Air France said Thursday it will resume its flight to Lebanon, a day after it was forced to land briefly in Syria and then head to Cyprus after protesters blocked the road leading to the Beirut airport.

A spokeswoman said the plane took off Wednesday from Paris, but was diverted when it was an hour from Beirut because of concerns passengers would be trapped if it landed.

Families of victims of a deadly 1983 bombing of U.S. Marines in Lebanon filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to hold Standard Chartered Bank and its New York branch accountable.

They claim in the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that the bank conspired with Iran and its agents to hide Iran's assets from them. They're seeking to trace assets as they try to enforce a $2.6 billion judgment against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The United States Air Force planned a key test Tuesday of an experimental aircraft designed to fly at six times the speed of sound, which is about 3,600 mph (6,000 kph).

The unmanned X-51 WaveRider was expected to reach Mach 6 after being dropped by a B-52 bomber and taking flight off the Southern California coast near Point Mugu. Engineers hoped the X-51 would sustain its top speed for five minutes, twice as long as it's gone before, NBC reported.

The Mustaqbal bloc noted on Tuesday that former minister Michel Samaha’s arrest uncovers to the entire world the Syrian regime’s “criminal intentions” towards Lebanon.

It therefore demanded after its weekly meeting “the suspension of the security agreement between Lebanon and Syria.”

Head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun hoped on Tuesday that the case of former minister Michel Samaha would not be exploited politically.

He said before reporters the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting in Rabiyeh: “Let the judiciary perform its duties in the case.”

Stepping into the vacuum this Friday, a brand new private space venture from the Netherlands called Mars One aims to send four astronauts on a one-way journey to Mars in just 11 years time, NBC reported.

Founded by Dutch entrepreneur and researcher Bas Lansdorp, who previously headed up an alternative energy company, Mars One says it will establish a colony on Mars by 2023, according to the Mars One website.

The United States called Monday on Lebanon to ensure transparency in any action against former minister Michel Samaha, fearing a spread of violence from neighboring Syria.

Samaha was arrested on Thursday and a Lebanese judge has accused him and Syria's security chief, General Ali Mamlouk, of planning sectarian killings and explosions in the North.

Foreign ministers preparing for a summit in Mecca of the Islamic Cooperation Organization on Monday recommended the expulsion of Syria from the 57-nation bloc, its secretary general said.

Asked by reporters whether the foreign ministers had decided to call for a suspension after their meeting in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah to prepare for Tuesday's summit, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said: "Yes."

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels confirmed in a statement on Monday that they were holding the lawmaker Huseyin Aygun captive and warned Turkey to abandon its rescue operation.

"The lawmaker Huseyin Aygun has been detained by our fighters," rebels said in a statement given to the pro-Kurd news agency Firatnews.

Fresh sanctions slapped by the United States are meant to "expose and disrupt" links between Iran, Hizbullah movement and Syria, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday.

She said the "number one goal" of Washington and Ankara was to hasten the end of Bashar Assad's regime in Damascus and stop the bloodshed, while warning that Syria must not become a haven for Kurdish rebels battling Turkey.