It is reported investigators looking into a Russian plane crash in Egypt are "90% sure" a noise heard on one of its black box recorders was an explosion caused by a bomb.

Thousands of holidaymakers remain stranded in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheik.

A missile that came within 1,000ft of a plane carrying tourists to Sharm el-Sheikh was “probably a flare”, investigators found.

An unidentified noise was heard by on-board recorders in the final seconds before a Russian plane crashed in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt’s civil aviation minister said.

Western governments had not sufficiently helped Egypt in its war on terrorism and not shared relevant intelligence with Cairo regarding the Russian plane that crashed last week in the Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, Egypt’s foreign minister has complained.

Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry has said that no theory has yet emerged from the investigation into the Sinai plane disaster.

New information has led to reports that a passenger jet heading to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh reportedly had a near-miss with a missile, two months before last weekend's Russian plane disaster.

French media have said investigators heard the sound of an explosion on the cockpit voice recorder of a Russian plane, which crashed last Saturday, killing everyone on board.

Russia has suspended all passenger flights to Egypt.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan has urged any Irish citizens in Egypt who may be concerned about developments there since the Russian plane crash, to contact the Irish Embassy in Cairo.

At least 170 Irish passport-holders are known to be in Egypt, as the Department of Foreign Affairs advises against all non-essential travel there.

An apparent IS propaganda video has been posted by militants speaking in Russian issuing a direct threat to President Putin.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is advising Irish citizens in Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt to exercise a high degree of caution and to avoid travelling outside the resort.

Flights from Sharm el-Sheikh to the UK are being suspended tonight amid fears that a Russian plane was brought down by a bomb, Downing Street has announced.

Irish Aviation Authority experts are understood to have begun examining the flight recorders from the Metrojet plane crash.

US satellite systems detected heat around a Russian passenger plane before it crashed in Egypt and killed all 224 people aboard, two US officials have said.

The first 10 bodies of victims of Saturday’s plane crash over Egypt have been identified by their families.

A top official at Metrojet, the Russian airline company whose flight crashed Saturday in Egypt, has insisted that a technical fault could not have caused the crash.

The bodies of some of the victims of the passenger plane that crashed in Egypt killing everyone on board have been flown back to Russia.

The Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit is sending a team to Eygpt to help in the investigation into the plane crash which killed 224 people.

Russia's transport watchdog has suspended all Kogalymavia, flights on the Airbus A321 aircraft, the same model that crashed in Egypt yesterday morning.

Two of Europe's largest airlines have announced they will stop flying over the Sinai peninsular following the crash of a Russian plane.

Russia is observing a day of mourning for victims of yesterday's plane crash in Egypt - which killed 224 people.

Islamic State militants claim they downed a Russian jet killing 224 people on board.

A Russian aircraft carrying 224 people has crashed in a remote mountainous region in the Sinai Peninsula about 20 minutes after taking off from a Red Sea resort popular with Russian tourists, Egypt’s ministry of civil aviation said.

The passenger jet that crashed shortly after take-off in Egypt today was registered and owned in Ireland.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called a national day of mourning following the crash of a Russian plane in Egypt.

Latest Update: 12.50pm

A Russian passenger jet with at least 170 people aboard crashed in eastern Ukraine today, and a Russian news agency cited Ukrainian emergency officials as saying there were no survivors.

Ukrainian officials have released a statement stating all the people aboard the Russian passenger jet that crashed in Ukraine were believed to be dead.

An airliner careered off a rain-slicked runway, ploughed into adjacent garages and burst into flames in the Siberian city of Irkutsk early today.

A Russian passenger plane skidded off a rain-soaked Siberian runway early today, ploughed through a concrete barrier and burst into flames killing at least 124 people.

A Russian passenger plane crashed on landing in the Siberian city of Irkutsk early today, killing around 150 passengers, Russian news agencies reported.

They lived in the same apartment in Chechnya, worked in the same market and possibly died within moments of each other on separate airliners that crashed in Russia last week.

Traces of explosive have been found on the wreckage of the second of two crashed Russian airliners, a spokesman for Russia’s domestic security agency said today.

Traces of explosives have been found in the wreckage of one of two airliners that crashed almost simultaneously in Russia.

A website known for militant Muslim comment today published a claim of responsibility for the crashes of two Russian airliners, connecting the action to Russia’s fight against separatists in Chechnya.

Suspicions grew today that terrorists were to blame for twin airline crashes, with a top official saying terrorism was the main theory and many Russians insisting the double disaster could not be explained by mere coincidence.

Flight recorders from the wreckage of two planes that crashed almost simultaneously in Russia have not revealed reliable information on the causes of the double disaster, a top Russian official said.

Russian officials are examining the wreckage of two crashed planes today in an effort to determine whether a terrorist attack caused the near-simultaneous disasters that killed all 89 people aboard.