The world's biggest watchmaker Swatch said Monday that it has ended its partnership with Tiffany & Co as it accused the U.S. luxury jeweler of blocking the development of the business.

The group added that it would file for damages against the U.S. firm, "in compensation for the loss of planned long-term future business."

Suzuki Motor Corp. said Monday it will abort its alliance with Volkswagen AG, ending a nearly two-year marriage that never worked and eventually escalated into a public feud.

Suzuki's board of directors decided to dissolve its partnership and cross-shareholding relationship with the German automaker because of concerns that it would lose autonomy, it said in a statement. Volkswagen owns a nearly 20 percent stake in Suzuki, while Suzuki holds about 1.5 percent of Volkswagen.

Germany's highly profitable auto makers are rolling out important new vehicles in the ferociously competitive small car market at this year's Frankfurt auto show.

The Volkswagen Up subcompact, Mercedes-Benz's streamlined B-Class hatchback and BMW's electric-powered i3, aimed at crowded cities with its zero-emission motor and lightweight, carbon-fiber reinforced body, are all major bets on what will appeal to buyers — and help earnings through an uncertain year ahead in which global demand may slow.

Several Iranian banks have been targeted in one of the biggest frauds in the Islamic republic's history, losing nearly $2.6 billion in more than two years, media reports said Sunday.

The fraud was reportedly orchestrated by a single man, referred to as "Mr X" in Iranian media, who developed a network and used forged letters of credit to purchase assets, including one of Iran's largest steel production companies, Khuzestan Steel Company.

Arab states that ousted their dictators got a financial shot in the arm Saturday with promises of tens of billions of dollars to help their rocky transformation into modern democracies.

G8 rich nations and institutions including the World Bank, the IMF, regional banks and the Arab Monetary Fund pledged nearly $80 billion in aid and loans over the next two years, doubling the amount promised earlier this year.

Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region halted crude exports on Sunday, nearly a week after it rejected a new oil and gas law approved by the central government, Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi said.

"The government of the Kurdistan region today halted oil exports without giving reasons," Luaybi told Agence France Presse on the sidelines of an oil conference in the Jordanian capital.

Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse on Sunday said it had provided Washington data about its U.S. customers, local media reported.

"Credit Suisse has provided information about U.S. customers" to U.S. authorities, the bank's Chairman of the Board of Directors Urs Rohner said in an interview in the Swiss weekly NZZ am Sonntag.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Sunday said that the euro must not be allowed to fail for the stability of the whole region, and pledged to press Beijing on the Yuan on his upcoming visit.

Juppe, the highest-level French visitor to Australia in 28 years, also condemned continuing divisions within the United Nations Security Council on Syria after objections from Moscow, calling the uncertainty a "scandal".

Clouds may be gathering over the global economy, but auto makers are revving up to try and dispel any gloom with nearly 90 new models at the world's biggest motor show, the IAA.

With more than 1,000 exhibitors from 32 countries crowding into 235,000 square meters (23 hectares) of the vast halls of Frankfurt's "Messe" trade fair, this year's "Internationale Automobil Ausstellung" is going to be 25 percent bigger than the last edition in 2009.

With just nine months left until Euro 2012, organizers and experts say host country Poland will reap long-term economic benefits from Europe's top international football showcase.

"Euro 2012 is a catalyst of positive change. It's a catalyst, and not just a goal in itself," said Marcin Herra, who heads PL.2012, the body overseeing a bewildering array of projects from stadiums to airports and hotels to highways.