VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Artificial sweetener maker NutraSweet Co said on Wednesday it would exit its aspartame business by the end of the year, citing increasing foreign competition.

A selloff on Ukraine's dollar debt is focusing attention on a controversial $3 billion bond held by Russia, raising investor concerns that President Vladimir Putin could use the issue to trigger a cascade of defaults across Kiev's sovereign Eurobonds.

The European Union is quietly increasing the urgency of a plan to import natural gas from Iran, as relations with Tehran thaw while those with top gas supplier Russia grow chillier.

Germany's defense industry lobby has warned that companies were looking into shifting production abroad in response to the country's restrictive arms export policy.

China's foreign direct investment inflows in August fell to a low not seen in at least 2-1/2 years, underscoring the challenges to growth facing the world's second-biggest economy.

The drop in oil prices to their lowest in two years has caught many observers off guard, coming against a backdrop of the worst violence in Iraq this decade, heightened tensions between the West and Russia, and sanctions against Iran.

The European Union sought ways on Saturday to marshal billions of euros into its sluggish economy without getting deeper into debt, considering options from a pan-European capital market to a huge investment fund.

Incoming European Economic and Financial Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Saturday that France's missed budget deficit targets were a "serious problem" that he will have to examine in his new role.

The European Central Bank pressed Italy on Thursday to further strengthen its fiscal position, arguing that weaker-than-expected economic developments mean the government may miss its current 2014 deficit target.

One in three German companies expect business with Russia to decline sharply this year as a result of economic sanctions imposed due to the Ukraine crisis, a German business lobby group said on Tuesday.

The oil market's price setting agencies have avoided being linked to the kind of regulation trained on financial benchmarks, in a report by international regulators.

The European Union slapped new economic sanctions on Russia on Friday, but said they could be suspended if Moscow withdraws its troops from Ukraine and observes a ceasefire.

European Union antitrust regulators fined Philips, Samsung Electronics and Infineon Technologies a total of 138 million euros ($181.28 million) on Wednesday for fixing prices of chips used in mobile SIM cards.

Asian shares inched lower early on Wednesday after a lackluster day on Wall Street, while the dollar was close to 14-month highs against a basket of major currencies after data underscored that the U.S. economy's modest expansion continues to chug along.

Washington is facing growing international pressure to ease its long standing ban on crude oil exports, with South Korea and Mexico joining the European Union in pressing the case for U.S. oil shipments overseas.