VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The euro took another downward lurch on Friday, sinking to a 4-1/2 year low against the dollar on clear indications that the European Central Bank will soon embark on outright money-printing.

Taxi firms including Uber, the online cab-hailing company banned in New Delhi, will have to install panic buttons if they are to operate in India's capital under new rules framed after allegations that a driver for the U.S. firm raped a passenger.

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC (APO.N) is considering making a bid for Portuguese lender Novo Banco SA, the bank carved out of Banco Espirito Santo SA (BES) (BES.LS), Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Bid speculation drove up the shares of medical devices maker Smith & Nephew (SN.L) on Wednesday, allowing it to outpace sluggish European stock markets in a shortened session ahead of the Christmas break.

Uber Technologies Inc is under fire in Taiwan and the Chinese mainland mega city Chongqing over concerns that it and its drivers are not appropriately licensed, adding to a string of official complaints aimed at the fast-growing U.S. start-up.

Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial plans to raise its full takeover offer for Australia's Transfield Services Ltd, daily financial newspaper Expansion reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.

Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) said it would review its strategy in 2015 after a business magazine said it was considering major changes, possibly including the sale of its Postbank-branded (DPBGn.DE) retail unit and a revision of its profit targets.

The Philippines aims to buy two frigates, two helicopters and three gunboats for deployment in the South China Sea where a territorial dispute with China has lent urgency to the need to bolster forces, a Philippine navy officer said on Wednesday.

Greece's future in the euro zone may hang in the balance once more, but investors believe the market fallout from any current political turbulence can be insulated, unlike during the region's sovereign debt crisis of 2012.

Spain's Santander (SAN.MC) said it was not considering buying out the 28 percent of its U.S. auto finance business that is currently listed on the stock market after Bloomberg reported earlier on Tuesday the Spanish bank was mulling such a move.

The European Commission postponed until March its decisions on whether the 2015 budgets of France, Italy and Belgium break EU rules, saying it needed more information to be sure.

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is set to become the largest investor in Spanish builder FCC after reaching a deal with the firm's current top shareholder Esther Koplowitz to buy her rights to participate in a $1.3 billion capital increase.

Germany's top utility E.ON SE (EONGn.DE) has entered exclusive talks to sell its Spanish activities to Australian infrastructure investor Macquarie Group Ltd (MQG.AX), four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

A large group of professional forecasters cut their outlook for euro zone inflation and growth, underlining a trend that could prompt the European Central Bank to take more policy action to kick-start the region's flagging economy.

Italian utility Enel (ENEI.MI) could raise 3.1 billion euros ($3.8 billion) with the flotation of up to 22 percent of its Spanish subsidiary Endesa (ELE.MC) on the stock market, according to the prospectus lodged with regulators on Thursday.