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

French Polynesia pledged this week to create the world's largest marine protected area to safeguard its seas -- and it hopes to encourage others to lift their game.

Just blocks from where a handful of die-hard protesters faced police in Los Angeles on Wednesday, residents were enjoying lunch in the sun and shrugging off Donald Trump's claims their city was burning.

When Lisa, 20, laces into her ultra-high heels for her shift at a strip club in Ukraine's Kharkiv, she knows that aside from dancing, she will have to comfort traumatised soldiers.

Imagine being able to visit a museum and examine up close thousand-year-old pottery, revel alone in jewellery from centuries past, or peer inside a Versace bag.

Cheers but also boos met US President Donald Trump as he attended a performance Wednesday of "Les Miserables" at Washington's premier cultural institution, which he has effectively seized control of since returning to power in January.

As President Donald Trump's military-backed crackdown on immigrants continues in Los Angeles and across the US, celebrities are speaking out against the tactics and what they say are the intolerant views driving them.

Donald Trump's dream of hosting a grand military parade in Washington will come true on Saturday when tanks, helicopters and thousands of troops rumble through the capital on the US president's 79th birthday.

When immigration officers leapt out of unmarked vans and ran towards undocumented men waiting by a Home Depot in Los Angeles, the day laborers scattered, terrified at the prospect of arrest and deportation.

Defending champions the Auckland Blues are in bullish mood as they seek to end the Canterbury Crusaders' ominous home play-off record in the Super Rugby semi-finals on Friday.

Clashes Wednesday between followers of Bolivian ex-president Evo Morales and police clearing roadblocks left two officers dead and several wounded, the government said.

Brazil's Supreme Court reached a majority Wednesday in favor of toughening social media regulation, in a groundbreaking case for Latin America on the spread of fake news and hate speech.

Summer McIntosh bagged her third world record in days on Wednesday, clocking 4min 23.65sec to better her own 400 medley record at the Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria.

Hundreds gathered on the streets of Ballymena in Northern Ireland Wednesday, facing police armed with riot shields and water cannon on the third night of anti-immigrant demonstrations.

Israel is to expel by the end of the week four French nationals held after security forces intercepted their Gaza-bound aid boat, France's foreign minister said Wednesday, as an Israeli NGO said one of the French campaigners was briefly put in solitary confinement.

The combined revenue of Premier League clubs rose to a record £6.3 billion ($8.5 billion, 7.5 billion euros) in the 2023/24 season, but fan unrest and worsening competitive balance are cause for concern, according to financial experts Deloitte.

It's a tale of revolutionary fervor, featuring street protesters manning the barricades against a repressive leader. And watching from the audience was US President Donald Trump.

A run of four straight losses, including a 4-0 hammering from Switzerland on Wednesday, has left Mauricio Pochettino and his USA team feeling the wrath of critics a year out from the World Cup they will co-host.

Clashes Wednesday between followers of Bolivian ex-president Evo Morales and police clearing a roadblock left one officer dead and another seriously wounded, the government said.

US regulators announced plans Wednesday to reverse rules aimed at sharply reducing polluting emissions from coal and gas power plants, in the latest environmental rollback from President Donald Trump's climate skeptic administration.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chief Witold Banka has called on US authorities to prevent the drug-fueled Enhanced Games from taking place next year.

Brazil's Supreme Court reached a majority Wednesday in favor of toughening social media regulation, in a groundbreaking case for Latin America on the spread of fake news and hate speech.

Police were bracing late Wednesday for a third night of violence in a riot-hit town in Northern Ireland as hundreds gathered on the streets armed with molotov cocktails while unrest spread to other areas.

Italy hopes to begin constructing the world's largest suspension bridge connecting Sicily to the Italian mainland this summer amid widespread scepticism that it will ever be built.

England manager Thomas Tuchel said his own mother finds some of Jude Bellingham's antics "repulsive" but he does not want to dim the Real Madrid star's fire.

Wall Street stocks mostly fell Wednesday despite positive movement in the US-China trade conflict, while oil prices rallied on growing tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Grieving Austrians on Wednesday held tearful memorials for the 10 people shot dead at a high school by a former pupil, an unprecedented attack in the Alpine nation.

Referees at this month's Club World will wear 'body cams' with the footage used in broadcasts of the game -- but only if the images are of non-controversial incidents, FIFA refereeing officials said on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump's administration proposed Wednesday to roll back measures enacted by former Democratic presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama aimed at reducing polluting emissions from gas and coal-fired power plants.

South Africa's Kagiso Rabada was left thinking of what might have been even though he took five Australia wickets as bowlers dominated Wednesday's first day of the World Test Championship final at Lord's.

Argentine President Javier Milei said Wednesday his country would in 2026 move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the status of which is one of the most delicate issues in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Residents of a town near Vancouver were on stand-by to evacuate Wednesday as Canada's devastating wildfire season worsened, with officials warning weather conditions through the summer were ripe for further blazes.

Disgraced Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of one sexual assault Wednesday and not guilty of another, with jurors still considering a rape charge at his retrial at which three women recounted in graphic detail how he victimized them.