Saudi Arabia's oil minister told fellow OPEC members they must combat the U.S. shale oil boom, arguing against cutting crude output in order to depress prices and undermine the profitability of North American producers.
Europe
German pilots' union says fresh strikes imminent at Lufthansa
German pilots' union VC said late on Friday that talks with carrier Deutsche Lufthansa over early retirement benefits have broken down and new strikes are possible at any time, although not at Christmas.
France to rank cars for pollution, wants to phase out diesel fuel
France wants to gradually phase out the use of diesel fuel for private passenger transport and will put in place a system to identify the most polluting vehicles, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Friday.
Ahead of rate meeting, ECB's Lautenschlaeger sees very high hurdles to more easing
ECB Executive Board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger said on Saturday she saw little room for further easing of monetary policy despite a further fall in euro zone inflation.
Rosneft's Sechin says oil could fall below $60/barrel next year
Russia's most powerful oil official Igor Sechin said in an interview with an Austrian newspaper that oil prices could fall below $60 by mid-way through next year.
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Germany has approved Canadian smartphone maker Blackberry's (BB.TO) planned acquisition of Secusmart, the encryption technology of which is used to protect the mobile devices of top politicians including Chancellor Angela Merkel.
German utility E.ON (EONGn.DE) agreed to sell an 80 percent stake in two wind farms in the United States to Canada's Enbridge (ENB.TO), as the group continues to rake in much-needed cash by building and selling pricey renewable assets.
Songbird Estates (SBDE.L), the majority owner of London's Canary Wharf, said an upturn in property markets means it is now worth 2.82 billion pounds ($4.42 billion), more than the takeover offer from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Brookfield Property Partners (BPY.N).
U.S. medical device maker Medtronic (MDT.N) gained European Union regulatory approval on Friday for its $43 billion takeover of Covidien Plc (COV.N) after agreeing to sell its Irish rival's drug-coated balloon catheter business.
Saudi Arabia blocked calls on Thursday from poorer members of the OPEC oil exporter group for production cuts to arrest a slide in global prices, sending benchmark crude plunging to a fresh four-year low.
Failure to reform and shield weaker members threatens to divide the euro zone, the head of the European Central Bank warned on Thursday, amid fresh signs the currency bloc's economy is losing speed.
Airbus Group and Dassault Aviation aim to oversee the complete sale of Airbus's 4.8 billion-euro stake in the French planemaker by the end of next year, two people familiar with the matter said.
France's competition watchdog said on Thursday it had given its go-ahead to Numericable's purchase of Virgin Mobile France. Numericable, which is also in the process of buying number 2 mobile operator SFR, agreed in June to buy Virgin Mobile France from owners Britain's Carphone Warehouse and entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Group for an enterprise value of 325 million euros.
Subdued food price inflation in Europe is unlikely to pick up any time soon, adding to the pressure on mainstream grocers as they struggle with changing shopping habits and competition from discounters.
