It could have picked London or Hong Kong. Instead, the lingerie retailer that styles itself "the original sex symbol" chose the buttoned-down sheikdom of Abu Dhabi for the launch of its first international store.

Frederick's of Hollywood, famed for its curve-cinching corsets and provocative push-up bras, opened up to little fanfare in the Emirati capital last weekend. Another outpost offering the chain's racy lingerie is set to open soon up the road in more freewheeling Dubai.

Spain's central bank called Friday on Europe to rapidly implement a Greek bailout, blaming the snowballing eurozone sovereign debt crisis for crimping economic growth.

Spain's faltering economy slowed in the second quarter, the Bank of Spain said in a report, identifying the sovereign debt crisis as the biggest threat to the economy.

Asian stock markets plummeted on Friday following carnage in the U.S. and European markets over fears the world was heading towards another financial crisis.

Already-fragile investor confidence was hammered by more weak U.S. economic data and a warning from the head of the European Commission that the Eurozone debt crisis had likely spread to other economies.

The head of the European Commission on Thursday urged national leaders to re-think the euro's financial defenses, after admitting debt contagion has now spread beyond the Eurozone periphery.

Jose Manuel Barroso urged in a letter to the 27 European Union leaders "a rapid re-assessment of all elements related to the EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility) and concomitantly the ESM (European Stability Mechanism)."

Japan on Thursday took steps to weaken the yen in an effort to help safeguard the nation's post-quake recovery after the unit's recent surge towards a post-war high.

The government intervened unilaterally in currency markets to counter "one-sided" and "excessive" speculator-driven movements in the yen that it said threatened Japan's recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Italy's leading trade unions and the main employers group presented Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with requests to boost economic growth at talks Thursday aimed at shoring up market confidence.

No details of the five-point plan were immediately available but Italy's main economic players last month asked for "a pact for growth" to fend off pressure from investors worried about high debt in the Eurozone’s third largest economy.

French insurance giant AXA said on Thursday that first-half net profit had surged more than fourfold to 3.99 billion euros ($5.71 billion), beating forecasts as the company avoided being hit hard by a Greek debt charge.

AXA said its earnings were up 324 percent from the equivalent figure last year while analysts had expected a net profit of about 3.7 billion euros.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday, dragged down by concerns that demand will weaken due to slowing economic growth and the Eurozone debt crisis as traders awaited data on U.S. crude inventory levels.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, slipped 39 cents to $93.40 a barrel.

Japanese high-tech maker Hitachi said Wednesday it is considering shifting all television production to foreign outsourcing firms by March as part of a broad strategy to increase profitability.

Hitachi, whose products range from microchips to nuclear power equipment, has not made a final decision about the plan, a spokesman added.

Procter & Gamble Corp. Chief Executive Robert McDonald says his company is preparing for a period of little or no economic growth in developed countries.

McDonald told reporters Wednesday in Singapore that he's concerned about the lack of growth in the U.S. He said his company's sales from October last year through to March this year in North America, Western Europe and Japan were flat.