Excluding Russia from the SWIFT banking system would be a measure of last resort if the crisis in Ukraine escalates, the British and Polish foreign ministers said Friday. 

"When it comes to sanctions, SWIFT is the nuclear weapon. It is the last resort and we are all aware of that," Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna said at a joint press conference in Warsaw with British counterpart Philip Hammond.

China's budget deficit this year will be higher than previously declared as the government boosts fiscal spending in a bid to bolster economic growth, the finance minister said Friday.

Premier Li Keqiang said Thursday in his "work report" to the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's Communist-controlled parliament, that the deficit would amount to 2.3 percent of gross domestic product, up from 2.1 percent in 2014.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has requested a meeting with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, a government source said Friday, after Athens got no help from the European Central Bank to address a cash squeeze.

"The prime minister called Mr Juncker to arrange a meeting next week," a government source said.

Three top U.S. airlines groups accused Qatar and the United Arab Emirates Thursday of lavishing $42 billion in subsidies on their airlines to wrest business from competitors.

The U.S. carriers together with workers' groups issued a 55 page report detailing how "unfair" subsidies given to Gulf rivals Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates have allowed them to wrest market share from the U.S. industry.

Britain is looking to sell the Royal Bank of Scotland as quickly as possible, Chancellor George Osborne told the Financial Times on Thursday.

Osborne told the newspaper he hoped to sell the bank "as quickly as we can get rid of it" after the May general election, and that the public "want to see they get their money back" but that it could take years.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish prohibition on agricultural work every seventh year could be a boon to struggling farmers in the Gaza Strip, Israel's defense ministry announced Thursday.

Israel will import produce from the besieged Palestinian territory for the first time in seven years, the body responsible for coordinating Israeli government activity in the Palestinian territories (COGAT) said.

The euro slumped to an 11-year-low against the dollar and stocks finished up on Thursday after the European Central Bank said it will begin a 1.1-trillion-euro bond buying program next week.

The euro sank to $1.0988 -- Its weakest level since September 2003 -- after trading at $1.1080 late in New York on Wednesday.

Turkish lira struck to a new record low for a third consecutive day on Thursday as the government stepped up pressure on the central bank to lower interest rates, damaging investor confidence. 

The lira briefly broke through the psychological barrier of 2.6 to the dollar, before recovering back to 2.5943 in afternoon trade. 

Britain's Serious Fraud Office is investigating money-market auctions launched by the Bank of England during the financial crisis, the central bank has said, dealing another blow to the City's reputation.

The bank said that it had commissioned an inquiry into "liquidity auctions during the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008," and had referred the results to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in November.

China unveiled a fresh double-digit spending boost for its military -- the world's largest -- on Thursday with a 10.1 percent increase in 2015, as it pursues a series of territorial disputes with its neighbours.

Beijing plans to raise its military spending to 886.9 billion yuan ($141.4 billion), according to a budget report to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the communist-controlled legislature.