Image copyright AFPImage caption Sharm el-Sheikh attracted hundreds of thousands of UK visitors each year Direct flights from the UK to Sharm el-Sheikh are to resume after the government ended a ban imposed in 2015. Flights to the Egyptian resort were stopped after 224 people died in the bombing of a Russian airliner, linked to […]

Image copyright EPAImage caption Mr Netanyahu has been in power for the past decade Israel’s long-standing Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said he cannot form a government, handing the opportunity to his political rival. Mr Netanyahu has been in power for the past decade, but he was unable to build a coalition with a majority […]

Image copyright Getty Images Video-sharing app TikTok is being used by Islamic State militants to spread propaganda to a younger audience, according to the Wall Street Journal. Supporters reportedly shared videos showing IS fighters with guns and corpses being paraded through streets. Some of the videos, posted in recent weeks, are said to have included […]

A temporary truce has put a end to fierce fighting in northern Syria, after Turkey launched an offensive on 9 October. Turkey says the move, which took place after a US troop withdrawal, aims to create a 32km (20-mile) ‘safe zone’ in areas of Kurdish control. The BBC’s Aleem Maqbool meets a bereaved mother, fleeing […]

Image copyright Getty ImagesImage caption Iranian hackers became unwitting dupes for Russian attacks An Iranian hacking group was itself hacked by a Russian group to spy on multiple countries, UK and US intelligence agencies have revealed. The Iranian group – codenamed OilRig – had its operations compromised by a Russian-based group known as Turla. The […]

Image copyright AFPImage caption Authorities say the discovery is proof that pearls have been traded since Neolithic times The world’s oldest natural pearl has been discovered on an island off Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The 8,000-year-old pearl was found during excavations at Marawah Island which also revealed the earliest architecture […]

US troops have been bombarded with potatoes by civilians angry at their pullout from the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in north-east Syria. Residents pelted armoured vehicles as troops left in line with Donald Trump’s surprise decision to withdraw US forces from the area. The president’s move is seen as having cleared the way for Turkish […]

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionFrom flag waving and calls for revolution, watch how anti-government protests have unfolded in Lebanon Lebanon’s government has approved a package of economic reforms as it attempts to quell the biggest protests to sweep the country in over a decade. Measures include steps to cut Lebanon’s huge […]

Image copyright Getty Images Tens of thousands of civilians have fled fighting in northern Syria and are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, the UN has said. As Turkey continues its cross-border military operation against Kurdish-led forces in the region, the UN Security Council has said it is “very concerned” about the situation deteriorating further. […]

Image copyright Jewan Abdi/BBC The case of three children believed to be from the UK, trapped in Syria after their parents joined the “Islamic State group” and subsequently died, has raised questions about how they can be repatriated. The children, Amira, Heba and Hamza, were featured in a recent BBC report from a Syrian camp […]