French forces kill terrorist chief

PARIS • France said its forces have killed the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which was behind a string of deadly attacks across the troubled Sahel region.

Abdelmalek Droukdel was killed last Thursday in Mali near the Algerian border, where the group has bases from which it has carried out attacks and abductions of Westerners in the sub-Saharan Sahel zone, Defence Minister Florence Parly said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

KL holds out over 1MDB compensation

KUALA LUMPUR • The Malaysian government would not be willing to accept compensation of US$3 billion (S$4.2 billion) from Goldman Sachs in a settlement over the 1MDB scandal, the finance minister told Reuters, ruling out a figure that is far higher than the bank offered last year.

Malaysia has charged Goldman Sachs and 17 current and former directors of its units for allegedly misleading investors over bond sales totalling US$6.5 billion that the US bank helped raise for sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

REUTERS

Opec extends record production cuts

LONDON • Opec and its allies yesterday agreed on a one-month extension of record output cuts to back the oil price recovery.

The group will maintain its output cut of 9.7 million barrels a day to the end of July, instead of easing it to 7.7 million after this month as planned.

BLOOMBERG