Daily Monitor

Ryanair flight 4978 was about to begin its descent to Vilnius in Lithuania on Sunday when it suddenly changed direction after a “security alert,” turning sharply east and descending towards the capital of Belarus, Minsk. […]

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russia’s veteran Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were expected to hold talks on Wednesday night amid a push to agree a presidential summit despite dire ties between the former Cold War foes. […]

The Palestinian enclave was already in a dire state. The war with Israel has made it worse, damaging the health and sewage systems, closing schools and displacing tens of thousands. […]

Washington, a close ally of Israel, has reportedly blocked UNSC statements that condemned Israel’s military response and called for a ceasefire. […]

‘They make equal calls to murderers of children and those whose children are killed,’ says AK Party spokesman […]

‘The cost of war in Gaza is devastating & is being paid by ordinary people,’ says Tor Wennesland […]

Russian, Azerbaijani foreign ministers meet in Baku […]

The European Commission expects to finish work soon on a COVID-19 certificate that could allow citizens to travel more easily this summer in the 27-nation bloc, the EU executive said on Tuesday after a meeting with European affairs ministers. […]

President Joe Biden on Wednesday threw his support behind waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, bowing to mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers and more than 100 other countries, but angering pharmaceutical companies. […]

A plant in Zhambyl region is to produce around 60 million doses of the QazVac COVID-19 vaccine a year once constructed, Alexei Tsoi, Kazakh Health Minister, said, Kazinform correspondent reports. […]

Ministers from the G7 met face-to-face for the first time in two years, ahead of a leaders’ summit in June. Top diplomats from the UK and US used a news conference to press Russia on its Ukraine “brinkmanship.” […]

France wants to spend €30 billion on decarbonising its economy, speeding up its target of becoming Europe’s first major country to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. […]

Chinese regulators have called on 13 online platforms to adhere to tighter regulations in their financial divisions, as part of a wider push to rein in China’s tech giants. […]

The Covid-ravaged global economy is at a crossroads: we can commit to greater tax cooperation or risk a tax-driven trade war […]

Japan’s parliament on Wednesday approved participation in the world’s largest free trade deal, signed by 15 Asia-Pacific countries including China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Kyodo reports. […]

India, home to the world’s worst ongoing coronavirus outbreak, has reported more than 17.6 million cases since the pandemic began last year. […]

Move comes as the US scrambles to regain international credibility after the climate denialist presidency of Donald Trump […]

China’s President Xi Jinping will attend a U.S.-led climate change summit on Thursday at the invitation of President Joe Biden, in the first meeting between the two leaders since the advent of the new U.S. administration. […]

Negotiations between the Afghan government and Taliban militants have once again hit a bump in the road. A top US military official has also raised doubts over the Taliban. […]

EU measures are its toughest yet against military that has cracked down violently on protests against its February 1 coup. […]