AP - European Union finance ministers have called off Tuesday talks on new rules to oversee hedge funds, saying they need more time to strike a deal.

AFP - European finance ministers were on Tuesday poring over last-resort eurozone plans to rescue Greece if necessary with billions of euros in crisis loans at dissuasively high interest rates.

AP - British regulators on Tuesday banned a former trader at Merrill Lynch International Bank from working on financial markets after he manipulated his accounts by about $100 million last year to hide growing losses.

AP - Greece's state power company workers have begun a 48-hour strike to protest government austerity measures designed to pull the country out of a major financial crisis.

Reuters - European Union finance ministers failed on Tuesday to settle their differences over a new law to control hedge funds, a spokeswoman for the bloc's Spanish presidency said.

AFP - European ministers on Tuesday stressed that a contingency plan for saving Greece from bankruptcy with emergency loans was simply prudent planning and was unlikely to be enacted.

Reuters - European Union finance chiefs failed on Tuesday to resolve a row over new rules to control hedge funds, a spokeswoman for the EU's Spanish presidency said.

AFP - A dispute between France and Germany over economic policy threatens to distract the eurozone as it faces increasingly fierce competition from Asian rivals, analysts and German media said Tuesday.

Reuters - European Union plans to crack down on hedge funds hung in the balance on Tuesday when talks stalled after Britain dug in its heels to head off new rules that could damage its financial center.

AP - Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says other developed nations, including the United States, should come up with clearer plans on how they are going to get their weighty budget deficits under control.