Terrorists 'boasted' to Isil leaders about bombing plane, stranded Brits 'could face ten day delays' - as it happened on Saturday November 7

08:30

What we know so far

• Only 1,500 Britons of the total 20,000 in Sharm el-Sheikh returned over the weekend as restrictions were placed on flights

• Russian tourists trying to get home will be given priority treatment after President Vladimir Putin reportedly struck a deal Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi

• US agencies picked up intelligence in the days before the disaster suggesting a 'big event' was planned for Sinai

• After the plane crashed, US spies intercepted boastful exchanges between the same jihadis celebrating the tragedy

• Egypt accused other countries, thought to be the UK and US, of failing to share its intelligence on teh crash

05:28

FBI to help investigate the crash

The New York Times reports that The FBI has agreed to help the Russian government with its investigation into the deadly crash of a Russian charter plane in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

Some American officials said that the Russians want help doing a forensic analysis to determine what brought down the Airbus A321-200, while other officials said that the request from the Russians was more general. Although most of the debris is scattered over nearly eight square miles in the desert, some parts of the plane were taken to Russia for analysis.

04:00

Cheers of relief in Manchester

The first plane of holidaymakers to return to Manchester since the crisis has touched down to cheers of relief from those onboard. The Manchester Evening News reports that passengers had been on the plane waiting to fly on Wednesday when flights were suspended.

Chelsea Benson, 27, is six months pregnant and had found the ordeal stressful.

She said: "I was out in Egypt on a last minute break and my husband was back here so I found that a worry.

"Today has been the worst because we left the hotel at 11.30am and then the flight was delayed so it's been a very long day.

"It's such a massive relief to be home, I'm just glad about that now, but there are still passengers out there."

02:00

British tourists returning home tell of 'chaos'

PA has the latest on passengers arriving back in the UK. Some said security at the airport was "terrible".

Marc Standen and his partner Emily Alfeo were due to fly home on Thursday after a week in the resort but arrived back only last night.

Mr Standen, 28, a car salesman from Westgate, Kent, said security guards at the airport wearing bullet-proof vests checked under vehicles with mirrors as they waited in lengthy queues for the airport, but did not check car boots or speak to passengers.

He said: "It was madness. They did a semi-pat down inside and we took our shoes off. I don't think it was very thorough. It was madness. Their security is terrible and they are completely overwhelmed."

Bags taken on board were not checked adequately, he said, and at one point around 400 people tried to squeeze through two glass doors to get to a final security check, leaving some hurt as they got trampled.

Mr Standen, who travelled with Thomas Cook, added: "It is the lack of information that is probably the big problem, but the airport is only going to get worse. They don't have it under control. We have left our two bags behind in a pile in the middle of the terminal, and I honestly don't know if we will see them again."

He added: "We are glad to be home. I am honestly not the sort of person who would normally worry about things, but it was not a good experience."

00:30

Reports: Britons might have 'helped construct the bomb'

The unconfirmed reports suggesting British jihadists were involved in the bombing claim that Britons trained in Syria with an "electronics background" might have helped to construct the bomb that brought down the Russian jet. "Chatter" picked up by GCHQ reportedly featured jihadists with London and Birmingham accents celebrating in Egypt after the explosion.

23:00

"Game changer" for Isil

The unconfirmed reports of the possible involvement of British Jihadists in the attack comes after British intelligence was out in front of the rest of the world in concluding that a bomb most likely took down the plane.

The “chatter” picked up by intelligence agencies appears to include a series of communications between the Sinai terrorist group, affiliated to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and its leadership based in Syria.

Prior to the explosion last Saturday, US intelligence agencies also intercepted a message from the terrorists in Sinai that warned of “something big in the area”.

It is understood that details about how the plane was brought down were also intercepted, but the officials have thus far refused to go into detail.

Security analysts described the latest developments as a “game changer” for Isil.

Mokhtar Awad, at the Centre for American Progress which specialises in studying Islamist extremism, said: “What we had seen so far were IS-inspired lone wolves, but this attack appears to be the result of close, consistent operational support.”

21:30

Reports: British jihadists 'linked to bomb on MetroJet flight'

Reports are now emerging that the Jihadists recorded by British intelligence in connection with the attack- part of the "chatter" that led Downing Street to confirm it was a terror attack- spoke in British accents.

We can not independently confirm the reports at this time, and it is too early to conclude that the purpetrators were British, but if true the reports will bring new urgency to the issue of foreign fighters from the UK joining Isil.

20:22

UK/Egypt "discussing measures" to allow British tourists to return to Sharm

Current estimates are that it will take ten days to return the some 18,000 British tourists in Sharm el-Sheikh to the UK.

But the government is already discussing "permanent measures" which would make it easier for Brits to travel there in future.

Tourists from Britain are second only to Russians in terms of annual visitors to the resort town, and the decisions taken by the UK and Russian governments to suspend flights to Sharm el-Sheikh could prove crippling to the local economy

19:38

British embassy in Cairo: 'We're not evacuating our tourists'

The British embassy in Cairo has released a statement saying the tourists being flown out of Sharm el-Sheikh are not being "evacuated".

Thanks to close cooperation with the Egyptian authorities on the ground in Cairo and in Sharm el-Sheikh, we have restarted flights from Sharm el-Sheikh to the UK.

Britain is not evacuating its tourists early from their holidays. The steps that we have taken yesterday and today with the Egyptian authorities and UK airlines will now allow us to get British people home safely at the end of their holidays.

We are now urgently discussing with ministers and officials in Cairo and Sharm el-Sheikh the permanent measures that will allow British tourists come back to Sharm el-Sheikh as soon as possible.

These steps demonstrate our deep common interest in keeping all our citizens safe and protecting our vital economic and tourism ties.

18:44

Egypt denies earlier Sharm flight had to dodge missile

The Egyptian foreign ministry has pushed back against reports that a Thomson airlines jet had to avoid a missile in August when flying to Sharm el-Sheikh from the UK.

18:04

Is the Egyptian investigation honest and transparent?

Egypt is leading the investigation into what brought down the plane. While UK and US intelligence have indicated that the evidence they have seen points to a bomb, the Egyptians have been more cautious.

"It could be lithium batteries in the luggage of one of the passengers, it could be an explosion in the fuel tank," Ayman el-Muqadem, the head of the Egyptian investigation said today.

Egypt's foreign minister has complained that western countries have been too quick to draw conclusions.

"We expected that the information available would be communicated to us instead of being broadcast," he said.

But does mere caution explain the discrepencies?

Jim Hall, a former chairman of the US National Transportation Safety Board, said that enough time has transpired for Egyptian investigators to determine what took down the plane, but in his experience they were "very reluctant to suggest anything that is not approved at the highest levels of the Egyptian government."

"If that's the same situation today in Egypt, then they will be putting the country's self-interest ahead of the investigation," he told the Telegraph.

"I don't think we would have seen these reports out of US intelligence if they felt the Egyptians would have made that information public themselves."

17:23

Ambassador says he understands the frustration of stranded tourists

Britain's ambassador to Egypt John Casson says he understands the frustration felt by holiday-makers who have been stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh.

17:16

Weak link in airport security could have led to plane crash

Expert in counter terrorism protective security Lee Doddridge explains how a weak link in airport security could have led to the Russian plane crash.

16:46

New pushchairs for families who had to leave theirs behind in Egypt

Thomas Cook - whose passengers were on the first British flight to leave Sharm el-Sheikh today - have apparently given returning families new pushchairs after theirs had to be left in Egypt.

16:33

Britain will return tourists in ten days

Reuters report that Britain hopes to return all of its stranded tourists from Sharm el-Sheikh within 10 days.

A British official at the Egyptian Red Sea resort told Reuters that The British government is increasing the number of flights and will return about 2,000 nationals today on nine planes.

16:29

Egyptian crash investigator says noise on black box recording could be "explosion"

The head of the Egyptian technical committee investigating the crash has confirmed that the recording from the plane's black box reveals a sound in the last second of the recording.

Ayman el-Mokkadem said: "Initial observations... do not allow for identifying the origin of the in-flight break-up" of the Airbus A-321 last Saturday 23 minutes and 14 seconds after it took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

He said: "A noise was heard in the last second of the recording by the cockpit voice recorder" and "a spectral analysis will be done to determine the origin of this noise".

When answering a question about what the sound represented he said: "The sound is not the only evidence - we need to have a lot of evidence to indicate that something specific happened.

"All the scenarios are open, it could be a fatigue at the plane body, or an explosion of something..."

15:18

Explosive device could have been inside luggage

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said information obtained by UK officials indicated there was a "high probability" that the aircraft was brought down by an explosive device, though he said he was still waiting for final confirmation.

There have been reports that security agencies received intelligence based on intercepted communications between Sinai militants which pointed towards a bomb on the plane.

They apparently suspect an explosive device could have been placed inside or on top of luggage by someone with access to the hold just before take-off.

14:55

Planes land in Sharm el-Sheikh to pick up stranded Brits

CNN correspondent Erin McLaughlin tweets this picture of a Thomas Cook plane landing at Sharm el-Sheikh airport.

14:38

UK ambassador to Egypt says another 1,500 Brits will fly home today

The UK's ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, has met with the director of Sharm el-Sheikh airport to discuss the new security measures and ensure that all is being done to help British tourists get home quickly.

He told the BBC: "About 1,500 people got home yesterday. People are checking in for their flights at the airport now, there will be similar numbers today and we have got good co-operation now which will allow us to get people home as soon as possible.

"Let us remember what this has always been about is making sure that when people go home they go home safely."

Mr Casson said he understood the frustrations of stranded holidaymakers and reassured them that British government officials were at the airport and in hotels in the resort to offer people advice around the clock.

He added: "We have measures in place now which allow us to say it is safe to fly home. That is the most important thing, it is the utmost priority for the government, and we will do it in a way that is as convenient and as quick as possible for people."

13:37

'At no point did my luggage go through any scanner - it was bizarre'

A British tourist describes security at Sharm el-Sheikh airport as being so lax that he was able to pay to avoid proper procedures.

13:27

Investigation launched into local staff that came into contact with downed plane

Egyptian airport and security officials say an investigation has been launched into any local staff and ground crew in Sharm el-Sheikh that came into contact with the downed Russian Metrojet flight.

The officials told the Associated Press that authorities are questioning airport staff and have begun surveillance on those who worked on the Russian flight that crashed a week ago in the Sinai desert 23 minutes after taking off from the Red Sea resort.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief reporters.

12:48

BALPA says it has "no concerns" about Thomson plane which dodged missile over Sharm el-Sheikh

The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) has released a statement following this morning's news that a Thomson plane dodged a missile above Sharm el-Sheikh which was within 1000 feet of the aircraft.

A BALPA spokesperson said:

"BALPA representatives were reassured that a proper and robust investigation into this incident took place and has no concerns with the steps either DfT or Thomson Airways took at the time.

"We do not believe the safety of the aircraft was put at risk which is, of course, pilots' primary concern.

"It is also important to note that this incident is separate from the current and ongoing security situation in Sharm el Sheikh."

12:12

Agitated passengers wait for flights home

Passengers waiting for news on the status of their flights are becoming increasingly enraged by the lack of information filtering through from airlines.

Brits returning home to Gatwick last night told how rather than receiving updates via embassy officials and airlines, self-appointed spokespeople within the hoards of tourists were left to find out what was happening.

ITV's Neil Connery has tweeted this picture of British planes in Sharm el-Sheikh waiting to return home.

11:52

'Lots of tears and no sleep for two nights'

British tourists stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh describe their frustration as they wait for flight out of Egypt in this video report.

11:46

What flights will be running to the UK today?

1. On Saturday, easyJet is due to fly 445 passengers back on two planes from Sharm el-Sheikh to London Luton Airport.
2. Monarch expects to operate two services to Manchester in northwest England.
3. British Airways has one flight scheduled to land at London Gatwick.
4. Thomas Cook expects to run two flights.

10:58

Some advice for stranded British tourists

10:37

Russia to send 46 planes to retrieve stranded tourists

Russia's Association of Tour Operators has said 46 empty Russian planes are expected to be sent to Egypt today to bring tourists home, with another 47 flights planned for Sunday.

AP reports that planes will also be sent to Egypt to bring back the checked baggage of Russian tourists there.

As with the small number of Brits who managed to get flights back last night, Russian tourists leaving the Red Sea resort will only be allowed to carry hand luggage on board.

10:26

Egypt's foreign minister condemns European countries for not coordinating counter-terrorism efforts

Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry has condemned countries including the UK for not coordinating with Egypt to fight terrorism.

In a press conference this morning, Mr Shoukry said foreign countries did not heed Egypt's calls for greater coordination to fight terrorism and have not shared intelligence with Cairo about the crash of a Russian passenger plane last week.

He said: "European countries did not give us the cooperation we are hoping for" and added that Egypt's past calls for cooperation and coordination from "the countries that are now facing the danger" had not been dealt with seriously.

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash, but several countries have already suspended flights to the Sinai resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, citing the possibility that the flight which originated there was brought down by a bomb.

"The information we have heard about has not been shared with Egyptian security agencies in detail," Shoukry told a news conference. "We were expecting that the technical information would be provided to us."

10:08

Authorities kick journalists out of airport

Journalist Kristen McTighe confirms what our own Raf Sanchez reported that journalists in the Egyptian resort are being told they can't enter Sharm el-Sheikh airport.

09:58

Russia condemns Charlie Hebdo for Sinai cartoons

Patrick Sawer reports that Charlie Hebdo has got in trouble for two cartoons about the plane disaster.

The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has been condemned by Russia for two cartoons about the Sinai air disaster in which 224 people were killed.

One shows debris falling on a member of Islamic State (IS) with a caption reading: "Russia's air force intensifies its bombing" - in reference to Russia's air strikes on Syria.

Another cartoon depicted a skull and body parts of victims – who were mostly Russian tourists.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin, called the cartoons published by the satirical magazine "sacrilege".

He said: "This has nothing to do with democracy or self-expression.”

Charlie Hebdo was the target of a terrorist attack in January, when two Islamist gunman killed 10 of the magazine's staff at its Paris offices, along with two policemen outside.

The magazine has a history of controversial satire and has been repeatedly accused of insensitivity.

It was criticised by Russian Twitter users on Friday, with the hashtag "I'm not Charlie" among the top trends in the country - a reference to the "Je Suis Charlie" hashtag which became popular following the January attack.

Members of the Russian parliament also attacked the magazine, calling on the government to blacklist it as extremist literature and saying France should apologise.

09:42

Only 8 of 29 planned UK flights went ahead

Thousands of Britons remain stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh after rescue flights were forced to turn back in mid-air.

Around 1,400 holidaymakers were brought back to the UK yesterday but another 2,600 are still stuck at the Red Sea resort.

Of the 29 services scheduled, 21 were cancelled by the Egyptian authorities and some planes were forced to divert mid-flight.

09:38

All you need to know about the crash

09:36

79,000 Russians stranded in Egypt

AP are reporting that a revised count shows that 80,000 Russians are currently in Egypt - 79,000 of them in the resort areas of Hurgada and Sharm el-Sheikh.

The head of Russia's state tourism agency says Russians leaving Egypt will be allowed to take only cabin baggage with them and their other luggage will be delivered later.

Tourism chief Oleg Safonov did not specify the reason for the luggage restriction, but it appears to reflect concerns about security at Egypt's airports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday halted flights to Egypt from Russia due to security concerns.

09:18

Silence from black box could mean blast blew off tail

The data collected from one of the black boxes on the Airbus ends so abruptly it suggests the plane was torn apart.

According to investigators who extracted the information from the two boxes found at the crash site, all the aircraft's systems were functioning normally until the data recorder suddenly stopped.

Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported last night how the abrupt end to the recording suggests that the airliner was suddenly and violently torn apart.

The debris field at the site of the crash shows that it lost the tail - which houses the black boxes.

This would have torn the power and data cables meaning the black boxes could not have continued recording.

08:40

Egypt-led probe into crash set to release first findings

British and Russian authorities are continuing efforts to repatriate thousands of holidaymakers from Sharm el-Sheikh after suspending commercial flights to the Egyptian resort.

Meanwhile an Egypt-led probe is today set to release its first findings on last weekend's crash.

Analysis of information on the flight data recorder – or black box – revealed yesterday that there was an explosion 24 minutes into the flight.

David Cameron has said it was "more likely than not" that a bomb was smuggled on board.

05:34

NSA using "bulk collection" to gather information

An interesting insight into how information regarding the crash was gathered has been published by AFP, which has been speaking to a former French intelligence chief.

What the NSA is doing is effectively trawler fishing, trawling all the information," a former head of the French intelligence services told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The technique is known as "bulk collection".

"They take everything they can. The ideal thing is to be able to connect all that up and to put it together with other types of information to be able to prevent anything happening.

"(But) experience shows that preventing this kind of thing is very difficult, even impossible."

"In saying (he suspected a bomb), Obama simply read out the note that the intelligence services had prepared for him," he continued.

02:50

Money changing hands at Sharm el-Sheikh airport

A rather alarming tweet appearing to show money changing hands at Sharm el-Sheikh airport as tourists are desperate to get home.

01:07

How did Thomson just become involved in an "incident" during Egyptian military exercises?

How a Thomson jet managed to find itself involved in an “incident” during Egyptian military exercises in August remains unclear. Bob Mann, an American aviation expert, explained that strict guidelines are in place in America to avoid this taking place in warnings issued to pilots known as NOTAMs – or Notices to Airmen.

They govern what is known as Special Use Airspace, which is designed to segregate civilian aircraft from military activity. At one end of the scale controlled firing areas, where the military stop operations when radar shows a civilian aircraft is approaching. At the other there are patches of airspace from which civilian aircraft are completely banned.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN body, also designates “danger areas” which warns pilots of potential dangers.

22:36

All normal for 24 minutes, then a sudden explosion

We're getting slightly more information on what the teams of analysts who studied the black box from the downed plane heard.

It was 24 minutes in which absolutely nothing abnormal was detected, and then a sudden and violent explosion.

The data corroborates Prime Minister David Cameron's assertion earlier today that it was "more likely than not" that the explosion was triggered by a bomb in the hold.