Dubai / Reuters Net foreign assets at Saudi Arabia’s Central Bank dropped 1.7 percent from the previous month to 2.19 trillion riyals ($584 billion) in February, central bank data showed on Tuesday. Assets fell 17.3 percent from a year earlier to their lowest level since May 2012. They reached a record high of $737 billion in August 2014 before starting ...

Bloomberg A changing of the guard on Bank of Korea’s (BOK’s) board will usher in four policy makers with links to the government, increasing speculation that the BOK may cut borrowing costs that are already at a record low. The nominees announced to replace members vacating their positions on April 20 have all worked directly in government or for state-funded ...

WASHINGTON \ AP More Americans signed contracts to buy homes in February, with purchases surging in the Midwest ahead of the traditional spring buying season. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index rose 3.5 percent to 109.1, rebounding from a 3 percent decline in January. The index has reached its highest level ...

ROME / BLOOMBERG There are plenty of castles for sale across Europe, but few provide the opportunity for prospective owners to play the role of a feudal lord. It’s the difference between living like a prince and living as a prince. Now a castle has come onto the market to let you do the latter. The Umbrian Castle di Sismano, ...

Bloomberg Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. received a higher $14 billion takeover offer from a group led by China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co., raising the stakes for Marriott International Inc. to counter a second time to salvage a merger that would create the world’s biggest hotel operator. The takeover battle pits a 12-year-old Chinese firm with aggressive ambitions to ...

SINGAPORE / Reuters Indonesia is about to roll out its first passenger plane, one of several smaller, homegrown aircraft being studied in Asia, designed especially for short hops across the region’s emerging markets, where air travel is booming. State-owned aerospace firm PT Dirgantara Indonesia’s 19-seat N219, which cost $400 million and took just over five years to make, is scheduled ...

Bloomberg Shin Kyuk Ho, the 93-year-old founder of Korean-Japanese retail giant Lotte Group, has lost his board seat at the family-controlled conglomerate’s lodgings and duty-free sales unit Hotel Lotte Co. amid a leadership struggle between two of his sons. Shin’s term expired on March 28, Lotte Group said in a statement. He had been a board member since 1973, when ...

NEW YORK / AP Enjoy, an online concierge service for gadgets, is expanding beyond San Francisco and New York City nearly a year after it was launched. The startup, founded by former JC Penney CEO and Apple executive Ron Johnson, will be adding certain neighborhoods of Los Angeles this week and then Chicago in May. The service allows customers to ...

Bloomberg Virgin America Inc. received takeover offers from JetBlue Airways Corp. and Alaska Air Group Inc. after the carrier backed by billionaire Richard Branson put itself up for sale, according to people familiar with the matter. Discussions between Virgin America and the two bidders are ongoing, and a deal could be announced as early as next week, the people said, ...

Bloomberg If you were a pile of garbage on the street in India, here’s what might happen to you now: A concerned citizen takes your picture, then sends it by WhatsApp to the smartphone of the garbage police. Khaki-clad cops jump in their vehicles, rush over and order your cleanup. City officials fine the offender and maybe reward the whistle-blower, ...