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

Swimming is a sport well used to talented teenagers, but Yu Zidi's participation aged 12 at the world championships has sparked debate about how young is too young.

Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek cruised, Naomi Osaka battled through and Canadian Eugenie Bouchard called time on her WTA career with a gutsy second-round loss in Montreal on Wednesday.

China's factory output shrank more than expected in July, official data showed on Thursday, logging its fourth straight month of contraction as Beijing battles to hammer out a trade deal with the United States.

Sister Albertine, a youthful French Catholic nun, stood outside the Vatican, phone in hand, ready to shoot more videos for her hundreds of thousands of followers online.

A heatwave scorching Europe had barely subsided in early July when scientists published estimates that 2,300 people may have died across a dozen major cities during the extreme, climate-fuelled episode.

A streak of super-hot tropical nights broke a century-old South Korean weather record, according to official data released Thursday, as the peninsula bakes in a prolonged heatwave.

Veteran Wallabies scrum-half Nic White announced his retirement Thursday, with the 35-year-old saying it was the right time to pass the baton to a younger generation.

For over a month, Alberto has hardly dared to leave the small room he rents in someone's backyard for fear of encountering the masked police who have been rounding up immigrants in Los Angeles.

Behind the growing international success of a Mexican restaurant named one of world's best is a love story between two gourmets with a passion for blending traditional and contemporary flavors.

Time is running short for governments to strike deals with Washington to avert tariff hikes that Donald Trump has vowed against dozens of economies -- and the US president continues to expand his trade wars.

Both England and India are set to field new-look teams when the decisive fifth and final Test of an enthralling, gruelling, and often spiky series gets underway at the Oval on Thursday.

Canada plans to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday, a dramatic policy shift that was immediately rejected by Israel.

Tsunami warnings were lifted across the Pacific rim Wednesday, allowing millions of temporary evacuees to return home.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States will impose a 15 percent tariff on imports from South Korea, as he touted a "full and complete trade deal" between both countries.

Tsunami warnings were lifted across the Pacific rim Wednesday, allowing millions of temporary evacuees to return home.

Brazil's Central Bank on Wednesday held its benchmark interest rate steady at 15 percent, citing "uncertainty" as the United States announced punishing tariffs on the South American economic powerhouse.

Former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas was arrested Wednesday along with five others on charges of running illegal "high-stakes" poker games at his mansion in the Los Angeles suburbs, US prosecutors said.

Brazil's Central Bank on Wednesday held its benchmark interest rate steady at 15 percent after seven straight hikes that had angered leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Ben Shelton earned his first career win over gritty Frenchman Adrian Mannarino on Wednesday, posting a 6-2, 6-3 victory to earn a third-round spot at the ATP Toronto Masters.

Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek cruised into the third round of the WTA Canadian Open on Wednesday as Naomi Osaka fought off two match points to advance with a three-set win over Liudmila Samsonova.

Meta reported robust second-quarter financial results Wednesday, with revenue jumping 22 percent year-over-year to $47.5 billion as the social media giant continues investing heavily in artificial intelligence.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 30 people when they opened fire Wednesday on a crowd waiting for humanitarian aid in the north of the Palestinian territory.

Technology giant Microsoft on Wednesday said its profit soared above expectations in the recently ended quarter, driven by its cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) units.

European aerospace group Airbus posted an 85-percent rise in first-half profit Wednesday to $1.7 billion, even though it delivered fewer commercial planes compared with the same period last year.

TikTok on Wednesday rolled out a crowd-sourced debunking system in the United States, becoming the latest tech platform to adopt a community-driven approach to combating online misinformation.

Within sight of Gaza, the devastated Palestinian enclave ravaged by nearly 22 months of war, hundreds of Israeli settlers marched Wednesday to stake their claim to the battered territory.

President Donald Trump ordered massive tariffs on Brazil Wednesday and sanctions against the judge overseeing a trial of his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of attempting a coup in Latin America's biggest economy.

Former world 100m champion Fred Kerley has withdrawn from this week's US Track and Field Championships in Oregon, ruling him out of September's World Championships in Tokyo.

Ukraine will fix a controversial anti-graft law that sparked protests last week, its foreign minister told AFP ahead of a crucial parliamentary vote Thusday, but critics said some MPs might be reluctant to back the changes.

Tata Motors of India will buy Italy's Iveco Group for 3.8 billion euros ($4.4 billion) in a bid to create a "global champion" in the commercial vehicles sector, the two companies said Wednesday.

Aboard a Jordanian military plane, aid crates are parachuted into Gaza, where war and blockade have pushed more than two million Palestinians to the brink of famine.

One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia's sparsely populated Far East Wednesday, causing tsunamis that forced millions to evacuate homes across the Pacific rim, from Japan to Ecuador.