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

Oscar-winning British actor Maggie Smith, a star of stage and screen for more than seven decades, died in hospital in London on Friday, her sons announced, prompting a flood of tributes.

A paramilitary attack on a market in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher killed 18 people, a medical source told AFP on Friday, after world leaders appealed for an end to the country's wartime suffering.

Maggie Smith, who died on Friday aged 89, was an Oscar-winning legend of stage and screen, renowned for playing wide repertoire of characters during a decades-spanning career and personifying a particular kind of English eccentricity.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he still "loves" Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola despite last weekend's bad-tempered top-of-the-table clash.

Swiss teenage cyclist Muriel Furrer died on Friday a day after suffering a serious head injury in a crash at the world championships.

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has revealed Son Heung-min is fighting to prove his fitness for Sunday's clash with Manchester United.

Oscar-winning British actor Maggie Smith, a star of stage and screen for more than seven decades, died in hospital in London on Friday, her sons announced.

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said on Friday he believes honesty is the best policy as he tries to keep his bloated squad happy.

New York's scandal-plagued Mayor Eric Adams arrived in court Friday where he was due to answer multiple fraud and bribery charges that have shocked the city.

The heirs of a prolific Dutch art collector are demanding that one of the country's top museums return 25 paintings, including eight works by Rembrandt, because they are not on permanent display.

An inflation metric closely watched by the US Federal Reserve crept lower Friday, according to government data, supporting the central bank's decision earlier this month to begin cutting interest rates -- ahead of November's presidential election.

Stock markets rose Friday as slowing US and European inflation raised hopes of more aggressive interest rate cuts and China took measures to boost its struggling economy.

A UK judge on Friday jailed two climate activists who threw soup at Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at London's National Gallery in 2022 for terms of two years and 20 months respectively.

A South African woman celebrated her 118th birthday Friday as one of the oldest people in the world with a small party at her care home.

Manchester City midfielder Rodri will miss the rest of the season due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury, manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.

Hurricane Helene knocked out power for millions of customers across the southeast United States on Friday and left at least four dead after it slammed into the Florida coast.

An Irish regulator helping to police European Union data privacy said Friday it had fined Facebook-owner Meta 91 million euros ($102 million) for password-security breaches.

Pope Francis on Friday said he was "saddened" to learn about a little-known scandal that still troubles Belgium: the "forced adoption" of newborns taken from their mothers, with the complicity of nuns.

A luxury round-the-world cruise ship beset with technical delays and docked in rainy Belfast since May is finally set to depart, prompting mixed emotions among its passengers.

A paramilitary attack on a market in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher killed 18 people, a medical source told AFP on Friday, after world leaders appealed for an end to the country's wartime suffering.

Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev both won in straight sets to launch their China Open title bids Friday while 595th-ranked Zhang Shuai pulled off a big shock in the women's draw.

Britain's competition regulator on Friday cleared Amazon's investment of up to $4 billion in Anthropic, an American developer of artificial intelligence, following a short probe.

Barcelona must play their next away Champions League game without their fans and pay a 10,000-euro ($11,000) fine for a racist fan banner, UEFA ruled on Friday.

Around 60 women have now come forward to allege they were sexually abused by former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, lawyers representing them said on Friday.

Damiano David, lead singer of Italian rock band and Eurovision winner Maneskin, released his first solo track Friday, sparking fears among fans that the group might be about to split.

Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets soared again Friday with the latter index recording its strongest weekly gain in 16 years on hopes China would unveil yet more measures to boost its flagging economy.

The United States has returned to Iran more than 1,000 clay tablets dating from the Achaemenid-era, official media said, reporting the sixth such handover of its kind.

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky will sit down for a potentially fractious meeting Friday, following a series of scathing attacks by the White House hopeful on the Ukrainian president's handling of the conflict with Russia.

Helene weakened to a tropical storm Friday hours after it made landfall as a powerful hurricane in the US state of Florida, with officials warning the deadly storm remained "dangerous" as it surged inland, leaving flooded roads and homes in its wake.

Afghanistan's embassy in London closed on Friday after Taliban authorities cut ties with diplomatic missions set up by the previous government in Kabul and fired its UK staff.

Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany on Friday laughed off suggestions Saturday's match with Bayer Leverkusen was a personal showdown with visiting opposite number Xabi Alonso.

The trial of a man who drugged his wife to have her raped by dozens of strangers for almost a decade has ignited a quiet discussion around masculinity in France.