Pope Francis urged a more humane global system that respects the poor and the environment, as he criticized the economic order, in an address to the United Nations on Friday.

The pontiff, whose reform-minded approach has won him a rousing global following even from non-believers, offered his vision of a better world on his latest stop of a U.S. tour that has brought thousands to the streets to welcome him.

German carmaker Volkswagen Friday named Matthias Mueller, head of its luxury sports car brand Porsche, as its new CEO tasked with steering it out of the wreckage of a pollution test rigging scandal.

Mueller, 62, will take over immediately, replacing Martin Winterkorn who stepped down two days earlier, said the head of the supervisory board, Berthold Huber, at the car maker’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, northern Germany.

Greece must "quickly implement" the terms of a tough EU bailout agreed in July, newly re-elected left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Friday.

"We face the obligation to quickly implement what has been agreed," Tsipras told his new government's inaugural cabinet meeting.

Iranian and European business leaders gathered in Geneva Thursday to explore the massive opportunities expected to open up when years of biting sanctions against Tehran end, although experts warned huge challenges remained.

"We're seeing a lot of activities and a lot of interest from foreigners," enthused Ramin Rabii, the head of Turquoise Partners, Iran's largest managers of foreign portfolio investment on the Tehran stock market.

Russia, Ukraine and the European Union are set to resume gas talks in Brussels on Friday aimed at restoring Russian gas supplies to neighboring Ukraine, the Russian energy minister said Thursday.

The spokeswoman of energy minister Alexander Novak told AFP "we confirm" the meeting is going ahead.

Seat, the Spanish subsidiary of German group Volkswagen, installed over 500,000 cars made in Spain with the now infamous software to cheat pollution emission tests, daily newspaper El Pais reported Thursday.

Volkswagen faces a U.S. criminal investigation and worldwide legal action after admitting that as many as 11 million of its diesel cars are equipped with software capable of fooling official pollution tests.

Consumer confidence in Germany is being dampened by Europe's refugee crisis as consumers worry about the economic consequences of the huge influx of migrants, a poll found on Thursday. 

"Consumer optimism is waning somewhat," market research company GfK said in a statement. 

Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigned Wednesday over a pollution cheating scandal that has sparked a U.S. criminal investigation and worldwide legal action with unfathomable financial consequences for the auto giant.

"I am shocked by the events of the past few days. Above all, I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group," Winterkorn said in a statement issued by the carmaker.

Portugal's statistics agency on Wednesday dramatically revised up the eurozone nation's public deficit for 2014, mostly due to a major bank rescue.

The INE agency revised up the deficit from 4.5 percent to 7.2 percent of economic output, way above the EU's three-percent limit.

Growth in the eurozone economy slowed in September but despite the monthly dip, it still expanded at the fastest quarterly rate in four years, a key business survey showed Wednesday.

Data company Markit said the flash reading of its eurozone Purchasing Managers Index fell to 53.9 points in September from 54.3 points in August.