VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Aviation leaders will try to secure a mandate to implement new safety standards when they meet next week after a string of high-profile accidents around the world made 2014 the deadliest year for commercial airlines in almost a decade.

The finance chief of Ford Motor Co (F.N) expects ongoing problems in Russia where the decline of the rouble and the struggling economy was weighing on its market share, according to German newspaper Handelsblatt.

McDonald's Corp. (MCD.N) will open fewer new restaurants in Russia this year than last because a fall in the rouble has increased expansion costs and is hurting consumers, its Russian chief executive Khamzat Khasbulatov told Reuters.

Greece should not undermine EU policy on Russia at a time when it is seeking support from its partners over its economic problems, European parliament President Martin Schulz told Greek newspapers on Friday.

General Motors Co (GM.N) will suspend production at its St. Petersburg auto assembly plant in Russia from mid-March to mid-May and is raising prices for its products because of the weak and volatile Russian rouble, a company spokesman said on Thursday.

New European Union sanctions against Russia could include further capital markets restrictions, making it harder for Russian companies to refinance themselves and possibly affecting Russian sovereign bonds, EU officials said on Wednesday.

For Boris Lisitsyn, Russia's financial crisis means less meat, cheese and sausage - hardships the 86-year-old says won't kill him anytime soon.

Ratings agency S&P cut Russia's sovereign credit rating to junk status on Monday, bringing it below investment grade for the first time in a decade.

For years he was a lone voice in the aviation industry despite being one of its best-known economists, a Cassandra-like figure whose warnings of a slump in oil prices went unheeded.

Russian banks with at least 25 billion roubles in capital and willing to increase lending to key sectors of the economy will be able to participate in a 1 trillion rouble ($15.65 billion) recapitalization plan, Russia announced on Friday.

Oil services giant Schlumberger plans to buy a 45.65 percent stake in Eurasia Drilling for about $1.7 billion, potentially paving the way for it to become the sole owner of Russia's most active oilfield services company.

German utility RWE will complete the sale of oil and gas unit DEA [RWEDE.UL] to Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman by early March, it said on Friday, easing fears of a potential collapse.

Growing damage from Russia's financial crisis on neighboring former Soviet states could bury President Vladimir Putin's dream of creating an economic union to rival the United States and European Union.

Russia's credit rating looks set to tumble into junk for the first time in more than a decade, a move that would exclude its bonds from a couple of high-profile indexes and may set off another wave of capital outflows.

A landmark legal opinion this week will remind the European Central Bank of the limits it faces as it advances towards money printing, while a tumbling oil price saps inflation in debt-strained Europe.