Ornua is to invest €250m in overseas acquisitions from now to 2020 developing markets for Ireland’s soaring post-quota milk output.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Some things just have to be seen to be believed.

The Irish Dairy Board (IDB) has acquired a 75% interest in Al Wazeen Trading as part of a €20m investment in Saudi Arabia.

AN AUSTRALIAN man has been sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in a Saudi Arabian jail after being convicted of blasphemy.

FROM Sligo to Saudi, Kilkee to Kusadasi and Navan to Nairobi — Irish holidaymakers are nothing if not adventurous, at least online.

TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan flew to the Saudi Arabian desert yesterday leaving a storm of controversy over her ability to manage the Department of Enterprise.

A MOTORCYCLE bomb exploded amid a crowd of worshippers leaving a mosque after Friday prayers in northern Yemen, killing at least 18 people and wounding about 45, government officials said.

GOVERNMENT efforts to open new markets for Irish beef continue, according to Minister Mary Coughlan.

DISCUSSIONS on reopening beef trade with Ireland are well advanced with authorities in Japan, which is the world’s second most valuable beef import market.

Three Frenchmen were killed today and at least one other was injured when they came under fire while travelling in the Saudi Arabian desert north of Medina, a spokesman for the kingdom’s Interior Ministry said.

Bmi, formerly British Midland Airways, will start flights between Heathrow and the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh this autumn, it was announced today.

ON the second anniversary of the arrival of David Beckham at Real Madrid, his club can look back with satisfaction on a deal that has been a complete financial success.

Surging oil prices and a weak dollar prompted a spate of profit-taking today, pushing stocks slightly lower in light holiday-week trading.

CRUDE oil futures rose in New York yesterday after a blast damaged an oil pipeline in Iraq, renewing concerns that violence will disrupt exports from the Middle East’s fifth-biggest oil producer.

Nigerian police clashed violently with members of an Islamic sect that allegedly practices wife-swapping, leaving five people dead and 20 men in custody, officials said tonight.

AN Irishman was shot dead yesterday at his office in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, the Government confirmed last night.

An Arabic television station has reported an Irishman has been killed in his office in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh.

A statement that has surfaced on the internet, purportedly from Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network, claims responsibility for an attack on two American military personnel in Riyadh.

Extra security checks today disrupted a transatlantic flight from London to Washington for the fourth day in succession, amid continuing concern over the threat of terrorism.

Air travellers can expect security alerts like the one which caused the cancellation of flights to the USA this week to continue for many years to come, British Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said today.

The United States warned today of new attacks on westerners’ housing complexes in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, claiming one compound had been under surveillance by terrorists.

The US is closing its embassy in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh tomorrow because of terror threats.

SAUDI ARABIAN security forces stormed a hospital housing complex on Tuesday night, shooting their way through doors and killing three Islamic militants.

The United Nations will issue a report next week showing Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida militant network has some 800 members ready to strike economic or tourist targets, a French consultant to the report said yesterday.

THE United States is pressing Iran to hand over al-Qaida suspects believed

The United States is pressing Iran to hand over al-Qaida suspects believed by American intelligence to have been working in Iranian territory, it was reported today.

Thousands of tourists were stranded in Kenya today as security forces hunted for a top al-Qaida suspect thought to be planning a rocket attack on an airliner.

The suicide bombers responsible for four explosions in Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh which killed at least 29 people were believed to be the same men who escaped from police five days before, according to Saudi authorities.

OSAMA BIN LADEN’S al-Qaida terror network was last night being blamed for the synchronised suicide bombings of western compounds in the Saudi Arabian capital that killed up to 91 people.

Up to 50 people were feared dead today after terrorists launched a wave of suicide bomb attacks on Western targets in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.

Ten Americans were killed in terrorist attacks on three residential compounds in the Saudi Arabian capital overnight, the US Secretary of State said today.

t is now understood that an Irish woman was in one of the compounds at the time of the attacks in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.

A fourth explosion has rocked the Saudi capital of Riyadh, targeting a joint US-Saudi-owned company's headquarters, security officials said.

A car packed with explosives crashed late tonight into a Riyadh compound housing westerners, detonating and causing casualties, according to Saudi security officials.

A British man was killed in a suspected car bomb explosion in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, today.

The Iranian government has lodged a formal protest with the US authorities after soldiers from a US warship forcibly boarded an Iranian tanker in the Arabian Gulf today, injuring one crew member.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was today embarking on a new round of shuttle diplomacy to cement support for the coalition against terrorism as MPs returned to Westminster to debate the crisis.

Efforts to contact the father of suspected World Trade Centre terrorist