• Three quarters of French voters want conservative candidate Francois Fillon to pull out of the presidential race, an opinion poll by Odoxa showed on Friday, underscoring how badly has image has been hit by a series of financial scandals. The former prime minister was placed under formal investigation on suspicion of misusing public funds after allegations surfaced that he paid his wife and children hundreds of thousands of euros of taxpayers money for fake jobs. • President Donald Trump welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday for a White House meeting that could help determine the future of the transatlantic alliance and shape the working relationship between two of the world's most powerful leaders.The new U.S. president and the long-serving stateswoman, whose country is Europe's largest economy, will discuss funding for NATO and relations with Russia in their first meeting since Trump took office in January. • OPEC will have to extend its oil output curbs in order to sustain a recovery in prices, as a revival in crude production outside the group may scupper its efforts to erode an overhang of unused inventory, a poll of market analysts showed on Friday.Six of the 10 analysts polled by Reuters said they believed OPEC will extend its output cuts beyond June this year, while two felt the group did not need to extend the deal and a further two were undecided. • Oil prices dipped on Friday as the market looked for clues on how effectively OPEC production cuts are working to absorb a global supply overhang.Brent crude was down 10 cents, or 0.19 percent, at $51.64 per barrel, as of 0745 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) edged down 3 cents, or 0.06 percent, at $48.72 a barr Reference: Reuters
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