BBC news with Marion Marshall.

The oil cartel OPEC has agreed to cut production for the first time in eight years in the hope of boosting prices. The decision, which was announced after talks in Vienna, follows a period of unusually low prices which’s stringed the finances of producer nations. OPEC's current president said key non-OPEC countries were party to the deal.

A UN envoy to Syria has warned that Aleppo risks becoming a giant graveyard as government forces continue to try to crush rebel enclave there. The remark by the aid coordinator Steven O'Brien came and addressed to the UN Security Council. He pleaded with it to secure assistance with people of the besieged rebel held neighborhoods.

The US president elect Donald Trump has announced that he is going to stop managing his business empire so he can focus on his presidency. In his series of tweets, he said he wanted to ensure there was no appearance of conflict of interest.

A picture is beginning to emerge about the events leading up to the plane crash in Colombia. It killed most members of a Brazilian football team. According to Colombian air traffic control, the charter plane lost contact with ground controllers after the pilot reported an electrical fault, but other pilots flying in the area said they had heard the fateful plane's pilot reporting he was low on fuel as well and requesting to land.

Russian air defense forces have been put on high alert ahead of two days of planned Ukrainian missile tests, west to the Crimean peninsula which Russia annexed two years ago. Reports say Moscow has sent a letter to the government in Kiev warning that it would respond.

Researchers believe the commonly cited figure that China has 30 million more men than women could be exaggerated. They think many families concealed the birth of girls in the years when parents had to obey strict family planning rules distorting official figures. BBC world service news.