U.S. growth slowed to its lowest level in three years in the first quarter as consumer spending and government expenditures tumbled to their lowest levels in years, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Preliminary data showed GDP increased only 0.7 percent in the first three months of the year, down sharply from the 2.1 percent expansion seen in the fourth quarter of 2016. 

Uber has demoted an executive heading its self-driving car operations who has been at the center of a lawsuit filed by Alphabet's Waymo accusing the ride-sharing giant of theft.

An Uber spokesman on Thursday confirmed media reports that Anthony Levandowski would step down from his role.

Major transport networks, schools and banks partially shut down across much of Brazil on Friday in what protesters called a general strike against austerity reforms in Latin America's biggest country.

Spain's economy grew at a steady pace in the first quarter, official figures showed Friday, as the country continues to recover from a damaging crisis marked by sky-high unemployment.

Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.8 percent between January and March from the previous three months, slightly higher than the last quarter's 0.7 percent growth, according to preliminary figures from the national statistics institute INE.

Calls have been growing on social media for Saudi Arabia's jobless to protest on Sunday, after a similar appeal before the government restored benefits to civil servants last weekend.

Europe needs its own European monetary fund that could replace the Washington-based IMF in any future bailouts in the eurozone, Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Thursday.

Dijsselbloem, who is also Dutch finance minister, gave the European Parliament his strongest backing yet to the idea amid an ongoing row between the eurozone and IMF over the level of debt relief needed by Greece in its current bailout.

Australia will enforce export restrictions on major gas producers, the prime minister said Thursday, to shore up domestic supply as a growing energy crisis sees power prices rise and blackouts more common.

NAFTA partners Mexico, Canada and the United States plan to swiftly renegotiate their free trade deal, the White House announced Wednesday.

The Trump administration is poised to unveil its long-awaited tax reform plan Wednesday that will slash corporate taxes to 15 percent, in the "biggest tax cut" in U.S. history.

Ukraine's prime minister lashed out Wednesday at the security service for conducting a surprise search at the headquarters of the country's largest investment bank.