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The new tax is expected to be formally announced in the government's first budget on 28 September, but that does not mean there is a sense of panic in France. This new tax will only hit very rich individuals and only for a year or two, to help bring down the government deficit.

On Friday, the government finally cleared a controversial plan to open up its lucrative retail sector to global supermarket chains in an effort to revive a flagging economy. There has been a massive political kerfuffle over how the supposed invasion of global chains will destroy India's fabled "mom-and-pop" stores, which have a stranglehold on the retail market.

Ronald Reagan wearing cowboy hat at Rancho del Cielo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Since the arrival of President Ronald Wilson Reagan, it has become a matter of conservative orthodoxy that tax cuts for the rich will, inevitably, lead to economic prosperity.

The estimated drop in corporate profits comes as hiring in the United States has slowed in recent months, and removes what had been an economic bright spot in an otherwise cloudy picture.

Just a day after Romney went after Mr. Obama for allegedly not cracking down on China's economic "cheating," the president's re-election campaign is rehashing is attempting to cast doubt on his credibility on the subject. "Mitt Romney? Tough on China? Romney's companies were called pioneers in shipping U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas," says a narrator in the thirty-second spot, entitled "The Cheaters," which is set to air on television in nine battleground states.

Spain, deflecting pressure to spell out whether it needs more European financial support, told euro zone finance ministers on Friday it will set clear deadlines for structural economic reforms by the end of the month.

India ushered in the biggest economic reforms in two decades on Friday, allowing big foreign retailers like Walmart, foreign broadcasters and foreign airlines to invest in the country, among other reforms.

Dutch electronics company Royal Philips Electronics announced a further $382.7 million of cost savings and said another 2,200 jobs will be lost globally.

French President Francois Hollande has set himself a deadline to turn around the economy by the end of 2014, but having hamstrung the effort with tax rises to meet deficit targets, economists doubt his growth goals will ever fly.

China's imports shrank unexpectedly in August in a sign its economic slump is worsening and the Chinese president warned growth could slow further, prompting expectations of possible new stimulus spending.