The U.S. Treasury Friday stopped re-investing in a retirement fund, a major step in its efforts to avoid exceeding the debt ceiling, according to a letter to lawmakers from Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.

This is one in a slew of "extraordinary measures" announced earlier in the month by Lew, to help the government continue functioning until at least September 2 without borrowing any new funds, as Congress refuses to raise the debt limit.

Greece on Friday received a vote of confidence from international creditors over progress in overhauling its stricken economy -- and a fresh injection of cash from the International Monetary Fund.

In Washington, the IMF announced it had released 1.74 billion euros ($2.26 billion) in fresh funds after Greece passed a third performance review -- part of the terms of the joint IMF-EU bailout.

Paris investigators placed the French branch of Swiss bank UBS under formal investigation Friday on suspicion it helped try to persuade rich French clients to open undeclared accounts in Switzerland, a legal source said.

UBS was also named as an "assisted witness" in an investigation into a money laundering ope ration that was part of a tax fraud, the source added.

With foreign reserves diminishing fast, Pakistan is on the brink of an economic crisis that may force its new government to ask for an unpopular bailout from the International Monetary Fund requiring a sweeping overhaul of the country's economy.

The troubles could inject a new element of instability into the nuclear-armed nation of 180 million people that Washington is relying on to combat Islamic militants at home and to help negotiate an end to the war in neighboring Afghanistan.

European Union President Herman Van Rompuy urged an "immediate fight" against unemployment during a visit to Rome on Friday, as Italy's jobless rate hit a record with little sign of any let-up soon.

"It is a challenge that we need to meet as a matter of urgency," Van Rompuy said after talks with Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta who has pushed for youth unemployment to be top of the agenda at an EU summit in Brussels next month.

Unemployment across the 17 EU countries that use the euro hit another record high in April, official figures showed Friday, the latest in a series of ignominious landmarks for the ailing single currency zone.

Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said Friday that unemployment rose to 12.2 percent in April from the previous record of 12.1 percent the month before. Another 95,000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed, taking the total to 19.38 million. At this pace, unemployment in the eurozone could breach the 20 million mark this year.

OPEC ministers said they expected to hold oil output levels unchanged despite concern about global demand as they started a crucial meeting in Vienna on Friday.

Questioned about whether the cartel would seek to roll over its daily output target, Angolan Oil Minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos said it was likely.

Japan is to pledge at least $10 billion in aid to Africa for the next five years, reports said Friday, as Tokyo prepared to host a major development conference for the resource-rich continent.

Coupled with expected corporate investments, Japan's public and private sectors look set to pour around three trillion yen ($30 billion) into Africa by 2018, as Japan Inc. rushes for a piece of the promising African market, the Nikkei said.

Workers at the Lisbon metro went on strike Thursday and businesses came to a standstill across Portugal to protest government austerity measures aimed at slashing the deficit and meeting the terms of an international bailout.

"We anticipate strong participation by workers who will also show their availability for a more general struggle," said Armenio Carlos, the secretary general of the country's largest trade union, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), which organised the day of protest.

The European Commission laid down its economic targets Wednesday for EU nations desperately seeking growth and jobs in the fallout from the debt crisis but gave France and Spain extra time in return for deeper reforms.

The debt crisis has seen Brussels gain additional powers to ensure EU member states toe the line to avoid future trouble -- just as well, when 20 of the 27 were under surveillance for breaching the bloc's public deficit and debt limits, respectively at three percent and 60 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).