Greek farmers protesting against pension reforms heightened highway and border protests around the country on Saturday, piling pressure on the leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Farmers in Thessaly began a one-day blockade of the main highway between Athens and Thessaloniki despite compromise efforts by the government.

President Barack Obama on Saturday proposed doubling U.S. funding over the next five years for clean energy research and development, as part of his ongoing effort to tackle climate change.

In his weekly media address, Obama announced that he will send a budget to Congress on Tuesday which hits twice the current spending levels for clean energy research and development by 2020, declaring that "rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future."

Sri Lanka has made a formal request for an IMF bailout package to aid its struggling economy after a sharp slowdown in growth and with its budget deficit widening, officials said Saturday.

The International Monetary Fund confirmed the island nation had asked for assistance, but did not give details on the value of a potential program or say whether it would grant the request.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday urged Portugal to stick to its commitments on economic reforms, as concerns grow that the new Socialist-led government was easing off on budget discipline.

"The predecessor of Prime Minister Antonio Costa led Portugal through difficult times," she noted, urging Lisbon to "do everything to stay on this path" of reforms.

The China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), viewed by some as a rival to the World Bank, on Friday announced executive appointments including a treasury minister from Britain's former coalition government.

The bank, which started business in January, is already led by its president Jin Liqun, formerly a Chinese finance official who has also worked at the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Swiss private bank Julius Baer said Friday it had finalized an agreement with U.S. authorities, paying $547 million to end a criminal investigation into claims that it helped rich Americans dodge taxes.

"Being able to close this regrettable legacy issue is an important milestone for Julius Baer," chief executive Boris Collardi said in a statement.

The dollar struggled on Friday as market turmoil and weak global growth boost the chances that the Federal Reserve will delay further rate hikes this year.

Currency traders are keeping close tabs on US jobs data later Friday, with a poor reading sure to reinforce fears about weakness in the world's top economy -- after the Fed raised rates for the first time in years in December.

Iraq's Kurdish region has announced it will pay only partial salaries to all government employees except security personnel as it struggles with an economic crisis due to low oil prices.

The autonomous region in northern Iraq, like the rest of the country, has been suffering from the huge drop in oil prices since mid-2014.

Thousands marched as a crippling general strike against pension reforms swept Greece on Thursday, with hooded youths lobbing firebombs at riot police in scattered skirmishes in the capital.

Some 40,000 people from all walks of life joined protests in Athens and another 14,000 demonstrated in Thessaloniki for the 24-hour industrial action, police said, as riot officers in the capital fired tear gas in response to the Molotov cocktails.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged Portugal on Thursday to do more to spur economic recovery, voicing concern over a "loosening" of budget discipline by the new Socialist-led government.

"Portugal needs to build on the progress made in recent years in stabilizing the level of public debt through its successful fiscal adjustment," an IMF delegation said following a week-long mission to Lisbon.