- Oil up after U.S. crude stocks drop, still close to 11-year lows (Reuters)
- Global Stocks Rally; Mining, Metals Shares Lead Gains (WSJ)
- OPEC Sees Demand for Its Crude Oil Falling for Rest of Decade (BBG)
- The Trouble With Sovereign-Wealth Funds (WSJ)
- U.S. Calls for 256% Tariff on Imports of Steel From China (BBG)
- Iraqi troops expected to drive ISIS from Ramadi in days (Reuters)
- The Distressed-Debt Trades That Obliterated Bonus Checks in 2015 (BBG)
- China to Extend Yuan’s Trading Hours, Widening Currency’s Appeal (WSJ)
- Tighter Borders in Europe Create Migrant Bottleneck in Greece (WSJ)
- Russian court orders arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky over contract killing (Reuters)
- Spain's PM Rajoy meets Socialist leader over potential pact (Reuters)
- African Firms Hit by Dollar Shortages (WSJ)
- Zimbabwe to expand use of yuan as China cancels $40 million debt (Times Live)
- In the Year's Final Indignity, Slime Coats Brazil's Pristine Beaches (BBG)
- Actor Nicolas Cage returns stolen dinosaur skull he bought (Reuters)
- Record highs predicted for bitcoin in 2016 as new supply halves (Reuters)
- Kentucky governor orders clerks' names removed from marriage licenses (Reuters)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
- As the clock counts down to Christmas, workers at United Parcel Service Inc are busy hustling packages along loading docks and conveyor belts at its Louisville, Kentucky, hub-part of a costly, intricate system built in part to cater to Amazon.com Inc, its biggest customer. But the symbiotic relationship between the two giants has come under increasing strain, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former UPS and Amazon executives. (http://on.wsj.com/1YA2uRe)
- Brazil is in the grip of yet another crisis: Zika, a fast-spreading virus some health officials are linking to thousands of cases of infant brain damage and 40 related deaths this year. (http://on.wsj.com/1MuY1YW)
- Altice NV's $10 billion deal to buy cable operator Cablevision Systems Corp is running into unexpected turbulence in New York City. (http://on.wsj.com/1REWw2j)
- Just one day after receiving an eight-year ban from FIFA, Sepp Blatter made a statement many in the world have been waiting to hear. "I've finished my work in football," he said. (http://on.wsj.com/22oQt5K)
FT
Royal Dutch Shell's pledged on Tuesday another $5 billion cut in spending next year to support a proposed $53 billion takeover of rival BG Group Plc.
Deutsche Bank AG found a total of $10 billion of potentially suspicious trades involving its Russian business, rather than the $6bn previously thought.
UK Tax officials have launched a crackdown on VAT evasion by overseas online sellers amid claims that Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc have been "collaborating" with them to defraud the exchequer of large sums.
NYT
- Ford Motor Co is recalling about 313,000 older Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis sedans because the headlights may fail, the automaker said on Tuesday.(http://nyti.ms/1J3ToKK)
- Michael Hengel, editor of The Las Vegas Review-Journal, announced his resignation on Tuesday, less than two weeks after billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson bought the newspaper and days after it published an article that was indirectly critical of the new owners. (http://nyti.ms/1QKpqhe)
- On Tuesday, federal prosecutors charged Alonzo Knowles, a young man from the Bahamas, with felony criminal copyright infringement and identity theft in a scheme that they say pried open the email accounts of a host of celebrities. (http://nyti.ms/1J3TCRW)
- Songkick, a concert listings and ticketing company based in New York, has sued Live Nation Entertainment in federal court, accusing the multibillion-dollar concert giant of abusing its market power to control the sales of tickets through musicians' websites and fan clubs. (http://nyti.ms/1mzoDTM)
- The Walt Disney Co is in talks with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Holdings Inc to sell its stake in Fusion, the joint venture started by the two companies two years ago, a person with knowledge of the discussions said Tuesday. (http://nyti.ms/1V5E1Tu)
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** Ottawa will adjust its immigration loan program to ensure government-sponsored refugees receive more help covering the cost of medical exams and flights to resettle here without being indebted for years - a change made amid criticism that Canada is the only country in the world to charge interest on such loans. (http://bit.ly/1mzQXFL)
** Quebec's groundbreaking right-to-die law has cleared a major hurdle after the province's top court sided with the government in allowing doctors to legally end a patient's life. (http://bit.ly/1MtPzt6)
** Canada's business community is responding to the federal government's request for C$50 million to support Syrian refugees, but it is unclear whether the donation target can be reached amid weak economic conditions. (http://bit.ly/1kgFfhh)
NATIONAL POST
** Bank of Nova Scotia, along with a handful of international banks embroiled in a lawsuit in the United States over alleged manipulation of a key benchmark based on the gold price, is facing a fresh lawsuit filed in Canada. (http://bit.ly/1YwVcCY)
** A mixture of dread and determination has settled on the ranges of Ontario's jails, with warnings of inmates stockpiling drugs and weapons adding to the tension of a looming strike. (http://bit.ly/1J49t31)
Britain
The Times
The Egyptian government has appointed London-based security consultant Control Risks Group to enhance the security at airports in Egypt after the crash of the Russian Airbus A321 that took off from Sharm el-Sheikh in October. (http://thetim.es/1NBt2hL)
Bullish plans by employers to hire more staff next year could lead to a skills shortage in areas ranging from engineering to management, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. (http://thetim.es/1NBt4GF)
The Guardian
Tax officials are exploring whether Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc can be forced to foot the bill for ballooning VAT fraud associated with an army of small overseas sellers who are rapidly coming to dominate sales of many popular items on Britain's leading shopping websites. (http://bit.ly/1JsrJhf)
Fears were heightened on Tuesday that George Osborne will miss his deficit reduction targets after the latest official figures showed that the government's budget deficit was 10 percent higher last month than in November 2014. (http://bit.ly/1NBtcG1)
The Telegraph
Royal Dutch Shell is planning to slash $7 billion of costs, $8 billion of investment and 10,300 jobs in the next two years if shareholders approve its plan to buy BG Group , the energy giant has vowed. (http://bit.ly/1m6jLFY)
Tata Steel UK is in exclusive talks with Greybull Capital over a potential sale of its "Long Products Europe" business, offering a lifeline for several thousand jobs at UK steel plants currently earmarked for closure. (http://bit.ly/1O7IB2s)
Sky News
Pearson Plc has abandoned plans to buy the company which runs British citizenship tests after failing to agree on a compromise with the Competition and Markets Authority. Pearson and LDC, the private equity group, decided to call off a takeover of Learndirect's e-assessments business several days ago. (http://bit.ly/1ZnY4PA)
Energy giant Total SA has been fined a record 1.125 million pounds ($1.67 million) over a blow-out on a rig three years ago that saw 3,000 tonnes of gas released into the North Sea. (http://bit.ly/1PkvImz)
The Independent
The Scottish National Party claims the UK government has quietly scrapped a system which spared claimants from the worst hardship at Christmas - something the Department for Work and Pensions denies. (http://ind.pn/1NBtNro)