Saudi Arabia is intensifying efforts to shrink the highest budget deficit among the world’s biggest 20 economies, aiming to cancel more than $20 billion of projects and slash ministry budgets by a quarter, people familiar with the matter said. Source Bloomberg
The U.S. will send hundreds of additional troops and a dozen fighter jets to the Middle East in the coming weeks to counter what the Pentagon said is an escalating campaign by Iran to plan attacks against the U.S. and its interests in the region. And for the first time, Pentagon officials on Friday publicly blamed Iran and its proxies for recent tanker bombings near United Arab Emirates and a rocket attack in Iraq. Source: Associated Press
Amazon Japan has suspended direct online sales of Huawei Technologies Co. products after Washington last week blacklisted the Chinese communications giant, sources close to the matter said Friday. Source Japan Times
Russia’s industrial output growth in April 2019 jumped to 4.9% year-on-year after 1.2% growth in March, according to the latest data by Rosstat statistics agency. Source: BNE
