Briefly

CHINA

Premier to attend LMC Leaders' Meeting

Premier Li Qiang will attend the fourth Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders' Meeting via video link on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin announced on Friday. Li and leaders of the five Mekong countries — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam — will attend the meeting, Wang said. Beijing expects the upcoming meeting to focus on areas of cooperation such as development based on integration and connectivity, environmental protection, science and technology innovation, security governance and cultural exchanges, he added.

ANGOLA

Nation to leave OPEC over production cuts

Angola announced on Thursday that it is leaving the OPEC oil producers cartel, after it battled with the group over lower production quotas this year. Diamantino de Azevedo, the African nation's oil minister, said Angola "does not gain anything by remaining in the organization", according to state news agency Angop. The country joined OPEC in 2007. Disagreements over lower oil quotas for some African countries, including Angola, led to a dayslong delay to OPEC's November meeting, where the group, along with allied producers led by Russia, decide how much oil to send to the world. OPEC has been trying to bolster oil prices that have fallen in recent months over concerns about too much crude circulating in a weakening global economy, which could weigh on the thirst for oil for travel and industry.

NIGER

Last French troops to bow out of Sahel

The last French troops were scheduled to withdraw from Niger later on Friday, marking an end to more than a decade of French antiextremist operations in West Africa's Sahel region. The French exit from Niger leaves hundreds of US military personnel and a number of Italian and German troops remaining in the country. France said it would pull out its roughly 1,500 soldiers and pilots from Niger, after the former French colony's new ruling generals demanded they depart. French President Emmanuel Macron in September announced the withdrawal of all French troops from Niger by the end of the year. It was the third time in less than 18 months that French troops were sent packing from a country in the Sahel.

UNITED STATES

Ex-NY mayor Giuliani files for bankruptcy

Rudy Giuliani, who once worked as a personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump, filed for bankruptcy protection in New York on Thursday, one day after he was ordered to begin paying $146 million to two former Georgia election workers. The 79-year-old former New York mayor also owes over $4.7 million in legal fees, as well as unpaid state and federal income taxes, according to the filing paper submitted to a federal bankruptcy court in New York.

China Daily - Agencies