VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Germany's Fresenius Medical Care (FMEG.DE) said it agreed to take over Cogent Healthcare, a U.S. provider of specialist physicians to hospitals, as part of its drive to offer additional services linked to its core business of kidney dialysis.

China's Prime Minister Li Keqiang proposed a friendship treaty with Southeast Asian countries and offered $20 billion in loans on Thursday but held firm on the line that Beijing will only settle South China Sea disputes directly with other claimants.

The United States and China announced a largely symbolic plan on Wednesday to implement new limits on carbon emissions, the highlight of a summit between Barack Obama and Xi Jinping in which both leaders played down suggestions of differences and rivalry.

South Africa will resume seafood exports to Russia for the first time in almost two decades as Moscow looks elsewhere for food sources following Western sanctions over Ukraine.

The United States on Tuesday proposed that the International Monetary Fund write off some $100 million in debt it is owed by Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to free up more resources for those countries, the hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak.

A contemporary art gallery in central Tehran is giving Iranians a chance to let out their frustrations by screaming into clay pots sculpted by a Vancouver-based artist, exhibiting in the country of his ancestors for the first time.

Ukraine's currency lost nearly 5 percent of its value on Monday after a weekend that saw the heaviest shelling in a month hit the main rebel stronghold in the east and signs that Moscow had dispatched troops and tanks to reinforce separatists.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday he sees momentum building for a Washington-backed free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific, after arriving in Beijing on the first leg of an eight-day Asia tour.

Geely-owned Volvo Car Group said on Sunday it had begun production of its best-selling XC60 crossover at its plant in Chengdu, taking a further step toward supplying locally-produced cars in China as well as opening the door to overseas exports.

China is part of "intensive" talks on a global trade pact regarding information technology products, the World Trade Organization's chief said on Saturday, but it is unclear if a deal will be made at a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders underway in Beijing.

One of the most powerful men in the Olympic movement has urged the United States to push ahead with its plans to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics, saying it is the "right time".

Philadelphia-area transit workers have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a two-year contract with the local transportation agency, averting a strike that threatened to cripple bus and rail lines and that their union warned would be long and contentious.

Annual growth in China's exports and imports slowed in October, data showed on Saturday, reinforcing signs of fragility in the world's second-largest economy that could prompt policymakers to roll out more stimulus measures.

With the U.S. third-quarter earnings season almost at an end, many investors are breathing a sigh of relief as more companies surpassed profit expectations than in any quarter since 2010.

The United States is considering partnering with China on improving electricity in Africa and the proposal could be part of bilateral discussions when President Barack Obama visits Beijing next week, two sources involved told Reuters.