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

The UK government came under fire on Monday for freezing the BBC licence fee, with critics accusing it of a politically motivated attack to save the prime minister's job.

The family of former US vice president Mike Pence has announced the death of Marlon Bundo, their pet rabbit who starred in a children's book series by the second family as well as a parody version supporting gay rights.

Nigeria's northern Zamfara state reopened schools on Monday four months after they were shut due to mass kidnappings of students by criminal gangs, the local government said.

The UK government on Monday announced a freeze of the BBC licence fee, arguing a new funding model was needed to ease cost of living pressures and reflect a transformed media landscape.

At least 26 people were killed after an earthquake hit western Afghanistan on Monday, an official said.

Community leaders in Blackburn, northwest England, on Monday voiced their shock after a local man took four people hostage more than 4,500 miles (7,400 kilometres) away at a Texas synagogue.

Former French cycling medical advisor Bernard Sainz, alias Dr Mabuse, was sentenced Monday to 12 months under house arrest with electronic monitoring for illegally practising medicine and pharmacology and inciting doping.

Former Spain international forward Diego Costa has quit Brazilian champions Atletico Mineiro just five months after returning to his country of birth.

Cameroon captain Vincent Aboubakar scored his fifth goal of the Africa Cup of Nations as his already qualified side were joined by Burkina Faso on Monday in the second round.

The chairman of Credit Suisse resigned Monday over Covid quarantine violations, leaving the bank's new risk committee chief holding the reins and tasked with trying to stabilise the scandal-hit institution.

The rabbi of a Texas synagogue that was the scene of a hostage stand-off recounted Monday how he threw a chair at the gunman, allowing those being held to escape.

European stock markets climbed on Monday as China's unexpectedly muted growth slowdown and optimism over the impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant boosted investor confidence.

The Kremlin's most prominent critic Alexei Navalny said Monday he did not regret returning to Russia a year ago, despite his jailing and a historic crackdown on the opposition.

Ukrainian prosecutors on Monday requested $35 million in bail for former leader Petro Poroshenko, who had returned to the ex-Soviet country earlier in the day despite facing arrest on treason charges.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday that he had recovered from a second bout of Covid-19, as he resumed his public activities.

Hong Kong police arrested and charged Monday two Cathay Pacific flight attendants for allegedly contravening Covid regulations, after the emergence of the Omicron variant in the territory was traced to their breach of home quarantine.

Canada's health authority said Monday it has approved Pfizer's anti-Covid pill, Paxlovid, for adults at high risk of progressing to serious disease.

Moderna aims to roll out a combined Covid-flu-RSV booster vaccine in late 2023, the US pharmaceutical firm said Monday, hoping a joint jab would encourage people to get an annual shot.

A Turkish court on Monday extended the detention of a civil society leader whose case has set Ankara on a collision course with Europe's top human rights body and Western allies.

Thomas Tuchel said on Monday it would be wrong to change Chelsea's approach just to suit misfiring striker Romelu Lukaku, insisting the club are doing "everything to help him".

Persistently high levels of ozone pollution in Asia are costing China, Japan and South Korea an estimated $63 billion annually in lost rice, wheat and maize crops, a new study says.

Novak Djokovic's deportation from Australia due to his coronavirus vaccine status may be the portent of worse things to come for the Serbian tennis superstar.

Security forces shot and killed three protesters Monday during rallies against last year's military coup, medics said, ahead of a visit by US diplomats seeking to revive a transition to civilian rule.

Boris Johnson is hoping a slew of policy announcements, including scrapping controversial Covid passports and abolishing the BBC licence fee, can save his position as British prime minister, reports said on Monday.

At full gallop, the horse emerges from the darkness and races through a string of bonfires in an ancient ritual to ward off sickness performed every January in a tiny Spanish village.

Sweden's intelligence service is launching an investigation into several drone flights that took place over nuclear power plants in the country over the weekend, the agency said Monday.