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

The French capital's new mayor on Friday pledged to prioritise preventing sexual violence in after-school programmes, after allegations that poorly recruited school monitors abused preschool pupils.

Nils Nielsen's shock exit as Japan coach after leading them to Women's Asian Cup glory was partly down to communication issues and cultural differences, officials and experts said.

Cats and dogs can now fill the hours their owners are at work with a dedicated all-day streaming channel for pets launched by Chinese tech giant Tencent.

After hours spent in the thick pollution-choking parts of northern Thailand, Pon Doikam gets home and blows her burning nose to find blood clots spattered across the tissue.

Myanmar's parliament elected junta chief Min Aung Hlaing as president on Friday, parliament said, with the ex-military commander set to maintain his rule in a civilian guise after snatching power by force five years ago.

Millions of people have been gripped by the juicy twists of an AI-generated TikTok micro-series based on the television hit "Love Island" -- except all the participants are sexy human-like fruit.

Like many of her fellow volunteers, Hungarian beautician Krisztina Menczel sat idle in the past elections that kept nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban in power.

Israel said Friday it was under attack from a new barrage of Iranian missiles, as President Donald Trump warned the United States had yet to begin "destroying what's left" with more of the Islamic republic's infrastructure in his sights.

The NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder embarrassed the Los Angeles Lakers 139-96 on Thursday in a blowout made more painful by the early exit of injured Lakers star Luka Doncic.

In a maze of plywood artists' studios built into a Dublin warehouse, author and filmmaker Seanan Kerr stitches together a career that -- until recently -- had little guarantee of stability.

Microsoft said Friday it will invest $10 billion in Japan over the next four years to build artificial intelligence data centres and related infrastructure.

Every winter, storms wipe out swathes of the picturesque Spanish coast, undoing summer reconstruction work and threatening the foundations of the country's vital tourism industry.

Four Artemis astronauts were zooming towards the Moon late Thursday after a major engine firing, a milestone that commits NASA to the first crewed lunar flyby in more than half a century.

Borussia Dortmund's 2025-26 Bundesliga campaign is statistically among their best ever, but their hopes of major honours this season have been derailed by a poor record against top sides.

Napoli and AC Milan will face off on Monday with Serie A leaders Inter Milan in their sights, but the return of domestic football over Easter has been completely overshadowed by the fallout from Italy failing to reach yet another World Cup.

Barcelona winger Raphinha's untimely injury heaps further pressure on teenage star Lamine Yamal ahead of the club's triple-header against Atletico Madrid.

Ex-South Africa fly-half Franco Smith's record at Glasgow Warriors has boosted his credentials amid rumours he could be in line for the Scotland head coach job.

The UN Security Council has postponed a vote scheduled for Friday on authorizing the use of "defensive" force to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks, according to the official program.

Hundreds of Filipinos and tourists flocked to a sun-bleached field north of Manila on Good Friday to witness one of the country's most blood-soaked displays of religious fervour, undeterred by rising fuel prices driven by the Middle East war.

Cuba's government announced Thursday that it was pardoning 2,010 prisoners as a "humanitarian" gesture to mark Easter after previously pledging to release dozens amid heightened US pressure on Havana.

Reigning Women's British Open champion Miyu Yamashita bounced back from an early bogey to join a three-way tie for the lead on Thursday in the LPGA Aramco Championship.

The people of Burkina Faso must "forget" about democracy, said the country's junta ruler on Thursday in an interview broadcast on national television.

A Japanese water plant is harnessing the natural process of osmosis to generate renewable energy that could one day become a common power source.

The federal trial of Luigi Mangione in the killing of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been delayed further to January 2027, according to court documents filed on Thursday.

Four Artemis astronauts were zooming towards the Moon on Thursday after a major engine firing, a milestone that commits NASA to the first crewed lunar flyby in more than half a century.

In the heart of southeastern France, aerospace giant Airbus is drawing on its helicopter expertise to develop drones -- a core element of modern warfare -- and enable them to work in tandem with manned aircraft.

Thousands of metres beneath the ground, amid suffocating heat, lies one of the keys to Poland's rumbling mining sector -- and the world economy.

"Within like 30 minutes I knew this was the one," Lara Peters said of the second-hand wedding dress she had just worn to her marriage -- in the Netherlands' busiest rail station.

Against a backdrop of blooming cherry blossoms, a group of geishas elegantly shuffle onto a stage in Japan's Kyoto city to begin a centuries-old performance celebrating the arrival of spring.

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid thinks sometimes movies can change history; other times they simply narrate it.

The UN Security Council will vote Friday on a draft resolution brought by Bahrain to authorize the use of "defensive" force to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks.

Liverpool face a daunting trip to Manchester City in the standout tie of the FA Cup quarter-finals this weekend as Mohamed Salah seeks to end nine spectacular seasons at Anfield on a high.