Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday that €24 billion (nearly $30 billion) in budget cuts aimed largely at its bloated bureaucracy are essential to restore confidence in the euro and to stop Italy living beyond its means, The Associated Press reported. Berlusconi's government bowed to market concerns about his country's high debt load and bloated public sector, springing the cuts on an unsuspecting public just weeks after ruling out painful measures. But Berlusconi said "this crisis is like no other," mandating significant and coordinated austerity measures.

Asset management company Goldsmith Capital Partners has dropped out of the bidding race for German retailer Metro's department store chain Kaufhof, Goldsmith said on Thursday. A spokesman for Metro declined to comment on the asset management company's withdrawal, but said Metro was still in talks with other interested parties, Reuters reported. He did not name names.

European buyout fund Triton plans to present a binding offer to acquire insolvent German retailer Karstadt Friday, a Triton spokesman told Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review on Wednesday. The binding offer is expected amid growing doubts that Triton is still considered a serious contender for Karstadt ahead of a final bidding deadline Friday. Initial talks between Karstadt's labor union and Triton ended unsuccessfully earlier this month amid fears about potential layoffs.

How can we get out of the debt crisis that is tearing through the eurozone, and stalking the UK, US and other countries? The answer is infinitely more complex than the European potpourri of liquidity, bad asset purchases, and arbitrary capital and market controls, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. There are three inter-related shocks going on, all of which are sapping the appetite for risk. First, the two-year-old financial crisis has captured and constrained the balance sheets of governments, in addition to those of banks and households.

The global campaign to harmonize rules for financial firms is swerving off course, threatening efforts to curb the risky bets that rocked the world economy two years ago, The Washington Post reported. As U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner lands in Europe on Wednesday, differences are growing among world leaders over how to keep the promise they made at the height of the financial crisis: that they would work together to reshape how finance is governed. Their aim was to avoid another upheaval by making financial rules consistent across borders and closing loopholes.

Spanish football teams are shooting for a new goal: To break even. In an effort to tackle reckless spending and rising debts among the 20 La Liga clubs, the country's top teams will be subjected to financial regulation by a new independent body established by the Spanish government to ensure that teams are living within their means, The Wall Street Journal reported.

U.S. celebrity fashion house BCBG Max Azria Group is backing the bid led by billionaire Nicolas Berggruen for insolvent German department store chain Karstadt, Reuters reported. A spokesman for Berggruen said on Tuesday Azria was supporting Berggruen's bid, which he launched late on Friday.

Europe on Wednesday unveiled plans to levy a new insolvency tax on banks but insisted the proceeds will remain within national borders and will not be used to bail out failed banks, Agence France-Presse reported.

The 87-bed Killeshin Hotel in Portlaoise, which is backed by Bernard McNamara, has been placed into receivership, The Irish Times reported. Gearóid Costello, a Limerick-based partner with Grant Thornton, has been appointed as receiver to the business by Anglo Irish Bank, which is believed to be owed about €20 million. It is understood that Pembroke Hospitality has been appointed to manage the four-star hotel, which will remain open and will trade as a going concern.

The Italian government is asking citizens to make sacrifices to help get public finances in order and protect the country from the sort of market speculation that pushed Greece to the brink of bankruptcy, The Associated Press reported. The Cabinet meets later Tuesday in Rome to approve €24 billion ($30 billion) in hotly contested spending cuts in 2011-2012 which reportedly include pay freezes for most public workers - and cuts for those highest paid - and may see trims to the nation's revered health system.