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

Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus fired a warning shot to rivals Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh Monday with the second fastest women's 400m freestyle in history, while backstroke star Kaylee McKeown narrowly missed the 200m medley world record.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi readied Monday to unveil his coalition government after a surprise election setback lost his Hindu-nationalist party an overall majority.

Swedish pole vault world record holder Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis led a raft of stand-out athletes safely through qualifiers into finals at the European championships in Rome on Monday.

French Open champion Iga Swiatek cemented her place at the top of the women's game with her victory at Roland Garros, reinforcing her position as world No.1 when the WTA released its new rankings on Monday.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Monday described the prospect of French parliamentary elections just weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics as "extremely unsettling", while the International Olympic Committee played down any direct impact on the event.

Europe's stock markets and the euro slid Monday after far-right parties performed well in EU elections, prompting French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap parliamentary poll and plunging the bloc into political turmoil.

Will Still has been appointed coach of Lens until 2027, replacing Franck Haise who has left for Nice, the Ligue 1 club announced on Monday.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo described the prospect of French parliamentary elections just weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics as "extremely unsettling", while the International Olympic Committee played down any direct impact on the event.

Ofentse Pitse embodies a fierce sense of fun as she waves her conducting baton passionately in a dimly lit auditorium in Johannesburg, ahead of a one-of-a-kind show.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was back in the Middle East on Monday to promote a Gaza truce and hostage release plan as Israeli bombardment again rocked the besieged Palestinian territory.

Several thieves used a car early Monday morning to ram-raid a Chanel store near the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris before setting it on fire and fleeing in another vehicle, a police source said.

"House of the Dragon" returns next week after a strike-related delay, promising more of the blood, fire and power struggles that fans of the "Game of Thrones" universe have come to expect.

Harry Kane says England's shock 1-0 defeat against Iceland could be a "nice wake-up call", showing the scale of the task ahead of them at Euro 2024.

President Emmanuel Macron said Monday he was confident the French would make the "right choice" in snap elections he called after the far right beat his centrist alliance in EU elections.

Soldiers in India-administered Kashmir carried out a large-scale manhunt on Monday, the government said, a day after nine Hindu pilgrims were killed in one of the deadliest recent attacks on civilians.

Flooding and landslides in northern Vietnam have killed three people, state media said Monday, after days of heavy rain that partially submerged thousands of homes.

European markets sank with the euro on Monday after a win for far-right parties in EU elections and French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to call a snap parliamentary poll fuelled uncertainty in the bloc.

Afghanistan hope to achieve a footballing milestone on Tuesday by snatching a spot in the third and final phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

India's heatwave is the longest ever to hit the country, the government's top weather expert said Monday as he warned people will face increasingly oppressive temperatures.

North Korea sent hundreds more trash-carrying balloons over the border, Seoul's military said Monday, after Kim Jong Un's powerful sister warned of further responses if the South keeps up its "psychological warfare".

Wellington Hurricanes fly-half Brett Cameron said Monday he is relishing his battle with All Blacks playmaker Damian McKenzie in the Super Rugby semi-final against the Waikato Chiefs.

After a few hesitant steps following a long flight from Prague, three Przewalski horses galloped off for the first time into the Kazakh steppe -- the native habitat of this endangered species.

At her lowest point, fighting burnout and depression in her Chinese hometown, Huang Bingbing says she found comfort in watching the escapist love story of two young men on a then-unknown Thai TV drama.

Switzerland will stage a conference on Ukraine this coming weekend, with world leaders set to discuss how to reach an eventual peace process -- although Russia is not taking part.

Boxing great Manny Pacquiao said Monday that he is in negotiations to make a comeback but cautioned that a potential world title fight against Mario Barrios was "far away".

Boston's 105-98 victory over Dallas in game two of the NBA Finals was the kind of total team effort that Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla hopes will silence debate over who is the team's best player.

The United States stepped up pressure Monday for a Gaza ceasefire with a call for a UN Security Council vote on a truce as it redeployed Washington's top diplomat to the region scarred by eight months of war.

Nepal's controversial Sandeep Lamichhane will join their T20 World Cup squad in the West Indies after missing matches in the United States because his visa was denied, the cricket association said Monday.

A smart wheelchair system built by a team of young Tunisian women engineers has reached the finals for a prestigious European inventors' prize, setting a hopeful precedent in a country embroiled in multiple crises.

Moby is touring Europe for the first time in more than a decade and donating all the proceeds from his concerts to animal rights, which he says has become his real job.

China's Shi Yuqi will rise to badminton world number one for the first time this week and is targeting Olympic glory in Paris to go with the milestone.

The Boston Celtics, fueled by 26 points from Jrue Holiday, thwarted a desperate Dallas rally in the final minutes to beat the Mavericks 105-98 on Sunday and take a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.