A suspected suicide bomber has died and two officers have been injured in an attack Monday morning near the US consulate in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The family of a 74-year-old British grandfather who was threatened with flogging for breaking Saudi Arabia’s strict anti-alcohol laws have said they are “absolutely thrilled” he is to be released.

British foreign secretary Philip Hammond has insisted he does not expect a British grandfather to be lashed nor a protester to be executed in Saudi Arabia.

SINCE its foundation in 1961, Amnesty International has worked to free prisoners of conscience, victims of torture, and those facing the death penalty.

Saudi Arabia plans to delay the public flogging of a rights activist on medical grounds, Amnesty International said, raising the possibility that Riyadh may be trying to quietly drop the punishment that has drawn international rebuke.

A Saudi blogger convicted of insulting Islam has been flogged 50 times in the Red Sea city of Jeddah as authorities started carrying out his sentence, which includes 1,000 lashes, a witness said.

Iraq has asked the US for air support in countering Sunni rebels, the top US general said last night, after the militants seized major cities in a lightning advance that has routed the Shi’ite-led government’s army.

An airline passenger who travelled to Heathrow Airport has been diagnosed with a potentially deadly Sars-like virus.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah prepared to bury his heir, Prince Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz, yesterday before naming a new successor at a challenging time for the world’s top oil exporter and self-styled steward of Islam.

Ireland’s financial fall from grace has seen the capital named as one of the three worst performing metropolitan economies in the world.

ENTERPRISE Ireland’s trade missions in 2012 will focus on the engineering and construction opportunities being created by soaring global demand for food.

An Irish company has been awarded a 25-year contract to supply energy for the tallest building in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi woman is to face trial for defying the country’s ban on female drivers.

A TUNISIAN court yesterday sentenced former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in absentia to 35 years in jail.

AN Irish company has won a €101 million contract to supply power, cooling and heating requirements to one of Saudi Arabia’s most prestigious commercial developments.

Tunisia’s president has left power for good, the president of the country’s Constitutional Court said today, declaring that the leader of the lower house of parliament would assume power until elections are held in two months.

ENTERPRISE IRELAND is hopeful of attracting more international venture capital investment in Irish companies on the back of its latest promotional drive in Britain.

A week-long trip to the Middle East will help Irish companies land export deals and secure new jobs at home, Trade Minister Batt O’Keeffe said today.

DUBLIN is the 42nd most expensive city in the world to live in, according to a worldwide survey of 214 cities.

IRISH diplomats in Saudi Arabia smuggled in alcohol concealed as furniture to dodge the Islamic state’s drink ban.

SAUDI emergency services said the death toll from floods that tore through the port city of Jeddah this week had risen to 103, with another 1,400 rescued, the state news agency reported yesterday.

A TENSE psychological drama against the backdrop of Saudi Arabian mores, and prescriptive Shari laws, is the setting for Zoe Ferraris’s debut novel, The Night of the Mi’raj. Nouf ash-Shrawi, a beautiful young girl, disappears from her palatial home on an island off Jeddah, in advance of her arranged marriage.

Oil prices rose today as investors shrugged off Saudi Arabia’s pledge to increase production if needed.

Saudi Arabia plans to increase its oil production by 200,000 barrels a day next month, the kingdom's oil minister told United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.

A palatial pleasure yacht fitted with swimming pools, salons and, should the winds of war blow, a secret passage and a rocket launching system is up for sale - unless Iraq can prove the vessel built for Saddam Hussein still belongs to the toppled dictator’s entourage.

TWO years ago, a knock on Fatima and Mansour al-Timani’s door shattered the life they had built together.

The air service between London and Holland is Europe’s busiest international route, latest figures show.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, is adding two extra weekly services between Dublin and Abu Dhabi from December 13, providing a choice of six non-stop flights each week.

Saudi authorities today beheaded an Ethiopian woman convicted of killing an Egyptian man over a dispute, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Muslim pilgrims circled the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site, for a final time today, bringing to a close what may have been the largest ever Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, passing without the deadly stampedes that have marred the event in the past.

Luis Figo is set to join Al Ittihad after the Saudi Arabian club’s team manager Hamad Al Sanie confirmed a deal has been agreed.

THE following statement was made recently on behalf of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC): “Muslims have noted with concern that the values of tolerance are eroding and there is now shrinking space for others’ religious, social and cultural values in the west”.

UN chief Kofi Annan said he would appoint a mediator for indirect talks between Israel and Hezbollah on the release of two abducted Israeli soldiers, the first public word of negotiations between the bitter enemies since fighting in Lebanon ended.

THE Government last night defended President Mary McAleese's appearance at the Jeddah Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia as the decision to participate in the prestigious event drew criticism from Labour Party deputy leader Liz McManus.

President Mary McAleese is on the second day of her visit to Saudi Arabia.

Egyptian maritime director Mahfouz Taha Marzouk has said 12 survivors and 15 bodies have been picked up from a passenger ferry that has sunk in the Red Sea.

Rescue workers today still hoped to find survivors from an eight-storey hostel building that collapsed in Islam’s holiest city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, killing at least 27 people and marring the start of the annual gathering of millions of pilgrims.

Two women have won seats on a Jeddah chamber of commerce, the first to win any elected position in Saudi Arabia, where women remain largely barred from political life, officials said today.

One passenger was killed and dozens were injured today in a stampede to evacuate a Saudi Air flight after a bomb threat was phoned in to Sri Lanka’s only international airport in Colombo.

Motorists’ fuel bills looked set to come under further pressure today after oil prices hit new record levels.

The US State Department has extended a warning to Americans against unnecessary travel to Saudi Arabia because of a continuing threat of terrorist action against US citizens and interests.

A Pakistani man was executed today for attempting to smuggle heroin into the Saudi Arabia, the Interior Ministry said.