U.S. President Barack Obama turned the spotlight on economic ties with Latin America on Saturday as he wrapped up a three-day trip to a region roiled by drug violence.

Obama sought to shift the narrative away from the drug war during visits to Mexico and Costa Rica this week, praising trade as a path to fighting poverty and creating jobs that turn young people away from a life of crime.

A solid job creation report for April and a fall in the jobless rate to 7.5 percent sweetened the picture for the U.S. economy Friday, amid worries that it has tumbled into a "spring swoon."

The Labor Department said the economy added a firm 165,000 jobs last month, and revised sharply upward the numbers for February and March, adding 114,000 net new positions to the previously reported data.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso on Saturday defended German Chancellor Angela Merkel against criticism that she is to blame for harsh austerity measures being implemented across Europe.

"What is happening in France or in Portugal is not the fault of Mrs Merkel or of Germany," he is quoted as saying in the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

Portugal's prime minister said late Friday that the government aimed to slash 30,000 public sector jobs as part of a sweeping package of spending cuts to satisfy international creditors.

In a speech to the nation, Pedro Passos Coelho also said that the full pension age would be pushed back from 65 to 66 years old and civil servants would be expected to work 40 hours per week instead of 35.

Australian cattle exporters said they had suspended live shipments to Egypt Saturday after abattoir footage shot by animal rights activists showed "horrific" mistreatment of cows.

The Australian Livestock Exporters' Council, the industry's representative body, said it had urgently halted shipments to Egypt after Animals Australia presented it with footage showing "vicious, cruel and clumsy" practices.

Japan and Turkey on Friday signed a long-awaited deal to build a sprawling nuclear power plant on Turkey's Black Sea coast, a milestone for the Japanese nuclear industry as it recovers from the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the $22 billion contract as a "very important step" that would transform bilateral relations with Japan into a "strategic partnership."

Emerging Asia needs to be on guard against "asset bubbles" as central banks globally loosen monetary policy, the Asia Development Bank's managing director warned on Friday.

Last month, Japan's central bank announced it would pump $1.4 trillion into the economy over the next two years, administering unprecedented financial shock treatment to end two decades of stagnation through bold monetary expansion.

International ratings agency Standard and Poor's has lowered its long- and short-term local currency sovereign credit ratings for Israel , while maintaining its foreign currency rating and predicting a stable outlook.

The local currency rating slipped from AA-/A-1+ to A+/A-1, while the foreign currency ratings remain at A+/A-1, S&P said on Thursday.

State-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland plans a return to the private sector next year following a massive restructuring program, it said on Friday as it also announced a swing back into profit.

RBS chairman Philip Hampton said that the Edinburgh-based bank hoped to begin offloading the government's 81-percent stake from the middle of next year or possibly earlier.

India's central bank cut its main interest rate by 25 basis points on Friday in the third such move this year, but said there was "little space" for further reductions to help the slowing economy.

After meeting in the financial capital Mumbai, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that the benchmark repo rate, at which it lends to commercial banks, would fall to 7.25 percent, as expected by most economists.