The Front Pages
The Irish Times’ main headline today reads ‘Government sets up group to consider disposal of State Assets’. With an €84 billion debt hanging over our heads, a new Review Group on State Assets is set to be led by economist Colm McCarthy, appointed by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.
Airports, RTE and the ESB are amongst the number of public sector assets that will be considered to relieve the national debt. The Times also mentions that the sale of such assets could generate a lucrative return – with the example of the ESB used, whose power plants, network and energy business are valued at €7 billion alone alone.
The Irish Independent front page has no mention of the Review Group, and instead focuses on Ireland’s bailed-out banks, with the headline ‘Banks ‘lied’ about scale of losses in crisis talks’ in order for the government to guarantee all their deposits.
According to the Independent’s Deputy Political Editor Michael Brennan, a top civil servant has admitted the country’s bank had been ‘likely to have been dishonest’ in their dealings with the government in order to ensure Irish taxpayers were left to foot the bill for the €440 billion bail-outs.
Tales from the Tabs
‘TV presenter has severe asthma attack live on air after swallowing a mosquito’
Thank you Daily Mail – this is exactly why tabloids exist. A Taiwanese TV presenter has had a severe asthma attack live on air after a mosquito flew into her mouth while she was reading the news. Huang Ching had to be hospitalised after accidentally swallowing the creature, which then got lodged in her windpipe.
Huang had to hospitalised straight away, with China Television Co quickly placing a four-minute advert in the show’s place. A replacement presenter was quickly brought in to replace the stricken the presenter and continue the broadcast.
Offering her begrudged admiration to the pesky mosquito, a recovering Huang said: ‘I never expected a mosquito to have such a great power. It really gave me a bad day.’
The Sports Pages
After yesterday’s admission that Martin O’Neill would allow James Milner to leave if the price was right, Manchester City are thought to be preparing a final take-it-or-leave-it £24m offer for the English midfielder (The Guardian).
According to the Daily Mail however, Milner is demanding talks with O’Neill, as he apparently feels he is being accused of wanting to walk out of Villa Park. Either way, it appears that we can expect a definite end to the ongoing Milner saga in the coming days.
Sven-Goran Eriksson is apparently top of Fulham’s manager shortlist, as the London club tries to start from scratch after their failure to acquire Martin Jol from Ajax. Former England manager Eriksson managed the Ivory Coast temporarily during World Cup 2010 is now back on the market (The Guardian).
Finally, Manchester United are to offer Serbian international Nemanja Vidic a  four-year contract and pay rise to £90,000 to convince the central defender to stay at Old Trafford. Vidic has been heavily linked with joining Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid this summer; with United boss Alex Ferguson yesterday admitting that he couldn’t “clarify†any of the constant speculation over the player’s immediate future (The Guardian).
