VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Greece said on Sunday it was confident of reaching agreement in negotiations with its euro zone partners but reiterated it would not accept harsh austerity strings in any debt pact.

Euro zone economic growth accelerated unexpectedly in the final quarter of 2014 as the bloc's largest member, Germany, expanded at more than twice the expected rate.

A forecast-smashing growth reading from Germany sent stock markets higher and low-rated bond yields lower on Friday, putting global equities on track for a second straight week of gains.

The S&P 500 index finished unchanged on Wednesday as investors were reluctant to make big bets while they waited for the outcomes of major talks involving Greece and Ukraine, but Apple helped boost the Nasdaq after an activist investor's bullish comments.

China's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it had no knowledge of any offer by Beijing for aid to Greece after Greece's deputy foreign minister said China had offered economic support even though Athens had not requested it.

The Obama administration is pushing euro zone leaders to compromise more with Greece's new government as fears grow that a protracted budget stand-off could damage the global economy, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

If Greece is forced out of the euro zone, other countries will inevitably follow and the currency bloc will collapse, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Sunday, in comments which drew a rebuke from Italy.

China will have more robots operating in its production plants by 2017 than any other country as it cranks up automation of its car and electronics factories, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) said on Thursday.

Cross-border lending is growing in the euro zone for the first time since the bloc's financial crisis prompted banks to retreat from highly indebted countries such as Spain, Greece, Ireland and Italy.

A jump in the Swiss franc against the euro, which threatens to push the country's economy into recession, is boosting trade in brothels across the border in Germany.

German luxury carmaker Audi could reach its goal of 2 million sales a year before its 2020 target, helped by revamped models and new sport-utility vehicles, its chief executive told Reuters.

Leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras threw down an open challenge to international creditors on Wednesday by halting privatisation plans agreed under the country's bailout deal, prompting a third day of heavy losses on financial markets.

International donors pledged $7.5 billion on Tuesday to immunize 300 million children in poor countries against deadly diseases such as diarrhea and pneumonia.

Commercial flights from Libya to mainland Europe resumed after more than six months on Saturday with a Libyan carrier taking off to Germany, the airline said.

National governments in the euro zone need to redouble their reform efforts to create a "genuine" economic union, ECB Mario Draghi wrote in a German magazine published on Saturday after the European Central Bank's bond-buying programme was unveiled.