"Iran is looking to hit Israeli infrastructure and Israeli citizens," Gantz told the public broadcaster Kan. "The location of the ship in relative close proximity to Iran raises the notion, the assessment, that it is the Iranians."

Kirby said Tuesday during an off-camera press briefing, "We hold with the international community about the Senkakus and the sovereignty of the Senkakus, and we support Japan obviously in that sovereignty."

The Iran-backed Huthis have escalated attacks on the kingdom, while they step up an offensive to seize the Saudi-backed Yemeni government's last northern stronghold of Marib. 

China is donating locally produced vaccines to 53 countries that have requested them, mainly in Southeast Asia and Africa.

Saudi Arabia on Friday said it "completely rejects" a declassified US report that found that de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved journalist Jamal Khashoggi's 2018 murder.

President Joe Biden said Friday that a US air strike against an Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria, the first since he took office, should be seen by Iran as a warning.

The prince, who is de facto ruler of the longtime US ally and oil provider, "approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi," said an intelligence report newly declassified by President Joe Biden's administration.

Online flight trackers confirmed the flight was carried out with a Boeing 777.

Of the 10 prefectures under the state of emergency, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to announce Aichi, Gifu, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka will be removed from the list a week earlier than the scheduled end date of March 7 as infections decline and the strain on hospitals eases.

Hong Kong and South Korea kicked off coronavirus vaccination drives on Friday, as momentum builds for inoculation rollouts across the Asia-Pacific region.

President Joe Biden held a long-delayed first phone call Thursday with Saudi King Salman ahead of an imminent US intelligence report expected to link the Arab kingdom's powerful crown prince to the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Papua New Guinea's first prime minister and "father of the nation" Sir Michael Somare died on Friday after what his family described as a brief battle with cancer. He was 84.

The US military struck facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran-backed armed groups Thursday, saying President Joe Biden's new administration was sending Tehran a message after recent rocket attacks on US troop locations in Iraq.

EU leaders on Friday will discuss efforts aimed at bolstering the bloc's ability to tackle security threats, as Brussels looks to convince sceptics over its drive for a more assertive Europe. 

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday hit back at accusations that he tried to cover up a sex abuse scandal involving a top theatre director appointed by his government.

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been transferred from a Moscow jail to an unknown location, his aides said Thursday, suggesting he may be beginning a prison sentence condemned as politically motivated.

French safety officials on Thursday gave the green light to extend the lifetime of the country's oldest nuclear power plants as it seeks to boost the share of renewables in its power mix.

The death this week of an opposition leader has inflicted a heavy blow to Mozambique's fragile democracy after the loss of Afonso Dhlakama, a charismatic former guerrilla fighter, analysts say.

Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused the military of an attempted coup and brought supporters to the streets on Thursday, as months of tensions over its defeat in last year's war with Azerbaijan came to a head.

The leaders agreed to work closely together to counter China's "unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force" in the East and South China seas, according to the ministry.

China will seek to keep average levels of small, hazardous airborne particles known as PM2.5 at 34.5 micrograms per cubic metre over the course of 2021, the environment ministry said on Thursday.

The body count from simultaneous riots at four prisons in Ecuador rose to 79 Wednesday as family members arrived to claim the remains of loved ones killed in hours of full-out gang warfare that left inmates decapitated and burnt.

The government introduced the bill after its antitrust regulator concluded that the U.S. companies hold too much power in the Australian media landscape.

Former President Donald Trump issued the bans last year, saying they were needed to protect US workers amid high unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The infection rate in Germany fell steadily in the first weeks of the year but has stagnated in recent days, adding to signs that it could be difficult for the country to ease restrictions when the lockdown is due to end on March 7.

Al-Jazeera said in a statement that "Rightly" would be a "new US-based digital platform that will generate content for audiences currently underrepresented in today's media environment".

The US aviation regulator on Tuesday ordered a deeper inspection of the engines similar to the ones on a Boeing 777 aircraft that suffered a spectacular failure over Denver days earlier.

In a gritty Paris suburb, Zineb, Danielle and even Benjamina, who is in his late 70s, say they only want one thing: to desperately get back to work.

A German court will hand down Wednesday its ruling in a case against Abu Walaa, a notorious Iraqi preacher believed to be the Islamic State jihadist group's de facto leader in Germany.

Some fled after the US-led invasion, others during sectarian bloodshed and more following jihadist attacks. Iraq's last two violent decades have hollowed out its Christian community which dates back two millennia.