Passengers and crew on a Ryanair flight forced to land in Minsk on Sunday were frightened, and were held under armed guard, Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said on Monday.
Belarus scrambled a fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force a Ryanair plane to land on Sunday, then detained a dissident journalist who was on board, drawing condemnation from Europe and the United States.
"I think it was very frightening for the crew, for the passengers who were held under armed guard, had their bags searched, when it was clear it appears that the intent ... was to remove a journalist and his travelling companion," O'Leary told Irish Newstalk radio.
"We believe there was also some KGB agents offloaded off the aircraft as well."
O’Leary described the diversion as "state-sponsored hijacking".
He said his airline would take guidance from European authorities on flying in Belarusian airspace, but that Ryanair had few flights crossing Belarus, and it would be a "very minor adjustment" to fly over Poland instead.
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that India and Pakistan had agreed to a "full and immediate ceasefire" after a fourth day of strikes and counter-strikes against each other's military installations.
The Group of Seven (G7) major countries on Friday urged India and Pakistan to engage in direct dialogue as hostilities rise between the nuclear-armed neighbours, while the US government said it has offered assistance in starting "constructive talks".
An order was lifted on Saturday to confine around 160,000 people in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region after a fire at an industrial estate caused a toxic cloud of chlorine over a wide area, the regional government said.
A facility that guides air traffic in and out of Newark airport suffered a new 90-second communications outage early on Friday, the second in two weeks that prompted an air traffic controller to complain "Scopes just went black again" to a nearby FedEx flight.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks in Kyiv on Saturday in a show of unity a day after Russia's Vladimir Putin hosted his allies at a Victory Day parade in Red Square.
Sudanese nationals in the UAE will be exempt from paying outstanding residency or visa fines under a move by the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security (ICP) to help them regularise their stay.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, has welcomed the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, expressing hope that it contributes to enhancing security and stability in the region.
The UAE has outlined its "sincere efforts" over the last two years to seek a civilian-led political solution in Sudan that protects innocents from "tragedy and humanitarian suffering".