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

The US Department of Justice said on Tuesday it would demand that Google make profound changes to how it does business and even consider the possibility of a breakup, after the tech juggernaut was found to be running an illegal monopoly.

Joe Root broke Alastair Cook's Test runs record on the third day of the opening Test against Pakistan in Multan on Wednesday, as he helped guide England to 232-2 at lunch.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba dissolved parliament on Wednesday ahead of October 27 snap elections, banking on his political honeymoon and a fragmented opposition to lead his scandal-tainted party to victory.

Stocks in mainland China and Hong Kong tumbled Wednesday on another volatile day after Beijing disappointed investors over a lack of fresh stimulus and scant detail on its plans for implementing a raft of measures already unveiled.

The Japanese owner of 7-Eleven said on Wednesday it had received a "revised" takeover offer from Canadian rival Alimentation Couche-Tard after rejecting an initial bid worth around $40 billion.

US President Joe Biden has begged Florida residents to flee Hurricane Milton, warning that the Category 5 storm could turn into the worst natural disaster to hit the state in a century.

In a move akin to kicking Lenin out of Moscow's Red Square, the mayor of Belgrade wants to rid the Serbian capital of the tomb of Tito, the socialist leader who held Yugoslavia together for decades.

Sherlock Holmes fans are being promised a most authentic depiction of the fictional detective, with the restoration of a century-old silent film series chronicling the London sleuth's adventures.

World number one Jannik Sinner put some old demons to rest when he made it through to the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals on Wednesday, beating American Ben Shelton in straight sets.

North Korea's army said Wednesday it was moving to "permanently shut off and block the southern border" with Seoul and had informed the US military to prevent an accidental clash.

Renowned American trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis believes the universal language of jazz can bridge divides with a common story of humanity.

When winter draws in on Antikythera, the already meagre population of the isolated Greek island shrinks to almost nothing.

An 18-year-old Nepali mountaineer on Wednesday broke the record for the youngest person to summit all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre peaks, his team said.

Hurricane Helene's torrential rain and powerful winds were made about 10 percent more intense due to climate change, according to a study published Wednesday by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group.

Carl Schreck spent his career studying tropical storms thousands of miles away from home.

The San Diego Padres sent the star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers to the brink of postseason elimination with a 6-5 victory in a roller-coaster Major League Baseball playoff clash on Tuesday.

A few dozen kilometres from the Philippine capital Manila sits a coal plant that some hope could be a model for how developing countries can quit the polluting fossil fuel.

With parched crops on one side and lush green plants on the other, a small farming project in northwest Tunisia demonstrates how foreign funding coupled with dogged local efforts can help tackle the impact of climate change.

Sega said Wednesday one of its most popular games, "Shinobi", will be made into a movie in a joint project with Universal Pictures, aiming to emulate the success of "Super Mario Bros".

Boeing on Tuesday suspended negotiations with its striking workers as it accused the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) of making unreasonable demands and withdrew its offer.

Shares in the Japanese owner of 7-Eleven surged Wednesday following reports that Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) had hiked its takeover offer by almost 20 percent.

In Japan more is at stake than money in the mammoth takeover battle for 7-Eleven, the world's biggest convenience chain, by Canadian retail giant Alimentation Couche-Tard.

A record 9.3 million people, including three million children, are facing hunger and hardship in the UK, a study said Wednesday, with the new Labour government under pressure to do more to tackle child poverty.

Chinese director Jia Zhangke's ambitious latest, which utilises footage shot across two decades, offered a peek into the evolving nature of cinema as it unspooled at this year's Busan International Film Festival.

Beyond the complex byways of international finance, a simple solution is gaining ground to protect populations caught in the path of destructive extreme weather: transfer a little money via their mobile phones before disaster strikes.

Stocks in mainland China and Hong Kong fell Wednesday in a volatile start a day after Beijing left investors disappointed over a lack of fresh stimulus and scant detail on its plans for implementing a raft of measures already unveiled.

Southeast Asian leaders met for talks with a Myanmar junta representative at a regional summit Wednesday as they try to kickstart faltering diplomatic efforts to broker an end to the country's civil war.

In the mountains of northeast Peru, a group of women beekeepers have plucked millions of bees from the jaws of death and saved their own livelihoods with the help of UN climate funding.

The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded Friday, a ray of light in a dark year for world peace, with the International Court of Justice, UNRWA and UN chief Antonio Guterres seen as favourites.

A surge of drugs is engulfing the paradisal South Pacific, as cartels and triads use far-flung island nations to channel narcotics across the globe, top police and UN officials have told AFP.

The development of new compounds and science aided by artificial intelligence are some of the research fields commentators say could be contenders for the Nobel Chemistry Prize announced Wednesday.

Mozambique votes for a new president, governors and members of parliament on Wednesday as jihadist violence stalls natural gas projects that could bring a major boost to its morose economy.