The French government is to scrap 4,500 public-sector jobs in 2019 and more than 10,000 in 2020, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said in an interview published Sunday. And pensions, family allowance and housing benefit will not keep up with inflation as part of an economy drive to reach EU targets on the budget deficit as growth proves more sluggish than expected. Source RFI
Officials close to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, discussed plans in 2017 with businessmen to potentially use private companies to assassinate Iranian enemies, The New York Times reported on Sunday. Source Arutz Sheva
Khalid al-Falih told reporters that Saudi Aramco’s customer crude oil nominations would fall by 500,000 bpd in December versus November due to seasonal lower demand. The cut represents a reduction in global oil supply of about 0.5 percent. Source: Reuters
Iran sold 700,000 barrels of crude oil to private companies for export on Sunday in a second round of sales aimed at countering U.S. sanctions on the country’s exports, oil ministry news website SHANA reported. Source: Reuters
