Indian low-cost airline SpiceJet said Friday it would buy up to 205 Boeing planes worth $22 billion as it seeks to increase its share of the world's fastest-growing passenger aviation market.

The European Central Bank should begin winding down its expansive monetary policy in 2017 as inflation returns in the eurozone, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview Friday.

"It would probably be right if the ECB starts daring to head for the exit this year," Schaeuble told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper -- although he acknowledged it would be a "difficult task".

That's the sort of question that will matter to Britain if it leaves the European Union's tariff-free single market and ends up operating under rules overseen by the World Trade Organization.

Australia toughened oversight of politicians' expenses on Friday after a senior minister quit over the purchase of a luxury flat during a taxpayer-funded trip. 

Public outrage has been building over revelations Health Minister Sussan Ley bought a Aus$795,000 (US$595,000) apartment on the glitzy Gold Coast during an official work trip -- which she claimed was an impulse buy.

The dollar struggled to break back after its recent sell-off as investors fret over Donald Trump's lack of specifics on economic policy.

Saudi Energy Minister Khaled al-Falih said Thursday he was optimistic about a stabilization of the oil market following an OPEC deal to cut output.

Saudi low-cost carrier flynas has concluded an $8.6 billion purchase deal with Airbus, a major shareholder said on Thursday.

Kingdom Holding Co, which owns a 34 percent stake in the airline, said flynas has finalised the "deal with Airbus for the purchase of new aircraft."

Yavuz Indere has worked as a hotel receptionist in Istanbul for nearly half a century, witnessing coups, unrest and economic crises.

But as a string of terror attacks erodes the backbone of Turkey's key tourism sector, Indere admits he has never seen anything like this in the city.

Participants at an oil conference in crude-rich Abu Dhabi say they hope production cuts will drive prices even higher.

Emirati Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazroui says there's "a fair movement" toward higher prices. He spoke on Thursday at the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Forum.

Bitcoin prices plummeted after China's central bank announced it was investigating exchange platforms trading in the virtual currency. 

The People's Bank of China (PBoC) said it had dispatched inspection teams to several of the country's major bitcoin trading platforms in Beijing and Shanghai.