VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should prepare for extra Iranian crude production when Western sanctions on Tehran are lifted, Iran's oil minister was quoted on Tuesday by state news agency IRNA as saying.

Global stock markets had a mixed start to the week on Monday and core bond yields fell as investors juggled Chinese steps to stimulate its slowing economy and a proposed telecoms deal in Europe with growing worries Greece may default.

Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that if Greece were to leave the euro zone, there would be an inevitable contagion effect.

France, home of historic Gitanes and Gauloises cigarettes with their iconic blue-and-white packaging, will require all tobacco companies to sell their wares in plain boxes from next year in an anti-smoking crackdown.

The Frankfurt-listed shares of Internet companies Yahoo and Facebook outperformed those of rival Google, after media reports that Google would face anti-trust action from the European Union.

European Union rules banning state aid to businesses should not apply to guarantees issued to boost investment under the three-year EU investment scheme, some of the key contributors to the plan said on Monday.

Ukraine has asked for 1 billion cubic meters of gas imports from Russia in April, trebling the amount it received in March, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras plan to discuss economic ties and the European Union's sanctions against Moscow when they meet for talks next week, a Kremlin spokesman said on Friday.

British toy store Hamleys opened its largest shop in the world on Tuesday in central Moscow despite an economic downturn in Russia that is forcing buyers to cut back on spending.

Greece is unlikely to exit the euro, either intentionally or accidentally. But it might be forced to introduce an alternative means of payment, in parallel to the euro, to pay some domestic bills if a reform-for-cash deal with its creditors is not secured soon, several euro zone officials said.

Euro zone leaders will tell Greece on Thursday that time and patience are running out for its leftist-led government to implement agreed reforms to avert a looming cash crunch that could force it out of the single currency.

Germany will do all it can to avoid Greece stumbling out of the euro zone, a senior government official said on Wednesday ahead of a meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels.

Subdued growth prospects at home are pushing mid-sized Spanish banks into foreign acquisitions that would have been impossible a few years ago as they struggled under the weight of bad loans.

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.

The European Central Bank's bond purchases will create an unsustainable stock market rally and are unlikely to boost euro zone investments, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis warned on Saturday.