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

Oil prices jumped and equities slid Thursday as hopes for a peace deal between the United States and Iran wavered, with US President Donald Trump threatening to "obliterate" the country even as he claimed negotiations to end the conflict were ongoing.

England manager Thomas Tuchel says he has been "a degree unfair" on Trent Alexander-Arnold after excluding the Real Madrid right-back despite naming a 35-man squad for friendlies against Uruguay and Japan.

New Zealand's Lydia Ko fired a 12-under par 60 to seize a one-stroke lead over South Korea's Kim Hyo-joo in Thursday's first round of the LPGA Ford Championship.

Arctic sea ice reached its lowest level ever recorded, statistically tying last year's record, a leading US climate observatory for this geopolitically significant region said on Thursday.

The Oscars will leave Hollywood after celebrating their centenary, organizers said Thursday, as they announced a long-term deal to hold the gala in downtown Los Angeles.

US President Donald Trump denied Thursday he was desperate for a deal to end the Middle East war, insisting that Tehran was keen to come to the table despite the Islamic republic's cool response to an American peace plan.

Nigeria's Lagos state has taken out a $7.5 million flood insurance policy to cover millions of people, the Insurance Development Forum said Thursday, as the country's economic capital faces rising sea levels and floods linked to climate change.

Peruvian presidential hopefuls are touting cash bounties for killing criminals and jungle prisons encircled by Amazonian vipers as they look to tap widespread public anger over rising violence ahead of the April 12 election.

Turkey kept their hopes of a first World Cup appearance since 2002 alive as Ferdi Kadioglu scored a second-half winner in a 1-0 victory over Romania in their play-off semi-final on Thursday.

Jannik Sinner dominated Frances Tiafoe for a 6-2, 6-2 victory on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA Miami Open.

The United States launched a broadside at the hamstrung World Trade Organization as its main gathering opened Thursday, while China rushed to the WTO's defence, making the case for rules-based global trade.

Ghanaians in the streets of the capital Accra were full of pride -- and already looking toward future "justice" -- Thursday after the United Nations recognised the transatlantic slave trade as "the gravest crime against humanity."

San Diego FC's billionaire owner Mohamed Mansour on Thursday said his Egyptian compatriot Mohamed Salah would be an "asset," as speculation builds over the Liverpool forward's next club.

For the first time more than half of Parmesan cheese was exported, as Italy's population declines and consumers watch their spending, producers said Thursday.

Business leaders are warning that the United States lacks the infrastructure to alleviate a global LNG shortage caused by the US-Israel war on Iran, which has kept a fifth of the world's energy supplies from leaving the Gulf.

US President Donald Trump denied being "desperate" to make a deal with Iran Thursday, as he mixed threats with diplomacy in a push to wrap up his war in the Middle East.

Washington's envoy to the UK said Thursday it would be a "big mistake" to cancel King Charles III's planned state visit to the US, following calls to abandon the trip over the Middle East war.

The International Olympic Committee's announcement on Thursday that it is reintroducing gender testing to protect the female category, after it was last used at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, raises practical, legal, ethical and scientific questions.

Ilia Malinin pulled off a stunning short programme a month after his Winter Olympics collapse, finishing his routine with a smile on Thursday as a third consecutive world figure skating gold beckons.

Doctors at Cuba's main pediatric heart hospital face wrenching decisions as a US fuel blockade further strains an already fragile health system: which children receive life-saving treatment first -- and which must wait longer.

Oil prices jumped and equities slid Thursday as hopes for a peace deal between the US and Iran wavered after Tehran rejected Washington's bid to wind down the nearly four-week war.

Nepal's rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, set to be sworn in as the new prime minister, issued his first post-election message via a rap song on Thursday, urging unity.

British sprinter Ethan Vernon won stage four of the Tour of Catalonia on Thursday after a high wind warning in the mountains caused a hasty switch from a summit finish to a flat one.

OpenAI's GPT models can often be fooled into declaring that "pseudo-literary" nonsense is great, a German researcher has found.

British pop legend and former Beatle Paul McCartney on Thursday released a new single and announced his first album in over five years, examining his life in Liverpool before global stardom.

A newly discovered hat believed to have been worn by Napoleon Bonaparte during his exile on the island of Saint Helena is set to go on display outside Paris later this year, historians said on Thursday.

Scientists have used a tiny plastic "obstacle course" to test how much sperm would struggle to navigate during sex in the weightlessness of space.

European and allied nations on Thursday looked for ways to narrow differences with the United States on the Middle East war as a two-day meeting of G7 foreign ministers got underway outside Paris.

The International Olympic Committee's announcement on Thursday that it is reintroducing gender testing to protect the female category, after last being used at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, raises practical, legal, ethical and scientific questions.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that the Iran war was "extremely" ahead of schedule, as he pushed Tehran to make a deal at his first cabinet meeting since the conflict began nearly a month ago.

Here are facts and figures about the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a crucial passage into the Red Sea that Iran has threatened to target if US forces launch a ground assault on its territory.

Abdul Hai Hamidi gently opened each of the dozens of coffins, hoping to recognise one of his relatives who was killed in a Pakistani strike on a Kabul drug treatment centre.