Oil-producing nations were on a "very good path" as oil prices soar on hopes of Opec production cut

Oil prices surged as much as 12% on Friday after new suggestions that Opec nations were set to cut oil production.

The United Arab Emirates' energy minister said that Opec members were ready to reduce output, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Venezuela's oil minister said oil-producing nations were on a "very good path" to clinch a deal.

However, traders said sharp falls on Thursday may have triggered some bargain-hunting.

Eulogio Del Pino, the Venezuelan minister, who recently visited Russia and Saudi Arabia as part of a global tour to drum up support among both Opec and non-Opec producers, said "we're on a very, very, very good path" to reducing production.

Brent crude closed up $3.30 at $33.36 a barrel in New York after falling below $30 on Thursday.

After sinking to a 12-year low of $26.05 on Thursday, US crude settled up 12%, or $3.23, to $29.44 a barrel - its biggest one-day rise since 2009.

Many traders were sceptical about the Journal's report, pointing out that Venezuela and Russia had tried in vain earlier this week to stir Saudi Arabia and other major producers into agreeing to output cuts.

However, some believe that prices would rebound sooner or later if production tightened or demand rose.

Commerzbank analysts said: "We expect declining US oil production, in particular, to drive the oil price back up to $50 per barrel by the end of the year."

Some traders still expected wilder price swings in the coming weeks. "It's not a one-way price movement anymore" in oil, said ABN Amro's senior energy economist Hans van Cleef. "We will see a period of high volatility".

Friday's price rises were also aided by figures from oil services company Baker Hughes, which said that US energy firms cut the number of oil rigs for the eighth consecutive week to the lowest levels since January 2010.

Drillers removed 28 oil rigs, bringing the total rig count down to 439, Baker Hughes said.

The jump in oil prices helped to boost sentiment on stock markets, with the FTSE 100 in London closing 3.1% higher at 5,707 points.

Wall Street was also trading higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 rising 1.8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up close to 2% in late trading.

Katy Perry seems to have offered Taylor Swift an olive branch to end ‘bad blood’

                                                                                                          FELIPE DANA/AP

Perry is teaming up with Spotify to throw a black-tie event before Monday's Grammys and Taylor Swift made the invite list. 

They fight, they break up. They send an invite and they might make up.

That seems to be road to renewed friendship for Katy Perry and former friend-turned-enemy Taylor Swift.

The two may soon be past their bad blood, since the “Roar” singer offered Swift an olive branch in the form of a party invitation to celebrate the Grammys.

Perry, who won’t attend Monday’s award show, is co-hosting an exclusive bash sponsored by Spotify on Saturday night in downtown Los Angeles, and Swift made the list.

Mysteriously dubbed “An Evening to Celebrate the Creators,” Perry will throw the star-studded black-tie event so artists can enjoy a night free of reporters, managers and publicists, according to the New York Times.

The invite for her longtime frenemy is doubly surprising, as Swift had a very public breakup with the streaming service.

The “Shake It Off” singer boycotted the music site over claims of their low royalties.

The night’s tight guest list of about 250 people could also include Adele —another star who has refused to offer her beloved songs to Spotify.

“It’s just up to their schedules,” Perry said of inviting the two stars.

The rift between Swift and Perry dates back years, with Swift making comments that Perry stole her backup dancers in 2013.

The drama later exploded in 2015, when rumors swirled that Swift was taking a lyrical shot at the 31-year-old with “Bad Blood.”

Meanwhile, Perry later chimed in on Swift’s Twitter feud with Nicki Minaj, blasting the star in an incoherent tweet for profiting off “the take down of a woman.”

And though fans have long thought they're "never ever getting back together," perhaps 2016 will be the end of the infamous girl fight.

And, while Swift opens up the awards show, Perry is happy to stay home this year.

“In my pajamas, eating matzo ball soup," she told the Times.

“No makeup, glad I'm not in a corset. Vicks cream on.”

Kanye West drops 'The Life of Pablo' on Tidal after 'Saturday Night Live' performance

                                          DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES FOR YEEZY SEASON 3

Kanye West dropped his seventh studio album "The Life of Pablo" after performing on "Saturday Night Live."

The hip-hop artist leaped from the stage with a flurry of unintelligible words after a “Saturday Night Live” performance, revealing that fans could finally hear his seventh studio album on Tidal.

Those fans, hoping to hear what Kanye once described as "one of the greatest albums of all time" after SNL, were briefly met with disappointment due to technical difficulties.

The album wouldn’t load on Tidal until nearly 2 a.m. and there was no sign of T.L.O.P. on KanyeWest.com at that time, either. Instead, Yasiin Bey — the artist formerly known as Mos Def — greeted fans with the same audio message that’s been looping on Kanye’s homepage since late January.

                                                                                       KANYE WEST VIA TWITTER                                                                    Kanye's new album, "The Life of Pablo." 

“Kanyewest.com just crashed,” Kanye’s wife, Kim Kardashian, wrote on Twitter before deleting the 1:28 a.m. post. “They are fixing it and the album will be available in the next 10 (minutes).”

Kanye is the next big name since Beyonce to use Jay-Z’s subscription-based streaming service as a launching point for his new music.

For the past year, Kanye has toyed with listeners by sporadically releasing songs from the new album, switching up the album’s tracklist and its fluid title. The week before Sunday’s release, he settled on “The Life of Pablo” in lieu of “Swish” and “Waves.”

He also fielded a $10 million offer to release his new album exclusively to Martin Shrekli, the online troll known as “Pharma bro." It’s unclear if Kanye ever responded to Shkreli’s tweet or took his offer seriously.

Shkreli already owns Wu-Tang Clan's "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin."

Sunday’s release follows Kanye’s abstract appearance on SNL, where he dropped at least one f-bomb and multiple utterances of the n-word during “Highlights.”

Dressed head-to-toe in acid-washed garb, he returned to the stage alongside El DeBarge, Young Thug, Kelly Price and A$AP Bari for “Ultra Light Beams.”

He also humored SNL cast member Kyle Mooney to pseudo free-style rap battle, using lyrics from T.L.O.P. track “I love Kanye.”

“I love you like Kanye loves Kanye,” he told Mooney, effectively reaching peak Kanye.

Chelsea sink Newcastle to the relegation zone

Newcastle's defeat at Stamford Bridge was the third time they have conceded five goals or more on their travels, after losing 6-1 at Manchester City and 5-1 at Crystal Palace

Newcastle dropped into the relegation zone on goal difference after three goals in the first 17 minutes set Chelsea on their way to an easy win.

Diego Costa slid in the opener, a Rolando Aarons error let in Pedro to run clear and fire home, and Costa set up Willian to make it 3-0.

Pedro and Bertrand Traore added further goals in the second half, before Andros Townsend's late consolation.

The only thing to spoil Chelsea's night was an injury to captain John Terry.

The centre-half limped off with a hamstring injury before half-time and is a doubt for Tuesday's trip to play Paris St-Germain in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie.

Chelsea's interim manager Guus Hiddink remains unbeaten in 12 games in all competitions, and his side are now unbeaten in their past 10 Premier League games.

Newcastle have only scored seven goals on their travels this season, the worst record in the top four divisions in England, but it was their defence that let them down at Stamford Bridge.

Magpies boss Steve McClaren said in his pre-match TV interview that the first 20 minutes would be crucial to the outcome of the match. He was right, but not in the way he would have wanted.

By then, his side had suffered a complete collapse at the back which was summed up by Chelsea's second goal.

That came from a Newcastle free-kick near the home side's corner flag that was cleared to the halfway line before Aarons' horrendous cross-field pass allowed Pedro to gallop clear.

McClaren's side never looked capable of a second-half comeback as they slipped to a fifth successive away defeat.

After the break, Cesc Fabregas set up Pedro for his second and Bertrand Traore turned in Cesar Azpilicueta's cross.

Andros Townsend's trademark run and finish for his first goal since his £12m move from Tottenham reduced the damage at the end.

But Newcastle's goal-difference still took a battering and at -22 it is now the worst in the top flight.

Chelsea's own defensive problems were of a very different sort.

With Kurt Zouma out for the season, the last thing Hiddink needed before a busy fortnight was to see Terry limp off.

Terry appeared to fall awkwardly after a clash with Magpies striker Aleksandar Mitrovic and will have a scan to assess the severity of his hamstring injury.

Gary Cahill only returned to the starting line-up on Saturday because of Zouma's serious knee injury, but could end up being a key figure at the back for his side in the next few weeks.

He was playing with a broken nose, but Chelsea's man in the mask did not miss his mark.

Along with the impressive Willian, Costa scored one goal and made another but he edged the individual accolade because of his delightful finish to give his side an early lead.

Newcastle boss Steve McClaren: "We got exposed on quite a few occasions in terms of defensive frailties. Rolando Aarons had to play at left-back and it was Steven Taylor's second game in six months.

"We caused our own problems. We knew Chelsea would come out quick. They wanted to win that game by half-time with the week they have ahead of them.

"You get one or two of these games a season. I've told the players don't let that derail us. It was damage limitation by half-time.

"I just wanted to make sure we scored a goal and stayed in the game."

Newcastle are out of the FA Cup and their Premier League game with Manchester City on 28 February has been postponed because City are in the Capital One Cup final.

So the Magpies do not have a game for 18 days until they travel to Stoke on 2 March, and are heading for a training camp in Spain.

In that time, Chelsea play four matches, starting with Tuesday's trip to Paris.

With BBC Sport

Sunderland beat uninspired Man Utd

Wahbi Khazri was one of four Sunderland signings in January

Sunderland boosted their Premier League survival hopes with a deserved victory over an uninspired Manchester United.

Wahbi Khazri put the strugglers ahead after three minutes with a free-kick from the left that eluded everyone.

Anthony Martial levelled after he clipped the ball over Vito Mannone, who had parried Juan Mata's shot.

But the Black Cats won it when Lamine Kone's header from Khazri's corner went in via a deflection off David de Gea to dent United's top-four bid.

Sunderland's win takes them to within one point of rivals Newcastle and safety after a game inspired by manager Sam Allardyce's January signings.

Tunisia forward Khazri made his first Premier League start in their last game, a 2-2 draw with Liverpool where he assisted Jermain Defoe's equaliser.

And the signing from Bordeaux was inspired again, scoring early on against United with a free-kick which Defoe stepped over to bamboozle United's defence and De Gea.

And their winner - while credited as a De Gea own goal - was all thanks to the powerful header from Kone, a signing from Lorient.

De Gea got a touch, with Martial appearing to hit the ball off his own keeper on the way in.

Allardyce told BBC MOTD: "The new players have been on the list before January. The problem is can you get them here and do they want to come and join the fight? They were desperate to come here."

Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has been frustrated this week by media reports, including from BBC Sport, saying that Jose Mourinho's representatives have spoken to the club about their client replacing the Dutchman.

Van Gaal had continued to insist that the club can finish in the top four, although the defeat keeps fifth-placed United six points behind Manchester City, who now have a game in hand.

And, after the game, Van Gaal said it will be "very difficult" for them to qualify for the Champions League. The result has done nothing either to boost his chances of keeping his job.

United dominated the final stages of the first half, but other than that they were matched or outplayed by Sunderland, who could have scored more.

Manchester United now have seven defenders injured after they lost Matteo Darmian to a shoulder injury during the first half.

On Saturday, the day before Valentine's Day, Van Gaal brought on the appropriately named Donald Love, a Scotland Under-21 international. The former Wigan loanee had a solid performance on his debut at right-back.

The 21-year-old joined in United's attack at will and showed he was not overawed when he screamed at captain Wayne Rooney for over-hitting the return ball of a one-two.

Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce told BBC Match of the Day: "I thought the result was right. On the balance of chances created, a 2-1 win was no more than we deserved.

"It shows the importance of set plays. We've found a lad who delivers a great ball. One, he's scored himself and the second ball for Lamine's goal was quality.

"I thought Jermain Defoe was going to make it 2-0 and then Dame N'Doye got in one-on-one. We all prayed he would score. When he missed I wondered if it would be one of those days.

"Everyone is very happy at the moment. I've sensed a commitment and a desire and will to get out of the problems."

Sunderland have two weeks until their next game, away to West Ham, and are heading to Dubai next week for warm weather training.

United will have no such luxury, as they face Danish side Midtjylland on Thursday in the Europa League, before an FA Cup tie with Shrewsbury the following Monday and the reverse European tie three days later.

United's next league involvement is at home to Arsenal on Sunday, 28 February.