VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Once depicted as a "Blue Banana" stretching from Manchester to Milan, Europe's industrial heartland has moved eastwards just as its political center of gravity has shifted to Germany.

Warning Greece it had "no time to lose", euro zone ministers agreed technical talks between finance experts from Athens and its international creditors would start on Wednesday with the aim of unlocking further funding.

Greece's euro zone membership is a given and does form part of negotiations with the country's lenders, the finance ministry said on Sunday.

The head of the euro zone finance ministers responded positively to Greece's request for an immediate start to technical talks with international creditors to conclude the country's current bailout program, a Greek government official said on Saturday.

China's cooling growth prospects and an interest rate decision in Russia will shift the economic agenda away from the euro zone next week, although Greece remains firmly in the spotlight because of its precarious funding outlook.

Greece must realize there is no other way than to reform, European Central Bank governing council member Luc Coene said in an interview published on Saturday, telling Greeks they had been sold "false promises" by radical leftists now in power.

China's Fosun International (0656.HK) has bought a 5 percent stake in Thomas Cook Group (TCG.L), deepening its foray into Europe's tourism sector and potentially helping the British company to compete with travel leviathan TUI Group (TUIT.L)

The dollar held pole position in Asia on Friday as bulls wagered a looming U.S. jobs report would add to the chance of rate hikes there, even as the European Central Bank embarks on a trillion euro campaign of bond-buying.

Global equities pulled back from recent record highs on Wednesday, with investors turning cautious after underwhelming euro zone PMI data and ahead of central bank meetings.

Chances of Greece leaving the euro zone in the next 12 months are the highest since late 2012 even though Athens's financial lifeline has been extended, a survey of investors based mainly in Germany showed on Tuesday.

Euro zone producer prices fell by more than expected in January, pulled down by plunging costs of energy, data from the European Union's statistics office Eurostat showed on Tuesday.

Euro zone consumer prices fell by less than expected in February while unemployment eased in January for the third month in a row, offering signs that the risks of economic stagnation and deflation in the bloc are falling.

Global stimulus is swelling, with China cutting interest rates ahead of disappointing factory data and the European Central Bank set to start government bond purchases just as data hints the euro zone economy may be picking up.

Greece's leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused Spain and Portugal on Saturday of leading a conservative conspiracy to topple his anti-austerity government, saying they feared their own radical forces before elections this year.

Bank lending in the euro zone fell slightly in January but at a slower pace than a month earlier, suggesting the economy may be turning a corner as consumer morale picks up in the bloc's largest economies.