In lowering its likely path of future interest rate increases this week, the Federal Reserve pushed down the dollar, perhaps aiming to ease strains caused by clashing monetary policies.

Economists and investors alike were surprised when the U.S. central bank announced Wednesday that it only sees two rate hikes in 2016, half the number it envisioned in December, a more accommodative stance in exiting crisis-era policy.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide said Saturday it has signed three hotel deals in Cuba, a first for a U.S. hospitality company since the 1959 revolution on the communist-run island.

Starwood said two of the hotels would open later this year and that it had signed a letter of intent for a third.

The China Development Forum this weekend may be the most important economic summit you have never heard of.

The CEOs of companies ranging from Facebook to Rio Tinto gather in Beijing with top academics and politicians for a pay-to-play event promising audiences with China's top leadership.

A former Toshiba president has been questioned by Japan's markets watchdog and may face criminal charges over his alleged involvement in a falsified earnings scandal, reports said Saturday.

The company has been roiled by a profit-padding scandal, in which bosses for years systematically pushed their subordinates to cover-up weak financial figures.

The president of Germany's Bundesbank on Saturday criticized the latest package of stimulus measures by the ECB including slashing rates still further, warning against "reckless" moves and unintended fallout.

In an interview with German journalists Jens Weidmann indicated he was "not convinced" by the efficacy of an unprecedented barrage of stimulus measures to jumpstart the eurozone economy.

The rally in oil prices extended into Asian trade Friday, a day after the main U.S. contract broke $40 for the first time this year on the back of a weak dollar and optimism about output talks due next month.

With confidence growing that the world's biggest crude producers will hammer out some sort of deal to curb output, investors have in recent weeks been piling back into the commodity, which toyed with 13-year lows last month.

The sale of major Australian state-owned infrastructure to private foreign investors will face tougher scrutiny under new rules announced Friday, after a deal involving a Chinese company last year drew criticism.

The new rules will apply from March 31 and ensure that sales of critical infrastructure to private foreign investors will be subject to a formal review by Australia's foreign investment advisory body.

Rising oil prices sent the Russian ruble to its strongest level since the start of the year Thursday, a day before the central bank is expected to hold its key rates steady.

The Russian currency was trading at 68.04 to the dollar after falling to a historic weak point in January. It stood at 82.45 rubles to the dollar on January 20. 

Royal Dutch Shell PLC and the state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. have announced that they'll split the assets of a U.S. venture that includes America's biggest oil refinery.

The two companies made the announcement late Wednesday about Motiva Enterprises LLC, which formed in 1998 as a 50-50 venture between both firms.

Dubai's DP World, one of the world's largest port operators, said Thursday that a major acquisition and "robust" growth helped its profit to surge 30.7 percent to $883 million in 2015.

Revenues grew 16.3 percent to $3.97 billion, the company said in a statement.