Lewis Hamilton led a majority of the 20 Formula One drivers in taking a knee in a gesture of anti-racism solidarity on the grid before the start of the belated season-opening Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Louvre in Paris, the world's most visited museum and home to the Mona Lisa, reopens on Monday but with coronavirus restrictions in place and parts of the complex closed to visitors.

Turkey's top court convened Thursday to consider whether Istanbul's emblematic landmark and former church Hagia Sophia can be redesignated as a mosque, a ruling which could inflame tensions with the West.

Israel's media watchdog said Sunday that it had withdrawn the broadcast licence from U.S.-based evangelical network GOD TV, accusing it of seeking to target Jews with Christian content. 

Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that because of the coronavirus only "very limited numbers" of people will be allowed to perform the annual hajj pilgrimage that traditionally draws around 2 million Muslims from around the world.

The decision comes after weeks of speculation over whether Saudi Arabia would cancel the pilgrimage altogether or allow the hajj to be held in symbolic numbers. It's unclear why the government waited until just five weeks before the hajj to announce its decision, but the timing indicates the sensitivity around major decisions concerning the hajj that affect Muslims around the world.

Former pope Benedict XVI will return to the Vatican on Monday from Germany, where he is visiting his sick brother, the Regensburg bishopric said.

Croatia's female ex-president on Friday became the latest woman to give the middle finger to several conversative politicians for their anti-abortion statements during campaigning for next month's parliamentary election.

Saudi Arabia is expected to scale back or call off this year's hajj pilgrimage for the first time in its modern history, observers say, a perilous decision as coronavirus cases spike.

The novel coronavirus pandemic briefly gave Syrians a sense of belonging to the rest of the world after years of isolating war, Syrian author Khaled Khalifa said.

The American reference dictionary Merriam-Webster will change its definition of the word racism at the suggestion of a young black woman, who wanted it to better reflect the oppression of people of color.