LONDON (ShareCast) - Shareholders in Marks & Spencer called into question the retailer's decision to promote its chief executive, Sir Stuart Rose, into the role of executive chairman as part of a sweeping management shake-up at the group yesterday, says the Independent.

Plans to abandon digital radio technology by GCap Media, Britain’s largest commercial radio group, have been put on ice because of a takeover bid for the owner of Capital 95.8, writes the Times.

Britain's housing market is facing its worst conditions in more than a decade, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Surveyors are reporting falling prices, with February the seventh month in a row when sentiment has been negative, reports the Independent.

Karl Watkin yesterday quit as a non-executive director of D1 Oils, the biofuel company he founded, and made a vicious attack on the City and organisations that criticised D1's crop, according to the Times.

Panic swept the credit markets on reports of an insolvency crunch at both the US investment bank Bear Stearns and the mortgage giant Fannie Mae, triggering a dramatic surge in default insurance and rumours of yet another emergency rate cut by the US Federal Reserve, says the Telegraph.

EMI has made peace with the music industry’s international trade association, more than three months after its private equity owner threatened to cut its annual funding for its activities in half or pull out altogether, writes the FT.

Blackstone, manager of the world's biggest buyout fund, painted a gloomy picture about the world economy as it reported a slump in profits in the last three months of 2007, reports the Telegraph.

Lehman Brothers has begun this week to dismiss 5 per cent of its workforce as the deepening credit crisis eats away at investment banking revenues and the sector prepares for a recession, according to the Times.

The spectre of stagflation – stagnant output coupled with rapidly increasing inflation – is returning to haunt the economy for the first time in almost 30 years, says the Independent.

Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica, has hit back at government plans to impose controls on pre-payment tariffs for gas and electricity, writes the Telegraph.

The digital terrestrial television service Freeview's sales hit an all-time high last year, with the 9.7 million products rising 64 per cent on the previous 12 months, reports the Independent.

Three brothers who inherited the Irlam road haulage business from their father stand to share £59.9m after selling the company to Stobart, the rival whose trucks have spawned a spotters' fan club, according to the Telegraph.

Business leaders have lost confidence in Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling to lead the British economy through difficult times, according to a new survey, says the Independent.

Businesses buying a new company car will sacrifice the vast chunk of their tax benefits unless they invest in green hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, under new plans to be unveiled in tomorrow's Budget, reports the Telegraph.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is expected to bow to pressure today from BAA to increase the amount the airport operator can charge passengers, writes the Times.

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