let's go to cnn's erin mclaughlin in sharm el sheikh with the latest. in, how is this departure working so far? >> reporter: john, things seem to be going smoothly here at sharm el sheikh international airport. picking up passengers and flying them back home to the u.k. handb hand baggage only. thing that is checked needs to be left behind. they are encouraged to leave addresses and information and promising them they will get them that luggage back at a later date. this is all a result of what british security officials are saying serious concerns about the luggage in the cargo hold of the planes here at sharm el sheikh international airport. what specifically they are concerned about in the security process is not apparent. if they are worried about the cargo hold access prior to the planes taking off or worried about the security screening process of passengers' luggage is not entirely clear. it is worth noting these additional measures are only in place for british as well as dutch passengers. other airlines from other countries are flying in and out

let's bring in erin mclaughlin in sharm el sheikh for latest. ter: christine, it is a confusing picture here at sharm el sheikh international airport. what was supposed to have happened, british airlines was supposed to have flown in empty planes to pick up passengers and bring them home. easyjet putting out a statement saying that is not the case. egyptian authorities have suspend suspended all flights from the airport. that is disputed by british airline ways. they say the scheduled flights are allowed to land at the airport and monarch has five planes in the air right now scheduled to land here at the airport. we have reached out to egyptian officials. officials here is a they have not been made aware of any mass cancellations. we have yet to get reaction from egyptian government authorities. christine. >> thank you, erin. >> russia still casting doubt that terrorists took down the plane. that as the first of the victims is laid to rest. we will have that angle next. watching fis great...ether ...but i think women would agree... ...huddling wi

and sharm el sheikh. we know the british team on the ground there is focusing at the airport on security. we heard from british ministers suggesting they are not yet happy with the security and screening process. they are happy to get to a point possibly by tomorrow where they know what is going on with proper screenings. this is an issue of what luggage got on the plane yesterday. they got this intelligence. it comes at the awkward time because the egyptians made it clear they believe the brits were premature on this and should are waited for the formal investigation report. the prime minister said they could not wait for that. they had to act on the information they had. a huge amount of travellers every day from sharm el sheikh. their holidays has been disrupted. while flights may start again tomorrow, thomas cook, the biggest operator in the u.k. will not start flights for another week. john. >> having to see the competing interests at work. thank you, max. egypt insists that sharm el sheikh airport i

sharm el sheikh, and between sharm el sheikh and the pyramids, they account for a tremendous amount of revenue for the government. sharm el sheikh is a place where there are a lot of europeans that vacation, and a lot of russian russians that vacation. if you put the facts together, the british were not unreasonable in what they said today. >> because the statement like this coming from the prime m minister's office in london, david cameron's office saying that the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device. and that explosive device is clearly a bomb. you don't issue a statement like that, and then the tell all of the british carriers do not fly in or out of sharm el sheikh and then make sure that the british citizens who are stranded there are okay? >> well, a couple of points the. the british fly directly this in and out of sharm el sheikh. so they are farther ahead than we need to be in that respect. what is important here if indeed their theory is correct, an in indeed the media statement put out by isil in the sinai saying they did it, and did it because of russ

it rotates around the airport in sharm el sheikh and whether or not it is secure. at they are trying to do, they have a team on the ground, is work and feel comfortable at sharm el sheikh and it has been screened properly before the flights are started. 35,000 people should be on the way back today, but how many brits have been inconvenienced. how the prime minister can secure british lives at the egyptian airport before he allows the flights to be restarted. the secretary did say, christine, he wants flights up and running by tomorrow. he seems optimistic to deal with the security concerns. >> max foster, thank you. egypt is insisting the airport is still safe this morning. i want to bring in senior don't ben wedeman. he is live in cairo. ben, from your experience, your vast experience in egypt and region, what is security like at sharm el sheikh international? >> reporter: i think if you speak to anybody who has traveled there frequently, it is relaxed. you don't get the feeling that security is very high unlike many other airports in this part of the world. it is

express concern and to ensure that the typist possible security arrangements were put in place at sharm el sheikhhat the tightest possible security arrangements were put in place at sharm el sheikh. brent: that's go over to london with birgit. we know that prime minister david cameron says he is concerned that e plane may have been brought down by an explosive device. has he said why? birgit: they are saying there is specific intelligence, but there is nothing official from number 10 downing street or from the foreign office. it is being investigated as a neral security precaution to make sure that those are safe if they want to fly home. brent: and, birgit, we know there are some experts that were on their way to sharm el sheikh. what are the british doing in egypt right now? they are not going to the crash site first, right? they are going to the airport. birgit: as far as we know, the british experts are on the ground now in egypt, in sharm el sheikh, that they are not investigating the crash site, just investigating security measures at the airport to make sure that they are sufficient. this

sharm el sheikh is lovely. the mountains come right down to the sea and beautiful snorkeling and nice resorts and where brits go. british people go to sharm el sheikh for vacation by the tens of thousands. there are tens of thousands of them there every day. and that historical truth has persisted even over the past few years as islamic militancy in the sinai peninsula is a hard to ignore violent insurgency. mostly islamic militant attacks in the sinai target military facilities or police and soldiers. in another part of the sinai peninsula today, there was a suicide car bombing that killed at least four egyptian police officers, about 300 miles from sharm el sheikh. it was one big coordinated bombing attack ten years ago that did hit the resort town itself. did hit sharm el sheikh exactly. targeted or theist areas. remote detonated bombs. 88 people killed and nearly a dozen british tourists. that was ten years, 2005. this time last year, one relatively high profile group of militants in the sinai pledged allegi

we have decided for the time being we must suspend flights out to sharm el-sheikh. flies against all essential travel by air. >> thousands of britons and other tourists are stranded in sharm el-sheikh after flights were suspended. the offices are now advising britons against air travel to sharm. >> there are security concerns. we are in the queue waiting to get on the plane when they told us to sit down because we were not going anywhere. recentlyent to sharm and told us about their security concerns. gettingirst thing is through the airport and being whisked through the front line of security, someone taking money that is obviously in cahoots with the guy on the gate. not havingthing was the bags scanned. >> for the past four days, british counterterrorism officials have been looking for clues that could point to russianm and behind the aircraft. fresh intelligence prompted the prime minister to conclude today that he cannot take the risk of the lives of thousands of britons, hence the announcement and the dispatch of a team of experts to review safety at sharm el-

view in the last several hours as the british took their steps to stop flights back and forth to sharm el sheikh, ireland as you say following suit. the u.s. embassy in cairo issuing its warning. the focus now is what was the security at the sharm el sheikh airport. a british aviation team traveling to the airport there to look at it. don't look for those aviation flights to resume until there's some assurance by the european government that get flights right from that airport that it is safe. the egyptians say it's safe. there is a lot of concern. what u.s. officials are also telling us they had no indications before the attack, no pre-warning on any of this, but they had been looking at intelligence about growing militant activity in sinai over the last several weeks and months. it had been a growing concern by the u.s. as to what was happening in sinai. and now all of it they say adding up to a very strong belief they do indeed believe it was a bomb that brought down the plane and killed all 224 souls onboard, jake. >> barbara, any information about how the bomb might have gotten on to the pl

imposing restrictions and preventing their sovereign aircraft, if you like, from travel to go sharm el-sheikht causes problems for sharm el-sheikh and the stranded passengers who are there. there is an estimated some 20,000 british passengers alone who are in that resort at the moment and some of the restrictions that that have been put on them will make it difficult for them to get home. i have to say that the british authorities are promising that most of the brits will be back in the u.k. probably by the end of friday, by friday evening. there are extra flights which are being sent out, let me look down the list. monarch, for example, which is one. airlines involved, they are sending three extra empty aircraft to sharm el-sheikh to pick up passengers. that's in addition to two aircraft which are ther alreadyn the resort, a total of five monarch, easy jet is sending five to pick up passengers and they have two on the ground so that's a total of 10 easy jet planes which will be evacuating passengers and reparticipate ree rating them. but the restrictions that will be placed on the spangs are

about 20,000 british tourists are in sharm el sheikh at the moment. ny have had their return to the uk delayed because of the suspension of flights tweep the uk and sharm el sheikh. special flights will be laid on by the airlines to be bring many of those people, but, of course, they will only be able to bring hand luggage, no check-in luggage from the airport. that comes after a british airport security delegation came to look at the security procedures at sharm el sheikh international airport. they apparently did make some recommendations and they did focus on the baggage handling system there, but clearly there's some doubts that still remain. we learned the dutch national carrier has informed passengers flying from cairo to amsterdam today that they will not be able to check in luggage, they will only be able to bring hand luggage onboard that aircraft. so it would appear that perhaps concerns are spreading from sharm el sheikh to cairo's much bigger and busier international airport. john? >> is this now appears to be a growing issue when it comes

our erin mclaughlin joins us in sharm el-sheikh. s the british delegation went to sharm el-sheikh, inspected the airport, do we know much more about that? >> hi, anderson. well, we understand that assessment is complete. out of that assessment, british foreign secretary saying they took the decision to change travel advice to the area, passenger jets no longer flying from the united kingdom into sharm el-sheikh international airport. as for the british citizens currently here, well, secretary hammond said that british authorities a authorities are working with egyptian officials on additional security procedures, additional screenings that would make it safe for those british citizens to fly home. he also added that egyptian officials do not have the information about the plane that british officials have. now, egyptian paper reporting that the delegation visited various security points inside the airport taking pictures including pictures of the runway. reporting that they will compile all of that into a report to present to egyptia

and in 12 minutes they clarified with the following saying the situation for uk flights in sharm el-sheikhains fluid and advised the egyptian authorities will allow a restricted number of uk flights from sharm el-sheikh today two of which are easy jet flights. after the initial statement we phoned around some of the other airlines and monarch and british airways to find out if their flights are effected and are not, british airways will fie a delayed flight in sharm el-sheikh to pick up passengers and bring them out later on friday and monarch airlines has two planes on the ground on sharp sharp and two additional to repatriate passengers stranded in the resort and the flights will go ahead and appears what is effected here is the eight additional easy jet flights which are intended to be flown in empty to sharm el-sheikh to bring out thousands of people, it appears that the two easy jets on the ground will get off the ground and back to uk as planned but the eight rescue flights in you light will not be able to at the moment. the situation are on going. >> could be a pass capacity problem

and sharm el sheikh. i'm lauren taylor live from london. romania's prime minister and government has stepped down in protests of a nightclub fire that killed 30 people. >>> rescuers continue to look for survivors of a collapse of a factory in pakistan. >>> justin trudeau is sworn in as canada's 23rd prime minister. hello the british government has suggested that the plane crash was caused by a bomb. it suspended all flights between u.k. and sharm el sheikh until further investigations can be completed. 224 passengers and crew died. neave barker reports. >> since saturday seven teams have been scouring the site where flight 9268 came down. and where 224 people were killed. it's a difficult task, with the wreckage strewn across the wide area of desert. russian investigators are using drones to try to identify anything that could answer questions about why the airbus 8321 crashed. there are constant reminders that this was a plane packed with tourists returning from their holiday. the flight is thought to have been broken up in midair. >> try

only four were allowed into sharm el sheikh. those, only two were allowed to make the return journey. easyjet had a tougher time. it hoped to send out eight planes. none were allowed into sharm el sheikh. it did, however, have two planes already on the ground. they were allowed to fly back. we spoke to some of the passengers who arrived on the easyjet flight into gatwick this afternoon. they all shared a tremendous sense of relief. >> i think i can speak for all the people when i say that david cameron absolutely made the right decision. we felt so much safer when we knew they were involved. >> people were angry, we didn't get information from nobody, easyjet or the british u.k. no one told us anything. >> reporter: what was your sense of security on the ground at sharm el sheikh? >> it wasn't very good. yeah, i can't understand everything. everyone knew they're demented. not safe there at all i don't think. >> reporter: the reason so few british flights are allowed in and out of sharm el sheikh comes to an additional security p

they don't want their planes right now going to sharm el-sheikh. manes from sharm el-sheikh coming back into their country until there is some assurance to their satisfaction that this is a safe aviation route and that the airport to their satisfaction indeed is safe. british prime minister david cameron calling a meeting of his top security officials to look at this. i just want to go back and say because i think it's important, the whole cnn team, those of us who cover national security, pam brown, elise labbot, we are fanning out across all government agencies because every government agency is going to wind up having a view on this and a piece of it. what does it mean to you as aviation security? this is not a direct flight route where any planes would come to the united states directly from sharm el-sheikh, but they're going to want to know as fast as possible, homeland security, the fbi, all of the agencies, what does this mean? who is out there that the u.s. government doesn't know about that can bring an airliner down? >> barbara, excellent

. >> there will be no commercial flights permitted to sharm el sheikh from now. all commercial passenger flights will be returning from sharm el sheikh. >> have restricted u.s. embassy employees from traveling to the area. >> it's important to tell works not to go to the sinai now. >> in the sinai, egypt is fighting rebels associated with i.s.i.l. alert to u.s. airlines to avoid flying below 26,000 feet there. warning, exercise extreme caution during flight operations, to avoid violence or unrest. >> there are no regular carriers that regularly operate out of the sinai peninsula. in fact the airport in question at sharm el sheikh is in fact not the last point of departure into the united states, for any airline. united airlines does fly over the sinai, the only u.s. carrier to do so, with flights to dubai and kuwait. united says it is diverting until further notice. investigators have both black boxes. there was good information on the data recorder but the voice recorder will take more work to decipher. heat flash around the russian jet as it broke up at nearly 3

it's tolling for people like leonard and alexandra, a young people, 28 years old, who went to sharm el sheikh gotten engaged there. it's tolling for people like miller, the 33-year-old businessman who left his wife to go with a friend and travel to sharm el sheikh. the family buried him a couple of days ago. it's tolling for people like him. it's tolling for a young psychologist from st. petersburg. it's tolling for all these people. there are families here and there are people from st. petersburg who have come to show support for the families. for individuals, for them collectively. the young 10-month-old really became for many people here a symbol of the tragedy of this loss. a 10-month-old child traveling with her parents. the parents lost as well, of course. 25 children on board this plane. people here are still struggling to understand why. >> just a moment ago, we saw an image of a little baby killed on that plane. you mentioned the death of a 10-year-old child as well -- 10-month-old child i should say. you know, as we hear the service with our viewers around the world, people are mour

the egyptians don't want people to think that they have an insecure facility in sharm el sheikh. rmed. that is one of the first things the foreign minister said to me. and remember 900,000 british tourists go to sharm el sheikh every single year. and now the british secretary is saying that what they have heard is chatter as barbara starr has been talking about and the intelligence community telling them what they think may have happened. and british foreign secretary today saying there is significant possibility it could have been isisist itself, as isis claimed from the beginning. >> you have pointed out perfectly the egyptians have that vested interest in this not having been a bomb. it would hurt tourism and suggest that security at sharm el sheikh is terrible. so given that the u.s. and the brits believe that there is chatter that has led intelligence officials to believe that it was a bomb and possibly isis, how can the egyptians dispute that? >> well, of course the full investigation is not complete yet. and they are hanging on to that taking place and being completed. but

easy jet, and monarch and british airways, they are basically not operating any flights in no sharm el-sheikhriday of next week and are sending passengers back from sharm el-sheikh on rescue flights effectively without their luggage, they are saying they are carry small amounts of hands luggage, car keys, house keys, passport, cash, credit card, but that is it. there will be no checked including luggage, no hulled lue they are promising the government couriers will bring back the suitcases there are very tight restrictions in the absence of the definitive cause for the crash and the huge amount of suspicion that it was a bomb placed in the hulled. they are not take anything chances. >> all right, paul, thank you. >>> myanmar has reached another important milestone in its transformation from military dictatorship to democracy. campaigning is officially drawing to a close in the country's historic lex. opposition leader has promise today form a reconciliation government in her party the nld wins sunday's poll but there are allegations of threats and intimidation in the run up to the elections f

you asked me about security at sharm el-sheikh. the man who runs sharm el-sheikh airport has been fired, allegedly because when the russians and the egyptians came back into the airport to review security after this event, they were very concerned about what they saw as it relates to u.s. airport security, tsa says at this point, no change in security posture. it's pretty much as scripted or standard protocol but you can imagine if there's a lesson to be learned or if there's anything that jumps up on their radar, that we should be applying to u.s. airport security, they will take that under advisement and probably act on it very quickly. >> and greg, what do we know from what we see from the crash site so far about how this could have happened? >> reporter: andrea, the investigators, nobody has released a lot of information in this as far as the investigation is concerned of an accident. of course, the information off the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder will be scrutinized. the cvr for irregular sounds. there is ear

so imagine now the security at sharm el sheikh. er heard a full security audit of sharm el sheikh. you can imagine now that there are russian officers on the ground reviewing every piece of the security equation there at sharm el sheikh and that in fact the british have joined them, not only reviewing all the security cameras to get a sense of what happened there in the past in sharm el sheikh, in terms of security, but also, what are the current security conditions like. and as you mentioned, our colleague bill neely reporting that it may be somebody at sharm el sheikh has already lost his job today. >> tom, stand by there. msnbc military analyst and executive editor of defense 1. you've been listening to this. you're hearing a lot of speculation -- i shouldn't say speculation. there are reports now from officials in the british government and the u.s. government indicating that they're looking at this possibility very strongly. some putting it more strongly than others. but saying that they're looking at whether there was a bomb.

as we have been reporting, many holidaymakers remain stranded in sharm el-sheikh. s get you the latest. ruth michelson is at sharm el-sheikh airport. our flights taking off? >> we understand that some flights it definitely took off today. at least one, perhaps to, of the easyjet flights scheduled to tak british tourists back managed to bring them back home. the british ambassador promised before that at least 20 of the 29 scheduled flights to date would be leaving. it is not clear how many of those flights have managed to leave. as well as the problem of having flights potential be delayed until tomorrow, you also have an increasing backlog of luggage. the people leaving are not allowed to take their suitcases on the flights. they can only take handbags. that could be a problem with a huge buildup of luggage at the airport, which will struggle to deal with it itself. >> in general, how are stranded passengers dealing with the situation? >> it has been quite a mix here. some of the people i have spoken to, especially in the departure lounge, where incredibly angry. t

a bomb but they very strongly believe there is a very likely possibility that someone in the sharm el-sheikh airport smuggled a bomb onto this plane. the u.s. intelligence committee now scrutinizing airport security at sharm el-sheikh airport. the latest u.s. intelligence suggests that the crash of the russian passenger jet was most likely caused by an explosive device on the plane, planted by isis or an isis affiliate, according to a u.s. official. the official who is familiar with the latest information regarding the u.s. intelligence analysis of the crash tells cnn there is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in the luggage or somewhere on the plane. a british aviation team is traveling to the airport to look at the security there. >> we cannot categorically say why the russian jets crashed. but we have become concerned that the plane may well have been brought down as a result of an explosive device. >> reporter: british prime minister david cameron telephoned egyptian president al sisi and announced that all flights between the uk and sharm el-sheikh are suspended unti

wasn't it you i heard talking about how beduins are a big part of the security staffing at the sharm el sheikh airport? >> yes, again, the sinai, it only has about 1.5 million people living in the sinai. most of them are in sharm el sheikh. and some of the beduins actually go for jobs there. so the theory, and, again, this is a theory, that this was an inside job by baggage hand learns where the security may be more lax than in the terminal itself, is probably a good theory but, again, it's not conclusive. it's what people are guessing at right now in terms of intelligence and because there's no firm evidence yet that it was a bomb, it's tough to go down the path of how did the bomb get on board. >> i might need to interrupt this next answer of yours if he appears at the podium. i do want to ask you, there has been much made about the fact that when a terrorist organization achieves its mission, the reason they do it is to create terror and the only way to do that is to make sure everybody knows you did it. and yet there hasn't been this massive trumpeting of responsibility. there's been sligh

director stepped down for family reasons. >>> a russian security audit is under way in the resort of sharm el sheikhu.s. is increasingly confident that it was a bomb that took down the jetliner taking off from sharm el sheikh. one official telling cnn it is quote 99.9% certain. egypt is walking a fine line of the reports of lax security at the airports, but requesting russia officials to conduct security checks. joining us with latest is cnn's ian lee from sharm el sheikh. >> reporter: good morning, alison. we are hearing from the u.s. law enforcement official that the fbi may be requested to come in and help the egyptian officials in the investigation in particular listening to a noise that occurs right at the last second of the plane flight. a loud bang is heard on the voice recorder. u.s. and u.k. officials believe this is an explosion from a bomb. now the egyptians have said that it could also be an engine exploding, a battery explodinex. they say it is too soon to jump to conclusions, but also at the sharm el sheikh airport behind me, there is a russian team on the ground. they are assessing se

the head of security at sharm el sheikh airport from where the plane took off, has been sacked tonight, and in fact, three airport chiefs have been fired. and lax security procedures have been uncovered at sharm el sheikh airport. there are british officials who have flown in today. there have been russian and egyptian officials who have been testing security procedures at that airport for the last few days and they have found very lax security procedures. for example, policemen who are not required to show any identification, who are allowed onto the runway. baggage handlers and airport workers who have very lax security clearance. so that is one thing that we can absolutely point to. it may be coincidental, but it's significant. i think there's an interesting difference, if you like, between what unnamed u.s. officials are saying, talking about evidence, and what the british are saying. and remember the fact that the british have come out in this statement has come from the primary's office is significant. they are putting the weight of their authority behind this. but they're not ta

ian, you're there at the airport at sharm el sheikh. i know you've been there on several earlier occasions. what's it like today? give us a little scene, how tight security is, have they strengthened security, what are people doing there? i assume a lot of foreigners are trying to get out of there. >> that's right, wolf. i arrived here on this trip earlier this morning. one thing i noticed was for the most part at least when we arrived it was quite empty. you saw those jets, those easy jets were on the tarmac. just waiting there, standing by. we also saw an increase in the police presence outside of the terminal. and actually leading into the airport complex, there was another checkpoint and they would have bomb sniffing dogs. we've seen security guards going, opening trunks, looking and really scrutinizing the cars coming in here. that's just before you get inside the terminal. there's also other layers of security we've been seeing. two scans, going through two x-rays. metal detectors really an increase in security that we're seeing.

. 20,000 britains are vacationing there. >> there will be no flights to sharm el sheikh from now. passengers who are in sharm el sheikh will be returned to the u.k. >> hasn't come to any conclusions but is directing people not to go to the sinai. in the sinai egypt is fighting rebels associated with i.s.i.l. even before the metro jet accident, invoicing flying below 26,000 feet there, warning, exercise extreme caution during flight operations due ongoing violence and unrest. >> there are no u.s. carriers that regularly operate out of the sinai peninsula. and in fact, the airport in question at sharm el sheikh is in fact not the last point of departure into the united states for any airline. >> reporter: united airlines does fly over the sinai, the only u.s. carrier to do so with flights to dubai and kuwait. the airline says it is diverting until further notice. crash investigators have both the plane's black boxes. they say there is good data on the flight recorder but the voice recorder was damaged and will take more work to decipher. another clue, a u.s. military satellite dete

european airlines warn against travel to sharm el sheikh. france, belgium and britain are concerned about security after a crash on saturday. the british prime minister says it's likely a bomb bought down the plane >>> in london hundreds protested against abdul fatah al-sisi. he met david cameron at downing street. he's been accused of human rights abuses >>> the outgoing united nations envoy to libya denied that he is bias. libya criticised his acceptance of a role in the united arab emirates dema. >> the u.n. refugee agencies is expecting 5,000 migrants to arrive on shore. the prime minister visited the island of lesbos. he spoke about the need for an agreement. the registration process must be given in turkey, not greece. >> i think the key issue is not to encourage the people to take the risk to lose their life in the sea. and the only way is to give the hope that some day they will have the chance to be this mechanism for settlement from the court to europe. >> attention assist turning to the drama that the refugee crisis is inflicting.

this is specific to sharm el sheikh airport. if there was a bomb on that plane, then that represents a failure of security at sharm el sheikh. >> specifically because the russians suspended all air traffic not only to sharm el sheikh but cairo as well. >> yeah. well, we took the decision that it's sharm el sheikh we need to focus on. it's sharm el sheikh where we have a very significant tourist traffic from the uk. so that was the principle focus of our concern. >> if it was a bomb, do you believe it was isis? >> isis have claimed that they are responsible for bringing down this aircraft. we've seen a history of isis claims tending to be born out by facts. there's got to be a high probability that isis was involved. that doesn't mean that it was a directed attack from isis headquarters in syria. it may have been an individual who was inspired by isis who was self-radicalized by looking at isis propaganda and was acting in the name of isis without necessarily being directed. >> the so-called lone wolf theory. some lone wolf, an in

the first plane carrying stranded british tourists leaves sharm el-sheikh. extra security measures have been put in place after british and u.s. claims that a bomb likely down a russian passenger plane. france will reinstate border controls for the u.n. climate summit. authorities are on alert for violent protests as well as potential terror attacks during the conference. and a dam bursts at a mine in southeast of brazil. homes are covered in toxic, muddy waters. two people have died. sq teams continue to search through the waters. i'm joined for a business update , joined by delon desousa. travelstarting off with disruptions. >> 290 flights have been canceled this friday alone. the main flight attendant unions confirmed the strike after talks with management broke down. the industrial action is expected to last one week, despite bringing in profits. it is the latest in more than a dozen strikes that have hit move tons a in the past year and a half. ,ts main cabin crew union, uso is on a weeklong walkout after last-ditch efforts to find a compromise if manag

to fly out tour tourists stranded there is too much of an air lift at the airport at sharm el-sheikhcope with and monarch and briti british airways are putting planes into sharm el-sheikh to help but in smaller numbers and rather than egyptian authorities banning all uk aircraft it appears that easy jet intention to fly eight care craft in was too much for the egyptian authorities to cope with so the statement has been reigned back from and the british prime minister has said in the last hour that the situation at sharm el-sheikh is difficult but fluid and he says he is working closely with the egyptian authorities to resolve this situation as quickly as possible. >> paul yet we see those number answer all of the tourist is there a concern that the thousands still stranded in sharm el-sheikh are at risk? >> well, at risk potentially, yes, but don't forget that since this aircraft came down last friday there has been stringent security imposed at the airport and there has been no suggestion that in the tourist resort itself there is any risk posed to tourists who are simply strolling

. >>> new this morning, a russian security audit under way in the resort of sharm el sheikh. the u.s. is increasingly confident it was a bomb that brought down a russian jetliner that took off from sharm el sheikh killing all 224 people on board. with one u.s. official telling cnn it is quote 99.9% sure that it was a bomb. egypt is walking a fine line. firmly denying media reports of lax security at airport, but inviting russian experts to provide security checks and make suggestions for improvement. joining us from sharm el sheikh is ian lee. ian, good morning. u.s. investigators are getting involved? >> reporter: good morning, john and alison. the fine may come here to help out with the investigation. the formal request hasn't been made, but one area they could help the egyptians in is analyzing a sound heard on the final moments of the voice recorder. a loud bang is heard. now u.s., u.k. officials believe this is the sound of a bomb exploding. egyptians on the other hand are saying it could be an engine exploding or battery. it could be a bomb. they just don't know and they

egyptian officials say news reports claiming lax security and nonfunctioning equipment at sharm el sheikheneralizations unsubstantiated and false. today the associated press cites up to seven officials involved in security, each describing poor security procedures there with me live, from sharm el sheikh, nima. talking first about the significance, why is it significant that some of the intelligence has come from israel to the united states? >> reporter: given that the egyptian authorities have been reeling from blow after blow with statements from the uk and then from the u.s. and president putin saying that he has evidence that he would like the flight to be suspended while they wait for the investigation to show final evidence all communicated publicly before it was communicated bilaterally and privately to the egyptians. you have to remember the egyptians for years were a key figure in terms of security cooperation in this border region. seen by the u.s. as being integral. for them to hear this evidence was picked up in the sinai, which is a closed zone of military operations here, in

isaac, how regulated is the sharm el sheikh airport? mption is maybe an airport worker smuggled that bomb onboard. >> we know that the isis they have some sort of base in sharm el sheikh. and it's not the first time they're attacking and killing innocent people. only yesterday isis terrorist with a car bomb went and commit suicide and they killed a few security people in sharm el sheikh. now, it depends if they have security at sharm el sheikh at the airport because i believe that isis did the work and the explosive blow aircraft and kill 224 people. now, i have heard also few minutes ago that the egyptian authorities promise that they will tighten security. instead of saying this kind of statement, after facts, after tragedy, horrible tragedy, that they will change the system. it's about time that we do it before tragedy happens. i'm calling this opportunity the tsa here where we know we don't have security instead of statement after statement without any results to see security in high level. do it now before it will be late. >> tom fu

planes have started to fly stranded british tourists from sharm el-sheikh back to the u.k. but many remain stranded. easy jet said egypt is not letting its jets land to take tourists home. >> i think if anything was in a built more structure, it would be easier for us british to get back home quicker, but overall, i think the government made the right decision to slow it down through egypt and also considering our security at the same time, as well. >> also this morning, british authorities making travelers leave most of their baggage behind so it can be searched before put on a plane. al jazeera's paul brennan is following the latest developments out of london. >> the situation at sharm el-sheikh is described by the british prime minister as difficult and fluid. the airlift, which is going to be organized to try to get nearly 20,000 tourists out of that resort and back home has been ridden with difficulty all day friday because of confusion as to how many aircraft will be allowed in to bring those tourists out. airways have been loud to take aircraft into sharm el-sheikh,

and we received the team at the sharm el sheikh airport, and i say today we are ready to cooperate withriends and provide the safety needed for people to come to us. >> the german airline has joined britain in suspending flights to the area. in russia, the first of many funerals are being held for the 224 people who died in the crash. >> reporter: finally laid to rest. a devoted mother and grandmother, and the first of the 224 victims to be buried. as investigators in the sinai increase the search area around where the flight came down, britain has revealed they have additional intelligence, indicating an isil affiliate could have been behind the disaster. the government held an emergency meeting discussing the information on how to get 20,000 british holiday makers home safely. >> we cannot be certain that it was brought down by a bomb, but it looks increasingly likely that that was the case. it's the right thing to do to suspend these flights until we can safely bring people home. >> reporter: russia says any theory over the craft is speculation at this point. >> translator: it's surp

passenger flights out to sharm el sheikh from now. passengers who are on the ground in sharm el sheikh will be returned to the u.k. >> the state department says it's not jumping to any conclusions but has now restricted u.s. embassy employees from traveling to the area. >> it's also the responsible thing to do for the united states government to tell its workers don't go to the sinai now. >> in the sinai, egypt is fighting rebels affiliated to i.s.i.l. warning, exercise extreme caution during flight operations due the ongoing violence and unrest. >> there are no u.s. carriers that regularly operate out of the sinai peninsula. and in fact, the airport in question at sharm el sheikh is in fact not the last point of departure into the united states for any airline. >> reporter: united airlines does fly over the sinai. the only u.s. carrier to do so. with flights to dubai and kuwait. the airline told al jazeera it is diverting until further notice. crash investigators have both the plane's black boxes. they say there is good data on the fl

from the egyptian resort of sharm el-sheikh. electronic intercepts of isis before and after the crash indicated isis was in communication with someone at the sharm el-sheikh airport. congressman adam schiff is one of the eight members of congress to receive a classified briefing on the investigation. >> if this is a bomb by the affiliate of isis in the sinai, isis has now fully eclipsed al qaeda as the gravest terrorist threat in the world. >> reporter: isis likely recruited someone with access at the ramp at the airport to plant the bomb on the russian jet. as more of the 224 russian victims were buried this weekend in st. petersburg, officials said shrapnel wounds were discovered in several of the bodies. indication that the plane was brought down by an explosive device. egyptian officials have now confirmed that the cockpit voice recorder, the cvr, captured a distinct but undetermined noise just before it stopped working. >> a noise was heard in the last seconds of the cvr recording. critical to figuring out how this russian p

nationals are in sharm el sheikh now 3500 trying to leave. but as those vacations, those holidays end we'll expect more trying to get out. >> ian lee live from sharm el sheikh. now to london and cnn's catalysis is a wa ward. >> reporter: just over an hour ago egypt's president abdul fatal al-sisi arrived here. topping the agenda now is the u.k.'s decision to temporarily halt all flights to and from sharm el sheikh airport. the british prime minister before president sisi's arrival had an emergency meeting with his government and afterwards he reiterated that there is probable cause to believe that a bomb did bring down this passenger jet. take a listen. >> we don't know for certain that it was a terrorist bomb. there is still an investigation taking place in egypt. we need to see the results of that investigation. the reason we've acted before that is because of intelligence and information we had that gave us the concern that it was more likely than not a terrorist bomb. >> the prime minister also said that he would be reaching out to preside

there are nine between sharm el-sheikh -- there are none between sharm el-sheikh and the united states. there are flights on the ground in sharm el-sheikh from britain right now. that's not the case for u.s. aircraft. we don't have any commercial aircraft on the tarmac in sharm el-sheikh right now. there are british citizens in that part of the world right now. there are possibly american citizens, but not as many british as there are. that's how you can account for the kind of steps you have seen from our prime minister -- from prime minister kicameron. we will certainly share information with him. >> you said on monday there was a warning issued by the embassy of cairo about sharm el-sheikh specifically. what is that specifically? sec. earnest: this was a day after we learned about the crash. the embassy of cairo instructed its employees not to travel anywhere in the sinai peninsula pending the investigation of the crash. when that kind of private instruction is given to embassy employees, the information is released publicly so u.s. citizens can consider travel to this region and ma

places like sharm el sheikh, you'll see a lot of sympathy for the islamic state. as paul was saying, even in the airport, airport workers. this is a real war going on in egypt and that's the reason there are all these cautions from washington and london. don't go there. don't fly over there. and now don't even fly out of there because this battle is very much ongoing. and right now the egyptians may be winning, the egyptian military, but we're going to wait to see how this all gls with, whether they can suppress this movement or not. >> you touched on it earlier, paul, but how does russia respond? if isis have been able to plant a bomb on this russian jet, passengers were russian, what is the impact? >> if russia comes to the conclusion that isis was, indeed, in some way behind this, all bets may be off in terms of their response, both in syria and iraq potentially against isis but also in the sinai peninsula itself. it's not impossible that russia itself could launch air strikes against the isis affiliate in the sinai affiliate. >> you think that plays into isis'

>> ian lee, thank you very much, live at sharm el-sheikh tonight.nd now, a former counterterrorism expert phil mudd is joining us. this group is possibly the most deadly part of isis but they have only been affiliated with isis for about a year. they have their own group and pledge allegiance to isis themselves. do you think they could have pulled this off or do you think isis is now more powerful and directed an attack like this? >> we're talking about capabilities, that is, whether a group can train a bunch of people to get into a relatively unsecured airport, maybe a modestly sophisticated device. the story is not whether they have or have not had the capabilities to do this. if you look at the terrorist organizations, the hardest question as a professional to answer is what is their intent? most organizations struggle beyond saying i want to attack a local police station. the number of organizations that have a visionary leadership at the top that says let me take the isis or al qaeda message and target the head of the state, the israelis, the r

suspends flights to sharm el sheikh. >> hello, also on the program, egypt's president is here in the u.k. but there are questions about his poor human rights record. >>> the highway that divides the city of aleppo. >>> plus... >> i'm tan in a page reporting from the ivory coast on the increasing number of children being forced to work in the cocoa industry. >> u.s. and european intelligence suggests that a bomb was planted on board of the plane that crashed above egypt. they have suspended all flights between the u.k. and egyptian resort and said it won't resume until the investigation is complete. all 224 people on board were killed when the russian operated airbus came down. neave barker reports from lond london. >> investigators are scouring the area where the flight came down and where 224 people were killed. it's a difficult task with wreckage strewn across a large area. there are constant reminders that this was a plane packed with tourists returning from their holiday. the flight is thought to have broken up in midair. the armed group affiliated with isil said that it shot dow

airline easy jet based out of the uk said that its plans to repatriate on people stranded at sharm el sheikhave been postponed or stopped by egyptian authorities and paul says russian and a small italian airline still allowed to flight in and out of sharm el sheikh but the ban on repatriation and easy jet said it is ban flying in and out by egyptian authorities and we will monitor developments which obviously the situation is changing pretty quickly and we will let you know exactly what is happening as soon as we do at al jazeera. what exactly caused the plane to crash in the sinai peninsula has over shadowed a visit by egypt president to the uk and sisi held talks with cameron and we report from london. >> reporter: highly anticipated visit and abdel-fattah el-sissi finally arriving but the trip had unwelcoming that they suspended flights from sharm el sheikh and the street hundreds gathered to denounce the visit and their view the man they say is responsible for killing civilians and arrested over 40,000 people should never have been invited to the uk. >> we say sisi has crimes against hum