VENTURE CAPITAL POST

When Afghan President Ashraf Ghani makes his first official visit to India next week, it will be a chance for New Delhi to regain ground lost to regional rivals Pakistan and China and push interests including trade routes and arms sales.

China needs to cut lending to coal-related industries and shift more financing to cleaner businesses in order to address a huge funding gap that is hindering the country's war on pollution, a study drawn up in part by central bank researchers said.

Asian shares weathered a soft reading on Chinese manufacturing on Thursday as it only whetted expectations for more policy stimulus there, while a sharp rise in British and German bond yields rippled through global debt markets.

McDonald's Corp (MCD.N), the world's biggest restaurant chain, reported an 11 percent fall in quarterly revenue as it fights to recover from food scandals in China and Japan and faces tough competition at home in the United States.

Leaders of Asian and African nations called on Wednesday for a new global order that is open to emerging economic powers and leaves the "obsolete ideas" of Bretton Woods institutions in the past.

Yum Brands Inc, owner of KFC and Pizza Hut chains, on Tuesday said business in its biggest market China is recovering from a meat scare at one of its minor suppliers and the division would finish the year strong.

China will switch to a "registration system" for initial public offerings (IPO), ending the current approval process, the official China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday, a day after parliament began reviewing draft changes to the Securities Law.

Aberdeen Asset Management's head of Asian operations warned on Tuesday that Chinese money was moving "a bit like a casino" in domestic stock markets, while BlackRock called on China to reform its capital markets further to avert boom and bust scenarios.

Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi says Saudi Arabia is producing near record levels of crude in April, underscoring the kingdom's willingness to defend market share at a time when oil markets have staged a fragile recovery.

China's drumroll of policy support for its flagging housing market has met an unlikely foe: banks. Beijing has tried to revive a flagging housing market as it looks to arrest an economic slowdown, but banks are increasingly worried about bad debts and are not passing on policy steps like interest rate cuts and lower downpayment requirements to home buyers.

Equity markets rebounded on Monday after China took steps to stimulate its economy and Wall Street also rose on corporate earnings, while the euro weakened further on worries about Greece.

China's central bank will inject some of its war chest of foreign exchange reserves into two state-owned policy banks to support the government's overseas development plans, financial news magazine Caixin reported.

Chinese president Xi Jinping is due in Pakistan on Monday where he will launch $46 billion in projects linking the old allies, a figure that far exceeds U.S. spending in Pakistan and underscores China's projection of power in Asia.

Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) is exploring the possibility of developing budget sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) in China in a bid to keep up with shifts in the market, its China chief executive, Jochem Heizmann, said on Sunday.

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), the world's largest automaker by sales volume, plans to launch two hybrid cars in China this year as part of efforts to launch vehicles that will help to reduce pollution in the country.