Russia has retaliated over the expulsion of one of its Ireland-based diplomats by expelling by an Irish one from Moscow.

That our Government would sign up for the co-ordinated expulsion of Russian diplomats, some of whom might or might not be spies, seemed inevitable.

The Government looks set to expel a number of Russian diplomats as a “show of solidarity” with the UK, Government sources have said.

The United Arab Emirates has said five of its diplomats were killed in a bombing in southern Afghanistan, one of the worst attacks to target the Gulf nation's diplomatic corps.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a veteran Egyptian diplomat who helped negotiate his country’s landmark peace deal with Israel but then clashed with the US when he served a single term as UN secretary-general, has died aged 93.