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

Crude prices fell more than two percent Friday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was being "decimated" and that the war would end earlier than many feared.

Employees of a US computer company raked in billions of dollars diverting Nvidia artificial intelligence chips to China in violation of export controls, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.

Iga Swiatek crashed out of the Miami Open second round Thursday as 50th-ranked fellow Pole Magda Linette fought back for a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over the six-time Grand Slam champion.

Six major international powers said Thursday they were ready "to contribute to" ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, though three stressed that any initiative would take place post-ceasefire.

A US-backed crackdown on drug cartels along the Ecuador-Colombia border has sparked accusations that security forces bombed farms, burned homes and detained and abused villagers.

Outraged EU leaders rounded on Viktor Orban after the Hungarian nationalist refused to lift his veto on funds for Ukraine's war effort at a Thursday summit, accusing him of a "gross act of disloyalty" tantamount to "blackmail."

Aziza Ahmad hasn't planned anything -- no family meal, no gifts for the children. In Lebanon, between the war and soaring prices, she said "there's nothing to celebrate" this Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan.

Basketball superstar LeBron James tied the NBA record for most regular-season games played as his Los Angeles Lakers took on the Miami Heat on Thursday.

K-pop megastars BTS release a new album Friday a day ahead of a huge comeback concert in Seoul, a record billed as reflecting the maturing boy band's "beginnings and identity".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Iran is being "decimated" and it is unclear who is in charge, even as the Islamic Republic kept up attacks on Gulf oil and gas targets that have jolted global markets.

Michael Carrick admits he doesn't know if Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt will play again this season as he struggles with a "difficult" back injury.

Nottingham Forest reached the Europa League quarter-finals after Midtjylland missed all three of their penalties in the last-16 second-leg shoot-out, while John McGinn inspired Aston Villa's 2-0 win against Lille on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both praise their relationship as excellent, but after three weeks of attacking Iran, their tactics are increasingly diverging -- the result, some experts say, of Trump's ill-defined goals.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sailed smoothly past a potential clash with Donald Trump over Iran on Thursday, though the US president whipped up a bit of a storm about Pearl Harbor.

Brazil's Flavio Bolsonaro, who plans to run for president in October elections, on Thursday called for "many, many prisons" in a speech praising the controversial security policies of El Salvador's Nayib Bukele.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that it "takes money to kill bad guys" when asked if the Pentagon had requested $200 billion in funding for the Iran war.

Energy prices soared during a volatile session Thursday, while Wall Street stocks trimmed losses after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war with Iran could finish sooner than expected.

Nottingham Forest reached the Europa League quarter-finals after Midtjylland missed all three of their penalties in the last-16 second-leg shoot-out on Thursday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel's military attacks had "decimated" Iran and that the Middle East war could finish sooner than expected, even as the Islamic republic kept up attacks on Gulf oil and gas targets that have jolted global markets.

Jailed Salvadoran lawyer Ruth Lopez symbolizes the "decency" and "credible voice" that President Nayib Bukele's government only managed to silence with imprisonment, her husband Louis Benavides told AFP in an interview.

Lawmakers in California said Thursday they will rename the Cesar Chavez Day state holiday in the wake of disturbing allegations of sexual abuse by the late labor rights icon.

A Yazidi woman who was held as a sex slave by the Islamic State group testified Thursday before a French court, describing in stark detail the horrors she endured under jihadist captivity.

All teams participating in a women's tournament organised by FIFA will be required to have a female head coach or assistant after football's governing body passed ground-breaking regulations at its council meeting on Thursday.

Megan Jones will captain all-conquering world champions England in the upcoming Women's Six Nations, the Rugby Football Union announced Thursday.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to strike any more Iranian gas fields, seeking to distance himself from an attack by a key ally that has shaken world energy markets.

Major League Soccer will play a February-to-May campaign in 2027 to transition into a season schedule that aligns with most football leagues worldwide, organisers announced on Thursday.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Thursday underlined the body's commitment to making sure the World Cup goes ahead "as scheduled" with "all teams" taking part amid doubts about Iran's presence at the tournament.

Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar will miss the entire 2026 Major League Baseball season after his appeal of the 162-game doping ban failed, ESPN reported on Thursday.

The war in the Middle East has exposed Europe's reliance on Gulf companies for flights to Asia, Europe's airlines said on Thursday.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker and a veteran of the Revolutionary Guards, has emerged as the highest-profile political figure in the Islamic republic after the killing of its leaders.

The UN's maritime body called Thursday for the creation of a safe shipping "corridor" in the Gulf to evacuate stranded vessels and seafarers, after an emergency meeting that also condemned Iran.

Democrats and activists celebrated Thursday the release of a US high school student from Venezuela who spent 10 months in custody after his arrest by immigration officials enforcing President Donald Trump's mass deportation plans.