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.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis will meet International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde in Washington on Sunday to discuss a set of planned reforms that Athens hopes will unlock much-needed bailout funds.

Lafarge (LAFP.PA) boss Bruno Lafont wants someone with experience of the cement industry to be chief executive in the French group's planned tie-up with Swiss peer Holcim (HOLN.VX), daily newspaper Le Monde said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras plan to discuss economic ties and the European Union's sanctions against Moscow when they meet for talks next week, a Kremlin spokesman said on Friday.

Japan's Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) will spend about 150 billion yen ($1.3 billion) to build two new car plants in Mexico and China, two people familiar with plans said, ending a three-year freeze imposed after unchecked growth lumbered the world's biggest auto maker with too many idle production lines.

China's top regulator has ruled that more than half of the 54 mitigation projects that recently sought to register for carbon credits are ineligible, it said on Friday, amid worries that a glut of permits is undermining its pilot carbon markets.

China has prepared a draft law for charities to register directly with the government, making it easier for them to raise funds and gain tax exemptions, while allaying public concern over the way they are run, following some high-profile scandals.

China plans to cut red tape and reduce costs for Chinese firms looking to spread their reach overseas to help boost growth and stave off a wider economic slowdown, according to a statement from the ruling State Council.

Hourly workers represented by the United Steelworkers union (USW) at Marathon Petroleum Corp's Catlettsburg, Kentucky, refinery voted on Friday to approve a new contract, ending a two-month work stoppage, a company spokesman said.

Mozilla Corp, creator of the popular Firefox web browser, said on Thursday it would follow Google Inc and no longer recognize new certificates of trust issued by a Chinese Internet agency.

Investors worldwide poured $8.5 billion into fixed-income funds in the week ended April 1, marking the first three months of this year as the biggest first quarter for fixed-income inflows since 2001, data from a Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research report showed on Friday.

Some top shareholders of IBM, disappointed by 11 straight quarters of falling revenues, are seeking help from activist investors to shake up the company, but have been turned down by both Bill Ackman's Pershing Square and Jeffrey Ubben's ValueAct, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

U.S. Treasuries prices rallied, the U.S. dollar fell and stock index futures fell on Friday after weaker-than-expected March U.S. jobs data.

Greece will repay a loan tranche to the IMF on time on April 9, its deputy finance minister said on Friday, seeking to quell fears of default after a flurry of contradictory statements on the issue in recent days.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's (BABA.N) finance arm and smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc [XTC.UL] said on Thursday they will jointly develop mobile payment systems using wearable technology, a first for China's major tech firms.

Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it is bringing one of its most popular apps, which lets people take photos of a document and turn it into a editable file, to Apple Inc's iPhone and Google Inc's Android.

Tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) likely saw January-March earnings slip for the sixth straight quarter, but investors are betting on a rebound this year on healthy chip sales and high hopes for its new flagship smartphones.

Cerberus Capital Management LP is seeking more than $3 billion for its latest flagship private equity fund to invest in distressed assets such as non-performing loans and ailing companies that need to be restructured, people familiar with the matter said.

Investors yanked $7.3 billion from the Pimco Total Return Fund in March as Pimco's flagship fund continued to reel six months after the exit of co-founder Bill Gross.

Brent oil fell nearly 4 percent on Thursday after a preliminary pact between Iran and global powers on Tehran's nuclear program, even as officials set further talks in June and analysts questioned when the OPEC member will be allowed to export more crude.

Companies struggled in China and much of the rest of Asia in March, suggesting central banks may have to resort to more stimulus, just as factories in the euro zone begin to reap rewards from ultra-easy policy there.

McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) plans to raise the average pay of about 90,000 U.S. workers to around $10 an hour, but the increase will not benefit workers at the vast majority of the restaurants, because they are operated by franchisees, who make their own wage decisions.

The United States expects the trade promotion authority (TPA) legislation, which is seen as an important step to speed free trade deals, will be passed by the Congress over the next month, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

The world's biggest automakers increasingly are making money by producing luxury models and reaping profits in China and North America, management consulting firm McKinsey & Co said in a report issued on Wednesday.

General Motors Co (GM) (GM.N) on Thursday said its labor costs have risen nearly 50 percent over the past five years in South Korea, where it makes nearly one-fifth of its global output, but that it does not plan to shut any of its four plants there.

U.S. consumer demand for new vehicles began to thaw in March, especially for luxury cars and big trucks, but not every carmaker participated in the uptick.

Shares of Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA.O) jumped and trading volume surged in the final minutes of trading on Wednesday after the electric car maker issued a press release proclaiming the launch of a new product that turned out to be an April Fool's Day prank.

Flag carrier Oman Air has ordered 20 Boeing Co (BA.N) 737 aircraft as part of a plan to double its fleet to 70 planes by 2020, Chief Executive Paul Gregorowitsch said on Monday.

Citigroup Inc (C.N) is planning to sell Prime Reinsurance Co, a unit created five years ago when the bank spun off its life insurance business, Primerica Inc (PRI.N), Bloomberg reported.

France's Orange (ORAN.PA) should look at all offers for its Dailymotion video-sharing site, French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, adding that France was seeking to promote a strong European digital sector.