The incoming chief of the European Central Bank says the eurozone countries need a "quantum" leap toward economic integration.

Mario Draghi told a conference in Paris on Monday that there are problems with the common currency, including a lack of coordinated fiscal policies.

Officials from Russian energy giant Gazprom will visit South Korea to discuss the gas pipeline project recently agreed by Russian and North Korean leaders, a report said Sunday.

Yonhap news agency cited Seoul officials as saying that representatives from the world's top gas firm will meet with their counterparts at the state-run Korea Gas Corp. this month to discuss technical details of the project.

U.S. authorities have given Switzerland until Tuesday to transmit data from tax evaders in the United States who have stashed assets away in Swiss banks, the SonntagsZeitung reported Sunday.

The United States has asked for detailed information on U.S. nationals who have hidden their money in Switzerland, the paper said, basing its report on a three-page letter from the U.S. deputy attorney general James Cole, dated August 31, addressed to the Swiss authorities.

India has fully paid its $5 billion oil arrears to Iran without bartering to bypass sanctions-related payment problems, the official news agency IRNA reported Sunday quoting Iran's central bank chief.

"While all of India's $5 billion oil arrears have been paid to Iran, the country will always have some leftover debt (to pay) due to fresh oil sales," Mahmoud Bahmani said.

A 300-bottle collection of Chateau Lafite Rothschild has sold for almost $540,000 in Hong Kong, setting a world record price for a single wine lot auctioned this year, organizers said.

The collection spanning 1981 to 2005 was knocked down for HK$4.2 million ($539,250) at Christie's two-day Autumn wine sale, which is expected to rake in over $5 million in sales, the auction giant said late Saturday.

European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet told Italy Saturday that meeting its deficit reduction targets was absolutely decisive for the country's credibility.

"It is essential that the target which was announced to diminish the deficit will be fully confirmed and implemented," Trichet said at an economic forum in northern Italy.

Beijing has asked Libya's new rulers to guarantee Chinese business interests in the north African country, despite not supporting the military action that helped bring them to power.

China is the only permanent member of the U.N. Security Council yet to formally recognize the Transitional National Council and repeatedly opposed NATO's use of force in support of the rebels during recent fighting.

World Bank chief Robert Zoellick warned Saturday that the global economy was heading into a new "danger zone", as he urged China to speed up structural reforms to help its development.

"The financial crisis in Europe has become a sovereign debt crisis, with serious implications for the monetary union, banks, and competitiveness of some countries," he said at a conference in Beijing on the future of China.

Ukraine said on Friday it will have to negotiate a new gas deal with Russia because of previously-undisclosed plans to break up the republic's existing energy company.

The unexpected announcement came in the heat of the two neighbors' second spat over gas prices in three years and appeared part of a Ukrainian effort to force Russia to ease its negotiating stance over prices.

U.S. oil-services giant Halliburton said Friday that it was filing a defamation lawsuit against BP over the devastating 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Halliburton... filed claims against BP in Texas state court for negligent misrepresentation, business disparagement and defamation related to the April 20, 2010, Macondo incident," the Houston-based company said.