that forms the basis of the December budget.

Opposition parties, who smell blood, and rebel Fianna Fáil TDs (MPs) are threatening not to support it.

12.11pm: There were more minor incidents of social unrest in Ireland today.

The constituency office of one of the country’s government ministers was attacked last night.

Windows were smashed at transport minister Noel Dempsey’s office and the word “traitors” was sprayed on the building.

Police are investigating the attack, which is believed to have happened between 2.30am and 7.30am.

11.26am: Graeme Wearden has more news from the City: banking stocks are worth buying.

The two British banks with the biggest exposure to Ireland saw their shares fall again in London this morning. Lloyds Banking Group lost 2% to 62p, while Royal Bank of Scotland dipped by 0.6% to 39.6p.

Both companies have fallen sharply since the Irish crisis blew up – RBS has lent £53bn to Irish companies and individuals, while Lloyds is on the hook for £27bn.

City analyst Arturo de Frias of Evolution Securities believes this is a great buying opportunity – unless the European single currency collapses, of course (see 9.52am). De Frias said: “If the euro is going to be abandoned, then the banking sector has to fall much more. We simply don’t believe the euro can be undone without triggering a decade-long recession in Europe (again the Argentinean case comes to mind).

“But we still don’t believe the European governments will let the euro collapse, and hence we reiterate our view that the sector looks extremely cheap, and also very oversold recently.”

Ireland’s central bank governor, Patrick Honohan, also tried to drum up interest in the Irish troubled banking sector – saying the nation’s banks were all “up for sale”.

“They are up for sale as far as I am concerned,” Honohan said this morning. “I have been an advocate for a number of years for small countries to have foreign owners for their banks.”

11.22am: Olli Rehn has fired a warning shot across the bows of Ireland’s opposition parties, and one of the candidates in a key byelection has withdrawn, calling on voters to boycott the election. Brussels has issued a clear warning to rowing Irish opposition parties to get behind Fianna Fáil and approve the upcoming draconian budget. In a bid to contain the Irish disarray, Rehn, the EU’s commissioner for monetary affairs, told MEPs in Strasbourg this morning that the provision of emergency aid to Ireland was “critical” for the preservation of stability in the euro area Following the confidential meeting he said: “Every day lost increases uncertainty” and Ireland needed to get the budget “out of the way and move on”. His warning come as one of the candidates in Thursday’s byelection in Donegal announced she was withdrawing. Independent candidate Ann Sweeney urged voters to “boycott” the election in protest at the Green party’s decision yesterday to pull the plug on Brian Cowen’s government.

11.06am: My colleague Henry McDonald is hearing that Fianna Fáil backbench anger is being directed as much at Brian Lenihan, the finance minister, as it is to the embattled Brian Cowen. This chimes with reports in today’s Irish Independent, which said the “bare-knuckled fighting over the past few weeks has damaged his cause”:

Party sources are furious that the finance minister had given them assurances last week not to worry about the fiscal crisis or claims that the IMF and the ECB would have to come to Ireland’s rescue, one Fianna Fáil veteran said today.

Cowen’s strategy meanwhile is to persuade the EU to in turn put pressure on the main opposition parties to allow the 7 December budget to pass.

One senior Fianna Fáil member told the Guardian he party was not confident that all of its TDs (MPs) will get behind the government and back the budget in the Dáil.

“If a few Fine Gael or Labour TDs go missing on the day it may pass but there are some in our own party who won’t support it,” he said.

The prospect of the government being unable to pass their budget would further “spook” the international bond markets, he added.

11.00am: My colleague Graeme Wearden has worrying reports for Ireland – the bailout still isn’t impressing the financial markets:

In the City today, investors are continuing to demand a higher return for investing in Irish debt following yesterday’s drama.

The yield on Ireland’s ten-year government bond jumped to 8.43% this morning, up from 7.971% – moving back to the 9% levels that sparked such panic earlier this month.

The cost of insuring Irish debt against default has also risen sharply – with the five-year credit default swap up by 26 basis points to 555bp. That’s still half the level of Greece (which some analysts are convinced will default), but a sign that the financial markets are losing faith in Ireland’s ability to repay its borrowings.

The political instability in Ireland helped to spark a share sell-off across Europe this morning, with the military clash between North and South Korea adding to nerves in the City. The FTSE 100 fell by 1.2% at one state, and there were similar falls in Spain, Portugal and Ireland itself – with Dublin’s ISEQ index dropping by 1.9%.

10.51am: Opposition parties in Ireland are trying to derail Brian Cowen’s government completely by calling for an election before Christmas.

The Labour party has today joined Fine Gael in calling for a general election in the next four weeks despite immense pressure from Brussels for the four-year fiscal plan and the €6bn (£5.11bn) budget to be passed as a condition of the IMF bail out.

Health spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan told RTE’s Pat Kenny show that “there was time for an election before Christmas”. She added:

If I were the IMF and I was another EU country I would far far prefer the stability of a new government than what is on offer now.

But Fianna Fáil has hit back, branding this political posturing and calling on opposition to put the national interest first. Peter Power, the overseas development minister, said:

It is impractical to contemplate. The fact that we can do four things – have a general election, negotiate a programme for government, bring in the budget, bring in the four-year plan – and do all those things in four weeks is unreasonable … Every member of Dáil Éireann [the lower house of parliament] are going to have to reflect on this now.

10.48am: My colleague Owen Bowcott has written a very clear primer for those unfamiliar with the basics of Irish politics . He runs through the four main parties and ends by summarising the current political situation:

The government has relied on the backing of several independent TDs and the Green party in the Dáil. The decision of the Greens to pull out of the government after the budget precipitated this week’s political crisis.

With a precarious majority in the Dáil, Cowen’s government has been resisting holding a string of long overdue byelections that would have undermined its hold on office.

The first of those elections, in Donegal South-West, is taking place on Thursday and will reveal the state of the parties. Sinn Féin, which has courted the opposition vote in the border constituency, is expected to win. Fianna Fáil’s support has plunged.

10.23am: Here is a video of Brian Cowen talking about the bailout and calling on TDs (MPs) to pass the budget on 7 December:

The political and financial stability of the state requires no less … The biggest statement of confidence that can be given by this country at this time is to pass this budget. And this budget is the context in which we’re having discussions to ensure that we have the necessary funding going forward.

10.10am: An Irish member of the European parliament has just stormed out of a “closed door” meeting of Irish MEPs in Brussels after the EU’s commissioner for monetary affairs, Olli Rehn (left), told him the content of the meeting was to remain secret. He walked out after two minutes.

“What he said was: ‘I could give the party line or share the real info,’” said Socialist MEP Joe Higgins, adding that Rehn spoke with a forked tongue – one for the media and one for MEPs.

The Irish MEPs had been invited to a meeting with Rehn following growing unease about the political unrest in Ireland.

Earlier this month Rehn flew to Ireland to urge opposition parties to put national interest first and support the upcoming budget.

9.52am: Last night’s Newsnight contained some interesting observations on the Irish crisis, as my colleague Paul Owen reports:

As well as reporter David Grossman’s amusing explanation of why nobody wants to buy Irish bonds (14 minutes in) – “I’ll give you this piece of paper, right, and then you give me £50, now, and then in a year’s time I’ll meet you back here and I’ll give you £55″ – the programme also featured a round-table discussion with Will Hutton of the Observer, Irwin Stelzer, the American economist often seen as ” Rupert Murdoch’s right-hand man “, and Gillian Tett of the Financial Times (18 minutes in).

Stelzer was asked if the Irish bailout would work: “It will certainly calm things down for a bit,” he said. “But in the long run if you mean: ‘Will it work in the sense of saving Portugal for example from a similar experience?’ the answer’s no.”

Hutton said, however, that the bailout would “sort out” Ireland: “The money is huge. Ireland is small. Effectively the banking system is going to be quasi-nationalised and taken over by the Europeans and Ireland’s going to pay a very high price.”

Most interesting was presenter Jeremy Paxman’s final question: will the euro survive?

Tett: “Whether it survives with all its members intact is a pretty open question.”

Stelzer: “I think you’re going to get a euro north and a euro south, so that the troubled periphery countries can essentially devalue and then come back in … ” For these purposes, he said, Ireland belonged in the “euro south” or “euro periphery” group.

Hutton: “If the euro breaks up that will be one of the triggers of a wider crisis … The augers don’t look good.”

9.12am: One of the most bizarre spectacles in this morning’s papers is the photo of a sombre-looking Green party TDs (MPs) lined up behind a desk in Leinster House yesterday.

It was the most important press conference the Irish Greens have ever called and second from the left was one “bizarre” guest. Lise Hand in the Independent explains:

When the line of Greens walked into the room, there was a gasp from the gobsmacked press.

For Paul Gogarty had managed to upstage his party leader’s most dramatic ever announcement by arriving into the press conference with his 18-month-old daughter Daisy in his arms.

The camera went berserk as the curly-headed poppet blinked in surprise as she clutched her teddy bear.

It was truly the most bizarre sights of a most surreal day. One impressed observer muttered: “That’s the first time I’ve seen a politician kiss a baby before the election begins.”

9.00am: Ireland’s largest opposition party, Fine Gael, is demanding an election before Christmas and refusing to support a budget that it hasn’t been consulted on. The move will horrify Brussels, which needs cross-party support for the budget and the four-year plan, due to be published tomorrow, as a condition of the IMF bail out.

Health spokesman James Reilly told RTE Morning Ireland:

What’s the point in preparing a four-year plan that they’re [Fianna Fáil] not going to preside over and they’re not there to implement and they haven’t consulted the people on? If we have an election tomorrow, it can all be done and dusted in 18 days, we all have an opportunity to put forward … our respective plans for the country and people can vote on that and have their say and that government would have a mandate for the next four years to do what’s necessary.

His remarks come just hours after the embattled Cowen telephoned opposition leaders requesting their support.

Last night Fintan O’Toole, the author and Irish Times columnist, said it was unthinkable that the electorate should go to the polls on the basis of a “secret deal” between the IMF and Fianna Fáil.

8.43am: Good morning from Dublin. We will be liveblogging today from Ireland, where the growing political unrest has spooked Europe and the markets.

Brian Cowen, the prime minister, is clinging to power by his fingertips – there is mutiny in the air, with Fianna Fáil backbenchers considering a no-confidence motion. A group of them are meeting today to discuss “a strategy in relation to a motion of no confidence.”

“There’s serious discontent within the parliamentary party. I believe it’s now up to those who’ve spoken out to take soundings amongst their colleagues to take action to remove that man [Cowen] immediately,” John McGuinness, who represents Carlow in the Dáil (parliament), said .

The political instability is horrifying Europe, which is nervous that the December budget may not even be passed. Olli Rehn, the EU’s commissioner for monetary affairs, has said he wants to stop the “bush fire” in Ireland turning into a “forest fire” across the eurozone. He has called Irish MEPs to a meeting today.

The Irish Times is reporting that the embattled Cowen phoned the leaders of the opposition parties last night to try to secure their support for the budget.

Mr Cowen phoned Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore late last night to offer to make available to them the financial advice underpinning the government’s proposed budget.

While the taoiseach made no direct request to Mr Kenny or Mr Gilmore to help him get the budget through the Dáil on December 7th, his phone calls to them signalled the first move in a strategy to persuade the opposition to let the budget pass.

The cabinet meets later this morning for what will be a particular tense meeting of Fianna Fáil and Green party, which bounced the taoiseach into making his announcement that he would be seeking a dissolution of the Dáil following the passing of the budget.

Meanwhile, the IMF is seeking a cut in Ireland’s minimum wage, a decrease in the long-term dole and more tax relief for women. The measures were published in a staff position paper note posted on its website last night.

It recommends a “gradual decrease of benefits over time of unemployment and stricter job search requirements”. In an effort to increase the number of jobs it said public resources should be targeted to the “knowledge-based economy” and it wants to see more competition in energy and telecoms services such as broadband.

The IMF paper is also seeking a reduction in the cost of waste disposal and legal fees.

The most surprising measure, however, given the austerity measures in the upcoming budget, is its concession that women need more financial encouragement to come back to work.

The report says that “cutting labour income taxes paid by women by 5 percentage points” would increase the GDP by 1.75 percentage points.

I’ll be following all the day’s developments live today. Ireland bailout Ireland Lisa O’Carroll guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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