The news at a glance

Europe: Divided over a widening debt crisis

Under pressure from European creditors, policymakers in Greece made a “U-turn” this week, agreeing to raise property taxes to plug the gaping hole in the country’s budget, said Kerin Hope in the Financial Times. EU officials had warned Athens that there would be no more bailout money unless Greece got serious about covering this year’s $2.7 billion budget shortfall. The new tax will supplement plans to cut 20,000 public-sector jobs, slash civil servants’ allowances, and reduce the pay of elected officials. With these changes, “we will be on the way to recovery,” said Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos.

But Germany, which is central to any rescue effort, “may be getting ready to give up on Greece,” said Simon Kennedy and Brian Parkin in Bloomberg.com. German officials are said to be making plans to protect German banks from a possible Greek default. In a sign of discord between Germany and other eurozone countries over Europe’s debt crisis, Jürgen Stark, the German member of the European Central Bank’s executive board, resigned last week, citing “personal reasons.” A more likely motive was “his opposition to the ECB’s purchases of bonds from debt-laden countries,” such as Italy and Spain.

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Internet: Google gobbles up Zagat

Hoping to lure “more advertising dollars from local businesses,” Google has purchased restaurant review company Zagat for about $125 million, said Amir Efrati in The Wall Street Journal. Zagat’s user reviews of eateries will still appear in “pocket-sized maroon books,” but they will also be integrated into Google Maps and Google Places. Some 20 percent of Google searches are related to local businesses, and the Internet giant has been seeking ways to beef up its reviews listings in a bid to attract more local Web ads.

Banks: Bank of America to slash 30,000 jobs

Bank of America has announced that it plans to eliminate 10 percent of its workforce in order to cut costs by $5 billion by the end of 2013, said Hugh Son in Bloomberg.com. The plan to refocus and shrink the nation’s largest bank, whose stock has lost half its value this year, comes after major “losses, legal costs, and write-downs tied to the 2008 takeover of subprime lender Countrywide.” BofA, which reshuffled its senior management last week, faces a series of mortgage-related lawsuits from investors and regulators.

Sales tax: Amazon cuts a deal with California

California may delay implementing a state law requiring Internet retailers to charge sales tax on online purchases, said Marc Lifsher and Andrea Chang in the Los Angeles Times. Under a tentative deal with state lawmakers, Amazon would shelve its effort to put the issue before voters in a referendum next year. During the proposed one-year delay, Amazon is expected to lobby Washington to “pass a federal law on Internet sales tax collection that would supersede state laws.”

British banks: Tough new rules proposed

“Tougher-than-expected” reforms designed to strengthen banks in the U.K. could make future taxpayer bailouts less likely, said Jamie Grierson in the London Independent. The new rules, which if adopted would go into effect in 2019, would require that British banks “ring-fence” their core retail functions from their riskier investment activities. Banks would also be required to maintain a 10 percent capital cushion to absorb losses from future financial crises. The Independent Commission on Banking, which suggested the reforms, estimated that compliance with the new rules may cost U.K. banks up to $11 billion a year.