The head of the German central bank or Bundesbank hit out in a newspaper interview Friday at the ongoing provision of emergency liquidity to Greek banks by the European Central Bank.

Given the fact that the ECB is banned under its statutes from financing states' debts, "I don't feel it's correct that banks with no access to the markets are awarded loans used to finance the government debt of a country which also has no access to the markets," Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann told the business daily Handelsblatt.

President Barack Obama Thursday called U.S. oil production an "important" source of energy as America transitions towards cleaner resources, defending his move to allow petroleum giant Shell to drill in the Alaskan Arctic.

Obama's administration gave the petroleum giant a green light three days ago to explore the Chukchi Sea near Alaska -- as long as the Anglo-Dutch firm has the correct permits from the agencies that regulate the environment and marine mammal health.

China will invest $50 billion to help overhaul Brazil's aging infrastructure, Brasilia said Thursday, ahead of an official visit by Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.

"There are $50 billion in new projects," said Jose Graca Lima, Brazil's undersecretary of state, who oversees Asia and Oceania.

Greece wants the European Central Bank to agree for Athens to delay payment on some 27 billion euros ($30 billion) in Greek bonds that it will otherwise be unable to repay, the finance minister said Thursday.

"It's quite simple, these bonds must be pushed into the future, this is clear also to the ECB," Yanis Varoufakis told a conference.

Honda on Thursday said it is recalling 4.89 million vehicles over fears about airbag inflators that could explode, widening a global auto parts crisis linked to several deaths. 

Japan's number three automaker announced the recall just a day after Toyota and Nissan said they were calling back a combined 6.5 million vehicles over fears about airbags made by embattled supplier Takata.

The euro ticked up Thursday on the back of an improving eurozone economy, while a disappointing U.S. retail sales report put pressure on the dollar. 

Despite upbeat European growth, however, debt-saddled Greece confirmed that its economy had slipped back into recession, with no end in sight to tense bailout reform talks with its international creditors.

On days like Wednesday, when the Lebanese parliament convenes for yet another attempt at electing the country's president, shopkeeper Jamal Baghdadi cannot get a single client through the doors of his souvenir shop in Beirut's historic city center, a stone's throw from the landmark limestone building.

Every road around the Lebanese capital's Place de l'Etoile is closed off — both to cars and pedestrians, as well as anyone without a valid employee badge for the upscale offices that surround the four-faced Rolex clock tower at the center of the square.

A glut in the global oil market has not evaporated with other countries stepping up output while U.S. shale producers have cut back due the sharp drop prices since last year, the IEA said Wednesday.

In its latest monthly report the International Energy Agency said that global oil supply remained flat at 95.7 million barrels per day (mbd) in April. 

The German economy, Europe's biggest, grew by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2015, slightly slower than expected, data published by the federal statistics office Destatis showed on Wednesday.

Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.3 percent in price, calendar and seasonally adjusted terms in the period from January to March compared with the preceding three months, Destatis said in a statement. 

The euro rose Wednesday on cautious hopes for the eurozone economy, even as Greece admitted that it raided an emergency account to pay off an IMF loan, aggravating concerns about Athens' finances.

In Tokyo, the European single currency strengthened to $1.1250 and 134.96 yen from $1.1213 and 134.44 yen in New York.