A plane carrying a Russian dissident who is in a coma after a suspected poisoning left for a German hospital Saturday following much wrangling over Alexei Navalny's condition and treatment.

The plane could be seen taking off from an airport in the Siberian city of Omsk just after 8 a.m. local time. Navalny's spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, confirmed the departure on Twitter. The flight to Berlin was expected to take about five hours.

A two-week partial lockdown and nighttime curfew kicked off Friday in Lebanon after coronavirus cases increased sharply following an explosion in Beirut that killed and injured thousands of people.

Russian doctors treating opposition leader Alexei Navalny don't believe he was poisoned and refused to transfer him to a German hospital on Friday.

Navalny, a 44-year-old politician who is one of President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critics, was admitted to an intensive care unit in a coma at a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk on Thursday, following what his supporters are calling a suspected poisoning that they believe was engineered by the Kremlin.

The case against former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn may have taken another turn as Japanese media report allegations that the automaker declared as expenses 1.15 billion yen ($10.8 million) in his taxable personal income.

Japan's National Tax Agency said Thursday it was aware of the reports but declined comment on an individual case.

The head of the U.N. refugee agency says it's time for the international community to show solidarity with the Lebanese people by offering assistance to a country that has hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees for decades.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi also said the UNHCR is making its capacity and expertise as a humanitarian agency available to the Lebanese people and is ready to assist the country as part of a broader international response.

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny is in a coma and on a ventilator in a hospital intensive care unit in Siberia after falling ill from suspected poisoning during a flight, his spokeswoman said Thursday morning.

The 44-year-old foe of Russia's President Vladimir Putin felt unwell on a flight back to Moscow from Tomsk, a city in Siberia, and was taken to a hospital after the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter.

As the United Nations prepares to renew the mandate of its peacekeeping operation in southern Lebanon, Israel is working with Security Council members to push for tough changes in the way the force deals with the Hizbullah group, Israeli officials said Wednesday.

Israeli diplomatic and military officials say the force, known as UNIFIL, has been largely ineffective and see the upcoming vote on extending its mandate as an opportunity to make reforms.

A Lebanese lawyer filed a legal complaint Wednesday against the country's president and prime minister for allegedly not taking action to remove dangerous material that had been stored at the port of Beirut.

The material — 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used in fertilizers and explosives — ignited earlier this month, killing scores and wounding thousands of people.

Two powerful and shallow undersea earthquakes shook western Indonesia on Wednesday, causing panic but no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurred at a depth of 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) under the sea. It was centered in Bengkulu province on Sumatra island, 139 kilometers (86 miles) west-southwest of Bengkulu city, USGS said. It was felt in several provinces on the island.

Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden as their presidential candidate, with party elders, a new generation of politicians and voters in every state joining in an extraordinary, pandemic-cramped virtual convention to send him into the general election campaign to oust President Donald Trump.

For someone who has spent more than three decades eyeing the presidency, the moment Tuesday night was the realization of a long-sought goal. But it occurred in a way that the 77-year-old Biden couldn't have imagined just months ago as the coronavirus pandemic prompted profound change across the country and in his presidential campaign.