Belarusian authorities scrambled a fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force the civilian aircraft to land on Sunday and then detained an opposition-minded journalist who was among the passengers on board.

The South Asian nation's toll now stands at 303,720 after adding 50,000 deaths in just under two weeks, as the total number of infections rose above 26.7 million, health ministry data showed.

The 74th World Health Assembly, which kicks off Monday, will arguably be one of the most important in the WHO's history, amid calls to revamp the organisation and the entire global approach to health in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Dissident journalist Roman Protasevich was detained on Sunday after Ryanair flight FR4978 was pulled from its Athens-to-Vilnius route and -- accompanied by a Belarusian fighter jet -- diverted to the capital city, state television reported.

Fiame Naomi Mata'afa arrived at parliament ready to be appointed Samoa's first female prime minister, accompanied by judges in formal robes and horsehair wigs whose job was to witness her swearing in.

The accident occurred by the resort town of Stresa, which lies on the shores of Lake Maggiore in the Piedmont region.

The B.1.617 variant was first detected in India last year and has been blamed for much of a devastating Covid-19 wave that has battered South Asian nations in recent weeks.

Dario Tedesco, a volcanologist based in Goma, said a new fracture has opened up on the volcano, and the lava is moving south toward Goma.

Journalist Bashir tricked Diana into giving a 1995 BBC television interview in which she lifted the lid on her troubled marriage to Prince Charles, an independent investigation concluded on Thursday.

“We must remain committed and stand united in our efforts against all illegal acts by Israel and toward ending the occupation in Palestine,” Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said. 

"We achieved our goals in the operation," Netanyahu said of the campaign primarily targeted at Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, and Islamic Jihad, the second largest armed group in the enclave.

So far, more than 3.4 million deaths worldwide have officially been attributed to Covid-19 since the disease first surfaced in China in late 2019.

The 36-year-old driver was out of the Hikari No. 633 train's cockpit for around three minutes after asking a conductor to take his place during his absence at around 8:15 a.m. on Sunday, with the train traveling between Atami station and Mishima station in Shizuoka Prefecture, said the operator known as JR Central.

The Russian leader, in televised remarks during a virtual meeting with senior officials, cited what he said were foreign remarks questioning Russia's control of energy-rich Siberia.

Sitting beside Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, Greenland's premier, Mute Egede, and Foreign Minister Pele Broberg during a news conference, Blinken confirmed to a reporter it was "correct" that the United States does not seek to buy the country.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls the Gaza Strip, came into force early Friday after 11 days of deadly fighting that pounded the Palestinian enclave and forced countless Israelis to seek shelter from rockets.

The operation involving the guided-missile destroyer Curtis Wilbur comes as China has rattled the region in recent years through large-scale island-building and base construction activities in the sea.

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to address the issue of the responsibility to protect (R2P) in its annual agenda.

Hamidullah, 19, who police said was well-known locally on social media, held a friend's pistol to his temple and pulled the trigger, unaware the gun was loaded.

Despite guaranteed opposition from Washington, France proposed another draft UN Security Council resolution calling for the end of hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.

Nobuo Kishi warned the gap between Japan and China's military was "growing by the year," in an interview with the Nikkei newspaper.

"The president conveyed to the prime minister that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire," according to a statement released after what the White House said was the two leaders' fourth call since the crisis began.

The measure will be effective from Friday. The six are Cambodia, Sri Lanka, the Seychelles, Saint Lucia, Timor Leste and Mongolia, bringing the number of countries and regions under such restrictions to 159.

The US Navy's 7th Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur conducted a "routine Taiwan Strait transit" on Tuesday in accordance with international law.

The tighter steps, to be effective in stages from Thursday, came as the three neighbors of India have seen surging infections due to the new coronavirus variant.

Bilateral ties have sunk to their lowest point in decades, and China has in recent months moved to restrict imports of Australian products such as barley, wine and beef after Morrison led calls for a global inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.

"We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature," a spokesman for Attorney General Letitia James' office said.

The official-level meetings aim to restore relations severed five years ago between the Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Shiite Islamic Republic of Iran.

The bill, which will be sent to President Joe Biden to be signed into law, will require the Justice Department to expedite the review of hate crimes and issue guidance aimed at raising awareness against such acts, while enhancing support to state and local law enforcement agencies responding to hate crimes.

The government is looking at how it might ensure the vaccination of Indonesian migrant workers abroad, including undocumented workers.