Sawt Falasteen - News from Ramallah, the political, economic and cultural centre of Palestine, as well as the West Bank and the whole world

Giotto's Santa Croce frescoes are receiving the final touches of a four-year restoration in Florence, with scaffolding poised to be removed ahead of an official reveal in September.

British artist David Hockney, one of the most influential and defining figures in contemporary art whose paintings captured the world in brilliant colour, has died aged 88, his publicist announced Friday.

Several hundred people gathered in southwestern France on Friday to bid farewell to an 11-year-old girl whose suspected murder sparked protests across the country and exposed failures in the country's judicial system.

Belgian Maxim Van Gils won the mountainous sixth stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes on Friday as his Australian teammate Luke Tuckwell finished third and took the leader's yellow and blue jersey.

Pele's 1958 World Cup winners' medal is expected to fetch £500,000 ($670,000) when it is auctioned in England later this month.

The Ebola outbreak is spreading into new areas of the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo and is bigger in scale than hitherto detected, the World Health Organization warned Friday.

Multiple African and Asian midwifery experts have been denied visas for a major international conference in Portugal, threatening progress on saving millions of babies' lives, organisers and invitees said Friday.

The board of the Kennedy Center and the US Justice Department have appealed a federal judge's ruling ordering the removal of President Donald Trump's name from the performing arts venue.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has banned two-time long distance world champion Gudaf Tsegay for four months after she failed to apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for a banned substance.

Wall Street opened mixed on Friday, when SpaceX was set to begin trading following world's largest initial public offering, while oil prices slid on hopes of an agreement to end the Middle East war.

Elon Musk's SpaceX began its first day as a public company on Wall Street Friday after the biggest initial public offering in history, with the polarizing entrepreneur promising he will take humanity to Mars.

A US deportation flight headed to the Central African Republic on Friday, lawyers told AFP, carrying nationals from Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and Georgia.

Afghans scrapped protest plans in Herat on Friday as heavily armed security forces were deployed in the city, after an earlier rally against tightening restrictions on women was violently dispersed.

Chinese actress Xin Zhilei said she was keen for new experiences and did not want to limit herself, as she helped kick off the Shanghai International Film Festival on Friday.

New Zealand's most prolific run-scorer and arguably greatest batsman Kane Williamson announced his immediate retirement from international cricket on Friday in the middle of their series against England.

Cristiano Ronaldo said on Friday that he was feeling "very positive" before flying out of Lisbon with the Portuguese team to their World Cup base camp in Palm Beach, Florida.

British artist David Hockney, one of the most influential and defining figures in contemporary art whose paintings captured the world in brilliant colour, has died aged 88, his publicist announced Friday.

George Russell was quickest in opening practice for the Barcelona-Catalunya Formula One Grand Prix on Friday, followed by McLaren's Oscar Piastri two tenths behind.

A decade after fierce battles reduced much of the University of Benghazi to rubble, students at Libya's oldest and largest university are once again looking to the future with optimism.

Mollie O'Callaghan and Meg Harris locked down the women's 100m freestyle slots for the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships at the Australian trials Friday as Sam Short completed an epic freestyle sweep.

Kenyan families were overwhelmed with grief at a mass Friday for 16 girls killed in a suspected arson attack on their school -- part of a string of pupil protests that have unnerved the country.

Iran insisted on Friday on its right to enrich uranium and maintain control over the Strait of Hormuz under any deal with the United States, after President Donald Trump said a draft accord was ready.

Stock markets rallied and oil tumbled Friday on hopes that a deal to end the Middle East war could be imminent.

Pope Leo XIV renewed his support for migrants on Friday in the Canary Islands, saying "all of us are migrants" and urged newcomers to do their part to integrate, on the final day of a weeklong visit to Spain focused on migration issues.

Nearly 100 campaign groups on Friday called on COP31 climate summit co-hosts Turkey and Australia to "lead by example" by addressing their reliance on planet-heating fossil fuels.

French driver Pierre Gasly's third place finish in last weekend's Monaco Grand Prix has been reinstated after stewards rescinded two penalties he received, the FIA announced Friday.

British artist David Hockney, one of the most influential and defining figures in contemporary art, whose paintings captured the world in brilliant colour, has died aged 88, his publicist announced Friday.

A South Korean court handed former president Yoon Suk Yeol a 30-year prison sentence on Friday for sending drones into North Korea to "manufacture" a crisis ahead of his disastrous martial law bid.

British artist David Hockney's paintings captured the world in brilliant colour, from carefree 1960s California to the bucolic landscapes of his native Yorkshire.

Belgian rider Wout Van Aert retired from the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes on Friday with a persistent elbow injury a day after sprinting to victory in stage five.

Pope Leo XIV told migrants at a reception centre on the Spanish island of Tenerife on Friday that "all of us are migrants", on the final day of a weeklong visit to Spain focused on the plight of irregular immigrants.

The Waikato Chiefs booked their place in the Super Rugby final on Friday after humiliating defending champions Canterbury Crusaders in Hamilton, with Kyren Taumoefolau scoring twice in a 49-12 romp.