Two shells have struck the Russian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus as hundreds of pro-government supporters rallied outside in support of Russian air strikes. No-one was killed but a BBC Arabic correspondent in Damascus says some people were injured. The explosions triggered widespread panic and smoke was seen coming from the embassy compound. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ...

Iran’s parliament has approved a deal on its nuclear programme agreed with six world powers, state media say. The deal was passed with 161 votes in favour, 59 against and 13 abstentions, the official IRNA news agency said. However, parliament insisted that international inspectors would have only limited access to military sites. The agreement, struck in July, authorises the lifting ...

Three Israelis have been killed and more than 20 injured in shooting and stabbing attacks in Jerusalem and central Israel, Israeli police say. Two were killed when two assailants, who were identified as Arabs, shot and stabbed passengers on a bus in Jerusalem before being shot by police. Another Israeli died after being run down and stabbed elsewhere in the ...

Amedy Coulibaly, the Paris gunman who murdered five people in two attacks in January, was sent instructions on the day of his first shooting, reports say. An email was found on his computer ordering him to “work alone” and “start again several times”, says BFMTV. Coulibaly shot dead a policewoman and then murdered four Jewish customers at a kosher supermarket ...

Germany is considering setting up “transit zones” on its borders, where migrants would be kept while their asylum claims are assessed. But Chancellor Angela Merkel said the proposal would only work in certain cases, and would “not help for thousands and thousands of refugees”. Her Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners oppose the idea. Thousands of protesters in the anti-immigration Pegida ...

Next month’s historic general election in Myanmar could be delayed, electoral officials and political parties say. A spokesman for the National League for Democracy told the BBC that parties met officials on Tuesday to discuss postponing the 8 November poll. The head of the election commission confirmed voting might be delayed because of “landslides and flooding”, but gave no further ...

Relatives of some of the 298 people who died on Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014 have been briefed on a report by the Dutch Safety Board. The report finds the plane was hit by a Russian-made Buk missile, relatives told the BBC. Victims would have lost consciousness almost immediately, they report. The West and Ukraine say Russian-backed ...

Younis Khan surpassed the record for most runs for Pakistan in test cricket during the first match against England in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, overtaking Javed Miandad’s previous mark of 8,832 runs. The 37-year-old Younis overhauled the record in his 102nd match, taking 22 fewer than Miandad to set the mark. Younis needed 19 runs to surpass Miandad, doing so ...

A Dhaka court on Tuesday sent Shahadat Hossain, a suspended national player, to jail rejecting his bail plea in a case filed for torturing his domestic help, says news agency UNB. Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Kazi Kamrul Hossain passed the order after officer-in-charge of Mirpur Model police station Shafiqur Rahman, also the investigation officer of the case, produced Shahadat before the ...

England completed the perfect 10 wins from 10 in their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with an easy victory in Lithuania, reports BBC. Manager Roy Hodgson fielded an England team with an experimental look – but it still had far too much class for the very limited Lithuanians, whose manager Igoris Pankratjevas resigned immediately after the match. Ross Barkley’s deflected shot ...