Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta admitted Monday his country was suffering from "social fatigue" but said his government had brought "a stability dividend" worth billions of euros due to lower borrowing costs.

"We have to respond to social fatigue," he said at an end-of-year press conference, as the country tries to recover from its longest recession since World War II.

Barring a late price surge, gold's value will suffer its first annual drop since the start of the millennium, while the precious metal risks further losses in 2014.

Gold stood at $1,205 an ounce Friday on the London Bullion Market, down almost 27 percent in 2013 on weaker demand and easing inflation -- snapping twelve years of uninterrupted annual price growth.

Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group has won a lawsuit against U.S. jewelry group Tiffany & Co over a failed joint venture to jointly design and market luxury watches.

Tiffany was required to pay Swatch 402 million Swiss francs (327 million euros, $449 million) under the ruling by the Netherlands Arbitration Institute, Swatch said in a statement.

Libyan Oil Minister Abdelbari al-Arusi on Saturday issued a renewed threat of force to lift a months-long blockade of oil terminals by striking autonomists.

"The government is making every effort to hold talks with those blockading the terminals," he told journalists on the sidelines of a conference in Doha of the Organisation of Arab Oil Exporting Countries.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said Saturday he was "optimistic" regarding the outlook for the world oil market in 2014, which he expects to remain stable.

"I estimate that stability will continue in terms of supply, demand and prices," Naimi said at the opening of a meeting in Doha of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Foreign and Brazilian tourists are expected to spend $10.4 billion during next year's World Cup, more than the public funds invested for staging the event, the Brazilian tourism board said Friday.

"These are important resources which fuel economic sectors of all Brazilian regions, from aviation to the informal economy," said Flavio Dino, president of state tourism board Embratur, in a statement titled "Mega-events are worth it."

The International Monetary Fund released the next installment of its bailout of Cyprus on Friday, launching the latest stage in its support plan for the desperately struggling eurozone economy.

The IMF said 83.5 million euros ($114 million) was newly available to Cyprus, bringing to 250 million euros the amount it has disbursed from the three-year, billion-euro loan extended to Cyprus.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley Friday announced plans to sell part of its commodity business to Russian oil giant Rosneft for an undisclosed sum.

The transaction covers Morgan Stanley's "global oil merchanting" business, which engages in global storage, trading and transportation of oil and petroleum products.

Waratah Coal on Saturday welcomed the Australian government's approval of its $6.4 billion (U.S.$5.7 billion) Galilee coal project, as conservationists warned the decision threatened the environment.

The proposed coal mine, rail and infrastructure development in Queensland received approval for its environmental impact statement on Friday.

The South African government on Friday welcomed a decision by Standard and Poor's to leave the country's credit rating on hold, but complained that the retained negative outlook was unfair.

The Treasury Department said S&P's decision to keep the "BBB" rating with negative outlook "did not take adequate account of progress made" in addressing economic vulnerabilities.