A Japanese consortium has decided to retain its stake in the new Russian operator of the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project and is set to notify Moscow, moving to secure stable energy supplies for resource-scarce Japan.

"It's an extremely important project," Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said Friday in welcoming the unanimous decision by the shareholders in Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co., or SODECO, a consortium of Japanese companies holding a 30% stake in Sakhalin-1 in Russia's Far East.

Employees braced for widespread layoffs at Twitter Friday as new owner Elon Musk overhauls the social platform.

In a letter to employees obtained by multiple media outlets, the company said employees would find out by 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time if they had been laid off. The email did not say how many people would lose their jobs.

Indian authorities on Friday shut factories and construction sites, restricted diesel-run vehicles and deployed water sprinklers and anti-smog guns to control haze and smog enveloping the skyline of the capital region.

The Delhi government closed primary schools and restricted outdoor activity for older students as the air quality index exceeded 470, considered "severe" and more than 10 times the global safety threshold, according to the state-run Central Pollution Control Board.

Thirty years ago there was hope that a warming world could clean up its act.

It didn't.

North Korea's recent barrage of missile tests, including Wednesday's record of at least 23 launches, is raising an important question about its weapons program: How does the impoverished country pay for the seemingly endless tests?

While some experts say each North Korean launch could cost $2 million to $10 million, others say there is no way to estimate accurately given the North's extremely secretive nature. They say North Korea likely manufactures weapons at a much cheaper cost than other countries because of free labor and possible clandestine Chinese and Russian support.

The head of the European Central Bank underlined the bank's determination to fight rampant inflation with more interest rate increases on top of record hikes, saying Friday that "our job is far from being completed" and that even a mild recession would not be enough to bring rising prices back under control.

ECB President Christine Lagarde said in a lecture at the central bank of Estonia that "we will not let high inflation become entrenched" by allowing expectations of higher prices to become baked into wages and costs, creating a spiral of ever-higher inflation.

When world leaders, diplomats, campaigners and scientists descend on Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt next week for talks on tackling climate change, don't expect them to part the Red Sea or other miracles that would make huge steps in curbing global warming.

Each year there are high hopes for the two-week United Nations climate gathering and, almost inevitably, disappointment when it doesn't deliver another landmark pact like the one agreed 2015 in Paris.

Soccer's top officials have urged the 32 teams preparing for the most political World Cup in the modern era to focus on the game in Qatar and avoid handing out lessons in morality.

A letter urging teams to "let football take center stage" was sent by FIFA president Gianni Infantino and secretary general Fatma Samoura ahead of intense media focus on coaches and players when World Cup squads are announced next week.

Top diplomats from the world's major industrialized democracies on Friday rallied support for Ukraine in its resistance to Russia's invasion and coalesced around suspicion of China's increasing assertiveness amid a panoply of global crises.

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations, wrapping up two days of talks in the historic western German city of Muenster, were set to release a statement asserting common positions on Ukraine, Russia, China and recent developments in Iran and North Korea, officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of engaging in "energy terrorism" after Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy network left millions of residents without power.

About 4.5 million people were without electricity across the country, Zelensky said in his nightly address Thursday. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 450,000 apartments in the capital alone did not have electricity on Friday.