PRESS DIGEST - New York Times business news - July 2

July 2 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in the New York Times business pages on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* Economists expect Census Bureau layoffs to make the June unemployment report look dismal, but are hoping for a glimmer of hope in private sector hiring.

* A record drop in pending home sales and a slowdown in the construction market contributed to a sluggish outlook for the economy Thursday, highlighting the significance of government stimulus measures and job growth.

* Sales of new vehicles in the United States slowed in June, automakers and analysts said on Thursday, raising concerns that the market's recovery could be stalling after months of slow but encouraging gains.

* The Japanese are calling it a small miracle. The Hayabusa space probe returned last month from a seven-year, 382-million-mile round trip to an asteroid, giving a much-needed confidence boost to a country worried that its technological prowess might be waning.

* Diageo Plc (DGE.L), the maker of Johnnie Walker whiskey, found an innovative way to plug a gaping deficit in its pension plan: put aside 2 million barrels of maturing whiskey from its distilleries in Scotland.

* Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) said on Thursday that it had bought Tapulous, a start-up company that makes music-based games for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

* New Google tools to help people search easily for flights are now on the runway. It will be up to antitrust regulators to decide whether they can take off. Google Inc (GOOG.O) said Thursday that it had agreed to acquire ITA, a 14-year-old flight information software company, for $700 million in cash.

* BMW (BMWG.DE) lifted the veil this week on its planned battery-powered car, in an indication that it is serious about building a new class of vehicle and delivering substantial numbers to showrooms by 2013.

* Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a "breakthrough" agreement on Friday with key mining companies on the terms of a contentious new resource profits tax, ending a bitter stalemate that has deeply unsettled the governing Labor Party in the run up to elections later this year.

* Higher-than-expected demand for cash from the European Central Bank on Thursday signaled that many banks were still unable to get the funds they needed on the open market, setting back policy makers' efforts to take banks off life support.

* A Congressional commission questioned Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) and the American International Group Inc (AIG.N) executives on Thursday about the way the companies set prices on complex mortgage securities during the financial crisis, when buyers for such assets were scarce.