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Elfyn Evans’ hopes of claiming his first World Rally Championship title suffered a major blow on Friday when the Welshman lost valuable time with a puncture in Saudi Arabia.He had to change a rear-left tyre which cost him around two minutes, giving the title advantage to his Toyota teammate Sebastien Ogier.”We had a puncture alarm right at the beginning,” said Evans.”It was going down quite slow but it was so far to go that we had to make a decision to change it where we could. Not ideal.”France’s Ogier, three points behind Evans going into this season-closer, ended the day in sixth, but crucially over two-and-a-half minutes up on Evans, despite being hampered by a double puncture himself.”Tomorrow we’ll have to cross our fingers to not have any more punctures,” said Ogier.”I don’t want to take any risks otherwise there’s a big chance we won’t finish this rally,” he added.If Ogier does triumph it will be quite remarkable in that he has skipped four events in the 14-rally season. It would also mark a ninth title, which would draw him level with the record set by another French legend, Sebastien Loeb.There was drama for the rally leader Adrien Forumaux, who ended Friday topping the time sheets but dropped to fourth after a one minute penalty.The lead was inherited by Martins Sesks ahead of the final day’s three stages at this inaugural visit to Saudi Arabia.

Israeli forces killed 13 people on Friday in an operation in southern Syria, saying they targeted an Islamist group, in Israel’s deadliest attack on the country since Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow last year.Since an Islamist coalition overthrew longtime ruler Assad in December of last year, Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes on Syria’s military arsenal as well as incursions into the country.The Israeli army said an exchange of fire in the operation to detain militants in the Syrian village of Beit Jin left six Israeli soldiers wounded, with three of them in a serious condition.The official SANA news agency, quoting the Syrian health ministry, reported 13 dead and 24 more wounded in the Israeli operation.The Syrian foreign ministry condemned the operation as a “war crime” and accused Israel of wanting to “ignite the region”.An AFP journalist saw several wounded people being taken to a hospital in Damascus, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the village.”We were asleep when we were woken up at three in the morning by gunfire,” wounded resident Iyad Taher told AFP at al-Mouwassat hospital in the Syrian capital.”We went outside to see what was happening and saw the Israeli army in the village, soldiers and tanks. Then they withdrew, the air force came, and the shells started falling. I was hit by shrapnel in the neck.”The Israeli army said the targets of the operation were fighters from the Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya, which is based in neighbouring Lebanon and allied with Palestinian armed group Hamas.”The suspects operated in the area of Beit Jin in southern Syria and advanced terror attacks against Israeli civilians,” it said in a statement.A local official told AFP that Israeli forces raided the village to capture three men, sparking clashes.”Following the clashes, the Israeli occupation forces shelled the area with artillery and drones,” village official Abdul Rahman al-Hamrawi said.At the hospital, Ahmad Kamal told AFP he and others “opened fire on the Israeli patrol to defend ourselves and stop them from taking us. My brother was killed, and I was wounded”.- ‘Territorial integrity’ -In Damascus and other major Syrian cities, demonstrators marking one year since the Islamist-led offensive that toppled Assad denounced Israel’s attacks.Banners in Damascus read “Beit Jin makes us proud” and “stop Israeli attacks”.United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Najat Rochdi condemned Israel’s attack, calling it “a grave and unacceptable violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, said Friday’s operation was “the deadliest incursion since Israel began conducting operations outside the buffer zone in southern Syria”.Israel sent troops into and beyond the UN-patrolled buffer zone, which has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights since 1974, in the immediate aftermath of Assad’s fall.In June, Syria accused Israel of “abducting seven people” from Beit Jin and killing one civilian “as a result of direct gunfire on the residents”.Israel accused the people of being Hamas members.Israel has occupied Syria’s Golan Heights, a strategic mountain plateau, since 1967, annexing it in 1981 in a move not recognised by the international community.Last week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli troops deployed in the buffer zone, drawing a sharp rebuke from Damascus and others in the region.The premier has previously insisted that southern Syria be demilitarised following Assad’s overthrow.Israel’s key backer the United States has been pushing for a security pact between Syria and Israel, part of President Donald Trump’s goal to shore up the fragile Gaza ceasefire with a broader Middle East peace settlement.While Syrian and Israeli officials have held repeated rounds of talks, President Ahmed al-Sharaa has ruled out Syria joining the Abraham Accords, under which a handful of Arab countries have normalised ties with Israel.He recently met with Trump and warned in a UN speech that Israel’s persistent attacks put the region at risk, but backed diplomacy.”In the face of this aggression, Syria is committed to dialogue,” he said.burs-nad/dcp

Palestinian student Razan Shawar has travelled for 24 hours to showcase her team’s AI-powered invention at World Robot Olympiad in Singapore, telling AFP innovation — not war — should be why people hear about her country.The 15-year-old high school student from Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank said she dreams of making “something big, so the world can know that the one who did this is Palestinian”.Together with the rest of the Palestinian delegation, she made the journey from the West Bank via Jordan and Dubai to attend the three-day global robotic tournament in Singapore that ended on Friday.More than 1,500 competitors from over 90 countries and territories gathered in the Southeast Asian city for the event, aimed at harnessing the innovative spirit of the world’s youth to find solutions for pressing challenges.Malaysia stamped its class in the tournament, winning a third of the contested medals in various categories, according to an AFP tally.Hong Kong, Costa Rica, Canada and the Philippines were also among the first-place awardees.For the Palestinian students, who left without a medal, it was important to represent their nation on the global stage.Palestinian delegations have attended World Robot Olympiads since 2014, but the Israel-Hamas war meant they did not send representatives at all to the 2023 edition in Panama, and since then, no participants from the Gaza Strip — only the West Bank.- ‘Palestinians can’ -Competing in the Future Innovators senior category, this year’s Palestinian delegation created a robot that can be used to boost agriculture production.The “Agribot”, supported by artificial intelligence technology, works by measuring six key soil parameters like moisture, acidity and nutrients using sensors.It takes precise readings with its mechanical arm, and the analysis can help farmers increase yield and reduce waste.The students now aim to make it easily available to farmers who mostly rely on traditional methods, said Razan.Jehad Abudayyeh, 16, said that agriculture “is so important in our country… because it’s a way of life. I’m very happy that my project will help them.”Team member Mustafa Assi, who is also 16 and hopes to become an IT engineer, dreams of a more conducive environment for technology to thrive.”I hope my country will be safer and the war ends,” he said.Razan hopes to shine a light on other aspects of Palestinian life apart from conflict.”We want to show the world that we are not just under war, that we can… stand here and show people and the world that we can do this, we can be in this competition,” she said.”We made our project, we’re proud of it,” she added.”Palestine has students who aim to be better, and show the world that Palestinians can.”