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

Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who on Thursday sealed the race to be the next head of NATO, will take the reins of the Western military alliance at a perilous moment.

Best-known for riding his bike to work, often crunching an apple, Dutchman Mark Rutte will need all his sense of balance to steer NATO through one of its toughest-ever periods.

A Stockholm court on Thursday acquitted a Syrian former general of war crimes charges, saying prosecutors had not proved his involvement in the attacks carried out during the country's civil war.

Wales prop Henry Thomas has been ruled out of Saturday's match against world champions South Africa at Twickenham with a foot injury.

Thousands of mostly young demonstrators took to the streets across Kenya on Thursday to protest tax hikes, blowing whistles and chanting slogans in a vivid show of anger by Gen-Z protesters against the government.

Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Thursday clinched the race to become the next head of NATO at a pivotal time for the alliance, after sole challenger Romanian President Klaus Iohannis pulled out.

France likes to honour its late pioneers and visionaries, but the aristocratic Frenchman who founded the modern Olympics is proving to be a troublesome figure for organisers of the Paris 2024 Games.

A French-Chinese telescope satellite will blast off this weekend on a mission to hunt down gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe.

The Bank of England on Thursday kept its key interest rate at a 16-year high despite slowing UK inflation, opting against a cut before Britain's general election next month.

Under-fire Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic hit out at his critics on Thursday after their Euro 2024 draw with Albania, defending his team selection and complaining that he is taken for granted.

Major weapons exporter South Korea will "reconsider" a longstanding policy that bars it from supplying arms directly to Ukraine, a presidential official said Thursday, after North Korea and Russia signed a defence deal.

Kuwait has announced temporary power cuts in some parts of the country during peak consumption hours, saying it is struggling to meet increased demand spurred by extreme summer heat.

World leaders, health groups and pharmaceutical firms announced $1.2 billion in funding at a summit Thursday to produce vaccines in Africa, which is facing numerous health crises including rising cholera outbreaks.

Two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard will ride in this year's Tour de France after recovering from the serious injuries he suffered earlier in the season his team Visma-Lease a Bike announced on Thursday.

New Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi has named a much-changed squad for next month's Tests with France and Uruguay, leaving out 15 members of the set-up at last year's Rugby World Cup.

Left-leaning Jewish associations and individual voters in France are struggling to make a choice ahead of snap parliamentary polls, with the far right expected to make massive gains and the hard left mired in allegations of anti-Semitism.

In the sizzling Baghdad heat, Mussa Abdallah takes to the Tigris river during the day to cool off, while others opt for ice skating to escape the relentless temperatures.

European stock markets rose Thursday as dealers awaited the Bank of England's latest decision on interest rates, after Switzerland cut borrowing costs and Norway kept its status quo.

Under-fire Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic hit out at his critics on Thursday after their Euro 2024 draw with Albania, saying that when his team are successful he "means nothing".

The ongoing civil war in Sudan has provoked one of the world's worst humanitarian crises in decades, the international chief of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Thursday.

England come face to face with former boss Eddie Jones when they play his new-look Japan in a Test in sweltering Tokyo on Saturday.

The death toll from this year's hajj has exceeded 1,000, an AFP tally said on Thursday, more than half of them unregistered worshippers who performed the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia.

Fears of a regional war rose Thursday after Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement said none of Israel would be spared in a full-blown conflict, and Israel said it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive.

Leicester City have appointed former Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper as their new manager, the newly promoted Premier League club said on Thursday.

Russia and Vietnam pledged Thursday to deepen ties as President Vladimir Putin made a state visit aimed at bolstering his alliances to counter Moscow's growing isolation over the war in Ukraine.

The Bank of England was set to hold its interest rate steady on Thursday despite slowing UK inflation, with higher price risks and Britain's looming election preventing a cut, according to analysts.

Japan's tourism chief said Thursday its ambitious goal of luring 60 million foreign tourists a year -- more than double the current level -- is well within reach, despite surging overtourism concerns.

Eddie Jones vowed Japan will have "a red-hot go" against his former team England when the two sides meet in Tokyo on Saturday.

Shohei Ohtani's disgraced former interpreter will be removed from a school textbook that had celebrated his work, a Japanese publisher said Thursday.

Gold medallist Sarah Hirini was named Thursday in New Zealand women's rugby sevens squad for the Paris Olympics, just six months after surgery for a serious knee injury.

A Russian missile and drone barrage damaged a Ukrainian power plant and other energy facilities overnight, officials said on Thursday, the latest in a series of strikes that have pushed its grid to the brink.

Skipper Jamie George expects former boss Eddie Jones to have a few more tricks up his sleeve when England face a much-changed Japan in Tokyo on Saturday.