reporting that the materials used in the bombs that went off on tuesday are similar to those that went off in attacks against diplomat diploma diplomats. bangkok says an iranian man threw grenades as he tried to flee only injuring themselves. he is facing criminal charges. the iranian government denies any link to the bombings. china's presumptive leader in waiting says he wants the u.s. and china to work together to find a better trade balance. xi jinping met with president obama in washington. he is expected to succeed hu jintao as china's president next year. "world business today" starts right now. good morning from cnn london. welcome to "world business today. "greece gets a slap on the wrist. the government still hasn't done enough to qualify for a new multibillion dollar bailout. the debt crisis dampens's europe's largest economy, germany. france is still expected to grow in the fourth quarter. and why twitter won't be going towards an ipo. supposing you're not a greek national, sunday's austerity deal in athens may have seemed too good to be true. turns out it was. the president of the euro group has been saying greece still hasn't done enough to secure a multi billion dollar bailout, as if to underline it's a point, he called off a meeting meant to approve it. he has been saying this, further technical work between greece and the troika is needed in a number of areas here. he also says this includes the closure of the fiscal gap of some 325 million euros for the year 2012. the delay puts greece at renewed risk of default and it also may come as a surprise to the country's unity government after positive noises were made by the european commission's own top money man just a day ago. take a listen. >> as outlined by the euro group last week, this program will be supported by unparalleled circumstances from greece's partne partners, which is a concrete expression of their continued solidarity and genuine concern. so, that's olli rehn speaking just a couple of days ago. greek officials went back to the drawing board on tuesday night, and they say they are confident they ironed out any of these issues. combined that china may now be helping, investors are fairly confident so far on this wednesday session, despite news that europe's largest economy, germany, managed to report a contraction of 0.2% for its fourth quarter gdp figures. with the dax in particular, despite that disappointing economic news out of germany, the dax is up 1%. we also have to hone in on france. the cac up about 0.7% after french gdp grew by 0.2%. that was quite a surprise for people, perhaps expecting germany and france to show sluggish growth. also expecting uk unemployment figures out in about 25 minutes from now. we'll keep you up to date with what is said there after positive news from the uk when it comes to, for instance, its inflation figures that came out just yesterday. so, the greek debt debacle drag ed on and on, but many economists say it can't drag on any longer going forward. defaults is perhaps less than five weeks away, some say. emily ruben is here to tell us more on what we can expect. what happens now, emily, after they cancelled this euro group meeting? >> i think it's fair to say the bailout is on hold after this meeting was canceled today. it's been postponed until monday. this heightens the risk of a default by greece. this comes down to an issue of trust. the euro group feel can greek politicians be trusted to implement the austerity plan they pushed through on sunday with such heartache. what happens now? it seems members of the euro group are losing patience and they want written guarantees. there is an election in greece in april and they want them to sign on a piece of paper that they will push through an austerity measure. >> so it's not good enough making promises, the issue is can they actually deliver past april when they have perhaps a new government in charge. there seems to be real splits emerging here. >> especially between the northern european countries, in particular finland and germany. the german finance minister, this is what he said last week. >> translator: the point is that greece has to adopt the measures agreed on two years ago in order to strengthen its competitiveness. the point is not really so much austerity but that greece needs reforms to get back on a growth path because saving without growth doesn't help anyone. and greece that not done, up until now, what the imf asked it to do. >> nina, on monday he went further than that and said that if greece defaulted the eurozone would be better prepared than two years ago to deal with any default. this could be posturing to force greece to agree to the demands, or that the eu could get through a blowback. olli rehn earlier was pushing for the bailout. the consensus is that this bailout deal needs to be agreed. >> from the greek point of view, it must seem like one humiliation after the next. they were sent back to the drawing board last week and now it's still not enough. >> on sunday night many cabinet ministers resigned and many ministers were sacked over this austerity plan. many say the greeks can't take any more. they are simply saying what more can we do? >> all right. thanks for that. let's check how the markets have been performing in asia. our business analyst is standing by in hong kong with more. >> reporter: thanks. asia's leading share indices ended wednesday's trade in the green after china said it will take action to help europe with the debt crisis. first off to japan, the nikkei was the biggest gainer in the region closes up 2.3%. that's on top of gains yesterday after the bank of japan pledged another $130 billion of monetary easing. the nikkei hit a six-month high as big brand exporters like mazda and sony rose as much as 9%. right here in hong kong, the hang seng ended the day up more than 2%. also similar to the nikkei, the index climbed to a five-month high and the top three gainers were all property developers, rising about 5%. hsbc rose on hopes for a greek debt deal this week. over in the chinese mainland, the shanghai come poposite fini up 1%. and in australia, the asx up more than a quarter percent of consumer confidence jumped more than 4% between january and february. today's confidence boost is seen as a delayed reaction. so we're seeing a pledge from china, monetary easing from japan and rising confidence in australia coming together to a positive effect in this region. >> certainly taking our cues from the performance you had in asia. many thanks for that. let's check in on how the u.s. markets faired in yesterday's session. markets on wall street saw some losses most of the trading session but were abruptly reversed late on tuesday's trade. when the closing bell rang, the three leading indices closed more or less where they started the day. that bounceback as investors gained optimism as greece may stick to its austerity measures. u.s. retail sales figures for january showed an improvement in consumer demand. now, let's hone in on yahoo!. shares sank by 4.7% late on tuesday's session amid media reports that negotiations for the chinese e-retailer ali baba had collapsed. yahoo! has been attempting to sell off most of its 40% stake in alibaba and its 35% share holding in yahoo! japan in a complex deal valued at no less than 17 billion u.s. dollars. let's look at how yahoo! share prices have been doing. it actually gained ground since the firing of its former ceo, carl bartz last year. it is still down over a 12 month period. on tuesday, one of its biggest investors announced plans to fight for control of the company's board and dan loeb says he will be seeking four seats on yahoo! board. coming up next, the summit may be over, but china says its support for europe will continue. but what form will that actually take? and china's vice president wraps up meetings in washington today before heading west. we'll tell you why the state of iowa is so excited to see him. whwhatat m makakeses t thehe r ststorore e didiffffererene? yoyou u wawalklk i intna coconvnvenentitiononalal ms ststorore,e, i it't's s ry nonot t ababouout t yoy. ththeyey s sayay, , "w"weleu wawantnt a a f firirm m bebn lilie e onon o onene o of ff yoyou u wawantnt a a s sofou cacan n lilie e onon o onene o " wewe p prorovividede t thet inindidivividudualalizizatat yoyourur b bodody y neneede. wewelclcomome e toto t thehe slsleeeep p nunumbmberer . nonot t jujustst o ordrdininaran sasalele, , bubut t ththe e bn chchanangege y youour r lilifef. ththe e slsleeeep p nunumb. ththisis i is s yoyourur b bodo. yoyou u cacan n sesee e a a lile prpresessusurere i in n ththe es anand d inin t thehe h hipi. nonow w yoyou u cacan n fet hahappppenens s asas w we e rarr slsleeeep p nunumbmberer s seted alallolow w ththe e bebed d totr toto y youour r inindidivividud. wowow!w! ththatat f feeeelsls r reae. itit's's h huguggigingng m. itit's's n notot a abobt sosoftft o or r fifirm. itit's's a aboboutut s supuppope yoyou u fifindnd i it t momost. ririghght t nonow,w, q queun mamattttreresssseses s statartr. anand d sasaveve a an n asag 5050% % onon t thehe f fininalat ofof o ourur i innnnovovatae lilimimiteted d ededititio. yoyou u cacan n adadjujustst i r yoyou u wawantnt s so o yoyoue toto w wororryry a aboboutg ththe e wrwronong g mamat. huhurrrry y ththisis w weeee ulultitimamatete s sleleepep n. ononlyly a at t onone e ofo0 slsleeeep p nunumbmberer s. hello, welcome back. it's the day of reckoning for several eurozone economies as they release fourth quarter growth figures. so far france is the biggest surprise of all. that's because the economy actually grew by 0.2% in the fourth quarter. forecasts had been for a contraction here. germany's economic growth turned out to be weaker than that of france. as you can see, shrinking by 0.2% in the fourth quarter. those results still beat many economists estimates. let's hone in on italy. it's economy contracted by 0.7% in the fourth quarter versus the third quarter, that was more than analysts had expected but none of these three has done anywhere near as bad as greece. this country said on tuesday it's gdp fell by 7% in the fourth quarter of the year compared to the same period of 20 2010. european leaders are in beijing for the china/eu summit and it is focused heavily on the eurozone debt crisis and resolution and how china could help sort it out. let's go back to hong kong for the latest on this. interesting story. >> yeah. the headline out of beijing that is pretty much boosting the markets is the promise from china that it will help europe resolve its debt crisis and keep investing in eurozone debt. china is also saying not so fast. bay sing saeijing says europe n sweeten incentives so china will throw more money at the country. this man here, herman van rompuy says he values chinese confidence in europe as well as the bilateral relationship. >> europe and china share a wish to live in a multi-polar world. a world which is united in diversity. where we work together to find global solutions to common problems. the key words for the eu/china relationship is cooperation. not rivalry. that makes this partnership specific. we both wish to live in a world not dominated by one currency alone. and that is why a currency for europe is vital for you, too. >> and rompuy quoted the 17th century english writer who said no man is an island, he's part of the main. as for this man here, european commission president jose manuel barroso, he added that the eu is assuming full responsibility for its own debt problems as it goes cap in hand to china. >> we are taking all the necessary steps to ensure stability of the continents and play our part in global solutions. this is a long process. i've been saying it. we share the experience and the virtue of endurance, resilience and perseverance. we have the strength and we have the will. >> barroso says eu has the will, china says they are will be to help still no concrete pledges to buy that debt as the summit ends today. what happens next? head to cnn.com and check out this latest article, "will china come to the eu's rescue." nina? >> many thanks for that. coming up, sales of whitney houston's albums have surged following the singer's death, it's not only the estate that stands to benefit from the sales. we will tell you who else is in line from the fruits of her success. stay with us on "world business today." snow and wind may disrupt a few flights across the continent. let's go to ivan cabrera at the cnn international weather center. good morning. >> good morning, good to see you. we've already had in zuric some moderate delays, but the bigger delays are in munich. this is not a widespread event affecting many airports. the last of the airports that are affected are seeing some problems here with takeoffs and landings as a result of very heavy snowfall. look at the surge of moisture coming in from the north. that, of course, is being cold air and we've got a lot of snow going on here as we check in with the wall here of the alps. that's where it will be snowing significantly here, but southern germany right now the bullseye with the heaviest of the snow, also switzerland getting in on snow as well. this will wind down later this evening. for the time being, we'll still have issues i think at the airports there, not just because of the snow, but we have wind coming in with the surge as well. so, you combine the wind, combine the snow and you get the visibility reduction here and that will be a problem for the airports, gusts up to 60 kilometers per hour so we'll watch that closely. let's check in on the airport delays and temperatures as well. milder, if we can say that. the temperatures have been brutally cold as nina well knows, a little milder in london as well. as far as airport delays, again, perhaps up to two-hour delays. that is your worst airport near munich, where the snow is falling the heaviest here. we'll continue with the airport delays as we check other regions. upwards of 35 to 45 minutes, nothing too significant here, mostly now because of wind behind the system in copenhagen and amsterdam. nina, i'm sure you're enjoying the 7 degrees in london here today. >> certainly an about change. absolutely right, ivan. it is very mild, perhaps springlike. >> oh, don't say it. don't say it you'll jinx us. >> tempting fate before the weekend, not a wise idea. you're probably right. >> see you later. >> ivan, as always, great to see you. see you soon. coming up next on "world business today," fair well washington and hello midwest. china's vice president will be at an iowa family reunion. plus, bucking a big tech trend, after this break. from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. welcome back to "world business today." let's see what's happening in europe 19 minutes into the trading session halfway through the trading week. we've had a whole raft of economic data that's moving the markets. let's just remind you that german gdp, its largest economy contracted by about 1.2% in the fourth quarter of 2011. despite that, the dax is doing rather well. let's move on to another large eurozone economy that surprised many economists by growing north of 1.2%, talking about france. you can see the cac not doing too bad in today's session, but not no such luck for italy or the netherlands. the london ftse 100 not putting on a stellar gain, but still up about 0.25%. we'll be getting unemployment figures out any moment here in the uk, expected to have grown. also a couple notable earnings reports this wednesday. france's biggest bank was exposed to greek debt and heineken is exceeding growth and analyst expectations of pretax profits up nearly 3% and one of the reasons why some of those markets are doing slightly better than expected. let's move on and talk about stocks in asia, because they got a boost from signs that china is ready to help europe deal with its debt crisis. wednesday was a big day for japanese exporters with the likes of sony shares up by more than 5.5% and toyota also up by more than 4.5%. also, sony has still lost just under half of its market value over the course of the past year. so, let's put that into context with you. it's a good day today, but still a stock that's fallen over the last 12 months also. we should also mention that property stocks rallied in hong kong along with many of the big lenders that could be affected by the developments in the eurozone as this story continues to tack and jive, but the biggest gains coming from the likes of the nikkei and also, as you can see, the hang seng. now, we're about five hours ahead of the opening bell on wall street. on tuesday, losses most of the trading session were eventually reversed in the last half hour of trade, leaving the three indices more or less ending where they started the day. investors have optimism that greece will stick to austerity plans that kind of optimism with news that the euro group meeting was canceled, but sentiment was also when it comes to the u.s. helped by domestic retail sales figures for january that showed an improvement in consumer demand, even though those figures did manage to miss many analyst estimates. now, xi jinping's american road trip is in full swing. the chinese vice president, likely next head of state, is meeting with leaders and locals across the u.s. to try to strengthen economic ties. on tuesday, xi took part in a business roundtable at the u.s. chamber of commerce with the counter party and host of the trip, u.s. vice president joe biden. afterwards, he joined the bidens at their home for a dinner. xi was also welcomed at the white house, where he and the u.s. president, barack obama, spent no fewer than 90 minutes discussing their countries' economic relationship, among other things. mr. obama remarked on china's rapid development over the past decade and also stressed the need for balanced trade flows. >> with its expanding power and prosperity also comes increased responsibilities. and so, we want to work with china to make sure that everybody is working by the same rules of the road when it comes to the world economic system, and that includes ensuring that there is a balanced trade flow between not only the united states and china, but around the world. >> now, after a brief meeting with congressional leaders on capitol hill in washington on wednesday, mr. xi will be heading, as you can see, west to iowa. he first visited this particular state on a diplomatic tour back in 1985 and stayed at the home of a family in the town of muscatine. ted rowlands reports on how the excitement is leading there building up to xi's return. >> this is mr. xi. >> reporter: cynthia and dick were thrilled when they found out that xi jinping is coming back to their small town. >> i went upstairs and looked in my photo albums and found these pictures. >> reporter: there he is, the likely next leader of china, in their kitchen in 1985. he didn't speak much english, but that didn't matter. >> it was a smile and a twinkle and offered a piece of cake and it's not all that complicated. >> reporter: xi, who met with president obama on tuesday, wants to see them again, along with about 17 others he met on his trip 27 years ago. >> yeah, well, he had the itinerary from his visit. >> reporter: iowa governor terry branstead was serving his first stint as governor when xi came in '85. the two met again last fall in beijing, and branstead says the next chinese leader said he wanted to come back. >> he was so warm and pleased with the welcome he received and considers iowans his old friend. >> for years, he was known for his chinese singer wife, but he represents a new generation of leaders. jon huntsman believes xi could be good for business. >> he's gone out of his way in recent years to bone up on economics and trade, knowing full well that th