Annual inflation in Turkey ticked up to 8.17 percent in 2014, slightly higher than 2013 and well over the central bank's medium-term target, the state statistics office said Monday.

However the figure was lower than expected by analysts, with inflation falling 0.44 percent in December from November.

Chinese Internet giant Tencent, operator of the popular messaging app WeChat, has launched an online bank, a state-backed newspaper said Monday, as the government seeks to foster private lenders.

The online bank, called WeBank, will be fully Internet-based with no physical branches, the China Daily newspaper said.

The euro fell to a near nine-year low against the dollar in Asia Monday after the head of the European Central Bank hinted that policymakers would unleash fresh easing measures to counter weakness in the eurozone.

The single currency's losses added to a sell-off on Friday that came in response to the publication of Mario Draghi's interview with German business daily Handelsblatt.

French President Francois Hollande on Monday urged Greece to abide by its European commitments, as the spectre of a Greek exit from the eurozone rears its head again.

"The Greeks are free to choose their own destiny. But, having said that, there are certain engagements that have been made and all those must be of course respected," Hollande told French radio.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro begins a trip to China and OPEC member countries late Sunday in search of financial support as his country reels from falling oil prices and a tattered economy.

The South American oil giant confirmed Tuesday that it has entered recession, while annual inflation topped 63 percent, exacerbating the outlook for an economy already hit by global crashing oil prices and import shortages.

Iraq's oil exports reached their highest level in decades in December, the oil ministry's spokesman said on Saturday, but vital revenues were being hit by the plummeting prices of crude.

Iraq exported 91.141 million barrels of oil in December for an average of 2.94 million barrels per day, the highest daily average since 1980, Assem Jihad told Agence France Presse, citing initial figures.

Billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has lashed out at the Saudi fiscal policy after projecting the largest ever budget deficit for 2015 following the slump in oil prices.

"We have reached the danger point... after starting to withdraw from the reserves," to meet the budget shortfall, Alwaleed said in a letter addressed to the finance minister.

Oil prices extended their slide this week, kicking off the new year with 5.5-year low points, as tepid eurozone demand offset a pick-up in the U.S. economy.

The dollar strengthened, hitting demand for commodities like crude and metals priced in the U.S. unit.

Car-sharing startup Uber on Friday bragged it rang in the New Year with two million rides, many of them apparently to revelers heading home in early morning hours.

And while demand for rides spiked from one to two in the morning in most cities where Uber operates, partiers in Paris didn't put pressure on the service until after 4 am local time (0300 GMT).

The euro sank to $1.20 Friday, its lowest level against the greenback since May 2010, as European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi reiterated the possibility of more stimulus coming.

Draghi said in an interview published in the German business daily Handelsblatt that deflation remains a threat and that the ECB needs to be prepared to counter it.