The drop in oil prices has hit the energy sector and national budgets - now it's affecting banks too. Barclays and Wells Fargo face huge potential losses on a USD850m loan to help fund the merger of two US-based oil companies. Investors balked at buying the loan when oil prices were slumping and credit markets were volatile. Opec convenes in Vienna today - with the price of oil now under USD80 a barrel, some countries will want to cut output to boost oil prices but others will push against that to maintain their market share. Meanwhile the International Energy Agency is reassessing its expectations of crude supplies because Isis has deterred investment in Iraq's production. Merkel offered Russia an olive branch The German chancellor called for trade talks between the EU and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union - a way of maintaining a dialogue with Vladimir Putin. How the UK helps lethal US drone strikes A former head of the UK's monitoring agency GCHQ urged the foreign secretary to publish secret guidelines governing how ministers share intelligence that helps US drone strikes. Scotland's hunters and shooters under fire The new first minister plans to impose business rates on shooting estates and wants to be able to intervene if they stand in the way of sustainable development. Watershed moment for peer-to-peer lending Lending Club boosted the size of its initial public offering from USD500m to USD650m. Analysts expect the San Francisco-based start-up to achieve a valuation of between USD4bn and USD5bn. A new way to feed the vultures Hedge funds which typically target distressed sovereign bonds will turn their attention to unprotected debt, such as trade finance papers and bilateral credit, to keep forcing payouts from indebted governments. China's campaign to swallow up Taiwan Documents from the United Front, an organ of the Chinese Communist party aiming to spread China's influence, detail its efforts to absorb Taiwan - from helping with legal problems to visiting sick family members. A step towards to an Ebola vaccine The first human trial of a vaccine showed promising results in the US. If trials produce similar results in other countries, the vaccine could be tested on healthcare workers in west Africa as early as next year. Walmart losing out in China's supermarket sweep The retailer is cutting nearly 30 directors and managers in China where tough local competition, an economic slowdown and an austerity drive have pushed sales down 0.8 per cent in the third quarter. Google The European Parliament will call for its break-up today. The draft motion to unbundle its search engines from its other commercial services is designed to pressure the European Commission into taking a tougher line on Google in its antitrust investigation. The EU yesterday issued guidelines calling on the company to apply the "right to be forgotten" ruling to its entire search empire, rather than just its local European sites. Cognac and champagne Remy Cointreau and Laurent Perrier report their half-year results today. Remy said in a trading update last month that its second-quarter sales had fallen 5.5 per cent. Its Chinese business has been in decline as President Xi Jinping has cracked down on conspicuous consumption as part of his anti-graft campaign. Food and the social science of Google searches They can be used to predict voter turnout, track flu epidemics and now search data show what people are cooking for Thanksgiving. Snickers salad is popular in South Dakota. Cheap energy is the new cheap labour As the gap in the price of labour in the developed world and China narrows, the energy gap is widening. However, the gains from cheap fuel are distributed unevenly, says John Gapper. How the smart went out of the Samsung phone It has never managed to persuade consumers that its brand is as desirable as Apple's and now it is being squeezed by Chinese competition at the cheaper end of the market, says David Pilling. Free speech and online death threats Emily Bazelon argues that if the US Supreme Court requires evidence of a speaker's intent to harm in cases involving death threats, it would be more reason not to prosecutethem, but "such an approach to free speech doesn't come free." Uber-valued The taxi hailing service could soon be worth USD40bn and reflects how much more valuable tech companies can be when they become integral to offline lives. Beejoli Shah looks at how Uber and other on-demand services have turned indulgence into an everyday convenience. Bloomberg View, The Kernel Faith and Fear in Istanbul The Alevis are Turkey's largest religious minority and fear that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government is marginalising them to promote Sunni majoritarianism. Roads and Kingdoms A new wave in Singapore Immigrants from China run everything from hawker stalls to banks - Jeremy Grant looks at how this has changed the city. Asian markets Nikkei 225 down -89.48 (-0.51%) at 17,294 Topix down -11.70 (-0.83%) at 1,395 Hang Seng down -107.16 (-0.44%) at 24,005 ASX 200 up +4.69 (+0.09%) at 5,401 US markets S&P 500 down -2.38 (-0.12%) at 2,067 DJIA up +12.81 (+0.07%) at 17,828 Nasdaq unchanged 0.00 (0.00%) at 4,787 European markets Eurofirst 300 up +0.31 (+0.02%) at 1,389 FTSE100 down -1.97 (-0.03%) at 6,729 CAC 40 down -8.89 (-0.20%) at 4,373 Dax up +54.35 (+0.55%) at 9,916 Currencies €/$ 1.25 (1.25) $/¥ 117.38 (117.72) £/$ 1.58 (1.58) €/£ 0.7921 (0.7918) Commodities ($) Brent Crude (ICE) down -1.29 at 76.46 Light Crude (Nymex) down -1.04 at 72.65 100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -6.40 at 1,190 Copper (Comex) up +0.12% at 2.96 10-year government bond yields (%) US 2.24% UK 1.98% Germany 0.74% CDS (closing levels) Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -0.19bps at 30.23bp Markit iTraxx Europe -0.07bps at 59.31bp Markit iTraxx Xover -6.53bps at 328.54bp Markit CDX IG -0.47bps at 60.32bp