Saudi Arabia’s oil plans, Myanmar votes and central bank independence

This article is published in collaboration with The Financial Times.

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

Saudi Arabia is determined to stick to its policy of pumping enough oil to protect its global market share, despite the financial pain inflicted on its economy from low oil prices, officials have told the Financial Times.

The Gulf state rocked oil markets last November when Opec decided against production cuts, making clear that the kingdom was abandoning its policy of reducing supplies to stabilise the price. (FT)

In the news

David Cameron to talk Brexit The UK prime minister will argue in a speech that Britain can survive outside the EU, ahead of a referendum on EU membership in 2016 or 2017. However he is seeking to tread a delicate line on the issue. (FT)

Myanmar votes Millions of voters thronged to the polls in a historic general election that is a big step in the transition from military dictatorship. The opposition National League for Democracy, chaired by Aung San Suu Kyi, declared it had done well amid high turnout in some areas. (FT)

Bomb theories in air crash increase Consensus is growing within the US intelligence community that a bomb brought down the Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt last week, senior US lawmakers said on Sunday. The investigation by Egyptian security forces has focused on airport staff in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. (FT, WSJ)

UniCredit looks to downsize The largest Italian bank by assets plans to unveil as many as 12,000 job cuts and propose asset sales, including its Austrian retail operations, as management seek to avoid a capital increase, say several people familiar with the matter. (FT)

Snapping up market share Snapchat is closing the gap with Facebook in their battle for scale in video . The number of videos viewed on the messaging app every day has tripled since May to 6bn, according to people close to the company – compared to the 8bn daily video views announced by Facebook last week. (FT)

Brazilian warning A lead prosecutor in the biggest corruption case in Brazil, a kickback scheme at state-owned oil company Petrobras, has warned foreign companies implicated in the scandal to come forward and co-operate sooner rather than later. (FT)

It’s a big day for

Netanyahu and Obama diplomacy The US and Israeli leaders will meet in Washington on Monday as they try to put a year of acrimonious relations behind them and discuss a new multibillion-dollar defence aid package. (FT)

You can see more upcoming events here. (FT)

Food for thought

Indian skills shortage hits start-ups Venture capital firms have poured over $4.5bn into tech companies in India so far this year. But a dearth of talented tech workers is driving up wages and becoming a serious hurdle to expansion plans. (WSJ)

Central banks: peak independence In the wake of the global financial crisis, monetary policymakers around the world accrued an unprecedented level of power and independence. But now politicians are looking to claw some of that power back. (FT)

The boss crush When executives fall for an employee and over promote them, they ensure disaster, writes Lucy Kellaway. Like real love, the boss crush is blind. (FT)

The GOP and Latino voters Extreme views on immigration are hurting the Republican Party, even though a report it commissioned after the re-election of Barack Obama in 2012 offered one specific policy recommendation: to embrace immigration reform. (New Yorker).

Crime and expensive punishment A widespread practice in the US known as pay to staycharges jail inmates a daily fee while they are incarcerated. For some the practice can lead to sky-high debts.(BBC)

Video of the day

John Authers explains why surprising US employment data have left the market pricing a rate rise next month as a virtual certainty. (FT)

Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: FirstFT is the Financial Times’ editors curated free daily email of the top global stories from the FT and the best of the rest of the web.

Image: A worker walks past a pump jack on an oil field. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin .