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

Sitting in the middle of a Johannesburg road as traffic snaked around her, Susan Jobson banged empty bottles to protest the water cuts that have upended her life for nearly three weeks.

US job growth beat expectations in January while unemployment crept down, official data showed Wednesday, defying immediate concerns about labor market fragility on the back of President Donald Trump's economic policies.

World stock markets mostly rose on Wednesday as data showed US job growth beat expectations in January, reassuring investors about the outlook for the world's top economy.

Hundreds of emails containing photographs of young women from around the world suggest modelling scout Daniel Siad may have been a significant recruiter for convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to public documents reviewed by AFP.

French lawmakers Wednesday urged longer paid parental leave and more financial support to make it easier for people to have more children, after deaths last year exceeded births in France for the first time in decades.

Franjo von Allmen may have written his name into the annals of Olympic alpine skiing, but the grounded Swiss racer said ski history was wasted on him.

An actor whose face was used by Albania's government for an AI chatbot that it promoted to be a "minister" told AFP on Wednesday that she had launched a legal fight to stop the use of her image and accused the government of "exploitation".

Swiss skier Franjo von Allmen joined the Olympic greats on Wednesday by winning his third gold medal of the Milan-Cortina Games, while Chloe Kim stayed on track to make her own history in snowboarding.

The French government issued a long-awaited report Wednesday urging people to limit meat consumption for their health and also to fight climate change -- and not everyone in the country of "steak-frites" is thrilled.

A depleted Australia shrugged off the loss of their captain Mitchell Marsh to injury to cruise to a dominant 67-run opening T20 World Cup win over Ireland in Colombo on Wednesday.

The International Olympic Committee will try to convince Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych to not wear a banned helmet that depicts victims of the war with Russia at the Milan-Cortina Games, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

Barcelona will be without both of their left wingers Marcus Rashford and Raphinha for the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg clash at Atletico Madrid on Thursday.

Hundreds of honking tractors rolled into Madrid on Wednesday as Spanish farmers staged a protest against the European Union’s trade deal with four South American countries.

US superstar Chloe Kim said "muscle memory" had kicked in as she began her quest for a historic Olympic women's snowboard hat-trick on Wednesday by topping qualifying at Livigno Snow Park.

Throughout Russia's four-year invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin -- and more recently the White House -- have said Ukraine must hold elections as part of any peace deal.

Franjo von Allmen became only the third male skier in history to win three gold medals at a single Winter Games when he claimed victory in Wednesday's super-G in Bormio.

A depleted Australia, rocked by the loss of their captain Mitchell Marsh to injury, eked out 182-6 against Ireland on Wednesday in their opening T20 World Cup match in Colombo.

A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered a formal investigation into alleged mismanagement at Nexperia, a Chinese-owned chip firm at the centre of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology.

US snowboard superstar Chloe Kim began her bid for a historic women's Olympic halfpipe hat-trick in style on Wednesday, dominating qualifying at Livigno Snow Park.

Tottenham Hotspur have sacked head coach Thomas Frank after less than eight months in charge following a 2-1 defeat at home to Newcastle on Tuesday, which left them a mere five points above the Premier League relegation zone.

World stock markets diverged and the dollar slipped Wednesday ahead of US jobs data as investors weighed the outlook for Federal Reserve interest rates and digested more annual earnings.

For Hong Kong journalists, this week's sentencing of pro-democracy newspaper boss Jimmy Lai cements a climate of fear and self-censorship in the years since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law.

French AI developer Mistral said Wednesday that it would build data centres in Sweden, its first outside France, as it races to compete with the sector's biggest names.

Tottenham Hotspur have sacked head coach Thomas Frank after less than eight months in charge following a 2-1 defeat at home to Newcastle on Tuesday which left them just five points above the Premier League relegation zone.

South Africa prevailed in a double super over thriller as Afghanistan came up agonisingly short of a famous victory after their T20 World Cup clash ended in a tie on Wednesday.

A Russian drone strike on a house in northeastern Ukraine killed three toddlers and their father and wounded their pregnant mother, officials said Wednesday.

German turbine maker Siemens Energy said Wednesday that its quarterly profits had almost tripled as the firm gains from surging demand for electricity driven by the artificial intelligence boom.

The World Trade Organization must urgently reform itself, its chief warned Wednesday, saying that "I don't think the status quo is an option".

European airlines warned Wednesday that the new entry system for travellers into the Schengen open-borders zone will cause "severe disruption" over peak summer months, and called for action to resolve "critical issues" behind already existing delays.

Gisele Pelicot, the French woman who survived mass rapes organised by her husband at their home, is set to reveal intimate details about her marriage and her decision to go public in her upcoming book, according to extracts published in the media.

The EU on Wednesday said it wanted to tighten drone registration, create no-fly zones and ramp up detection at critical sites after a string of unexplained sightings rocked European countries last year.

A shooter killed nine people and wounded dozens more at a secondary school and a residence in a remote part of western Canada on Tuesday, authorities said, in a rare mass shooting in the country.