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

Rape and other violence against children in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has soared to unprecedented levels, the head of the United Nations children's agency warned Thursday.

Japanese auto giants Honda and Nissan confirmed on Thursday they had scrapped merger talks that would have created the world's third-largest automaker by unit sales.

The Republican-controlled US Senate approved Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary Thursday, disregarding alarm from the medical community over his history of promoting vaccine misinformation and denying scientific facts.

Sports car manufacturer Porsche said Thursday it will axe 1,900 jobs after sales slumped in China and amid a tricky shift to electric vehicles, the latest blow for Germany's stalling auto sector.

Jeff Bezos's rocket company Blue Origin is laying off around 10 percent of its workforce following a period of rapid expansion, the firm's chief executive told staff on Thursday.

Alice Robinson expressed her pride at ensuring New Zealand again punched above its weight after she bagged a world silver medal in the women's giant slalom in Saalbach on Thursday.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Thursday that the European Union was working toward swiftly easing Syria sanctions as Paris hosted a conference on the transition in the war-torn country after president Bashar al-Assad's fall.

Lando Norris has warned Max Verstappen he will get his "elbows out" as the McLaren driver fights to dethrone the Formula One world champion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been largely shunned by the West since his troops attacked Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Two men convicted of murder, including one who has spent more than 25 years on Death Row, are to be executed by lethal injection in the southern US states of Florida and Texas on Thursday.

A Polish court on Thursday ordered a retrial in the case of an activist found guilty of aiding a woman to terminate her pregnancy, in a symbolic step for Poland's abortion rights movement.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday the United States should agree on a joint plan to stop Russia before talks with Moscow, as European leaders warned Washington not to hatch a deal behind their backs.

Police arrested an Afghan asylum seeker at the scene of what German leaders labelled a car ramming "attack" that injured 28 people, some seriously, in the southern city of Munich Thursday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will try to rekindle his bromance with Donald Trump -- and avoid the US president's wrath on tariffs and immigration -- when they meet on Thursday at the White House.

The French parliament on Thursday voted to ban single-use electronic cigarettes, considered to be gateways to tobacco addiction for teenagers and harmful to the environment.

Israel warned Thursday that Hamas must release three living hostages this weekend or face a resumption of the war in Gaza, after the Palestinian militant group said it was committed to the truce agreement.

Ekaterina Alexandrova ousted sixth-seed Jessica Pegula to sweep into the semi-finals of the WTA Qatar Open on Thursday.

In eastern Ukraine, the battleground of ferocious fighting against Russian troops, the spectre of US President Donald Trump forcing a halt to the war has injected new worries among exhausted and outgunned Ukrainian servicemen.

Wales assistant coach Rob Howley will not be part of the team's backroom staff for rest of the Six Nations following the departure of head coach Warren Gatland, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) announced on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump said that he would announce "reciprocal tariffs" on trading partners Thursday, opening new fronts in a trade war economists warn could fuel inflation at home.

Tens of thousands of Jordanians gathered at Amman's Marka airport on Thursday to express support for King Abdullah II's position on Gaza on his return from Washington where he met US President Donald Trump.

Arne Slot could still be in the dugout for Liverpool's Premier League match against Wolves this weekend despite apparently receiving a two-match touchline ban for his red card at the end of a fiery Merseyside derby.

Italy's Federica Brignone laid down the two fastest runs to win gold in the women's giant slalom at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach on Thursday, as American Mikaela Shiffrin opted out of defending her title.

Six-time Spanish world champion Marc Marquez set the fastest lap on Thursday in the second of two days of pre-season testing at the Buriram circuit in Thailand with 1min 28.855sec.

Italy's Federica Brignone laid down the two fastest runs to win gold in the women's giant slalom at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach on Thursday, as American Mikaela Shiffrin opted out of defending her title.

English cricket chiefs say a windfall of nearly £1 billion ($1.25 billion) from an auction of Hundred franchises is "a seminal moment" that will safeguard the game for future generations.

Luis Rubiales' lawyer asked a Spanish court on Wednesday to acquit the ex-football chief over the kiss he gave Jenni Hermoso on the lips in 2023 that sparked global outrage.

Hamas said Thursday it was committed to honouring a truce with Israel that has come under severe strain in recent days, adding that it planned to proceed with the next hostage-prisoner swap this weekend as planned.

Digital titans including Facebook and TikTok formally pledged to ramp up the fight against disinformation in the EU, Brussels said on Thursday, just days after the new US administration condemned the bloc's online content rules.

Blindsided Europeans warned Thursday that a "dirty deal" between US President Donald Trump and Moscow on ending the Ukraine war was doomed to fail -- insisting they and Kyiv must have a seat at the negotiating table.

Managers of a chemical plant accused of knowingly contaminating the water of hundreds of thousands of people are on trial in Italy, in one of Europe's biggest environmental disaster lawsuits.

French judicial authorities have charged the president of Paris Saint-Germain football club, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, with complicity in abuse of power concerning shareholder voting at a company, a source close to the case said Thursday.