A spokeswoman for the EU's Spanish presidency revealed that European Union finance chiefs failed on Tuesday to tranquilize a row over new rules framed to control hedge funds.

The draft law was initiated with an aim to curb pay and borrowing at hedge funds and usher in an era of transparency for a secretive industry.

"Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado said to ministers that much progress had been reached but that more work needed to be done to reach maximum support", said a spokesman for Spain, which chaired the negotiations.

It seems Spain is next in line to give EU sleepless nights after Greek’s debt crisis.

Around 20% Spain’s population is unemployed. Large deficits, a heavily indebted private sector, and weak prospects for growth, is enough to call attention.

It is predicted that Spanish debt crisis would be difficult for the EU to handle since its economy is fourth-largest in the Euro zone's, accounting for around 12% of Euro-wide GDP.

Cinzia Alcidi of the Center for European Policy Studies think tank in Brussels, said,

The Shadow Chancellor of Exchequer has proclaimed that the Tory Government would remove the 50% tax rate for the leading earners by 2012. He explained that the Conservatives are of the view that these taxes are of less avail to those who earn more than £150,000.

"I am not in favour of ever-higher tax rates - they are a disincentive to people who want to get on in life", he said.

China's higher-than-expected inflation in February would not affect the policy plans of country’s central bank, The People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan has said.

Consumer inflation in China jumped year-on-year 2.7 per cent last month, raising concerns that inflation could surpass the government’s target of keeping under 3 per cent in 2010.

Speaking on the topic, Mr. Zhou added, "February CPI was higher than forecast but not by too much.”

The retail sales in U. S. registered an unexpectedly surged in February as shoppers braved blizzards to visit the malls, signaling that consumers will massively add more to economic growth.

"The storms were apparently not quite as disruptive as anticipated," said Adam York, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, whose forecast for a 0.6 percent gain excluding autos was the highest of those surveyed.

Jobcentre Plus, British Government's popular employment service, has been launched as a mobile phone application to allow jobseeker to find out jobs on their mobile phones.

The app, which is free to download on iPhones and Android Smartphones, allows jobseekers to enter their location and type of job and see where vacancies are available.

The British Chambers of Commerce has warned that the UK's fragile economy could slip back into the clutches of recession due to greater obstacles to the sustained medium-term recovery.

The BCC downgraded its expectations for economic growth in 2011. It has lowered it expectations for GDP growth in 2011 from 2.3 per cent to 2.1 per cent.

Speaking on the topic, BCC Director General David Frost said, "The recession may have technically ended, but there is no room for complacency."

People in Iceland are getting ready to vote on the proposal to use £3.5 billion of taxpayers' money to pay Britain and the Netherlands.

The payments are to be made because governments in those countries had to bail out their citizens who lost their deposits when the banks in the nation collapsed during the financial crisis.

Whitbread’s budget hotel chain Premier Inn saw an increase of 1.7 per cent in comparable sales in the fourth-quarter ended February 18, against a decline of 3.1 per cent in the pervious quarter.

Premier Inn targeted the leisure market with £29 offers. It also cut prices at weekends and in holiday periods.

Group’s sales jumped 3 per cent during the same period as its Costa Coffee chain reported better-than-expected sales growth of 9.5 per cent for the fourth quarter.

Residential property services provider LSL Property Services reinstated a 5.4 pence-a-share dividend after it swung back to profit in 2009.

LSL reported a pre-tax profit of 16.6 million pounds for the year ended December 31, against a loss of 6.18 million pounds in the previous year.

Company’s revenue slipped from 161.8 million pounds to settle at 157.7 million pounds.

Underlying operating profit at the estate agency division was reported at 6.7 million pounds, against a loss of 8.4 million pounds in 2008.

Private equity group Bridgepoint Capital has announced that it would acquire Care UK, the elderly & health care provider, in a deal worth £281 million.

Bridgepoint is offering 450 pence for each share of Care UK, which represents a premium of over 9 per cent on Tuesday’s closing price.

Earlier in September 2009, Bridgepoint had offered 420 pence per share for Care UK.

It was informed that Care UK’s existing management team, led by CEO Mike Parish, would continue to lead the business.

Bus and train operator Arriva has announced that its pre-tax profits slipped 19 per cent to settle at £121.7 million in 2009.

Revenue at CrossCountry train franchise grew just 2.6 per cent, below an estimated growth of 10 per cent when it bid for the franchise.

However, the company is confident about its future. It expects passenger revenue to grow at its CrossCountry train franchise. It also expects its fuel bill to come down by £30 million in 2010.

Annual food inflation hit a three-year low of 1.3 per cent in February as prices of fresh food fell steeply, figures released by the British Retail Consortium showed.

0.3 per cent deflation in fresh food dragged food inflation down from 2.9 per cent in January. Prices of vegetable and fish slipped considerably last month.

Annual shop price inflation was reported at 1.7 per cent, down from 2.3 per cent in January.

The BRC said that cut-throat competition in the grocery market was dragging prices down.

UK housing market is recovering more quickly than any other in the continental Europe, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said.

Largely, 5 European countries viz. Norway, the UK, Finland, Sweden and Austria reported rise in house prices in 2009.

Norway posted the highest increase in house prices at 12 per cent, followed by the UK where overall house prices soared 10 last year.

Reviving economies and low interest rates have prevented housing market meltdown across most of the European countries.

Bookmaker Paddy Power announced on Tuesday that its profits for 2009 tumbled year-on-year 15 per cent to 67.2 million euros.

Paddy Power described the past year as ‘cracking year for punters’ as its punters enjoyed a series of winning results.

Paddy Power suffered as punters won, particularly with bets placed on Ireland's Six Nations rugby grand slam and horse racing.