The British-born Israeli woman stabbed in what Israeli police have suggested was a terrorist attack has said she survived the ordeal by pretending to be unconscious.

Kaye Susan Wilson, who moved to Israel in 1991, said that she and an American friend, who died from her wounds, were attacked by two Arab men with a knife while hiking in a forest near Jerusalem.

The Dead Sea is up against the Iguacu waterfalls in South America, the Maldives and the Grand Canyon in a competition to be named one of the new wonders of the world.

The famous waters are one of the finalists in the New7Wonders of the World contest, along with Mount Vesuvius in Italy and the Great Barrier Reef.

The Dead Sea is one of only three sites in the Middle East to have made the shortlist; the others are Bu Tinah island in Abu Dhabi and the Jeita Grotto in Lebanon.

Settled by the British in 1625, Barbados remained a colony for more than three centuries.

A prized holiday destination for both Jewish and non-Jewish tourists, the Caribbean island also has a Jewish past.

Sephardic Jews first came to Barbados in the 1650s, refugees from Brazil escaping the Inquisition. Most began working in Bridgetown as merchants, trading sugercane and coffee. The challenges for the community were different to those for European Jews; one Succot, the succah and the synagogue were destroyed by a hurricane.

A British Airways flight from Heathrow to Tel Aviv had to make an emergency landing this morning, after a suspected fire on board.

The BA flight 165 was diverted and landed in Brussels, after a flashing warning light in the cockpit.

The pilot diverted the flight as a precaution and all 166 passengers on board were evacuated in a normal disembarkation.

A passenger on board the Boeing 777, said: “The pilot was brilliant and very calm as indeed were the staff. I was told it was due to a suspected fire.

Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio has joined his Israeli girlfriend Bar Refaeli on a birthday visit to Tel Aviv.

The Inception actor, who has been involved with the supermodel since 2005, is staying at the Dan Hotel in the presidential suite to celebrate his 36th birthday.

The couple, who are on holiday with Mr DiCaprio’s mother Irmelin and Entourage actor Kevin Connelly, will be in Israel for the rest of the week.

They spent the previous week in Egypt with Naomi Campbell before flying in to Israel on a private jet.

The Chilean miners who were rescued from deep underneath the Atacama Desert in October have accepted the Israeli government’s offer to spend an “uplifting and extraordinary” Christmas in Israel.

After the 33 men were saved, the Israeli tourism minister, Stas Misezhnikov, invited them on an all expenses paid trip to see the Christian holy sites.

Rather rashly, he extended the invitation to the miners’ partners. “Los 33” have now happily accepted the offer, but have also asked that nearly 70 members of their extended families can come too.

Tel Aviv has been named the third best city in the world by travel guide company Lonely Planet.

The coastal destination was beaten only by New York and Tangier to the top spot of Lonely Planet’s annual list of top cities.

Describing it as “the total flipside of Jerusalem”, the judges called it “a modern Sin City on the sea rather than an ancient Holy City on a hill”.

They said: “Scratch underneath the surface and Tel Aviv…reveals itself as a truly diverse 21st century Mediterranean hub.”

Almost 30,000 people are expected to suffer disruption to flights to and from Israel in the lead-up to Yom Kippur because of a strike by Israeli airport staff.

Flights out of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport have been grounded indefinitely.

Union officials said initially that planes would be allowed to land but that ground crews would not unload luggage. However they have now agreed to let passengers collect their luggage.

The strike has been organised by the Israel Airports Authority's employees' union following the breakdown of negotiations over the use of staff pension funds.

Jerusalem has been named as one of the top ten tourist destinations in the TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards.

The Israeli city is seventh on the holiday website’s annual list of the top Culture & Sightseeing Destinations in the World.

Jerusalem, commended for its “profound cultural and historical significance,” is ranked higher than London on the list.

The site advises tourists to visit the “major sights” but not to forget to “walk through the streets and simply immerse yourself in the daily life of such an ancient and revered place.”