Syria's Olympic chief could face being refused entry to Britain for the London 2012 Games.

A lawyer for Osama bin Laden's three widows and their nine children said the family is expected to be deported from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia later today.

Defence giant BAE Systems should receive a boost of around £500m this year, as it enters final negotiations with Saudi Arabia over changes to a huge aircraft contract.

Kuwait's parliament has voted in favour of a legal amendment that would make blasphemy a crime punishable by death following the arrest of a man accused of insulting the Prophet Mohamed on the social-networking website Twitter.

A sharp rise in executions in the Middle East meant more judicial killings last year even as fewer countries resorted to capital punishment, according to new figures published yesterday.

Saudi Arabia have sent a list of potential candidates for their 2012 Olympic team to the International Olympic Committee and it included women.

Corporation admits attendance of Security Correspondent at event was not appropriate

Australia scored three goals in four minutes in the second half to beat Saudi Arabia 4-2 yesterday, dashing the Saudis' hopes of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

While delegations from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were among those attending the International Armoured Vehicles exhibition yesterday, a senior City figure was heading in the opposite direction to "bang the drum" for British business in the Middle East.

The pressure on BAE Systems was highlighted today after the defence giant reported a 14 per cent fall in sales as military spending in the US and UK is cut.

Extradition goes ahead for newspaper columnist accused of blasphemy against the Prophet

In the 1970s, you could hardly open a magazine or pass a billboard without seeing the advertisement for Virginia Slims cigarettes that said, "You've come a long way, baby." It usually featured a flowing-haired, liberated modern woman alongside some drudge of a generation or two earlier, pegging out laundry. The implication (as well as that smoking was good for you) was that women had revolutionised their lives in unprecedented ways over a few decades, and that a great broad path of such freedoms still lay ahead, along with some fab new haircuts.

Two Cabinet ministers will be challenged today over fears that British-made weapons have been used to suppress dissidents in Bahrain and Egypt.