Coffee with Apple chief: $610,000

A bidder has paid more than $A$600,000 at a charity auction for a coffee date with Apple's CEO. Source: AAP

AN anonymous bidder paid $US610,000 ($A619,509.47) in a charity auction for coffee date with Apple chief Tim Cook, the organisers said Wednesday.

The Tim Cook auction tied the record for highest winning bid at charity auction site Charitybuzz, according to a statement from the group and its partner, The Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice & Human Rights.

The bid tied a record set by a 2013 Lamborghini Aventador Roadster auctioned in March 2013 for $610,000, the statement said.

"We're truly amazed by the results of Tim Cook's remarkable donation," said Coppy Holzman, Charitybuzz chief executive and founder.

"Sincere thanks goes out to Charitybuzz's community of socially conscious bidders here in the US and overseas... we are thrilled to have amassed more than $1 million this spring for the RFK Centre's powerful work."

The coffee chat with Cook was limited to two guests, who would be subject to security screening and be responsible for their own travel and accommodations.

It was the first time that Cook made his time available as part of the annual fundraising event.

The centre is also raising money with other celebrity-laden offers, such as a lunch with famed filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola in California wine country, and time with actors Robert DeNiro, Alec Baldwin or William Shatner.

It plans to auction a chance to tour Space-X rocket, a day at training camp with NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and lunch with Robin Williams on the set of his next film.

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IMF chief says euro's future secure

Lagarde told delegates at the Boao Forum that she hoped the recent deal for Cyprus would spell an end to European bailouts. Picture: AFP/Ed Jones Source: AFP

INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde says the euro has a solid future as she expressed hopes no more EU countries will need bailouts.

"I think the collective political will ... to maintain, defend, protect and enhance the monetary zone and currency zone has been largely underestimated," Lagarde told an audience in China on Sunday.

"The euro has a future and has a long-standing one."

The former French finance minister spoke during a question-and-answer session that followed an address she gave at the Boao Forum for Asia, an annual conference of political and economic leaders held on the Chinese island of Hainan.

Her appearance prompted questions from audience participants about the situation in Cyprus, where the Mediterranean country struck a 10 billion euro ($A12.5 billion) bailout deal with the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - the so-called troika.

Asked specifically about the prospect for further crises, Lagarde said: "I don't have a crystal ball.

"My dearest hope is that there is not yet another country down the line that needs to be repaired and that could require support from both the European partners and the IMF."

She added, however, that Cyprus represented a unique case and reminded her audience the country's economy amounted to a mere 0.2 per cent of Europe's economy.

"I don't mean to be derogatory about this country," she said, noting its status as a member of Europe and of the IMF.

"But it was a very specific case in many respects," she added, citing factors such as the the size of the banking sector relative to the Cyprus economy.

Lagarde also said she hoped European authorities would learn from experiences over the past couple of years and "decide to accelerate the consolidation of their currency zone".

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