OPEC agrees to cut oil production

OPEC agreed Wednesday to cut production for the first time in eight years, according to a delegate, sending oil prices more than 6 percent higher .

In two days of round-theclock talks in Algiers, the group agreed to drop production to 32.5 million barrels a day, the delegate said. That’s nearly 750,000 barrels a day less than it pumped in August.

The deal will reverberate beyond the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It will brighten the prospects for the energy industry, from giants like Exxon Mobil Corp. to small U.S. shale firms, and boost the economies of oil-rich countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia. For consumers, however, it will mean higher prices at the pump.

Kerry pushes trade pact

Secretary of State John Kerry sought to raise the stakes Wednesday in the debate over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, warning that U.S. leadership and credibility in Asia would be severely damaged if Congress fails to approve the largest regional trade accord in history.

The fate of the 12-nation pact, known as the TPP, will go a long way toward determining “whether the United States of America is an Asia-Pacific power or whether we are not — and the ‘not’ carries with it serious consequences,” Mr. Kerry said.

Mr. Kerry called on lawmakers to approve the deal in an expected brief lameduck congressional session after the Nov. 8 elections.

Envoy slasher sentenced

TOKYO — The South Korean man who slashed U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in prison for attempted murder.

Kim Ki-jong, apparently a North Korean sympathizer, attacked the U.S. ambassador to South Korea at a breakfast forum in central Seoul in March last year, while joint U.S.-South Korean military drills were taking place. “No war! The two Koreas should be unified,” Kim, now 56, reportedly shouted. Mr. Lippert needed more than 80 stitches in his face, arm and leg.

Airstrike kills 13

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — At least 13 people were killed by an airstrike in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Wednesday, with officials describing the victims as members of the Islamic State, while some residents claimed the dead were civilians.

A United States military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Charles H. Cleveland, said that a “counterterrorism airstrike” had taken place in the area on Wednesday but that he could not discuss details. He added that the military “takes all allegations of civilian casualties very seriously” and that a review of the strike was underway.

Afghan officials said the victims of the strike, in the Achin district, were members of the Islamic State.

Local Afghan news organizations quoted residents and elders as saying the victims were civilians.

Hurricane predicted

MIAMI — Tropical Storm Matthew will likely become a hurricane by Friday as it pushes across the Caribbean Sea, posing a serious threat to vulnerable islands in a region prone to deadly flooding and mudslides.

At 8 p.m. Wednesday, National Hurricane Center forecasters said Matthew was located about 90 miles west of St. Lucia and had slowed to about 15 mph as it continued moving west. Sustained winds increased to 65 mph.

The storm was expected to move away from the Windward Islands Wednesday night and keep slowing down.