VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Toshiba Corp said it had signed an agreement with United Technologies Corp to strengthen strategic collaboration through their joint venture, Toshiba Carrier Corp, which develops air-conditioning equipment.

Asian stocks clawed back some of this week's losses on Friday after a solid set of U.S. data calmed turbulence in global financial markets, though underlying worries about slowing world economic growth kept investors on edge.

A top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday there are risks in Europe, which is having a "tough time" economically, but he downplayed the possible impact on the U.S. economy and U.S. exports.

Japan's Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co Ltd (8750.T) will raise $1 billion by issuing dollar-denominated subordinated bonds in overseas markets, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.

Asian stocks were cautiously up on Wednesday as benign inflation data in China and more gloom in the euro zone economy lent credence to fears of a faltering global economic recovery.

A Chinese drugmaker with close military ties is seeking fast-track approval for a drug that it says can cure Ebola, as China joins the race to help treat a deadly outbreak of a disease that has spread from Africa to the United States and Europe.

The German and French economy ministers have asked experts in Berlin and Paris to come up with reform recommendations for both countries in an apparent attempt to avert a full-blown clash between the euro zone heavyweights over economic policy.

Tunisia lost about a third of its French tourist bookings to cancellation shortly after the beheading last month of a French traveler by Islamist militants in neighboring Algeria, the country's tourism minister said on Monday.

Policymakers scrambling to keep the world economy from settling into the "new mediocre" of sluggish growth can no longer rely on global trade to do the heavy lifting.

Federal Reserve officials on Saturday took stock of a slowdown in the global economy and said it could delay an increase in U.S. interest rates if serious enough.

The International Monetary Fund's member countries on Saturday said bold action was needed to bolster the global economic recovery and they urged governments not to squelch growth by tightening budgets too drastically, although Germany poured cold water on the idea of a new global "crisis."

Ireland is set to announce legal changes next week to phase out the "Double Irish" tax arrangement that has let firms such as Google (GOOGL.O) save billions of dollars, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Global shares fell to a six-month trough and Brent crude futures tumbled to their lowest since 2010 on Friday as investors worried about the prospect of a widespread economic slowdown just as U.S. monetary stimulus nears its end.

BNP Paribas has asked at least three banks to help it clear certain energy transactions in U.S. dollars next year to make sure it can keep its energy trade finance division operating after a ban imposed for violating U.S. sanctions, sources said.

An unusual disconnect has emerged in the U.S. oil market, with headline futures slumping to levels below $90 a barrel even as traders in the physical crude market report surprisingly robust demand and strong pricing.