A government-commissioned report says the British economy received a multi-billion-pound (dollar) boost from construction projects for the London Olympics.

The report says the economy was lifted by 7.3 billion pounds ($11.6 billion) from the construction of venues and infrastructure for the games. The construction budget was 6.5 billion pounds ($10.3 billion).

Terror suspect Abu Qatada, who has been dubbed Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, will be freed on bail after British judges on Monday upheld his appeal against extradition to Jordan.

The decision is a major blow for the British government after it fought for years to deport the radical Islamist preacher to Jordan. It vowed to challenge the decision.

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday toured a desert refugee camp for Syrians in northern Jordan, walking down a dusty road between the tents before visiting a U.N.-run school.

Dressed casually in black trousers, a grey shirt and a sporting a Remembrance poppy, Cameron took time to speak to some of the more than 36,000 Syrians housed in tents and caravans in the Zaatari refugee camp near the Syria border.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he would support granting Syrian President Bashar Assad a safe passage out, if requested, to end the nation's bloodshed, in a television interview Tuesday.

Asked what he would say if Assad asked for a safe exit, Cameron told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV: "Done. Anything, anything to get that man out of the country and to have a safe transition in Syria."

British Prime Minister David Cameron begins a three-day visit to the Gulf on Monday aimed at selling Typhoon Eurofighter jets and discussing regional security threats, his Downing Street office said.

Cameron will visit the United Arab Emirates on Monday and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday before travelling onwards in the Middle East. His itinerary on the rest of the trip remains undisclosed for security reasons.

A British businessman pleaded guilty in a U.S. court on Thursday to attempting to smuggle a key component of the Hawk air defense missile to Iran, officials said.

Christopher Tappin, 66, faces 33 months in jail after reversing his not guilty plea at a federal court hearing in El Paso, Texas.

The deaths of a British marine and an army medic in Afghanistan were not due to "friendly fire", the defense ministry said Saturday following an initial review.

Corporal David O'Connor, 27, of 40 Commando Royal Marines, and Corporal Channing Day, 25, from the 3 Medical Regiment, were fatally wounded while on patrol in the southern Helmand province on Wednesday.

British police on Tuesday charged a man with kidnapping two Western journalists in Syria, one week after he was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport, Scotland Yard said.

Shajul Islam, 26, is alleged to have "unlawfully and injuriously imprisoned" photographers John Cantlie from Britain, and Jeroen Oerlemans from the Netherlands, between July 17 and 26, it said in a statement.

The European Union, about to ratchet up sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear drive, will keep up the pressure on Tehran failing a breakthrough in talks, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday.

"Today we expect to agree fresh sanctions on Iran as a result of its nuclear program and its continued failure to satisfy the world that that program is for peaceful purposes," Hague said on stepping into a meeting of the bloc's 27 foreign ministers.

British military police on Thursday arrested seven members of the elite Royal Marines on suspicion of murder in Afghanistan in 2011, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced.

"The incident followed an engagement with an insurgent -- there were no civilians involved," said an MoD spokesman.