U.S. sanctions against Moscow appeared Thursday to have claimed their first major victim when the head of Russia's largest oil company was reported to have asked the government for help to cover its massive debt.

The well-connected Vedomosti business daily said Rosneft chief Igor Sechin had written a letter to the cabinet outlining five ways it could help repay nearly $45 billion (34 billion euros). More than half the amount comes due by the end of next year.

Gold consumption fell by an annualized 16 percent in the second quarter of 2014 as Chinese and Indian buyers cut back on record purchases a year earlier, sector data showed Thursday.

A director of the World Gold Council (WGC) forecast the full-year result would also be lower than in 2013, but probably not represent as big a drop as during the three months from April through June.

The French economy ground to a standstill in the second quarter of the year, official figures published Thursday showed, further fanning fears that France could drag down a stuttering eurozone recovery.

France's gross domestic product was flat in the second three months of the year, according to national statistics office INSEE, following zero growth in the first quarter.

Spain reported Wednesday the steepest slide in consumer prices in nearly five years, a potentially worrying development as the eurozone fends off the threat of a deflationary spiral.

With Spaniards cautious about spending in an economy suffering a 24-percent unemployment rate, consumer prices dropped a sharper-than-expected 0.4 percent in the year to July, Spain's National Statistics Institute said.

Industrial production in the eurozone fell by 0.3 percent in June, official data showed on Wednesday, dragged lower by a drop in the output of consumer goods and energy.

The result was significantly below analyst expectations, and the news -- the latest sign that recovery of the eurozone economy is faltering -- pushed down the euro against the dollar.

French prices dropped sharply in July compared to the previous month, official data published on Wednesday showed, adding to fears of deflation in France and the wider eurozone.

Prices fell by 0.3 percent month-on-month in July, the INSEE national statistics office said in a statement.

The Japanese economy shrank at an annual pace of 6.8 percent in the second quarter after spending got slammed by a sales tax hike that kicked in from April, government figures showed Wednesday.

Japan's gross domestic product, or the total output of goods and services, also contracted 1.7 percent during the April-June period from the previous quarter.

Iran's inflation has been curbed and its recession is easing but economic growth will depend on the country increasing its non-oil exports, President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday.

Presenting an economic plan to parliament, Rouhani emphasised that a broad-based economy with more manufacturing is required, along with a hoped-for lifting of international sanctions.

The social news group BuzzFeed unveiled a major new expansion plan, using a fresh infusion of $50 million in venture capital.

Andreessen Horowitz, the big Silicon Valley venture group, announced late Sunday it is investing $50 million in BuzzFeed and that one of its partners, Chris Dixon, will be joining the company’s board.

An "enormous" class action over credit card late fees charged by financial institutions, including Citibank and Westpac, on behalf on all their customers was filed in an Australian court Tuesday.

The action -- which could become Australia's biggest consumer lawsuit -- was filed by lawyers Maurice Blackburn against Westpac, Citibank, St. George, BankSA and ANZ in the New South Wales Supreme Court.