AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda A small dog peers from a car at an Ukrainian army checkpoint near Kurakhove, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 3, 2015 on a road leading to Russia-backed separatists held territory. 
1. Europe's private sector is picking up speed, based on the latest business surveys from Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the eurozone whole-economy.
2. Greece's new radical government has irritated fellow European leaders with their surprisingly hostile negotiating manners.
3. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called an impending US-Iran nuclear agreement a "bad deal" in an address to Congress on Wednesday.
4. An explosion at a coal mine in a rebel-held region of eastern Ukraine has killed at least 30 people.
5. China's military budget will grow by 10% over the next year.
6. Former US General David Petraeus has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanour charge for mishandling classified information.
7. New data shows that desertions and casualties have crippled Afghan security forces, while the US is under pressure to withdraw troops from the region.
8. The Royal Bank of Scotland is cutting 14,000 investment jobs.
9. One of the world's leading economists and a former adviser to
10. Scientists photographed the tiniest thing on earth, a bacterium that only has a volume of 0.009 cubic microns.
And finally ...