Manchester Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi may have stored items used to assemble the device in a Nissan Micra, police in England have said.

Police hunting the terror network behind the Manchester Arena bombing have stopped passing information to the US on the investigation as a major transatlantic row erupted over leaks of key evidence in the US, according to a report.

A woman arrested over the Manchester Arena attack has been released without charge, leaving six people in UK custody as counter-terrorism police swooped on the suicide bomber's suspected "network".

The 22-year-old's visit to his family's native country fuelled concerns he was preparing for Monday's deadly assault under the guidance of hardened jihadists.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s St Patrick’s Day visit to the White House next week will go ahead because pragmatism has trumped principle.

The widow of the Orlando nightclub gunman has been charged with helping her husband in the months leading up to the massacre that left 49 people dead.

Saudi Arabia yesterday identified the suicide bomber who struck outside the US consulate in Jiddah as a Pakistani resident of the kingdom who arrived 12 years ago to work as a driver.

Families of some of the 49 people killed in a massacre at an Orlando gay nightclub mourned and buried their dead, a day after US president Barack Obama met survivors and said the United States must act to control gun violence.

Omar Mateen drove around Orlando the night before the nightclub massacre, visiting several places, the mayor said.

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini are expected to have their respective eight-year suspensions from all football-related activity upheld this week as FIFA delegates prepare to gather in Zurich to elect a new leader.

Saudi Arabia, under growing pressure to account for a crush that killed more than 700 people at the hajj pilgrimage, suggested pilgrims failing to follow crowd control rules bore some blame for the worst disaster at the event for 25 years.

President Barack Obama has defended the US government’s willingness to cooperate closely with Saudi Arabia on national security despite deep concerns over human rights abuses.

US oil prices were steady yesterday, ahead of the first big snowstorm this year in the country’s north-east, while benchmark Brent crude fell after pledges of no policy change by the top oil exporter Saudi Arabia after King Abdullah’s death.

Saudi Arabia’s new king is expected to continue a policy of keeping oil output steady to drive out rival producers, though the royal succession has focused market attention on the future of the kingdom’s long-serving oil minister.

Saudi Arabia’s new king promised to continue the policies of his predecessors after the death of King Abdullah at the age of 90.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has died, according to Saudi state TV. He was 90.

The incumbent Saudi king is in hospital with pneumonia and his assumed successor is 79 and suffers from dementia. The country is at a crossroads, writes Mohamad Bazzi

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has been admitted to hospital for medical tests.

Irish women are following the Hollywood trend of bottom-enhancing surgery sparked by curvy celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez, according to a documentary.

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.

Thousands of Shiite opposition supporters in Bahrain blocked the entrance to prime minister’s office but failed to disrupt a government meeting today as the campaign for reform in the strategic Gulf nation enters its third week.

Thousands of singing and dancing protesters streamed back into Manama’s central Pearl Square today after Bahrain’s leaders withdrew tanks and riot police following a bloody crackdown by security forces in the tiny monarchy.

SOLDIERS opened fire yesterday on thousands of protesters defying a government ban and streaming toward the landmark square that had been the symbolic centre of the uprising to break the political grip of the Gulf nation’s leaders.

FIFA’s ethics chiefs are to investigate claims of ’vote-buying’ in a bitter contest for one of the 23 seats on the world governing body’s all-powerful executive committee.

Gaza City awoke today to shuttered bread shops and petrol stations today as Israel pressed ahead with efforts to stop Palestinian rocket fire, refusing to reopen crossings or allow in crucial fuel supplies.

More than 100 Palestinians began crossing into Israel en route to the Gaza Strip today, almost two months after Hamas’ takeover of the seaside region triggered the closure of the border with Egypt.

About 300 Islamic opposition party activists staged peaceful protests outside the British and US embassies in Malaysia today, denouncing Salman Rushdie’s knighthood and Washington’s policies in the Middle East.

Pakistan today condemned Britain’s award of a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie as an affront to Muslim sentiments, and a Cabinet minister said the honour provided a justification for suicide attacks.

Pakistani politicians have today passed a government-backed resolution demanding Britain withdraw the knighthood awarded to author Salman Rushdie.

US and Iraqi forces swept into Baghdad’s Sadr City Shiite slum in an early morning raid today, killing four Iraqis, wounding eight and detaining five, police said.

A defendant in Saddam Hussein's Kurdish genocide trial told the court today that his lawyer wanted to end his boycott of the Baghdad trial, but when the judge summoned the lawyer, he failed to appear.

TWO men were given life sentences in England yesterday for the “barbaric” honour killing of a young woman who fell in love with the wrong man.

An Iraqi man has been sentenced to life in prison in connection with the abduction and murder of Irish-born care-worker Margaret Hassan.

WITH the first of the SSIA saving funds maturing next month, car dealerships are not the only businesses licking their lips.

A series of explosions today killed at least four people – including two young boys – and injured five in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

AT 12.25pm police evacuated Shepherd’s Bush Tube station on the Hammersmith and City line following an attempt to set off an explosion.

Followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr trickled in to police stations in a Baghdad slum district to hand in weapons today under a deal seen as a key step toward ending weeks of fighting with US and Iraqi forces in the Shiite militant stronghold.

Mumbai police have released a taped conversation between Bollywood superstar Sanjay Dutt and underworld chief Chhota Shakeel in which the mafia boss talks of killing heart-throb Hrithik Roshan.