VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The European Union has backed Euratom's decision to block Hungary's 12 billion euro nuclear deal with Russia, a move that could worsen the situation between the Kremlin and Brussels, the Financial Times reported.

The European Union has yet to receive confirmation that Ukraine and Russia will meet on March 20 to discuss gas supplies, the bloc's Energy Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Friday.

The $71 billion cybersecurity industry is fragmenting along geopolitical lines as firms chase after government contracts, share information with spy agencies, and market themselves as protectors against attacks by other nations.

Former Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky said on Thursday Vladimir Putin was a "naked king" presiding over an economy that will weaken further, eventually provoking a battle between rival clans in Moscow.

Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said on Tuesday there were "serious" risks to gas transit to Europe via Ukraine after Kiev failed to make a pre-payment.

Greece's struggles with its euro zone creditors may have grabbed much of the world's attention, but U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is likely to reclaim the spotlight this week with testimony on a long-anticipated shift in policy.

The U.S. manufacturing sector expanded in February at its fastest rate since November, after notching its lowest reading in a year in the prior month, an industry report showed on Friday.

Israel's defense minister arrived in India on Wednesday to help sell his country's arms industry to the world's largest defense importer and promote deepening military ties between the two nations.

China is planning an international tourism zone in its northeastern border area with Russia and North Korea, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday, in Pyongyang's latest push for new investment.

Asian shares gained on Friday on news of a ceasefire accord in Ukraine, while Sweden's surprise move to cut its main rate into negative territory and hopes of a resolution between debt-strapped Greece and its creditors burnished risk appetite.

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.

Saudi Arabia's move to slash the price it charges in Asia for its oil this week to the lowest in more than a decade is the latest aggressive action by Gulf states to defend market share in the world's top oil consuming region.

Russia's top oil producer Rosneft is basing its budget for this year on an average oil price of $50 per barrel, the company's Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin said on Wednesday.

The UN's aviation agency wants to open a new route for commercial aircraft in international airspace over the Black Sea that will be managed by Ukraine and without "interference" from Russia, the agency's secretary-general said.