Germany plans to expand a credit scheme for small and medium enterprises from crisis-hit Spain to also cover Portugal and Italy, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted as saying Sunday.

Under the Spain program, which Schaeuble recently presented to parliament, Germany's KfW public investment bank will offer 800 million euros (about $1 billion) in loans to businesses via Spain's ICO bank.

With few customers to serve, the moneychangers near Istanbul's Taksim Square jabber in annoyance behind their glass partition.

Their volume of business has dropped 70 percent since mass protests broke out against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan over a week ago.

Some 180,000 illegal foreign workers have left Saudi Arabia since April 1 under an amnesty that allowed them to try to sort out their papers or leave without paying a penalty, a report said on Sunday.

"Between the beginning of April and the start of June, 180,000 foreigners left the kingdom for good," Okaz daily quoted Badr Malek, spokesman for the passports department, as saying.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Saturday ordered a halt to the flow of oil from South Sudan, less than two months after southern crude began moving again, official radio said.

"Bashir ordered the minister of oil to stop the flow of South Sudanese oil from tomorrow, Sunday," Radio Omdurman reported in an SMS message which gave no further details.

French President Francois Hollande sought reassure Japanese business leaders Saturday that the eurozone debt crisis is over but acknowledged that steps to boost the region's growth and competitiveness need to be taken.

In a speech on the final day of his visit to Japan, Hollande said that the potentially destructive debt crisis has served to "reinforce" Europe and foster greater integration of the 17 member economies that use the euro currency.

The prime minister's chief spokesman said Friday that he doesn't expect Canada will be in a position to sign a free trade agreement with the European Union when the Canadian leader heads to Europe next week for the G-8 summit of world leaders.

Andrew MacDougall said that while the two sides have been negotiating for quite a while, Canada has not reached an agreement it is comfortable with.

China on Saturday reported a sharp slowdown in exports in May compared to the previous month while imports unexpectedly dropped, as the world's second largest economy grapples with slowing growth and sluggish overseas demand.

Overseas shipments rose just one percent to $182.8 billion last month, far lower than 14.7 percent recorded in April, customs authorities said in a statement.

More Americans hunted for jobs in May, and more companies filled them — signs of confidence and resilience for the slow-healing U.S. economy.

The 175,000 jobs employers added last month were the latest evidence that the economy could be poised for stronger growth in coming months despite tax increases and government spending cuts.

The economic outlook for Germany is brightening, its central bank said Friday, as improved trade and rising industrial output suggested Europe's biggest economy is slowly leaving recent weakness behind it.

"The outlook for the German economy has become brighter again following the slowdown towards the end of 2012," the Bundesbank wrote in its June monthly report.

French President Francois Hollande said Friday Japan's big spending and ultra-loose monetary policies aimed at boosting its flagging economy were "good news" for austerity-weary Europe.

On a visit to Tokyo, the Socialist leader also stressed his concern at regional tensions as Japan and China square off over disputed islands -- but slipped up verbally by confusing his hosts for the Chinese.