VENTURE CAPITAL POST

World stock markets and the dollar remained in a sharp sell-off mode on Thursday, having been jolted sharply lower by weak U.S. growth data and cautious comments from the Federal Reserve.

China overtook France last year as the world's second largest wine grower by area under cultivation as it continued to plant vast fields of mostly imported grape vines to meet growing demand.

In January 2014, veteran short-seller Bill Fleckenstein said he was readying a new fund to bet on falling stock prices. More than a year later, he's still waiting to launch that fund.

Two leading Russian film directors are seeking state support to set up a domestic chain of cafes to compete with Western fast food restaurants such as McDonald's, a newspaper said on Thursday.

Ukraine's Naftogaz [NAFTO.UL] Chief Executive Andriy Kobolev will seek rapid progress on a deal to secure gas from Russia for the next 12 months in talks brokered by the European Commission in Berlin next week.

U.S. auto maker Ford Motor Co (F.N) will take control of its Russian venture with Sollers (SVAV.MM) and provide it with additional financial support, the Russian firm said on Friday.

Ukraine has asked for 1 billion cubic meters of gas imports from Russia in April, trebling the amount it received in March, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday.

The Ukrainian government approved on Saturday the framework for Ukraine's debt restructuring operation through which it aims to generate $15.3 billion, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Billionaire financier George Soros is ready to invest $1 billion in Ukraine, if Western countries help private investment there. He also put the odds of Greece leaving the euro at a third, in an interview with Austrian newspaper Der Standard.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed on Friday creating a regional currency union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, Russia's main partners in a union of ex-Soviet states facing growing economic challenges.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday the worst was over for Russia's economy, which has been hit by Western economic sanctions over the Ukraine crisis and the fall in global oil prices.

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 International Monetary Fund has agreed to pump $10 billion into Ukraine's troubled economy over the next year, providing swift assistance for the country's struggling finances as part of a larger four-year bailout.

The International Monetary Fund's bailout program for Ukraine assumes Kiev will be able to get $15.4 billion from talks with its creditors, according to four sources familiar with the IMF's documents.

German utility RWE (RWEG.DE) on Monday closed the sale of its oil and gas production unit DEA [RWEDE.UL] to Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, ending months of uncertainty over whether the 5.1 billion euro ($5.7 billion) deal would go ahead.