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

Torrential rains that triggered deadly landslides and floods in India's Darjeeling region also destroyed swathes of premier tea estates, officials said Tuesday.

Trevor Lawrence scrambled for an improbable game-winning touchdown with 23 seconds remaining as the Jacksonville Jaguars scored a dramatic 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday.

The European Union will take a page out of US President Donald Trump's tariff playbook on Tuesday with a plan to hike levies and slash quotas for imported steel -- to protect the bloc's struggling industry from cheap Chinese competition.

Australia batsman Matt Renshaw was given an international lifeline after more than two years in the wilderness Tuesday but Marnus Labuschagne was left out of both the ODI and T20 squads for the home series against India.

The dizzying investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure do not constitute a bubble but rather represent today's "new normal" to meet skyrocketing user demand, Fidji Simo, OpenAI's de facto number two, said on Monday.

Japanese stocks hit another record Tuesday, building on the previous day's surge following the election of a pro-stimulus advocate to lead the country's ruling party, while gold also pushed to a new high amid the US government shutdown and French political upheaval.

A maths theory powering computer image compression, an "invisibility cloak" or the science behind the James Webb Space Telescope are some achievements that could be honoured when the Nobel physics prize is awarded Tuesday.

Swiss postmodernist novelist Christian Kracht and Australia's Gerald Murnane and Alexis Wright are among the favourites for the Nobel literature prize, experts told AFP ahead of the Swedish Academy's much-anticipated announcement on Thursday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers held off a late rally from the Philadelphia Phillies to snatch a 4-3 victory and take a commanding 2-0 lead in their Major League Baseball playoff series on Monday.

With tears rolling down his cheeks, detained Chinese political exile Zhou Junyi struggles to make his voice heard over dozens of families visiting Bangkok's main immigration detention centre.

Israel marks the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack on Tuesday, as Hamas and Israeli negotiators hold indirect talks to end the two-year war in Gaza under a US proposed peace plan.

The United States issued nearly one-fifth fewer student visas in August following a crackdown by President Donald Trump, led by a steep drop for India which was overtaken by China as top country of origin, data showed Monday.

Colombia's once-weakened armed groups are growing their power again, the country's ombudswoman told AFP Monday, as the country heads toward its most violent year in a decade.

Noisy TV commericials were banned in California on Monday, with a new law that demands pitchmen turn the volume down.

President Donald Trump said Monday he would be "happy" to negotiate a deal on health programs with Democrats, but demanded the federal government first be re-opened, as a crippling shutdown entered its second week.

President Donald Trump threatened Monday to use emergency powers against rebellion to deploy more troops into Democratic-led US cities, intensifying his rhetoric as his attempts to mobilize the military face legal challenges.

UNESCO executives voted Monday to make an Egyptian ex-antiquities minister the UN culture body's next leader, as it grapples with accusations of pro-Israel bias that prompted the United States to say it would quit the organisation.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg landed in Greece on Monday alongside scores of fellow campaigners expelled from Israel after trying to ship aid to Gaza, AFP journalists saw.

One of this year's Nobel winners is a leading medical researcher who also offers a shining example of work-life balance -- so much so that he might not know he won.

A cryptic video shared by LeBron James set the Internet abuzz on Monday, with fans wondering if the NBA superstar was preparing to announce his retirement or simply another commercial venture.

African football boss Patrice Motsepe said on Monday he is "absolutely confident" the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations will go ahead in Morocco, the scene of daily anti-government protests for more than a week.

Stock markets were mixed Monday as a deepening political crisis in France sent Paris into a tailspin while a new Japanese ruling party leader boosted Tokyo and the AI investment boom lifted US stock indices to fresh heights.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday he wants the EU to scrap its planned 2035 deadline for ending new combustion-engine vehicle sales as his country looks for ways to help its ailing car industry.

The US government shutdown entered its second week on Monday, with no sign of a deal between President Donald Trump's Republicans and Democrats to end the crisis.

Newly-crowned world champion Marc Marquez was on Monday ruled out of the next two races after suffering a fracture and ligament injury to his right shoulder in the Indonesia MotoGP race.

New Chanel designer Matthieu Blazy unveiled his first sumptuous collection on Monday in front of a crowd of admirers and stars sitting beneath giant glowing planets during Paris Fashion Week.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday gave Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu two days to salvage his administration, after the premier resigned following less than a month in office in a move that plunged the country further into a political crisis.

The Democratic-led US state of Illinois filed suit on Monday to block President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago.

Exiled England flanker Jack Willis succeeded France scrum-half Antoine Dupont as the French Top 14's player of the season for 2024/2025 on Monday.

Delegations from Hamas and Israel on Monday began indirect talks in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh on ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza, under a plan put forward by US President Donald Trump.

Kylian Mbappe is receiving treatment for a "small niggle" in his right ankle after meeting up with his international team-mates ahead of the latest round of 2026 World Cup qualifiers, France coach Didier Deschamps said Monday.

The inhalers people depend on to breathe are also warming the planet, producing annual emissions equivalent to more than half a million cars in the United States alone, researchers said Monday in a major new study.