A surge in British and Greek tourists ensured visitors to Cyprus rose more than a quarter in March, helping its bailed-out economy battle a three-year recession, official data showed.

Tourism arrivals to Cyprus soared 25.7 percent to 97,479 compared with the same month of 2014, according to the state statistical service.

Greece's parliament on Friday adopted a controversial decree ordering all public institutions to hand over their cash reserves to the central bank to help Athens meet its financial obligations.

The decree was adopted by the ruling Syriza party and its junior partner ANEL by 156 votes in favour and 104 against in a noisy debate.

A Swiss business delegation will go to Iran this weekend in the first such visit in 10 years to try and expand trade ties, the finance ministry said Friday.

The team, comprising executives from the pharmaceutical, green energy and services sectors, will be led by Livia Leu, who served as Swiss ambassador to Tehran between 2009 and 2013, it said.

Britain's government has sold another tranche of state-rescued Lloyds Banking Group as it seeks to further cut the deficit in the run-up to next month's general election.

The state cut its stake to just below 21 percent by selling another 1.0 percent of the bank's shares. 

Syria's entrepreneurs, suffering from crippling losses after four years of civil war, have launched a drive to encourage consumers hit by burgeoning inflation and a shortage of imports to "buy Syrian".

A first instalment of the "Made in Syria" fair in Damascus this month attracted around 60 local companies to showcase products that are both easier to acquire and far cheaper than whatever imports are available.

Cash-strapped Greece has not made enough progress in crunch debt talks with its European partners to unlock sorely-needed funds as part of its massive EU-IMF bailout, the bloc's Commissioner for the Euro Valdis Dombrovskis said on Friday.

"Progress in technical negotiations has not been sufficient to reach any conclusion during this Eurogroup here in Riga," Dombrovskis said as he arrived for a meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

The vast majority of cars in the world's biggest auto market are purchased new, but a second-hand trade is beginning to emerge in China despite traditional buyer reluctance -- and foreign manufacturers are hoping to benefit.

In China one used car is sold for every four new vehicles, the opposite of Europe and the United States, where around three used cars are sold to every new one.

Global oil prices rebounded to a four-month peak Thursday as Saudi-led coalition warplanes launched new strikes in Yemen, stoking new supply concerns over the crude-rich Middle East.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June delivery soared to $65.13 per barrel.

Facebook said Wednesday that profit in the first quarter plunged 20 percent from a year ago but revenues got a lift from robust growth in mobile advertising.

The world's biggest social network also boosted the number of users to 1.44 billion, up 13 percent from a year earlier, including 1.25 billion people who access Facebook on mobile devices.

The boss of French telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent has confirmed that he will not be taking his 2.4-million-euro "golden parachute" after the firm was swallowed up by its rival Nokia this week.

Michel Combes, who has headed the French-American company since 2013, is due to step down as part of the 15.6-billion-euro ($16.6 billion) deal to create the world's biggest supplier of mobile phone network equipment.