- Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea
- Trumpet star Marsalis says jazz creates 'balance' in divided world
- No children left on Greece's famed but emptying island
- Nepali becomes youngest to climb world's 8,000m peaks
- Climate change made deadly Hurricane Helene more intense: study
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Padres edge Dodgers, Mets on the brink
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- With EU funding, Tunisian farmer revives parched village
- Sega ninja game 'Shinobi' gets movie treatment
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- Three million UK children living below poverty line: study
- China's Jia brings film spanning love, change over decades to Busan
- Paying out disaster relief before climate catastrophe strikes
- Chinese shares drop on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- SE Asian summit seeks progress on Myanmar civil war
- How climate funds helped Peru's women beekeepers stay afloat
- Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded as wars rage
- Pacific island nations swamped by global drug trade
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- Mozambique elects new president in tense vote
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Balkan summit to rally support for struggling Ukraine
- New stadium gives Real Madrid a headache
- Alonso, Manaea shine as 'Miracle Mets' blitz Phillies
- Harris, Trump trade blows in US election media blitz
- Harry's Bar in Paris drinks to US straw-poll centenary
- Osama bin Laden's son Omar banned from returning to France
- Afghan man arrested for plotting US election day attack
- Brazil lifts ban on Musk's X, ending standoff over disinformation
- Harris holds slight edge nationally over Trump: poll
- Chelsea edge Real Madrid in Women's Champions League, Lyon win
- Japan PM to dissolve parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- 'Diego Lives': Immersive Maradona exhibit hits Barcelona
- Brazil Supreme Court lifts ban on Musk's X
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Six-year-old girl among missing after Brazil landslide
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Mexico president rules out new 'war on drugs'
- Israeli defense minister postpones trip to Washington: Pentagon
- Europe skipper Donald in talks with Garcia over Ryder return
- Kenya MPs vote to impeach deputy president in historic move
- Former US coach Berhalter named Chicago Fire head coach
- New York Jets fire head coach Saleh: team
- Australia crush New Zealand in Women's T20 World Cup
- US states accuse TikTok of harming young users
- 'Evacuate now, now, now': Florida braces for next hurricane
- US Supreme Court skeptical of challenge to 'ghost guns' regulation
Oil surges on Russia tensions
Oil prices soared Thursday on tensions surrounding key producer Russia, as equities diverged with traders tracking also interest rate decisions and China's pledge to support volatile markets.
The price of benchmark oil contract, Brent North Sea crude, jumped more than five percent to back above $100 per barrel after Russia rejected a ruling from the UN's top court to suspend its Ukraine offensive.
"Russia's invasion is still dictating price action... given the country's global importance in terms of supply," Interactive Investor analyst Victoria Scholar told AFP.
The fallout from the war in Ukraine could cut global economic growth by "over one percentage point" in the first year after the invasion, the OECD grouping of developed economies said in a report.
The impact "if sustained" would produce "a deep recession in Russia" and further increase global consumer price inflation by approximately 2.5 percentage points, it added.
The warning came as Russia's finance ministry said it had carried out interest payments on two foreign bonds, avoiding default for now after it was hit by unprecedented Western sanctions over Ukraine.
- Central banks -
Central banks were also in focus with the Bank of England expected to announce a third straight interest rate rise to combat decades-high UK inflation.
The Bank of England (BoE) gives its latest rate decision at 1200 GMT, a day after the Federal Reserve lifted US borrowing costs to tackle soaring prices.
"The global economy faces elevated levels of inflation because of various factors, including from surging energy and commodity prices," noted Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at ThinkMarkets.
"While the Fed has just started its hiking cycle, the BoE is well on the way, having raised interest rates in its previous two meetings."
In Asia, Hong Kong's main stocks index closed with another massive gain, as investors pile back in after China's pledge to support markets.
The Hang Seng surged seven percent, a day after a nine-percent jump.
Another blistering surge in tech firms helped Hong Kong extend its recovery from the recent rout, while traders also cheered soothing comments on the US economy by the Fed after it lifted interest rates.
China's top economic official has vowed measures to support beaten-down markets and indicated that a debilitating crackdown on the technology sector was nearing its end.
"The statement addressed so many issues on various fronts, which is really rare," said Ding Shuang at Standard Chartered.
"Selloffs tended to be self-fulfilling partly because of the lack of response from the government," but part of the government's aim is likely to break that inertia and stabilise expectations, he added.
- Key figures around 1045 GMT -
Brent North Sea crude: UP 5.0 percent at $102.95 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 4.5 percent at $99.27 per barrel
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 7,296.04 points
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.6 percent at 14,352.04
Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 6,588.75
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,877.75
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 7.0 percent at 21,501.23 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 3.5 percent at 26,652.88 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.4 percent at 3,215.04 (close)
New York - DOW: UP 1.6 percent at 34,063.10 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1039 from $1.1038 late Wednesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3180 from $1.3148
Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.75 pence from 83.90 pence
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 118.59 yen from 118.73 yen
O.Karlsson--AMWN