An Italian fighter forced a diplomatic jet to land yesterday near Rome, where world leaders had just attended the papal funeral.
Checks at a military base revealed there was no threat from the plane, which was scheduled to pick up the Macedonian delegation to the funeral from Ciampino airport.
"We let them take off again to Ciampino, where the Macedonian delegation was waiting," an air force official said, adding the flight had left Belgrade with only crew on board.