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.

European stock markets closed sharply lower on Friday, hit by fresh worries over the Eurozone debt crisis and a much weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading companies lost 2.34 percent to 5,292.03 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 shed 3.59 percent to 3,148.53 points and in Frankfurt the DAX dropped 3.36 percent to 5,538.33 points.

The stuttering U.S. economy added no jobs in August amid recession fears and political turmoil over the government's finances, bleak official data showed Friday.

Employment in the private sector, previously the main engine for job growth as revenue-strapped governments shed workers, "changed little" in most major industries, the Labor Department said.

In his first official activity following the presentation of his credentials to President Michel Suleiman, British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher visited Beirut Container Terminal Consortium (BCTC) at Beirut port, accompanied by Head of Trade and Investment Paul Khawaja. Ziad Kanaan, board member and Karen Bellamy, General Manager of BCTC presented an overview of the work that the company has been doing over the past seven years.

Bellamy explained the role of the British company and its administration of the port of Beirut over the past years in which it became one of the top most important 100 ports in the world.