Sri Lanka's Labor Minister Dylan Pereira said Wednesday that there will be no ban on the travel of female domestic workers and laborers to Lebanon following banning their travel to Saudi Arabia.

“There will be no ban on the travel of female domestic workers and laborers to Lebanon,” the minister assured after meeting Lebanon's Labor Minister Salim Jreisati where talks focused on drafting a new agreement that will soon be signed regarding Sri Lankan labor rights.

Saudi Arabia has spared one of two Filipino men sentenced to death by beheading for separate killings, Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay said Friday.

Rodelio "Dondon" Lanuza is expected to walk free after more than 12 years in prison following the Saudi government's decision to pay 2.3 million rials ($614,000) in indemnity to the victim's kin, Binay announced on television.

Saudi Arabia beheaded two of its nationals on Wednesday after they were sentenced to death for separate murders, the interior ministry announced.

Marwan al-Balawi was convicted of stabbing to death another Saudi, Saif al-Wabsi, during a dispute in Medina in the northwest, said a statement published by the official SPA news agency.

Saudi Arabia has set new limitations on the powers of its notorious religious police, charged with ensuring compliance with Islamic morality but often accused of abuses, its chief said on Tuesday.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice "once had much expanded powers, but with the new system... some of these powers, such as interrogating suspects and pressing charges," will be restricted to the police and public prosecution, Sheikh Abdullatif Abdel Aziz al-Sheikh told Agence France Presse.

Saudi Arabia beheaded one of its nationals Tuesday after he was convicted of drug trafficking, the interior ministry announced in a statement.

Musaed al-Ruweili was arrested as he tried to smuggle "a large number of narcotic pills into the kingdom," said the statement, cited by the official SPA news agency.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Sunday discussed with the Saudi crown prince his country's intervention in Mali and military cooperation between Paris and Riyadh, a French diplomat told Agence France Presse.

"The meeting focused on the intervention in Mali" and both men also "discussed (the situation in) Syria, Iran and Yemen," the diplomat said, adding the visit was planned before French intervention in Mali that began this month.

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday beheaded an Afghan man convicted of drug trafficking, the Interior Ministry announced.

Mohammed Omar Khan was arrested after "he received a very large amount of hashish," said the statement cited by the official SPA news agency.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati discussed with Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz ways to steer Lebanon clear of the developments in the region, the PM's press office said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said the meeting was held on Monday night in the presence of Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and the Lebanese delegation to Riyadh that included FM Adnan Mansour, Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi, Economy Minister Nicolas Nahas and Industry Minister Vrej Sabounjian.

Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi told fellow Arab leaders meeting in Riyadh on Monday that he opposes French-led military action in Mali against Islamist rebels.

"We do not accept at all the military intervention in Mali because that will fuel conflict in the region," Morsi said at the opening of an economic summit in the Saudi capital.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati held talks on Monday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, while stressing on Sunday the importance of maintaining Lebanon's stability amid the unrest in Syria.

He emphasized the need to “spare Lebanon future instability.”