Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah's strategy of playing it safe saw him move a step closer to retaining his Dakar Rally title but Tuesday's ninth stage was overshadowed by the death of an Italian tourist.
The spectator was standing "behind a sand dune" on the rally track when the accident occurred, and died on the transfer by helicopter to hospital, race organisers Amaury Sport Organisation (AMO) said in a statement.
The UN Security Council on Monday renewed the cross-border aid mechanism to Syria for another six months, a length of time that several member nations consider too short.
The 15-member Council voted unanimously to extend the resolution, which provides life-saving assistance to millions of people living in northern Syria, until July 10.
The aid delivery mechanism across Turkey's border into rebel-held Syria at the Bab al-Hawa crossing is the only way UN assistance can reach civilians without navigating areas controlled by Syrian government forces.
Saudi Arabia will not impose limits on the number of pilgrims for this year's hajj, a Saudi minister said Monday, after three years of restrictions to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The number of pilgrims will return to what it was before the pandemic, without any age limit," Minister of Hajj and Umrah Tawfiq al-Rabiah told reporters in Riyadh.
The pilgrimage -- one of five pillars of Islam, and which all able-bodied Muslims with the means are required to perform at least once -- is scheduled for June.
Gazans drove a convoy of ambulances along the Israeli border Monday to protest import restrictions on medical equipment, which the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave warned puts patients at risk.
Israel bans the transfer of goods to Gaza which it deems could be used for military purposes, as part of a blockade it has imposed on the coastal territory since the armed group Hamas took power in 2007.
"Preventing the entry of medical devices means the slow death of Gaza patients," read a banner spread across one of around 25 ambulances used in the border rally.
International aid groups warn that millions of people in northern Syria could be completely cut from lifesaving assistance should a United Nations vote fail to extend cross-border aid operations from Turkey.
The concerns revive those of six months ago before the Security Council eventually extended the cross-border mechanism for another half-year, as demanded by Syria's ally Russia.
A new UN vote was scheduled later Monday.
Footballer Christiano Ronaldo will earn 200 million euros to promote Saudi Arabia's joint 2030 World Cup bid in addition to his club salary, a source close to his club told AFP Monday.
The Portuguese superstar, 37, unveiled to thousands of Al Nassr fans in Riyadh last week, is by far the most famous player to sign for a club in Saudi or any other Gulf country.
Iran has handed down three more death sentences for offences related to the civil unrest triggered by Mahsa Amini's death, the judiciary said Monday, fuelling international protests against the regime.
The latest sentences -- for three men convicted of killing three members of the security forces -- bring to 17 the official total of detainees condemned to death in connection with nearly four months of protests.
Four executions have been carried out, while six of those convicted have been granted retrials.
Facebook owner Meta should not have taken down posts featuring a slogan calling for the death of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khameini, a watchdog said on Monday.
Facebook moderators decided last July that posts featuring the Persian slogan "marg bar Khameini," literally translated as "death to Khameini," broke the firm's guidelines against inciting harm or killing.
But the Facebook Oversight Board, an independent panel funded by Meta whose decisions are binding on the company, ruled that the slogan was not a credible threat and broke no guidelines.
Suez Canal maritime traffic was "normal" Monday after a cargo vessel carrying Ukrainian grain ran aground but was then refloated and towed away, said the Egyptian authority running the vital waterway.
The incident involving the 225-metre-long Marshall Islands-registered M/V Glory had briefly sparked fears of a repeat of a major 2021 blockage when the giant container ship Ever Given became diagonally wedged in the canal.
Cristiano Ronaldo's new club coach Rudi Garcia on Sunday compared the Portuguese star's arrival at Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia to Pele's signing with the New York Cosmos in 1975.
"It's a bit like Pele's arrival" in what was then the North American Soccer League, Garcia told AFP.
"Especially for the development of football, sport and culture in Saudi Arabia."
At 34, Pele came out of partial retirement to spark an explosion of interest in football in the United States. Ronaldo, at 37, is coming out of a bitter divorce with Manchester United.
