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

Policymakers should find a way to reduce the uncertainty over trade policy kicked up by Donald Trump's tariff plans in order to boost global growth, the International Monetary Fund's chief economist said in an interview.

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday slashed its forecast for global growth this year, citing the effect of US President Donald Trump's new tariff policies on the world economy.

The IMF said Tuesday it now believed China's economy will only grow by four percent this year, well below Beijing's official target as it fights a mounting trade war with the United States that threatens to hammer the global economy.

Najmul Hossain Shanto's batting heroics on Tuesday pushed Bangladesh's second innings lead to 112 on the third day of the first Test against Zimbabwe, with the home team on 194-4.

US Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that "good progress" had been made towards a trade deal with India after meeting with "tough negotiator" Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

England's most-capped men's rugby international Ben Youngs announced Tuesday that he will retire from the professional game at the end of the 2024/25 season.

Former women's world player of the year, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe has come out of international retirement to play in the World Cup in August, New Zealand Rugby announced on Tuesday.

The Kremlin on Tuesday warned against rushing Ukraine peace talks, pushing back on US President Donald Trump's hopes for a speedy deal the day before Ukraine's allies are set to meet in London.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said striker Kylian Mbappe is poised to return from injury to face rivals Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final on Saturday.

More than 100 US universities and colleges, including Ivy League institutions Princeton and Brown, issued a joint letter on Tuesday condemning President Donald Trump's "political interference" in the education system.

In one of his final acts, Pope Francis cleared the way for Papua New Guinea to get its first saint -- an anti-polygamy preacher who died in prison during Japan's World War II occupation.

A Myanmar ethnic minority armed group is preparing to hand a captured city back to the military in a Beijing-brokered deal, China's foreign ministry said Tuesday, as residents reported junta troops already returning.

A Hamas delegation departed for Cairo to discuss "new ideas" aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza, an official from the group said, as Israeli air strikes killed 26 people across the territory Tuesday.

Classical Russian-German pianist Igor Levit takes to a London stage this week for an epic musical endurance test directed by the world-famous Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic.

India paceman Jasprit Bumrah has been named as the Leading Men's Cricketer in the World in the 2025 edition of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, with compatriot Smriti Mandhana picking up the women's award.

Georgian-Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, a politically connected artist known for his monumental yet sometimes divisive works, has died aged 91, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday.

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche on Tuesday announced plans to invest $50 billion in the United States over the next five years, following in the footsteps of rival Novartis, with US President Donald Trump's tariff war fuelling uncertainty in the sector.

Pope Francis's funeral will be held on Saturday, the Vatican announced Tuesday, as world leaders from US President Donald Trump to Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky said they would attend to honour the Catholic leader.

The first US official to visit Southeast Asia since Washington announced punitive tariffs on the region's countries on Tuesday issued a robust defence of President Donald Trump's foreign policy approach.

Cardinals were meeting Tuesday to set the date for Pope Francis's funeral, as world leaders from US President Donald Trump to Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky said they would attend to honour the Catholic leader.

Bullion hit another record Tuesday while the dollar weakened and equities fluctuated as US President Donald Trump's latest salvo against Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell added fuel to fears about the central bank's independence.

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche on Tuesday announced plans to invest $50 billion in the United States over the next five years.

Pushed out of Pakistan where she was born, Nazmine Khan's first experience of her country, Afghanistan, was in a sweltering tent at a border camp.

The conservative-dominated US Supreme Court is slated to hear a case on Tuesday about whether parents have the religious right to pull their children from classes when books containing LGBTQ-related content are read or discussed.

The Detroit Pistons snapped their record 15-game NBA playoff losing streak with a 100-94 victory over the New York Knicks on Monday to level their Eastern Conference first-round series at one game apiece.

Latin American migrants paid tribute on Monday to Pope Francis as a staunch defender of their rights who gave them much-needed encouragement on their long and dangerous journeys fleeing poverty and violence.

Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis heads up a stellar cast of athletes kicking off the 16th Diamond League season in Xiamen on Saturday amid a changing landscape that has seen Michael Johnson launch his Grand Slam track series.

In March 2001, the Taliban shocked the world by dynamiting the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan. Two decades later, they are back in power and claim to be making strides to preserve Afghanistan's millennia-old heritage, including pre-Islamic relics.

Around the time the Vatican announced the death of Pope Francis, music floated out from a church in a Kosovo valley where dozens of Muslims were participating in an unusual ceremony: they were converting to Catholicism.

From responding to weather disasters to rising competition in the fast-warming Arctic, militaries are exposed to climate change and cannot let it become a strategic "blind spot", security experts say.

Paris has everything -- stunning architecture and arguably the best food and fashion in the world. But the French capital lacks one essential element of a modern metropolis: it has no football rivalry.

Through magisterial Vatican pronouncements about the dangers posed by the warming planet, Pope Francis gave the Roman Catholic church a voice that influenced climate change talks, experts said.