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

Clashes between Syrian government personnel and Kurdish forces raged into the night Thursday on the third day of fighting, as Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi warned the violence undermined talks with Damascus.

Rights groups accused Iranian security forces of shooting at protesters as the death toll mounted on Thursday from a crackdown on a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living that has now spread across the Islamic republic.

The Miami Dolphins became the latest NFL team to axe their head coach on Thursday, firing Mike McDaniel after four seasons in charge.

Three of 11 vessels chartered by Chevron were Thursday transporting oil from Venezuela to the US, according to an AFP analysis of ship-tracking data, as export sanctions raised concerns over the South American country's storage capacity.

The United States could run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years, President Donald Trump said in an interview published Thursday, less than a week after toppling its leader Nicolas Maduro.

French researcher Laurent Vinatier arrived in France on Thursday following a prisoner exchange involving a Russian basketball player wanted in the United States, officials said.

Europe was set to be buffeted by weather ranging from severe winds to snow and freezing temperatures with the arrival of Storm Goretti on Thursday, with forecasters issuing warnings from Britain to Germany.

Morocco coach Walid Regragui on Thursday sought to remove some of the pressure on his team as he suggested Cameroon had more to lose in the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final between the sides.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned Thursday that the UK has "severely restricted the right to protest" in recent years and was expanding "repressive measures" against peaceful demonstrators.

Hundreds of French farmers protested in Paris Thursday after rolling into the capital on tractors, angry at a planned EU trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur they fear will create unfair competition.

Two robots the size of schoolchildren stepped into the ring at BattleBots Arena.

Brazil's left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday vetoed a law dramatically reducing the prison sentence of former far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, convicted last year of coup plotting.

Protesters denounced the Iranian authorities and staged strike actions Thursday in a new wave of demonstrations that have spread across the Islamic republic, as rights groups accused security forces of shooting on people in several locations.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday the United States was "gradually turning away" from some of its allies and "breaking free from international rules", offering some of his strongest criticism yet of Washington's policies under Donald Trump.

Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua paid a moving tribute on Thursday to the two close friends killed in a car crash in Nigeria, labelling them "brothers" and "great men".

Protesters clashed with law enforcement officers in Minneapolis on Thursday after the fatal shooting of a woman by an immigration agent triggered outrage fueled by the Trump administration's insistence she was guilty of "domestic terrorism."

A former head of France's foreign intelligence agency was handed a one-year suspended jail sentence Thursday for attempted extortion worth millions of euros.

The UN climate chief led a chorus of criticism Thursday over President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from a bedrock climate treaty, calling it a "colossal own goal" that will only harm his country.

Syria's military began heavy bombardment of Kurdish neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo on Thursday after warning civilians to leave on a third day of fighting.

Between US demands for its crude, tankers threatened with seizure, storage tanks at overflow risk and bewildered local authorities, the outlook for Venezuela's oil industry has never been murkier.

Stock markets pulled back Thursday as an early-year rally ran out of steam, with investors locking in profits ahead of the release of key US jobs data this week.

The US trade deficit made a sharp and unexpected pullback in October, reaching its lowest level since 2009 as goods imports dropped while President Donald Trump's tariffs took hold, government data showed Thursday.

Russia has exchanged jailed French researcher Laurent Vinatier for a Russian basketball player who was being held in France, state media reported on Thursday, citing Russia's FSB security service.

The Spanish government and the Catholic Church signed a landmark agreement Thursday to compensate victims of sexual abuse by clergy, aiming to settle what officials described as a "moral debt".

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the United States was "breaking free from international rules" and "gradually turning away" from some of its allies.

The United States could run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years, President Donald Trump said in an interview published Thursday, less than a week after toppling Nicolas Maduro.

England will limp home from Australia after a humbling 4-1 Ashes defeat but appear likely to stick with the regime of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, who have vowed to learn lessons from a painful tour.

Nobel winner and Belarusian dissident Ales Bialiatski told AFP on Thursday that it was "very important" to keep up pressure on Belarus in order to free political prisoners after his first meeting with the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Russia on Thursday slammed a plan for European peacekeepers to be deployed to Ukraine as "dangerous" and dubbed Kyiv and its allies an "axis of war", dousing hopes the plan could be a step towards ending the almost four-year-war.

Bordeaux-Begles's South African back-rower Jean-Luc du Preez says that Northampton will be desperate for revenge for last season's Champions Cup final defeat when the teams meet in the pool stage on Sunday.

Cristian Romero added to the mounting crisis at Tottenham as the Argentine appeared to take a swipe at the club's hierarchy after apologising for their latest dismal defeat.

Former Premier League referee David Coote was given a suspended prison sentence on Thursday after admitting making an indecent image of a child, with the judge describing his "spectacular fall from grace".