THE NEWS WRAP: Rudd meets with business leaders as leadership battle heats up

Kevin Rudd has reportedly met with key business leaders to promise a new dialogue with them if his widely-anticipated leadership challenge is successful.

According to The Australian Financial Review, Rudd has met with leading industry figures, such as Business Council of Australia president Tony Shepherd and representatives from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in a bid to improve business relations with the government.

Rudd is expected to challenge prime minister Julia Gillard in a ballot for the leadership, with observers predicting it could take place as early as this week.

Greek cabinet approves austerity measures

Greece’s cabinet has agreed to a final series of austerity measures needed to secure a $159 billion rescue package aimed at remedying the eurozone debt crisis.

With fears that the crisis could expand beyond Europe, Greece looks likely to pass a €325 million cut in public sector spending in order to receive the European Union and International Monetary Fund bail-out. 

Google accused of bypassing privacy measures

Google has been accused of violating the privacy of people who use the Safari internet browsing platform.

The Wall Street Journal said that Google, along with other companies, has worked around restrictions on cookies, the small text files stored by browsers that track users’ internet activity.

However, Google denies the accusation, saying that the WSJ report “mischaracterises” what has happened.

Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.4% to 12,949.87 on Friday. The Australian dollar was up to 107.82 US cents.