China's manufacturing activity slumped in August to a nine-month low, official figures showed Saturday, in the latest sign of serious weakness in the world's second-largest economy.

The government's purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 49.2 in August from 50.1 in July, according to a statement released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and the National Bureau of Statistics.

President Francois Hollande said Friday that the economic crisis is "exceptionally serious".

"My duty is to tell the truth to the French. We are facing a crisis of exceptional seriousness, a long crisis that has lasted now for more than four years and none of the big economic powers, even the emerging (economies), is spared," he said in a speech.

The head of the German central bank or Bundesbank has threatened to resign amid a festering fight with the European Central Bank over its anti-crisis measures, the daily Bild reported Friday.

The Bundesbank declined to comment on the article.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim will visit Ivory Coast and South Africa next week on his first official foreign trip since taking over as head of the global lender in July.

Kim will visit the two countries on September 4-6 to discuss how the World Bank can help African nations achieve higher economic growth, reduce poverty, and create jobs, the international organization said in a statement Thursday.

EU Commissioner Michel Barnier said Friday that Eurozone banks would gradually come under the remit of a new common supervisor with a complete shift over for all 6,000 lenders on January 1, 2014.

Barnier is leading preparations for plans for a common supervisor, which was part of a wider agreement on letting the new Eurozone rescue fund directly rescue lenders instead of forcing countries to seek a full bailout.

Global food prices soared 10 percent in July, increasing the threat to millions of the world's poor especially in Africa and the Middle East, the World Bank said Thursday.

Drought and soaring temperatures in the United States and Eastern Europe have savaged some of the key grain crops that feed much of the world, with prices for corn (maize) and soybeans hitting records.

Emirates airlines launched, in partnership with Montblanc, a promotion offering travelers an opportunity to win a trip to the luxury manufacturer’s Artisan Atelier in Hamburg, Germany.

Travelers on the airline will be able to enter a raffle draw upon their purchase of the Princesse Grace de Monaco Ballpoint Pen from Emirates’ Duty Free.

China on Thursday signed a $3.5 billion deal to buy 50 Airbus A320 jets during a visit by German leader Angela Merkel, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The agreement between ICBC Leasing and Airbus was part of a series of agreements signed by China and Germany at the start of a two-day visit by Merkel aimed at boosting trade between the two economic powers.

British bank Barclays on Thursday named retail and business banking head Antony Jenkins as its new chief executive, replacing Bob Diamond who resigned last month over the interbank rate-rigging scandal.

"Barclays announce that Antony Jenkins has been appointed as a director and as group chief executive of Barclays with immediate effect," the group said in an official statement.

Inflation in Spain picked up to an annualized 2.7 percent in August, from 2.2 percent in July, the second consecutive month that the rate has risen, provisional statistics published on Thursday showed.

The national Institute of Statistics (INE) did not provide details, stating only that the result was due principally to a rise in fuel prices.