Prime Minister Theresa May filed formal Brexit divorce papers on Wednesday, pitching the United Kingdom into the unknown and triggering years of uncertain negotiations that will test the cohesion of the European Union.

President Donald Trump is proposing immediate budget cuts of US$18 billion from programs like medical research, infrastructure and community grants so US taxpayers, not Mexico, can cover the down payment on the border wall. The White House documents were submitted to Congress amid negotiations over a catchall spending bill that would avert a partial government shutdown at the end of next month. The package would wrap up US$1.1 trillion in unfinished spending bills and address the Trump administration's request for an immediate US$30 billion in additional Pentagon spending.

Police scrambled to close down a network around the Manchester suicide bomber with arrests in Britain and Tripoli on Wednesday, as details about the investigation were leaked to U.S. media, infuriating authorities who fear a second attack is imminent. British-born Salman Abedi, 22, who was known to security services, killed 22 people at a concert venue packed with children on Monday.

A spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the proposed US budget cuts to the UN would make it “simply impossible” for the international organization to continue humanitarian work. “From where we stand, looking at the budget as it is proposed now would make it simply impossible for the UN to continue its work advancing peace, development, human rights and humanitarian assistance around the world,” said spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Qatar said hackers posted fake remarks by its Emir criticising U.S. foreign policy on Wednesday in an incident which renewed tensions with fellow wealthy Gulf Arab nations just days after President Donald Trump met with regional leaders. Gulf Arab countries including oil giant Saudi Arabia permitted their state-backed media to run the remarks attributed to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Qatar's official news agency even after Doha had issued a robust denial.

The German government in 2016 provided 9.3 billion euros ($10.4 billion) to its sixteen states for assisting migrants and 11 billion euros on measures designed to fight the causes of forced migration and displacement abroad. The figures are from a federal government report expected to be approved and published by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet on Wednesday. A total of 5.5 billion euros was spent for migrants who were seeking asylum and were not yet recognized by the state. The funds spent within Germany also went towards an integration package that cost 2 billion euros, while 400 million euros was spent on shelter for asylum seekers and 350 million euros on unaccompanied minors.

A suicide bomber killed at least 22 people and wounded 59 at a packed concert hall in the English city of Manchester in what Prime Minister Theresa May called a sickening act targeting children and young people. Islamic State, now being driven from territories in Syria and Iraq by Western-backed armed forces, said it carried out the attack. Some experts discounted this, noting there was no evidence of direct involvement and that details of the IS claim - in two contradictory postings - contrasted with the British police account.

President Hassan Rouhani has taken an unbeatable lead in Iran’s presidential election, an Iranian official source told Reuters on Saturday, citing an early unofficial tally, and is set to hand an emphatic defeat to his hardline rival Ebrahim Raisi. In a briefing for reporters, interior ministry official Ali Asghar Ahmadi outlined a similar proportion of votes, which if confirmed would give the pragmatist cleric a second term in which to pursue Iran’s re-engagement with the world. “It’s over, Rouhani is the winner,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

North Korea said on Monday it had successfully tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile, confirming reliable late-stage guidance of the warhead, indicating further advances in its ambition to be able to reach the United States. The North fired the missile into waters off its east coast on Sunday, its second missile test in a week, which South Korea said dashed the hopes of the South's new liberal government under President Moon Jae-in for peace between the neighbors.

Amnesty International criticized mass sackings of public sector workers in Turkey in the wake of last July’s attempted coup, with a report issued on Monday saying that the dismissals were “carried out arbitrarily on the basis of vague and generalized grounds.” The report said that the scale of the sackings, and the fact that trade unionists, political and human rights actitivists and government critics were among those fired from their positions, “increase[d] concerns that a great many dismissals were arbitrary, unfair and/or politically motivated.”

James Comey, the former FBI chief fired by President Donald Trump, has agreed to publicly testify about Russian interference in the US elections, as fresh allegations increased pressure on the American leader. In an Oval Office meeting with senior Russian officials last week, Trump called Comey a "nut job" and said firing the intelligence chief had relieved "great pressure" on him, The New York Times reported.

Turkey's ruling party on Sunday reappointed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as its chief after a nearly three year break, swiftly exploiting a key change agreed in a controversial referendum on expanding his powers.

Israel gave a muted response on Sunday to a major arms deal between the United States and Saudi Arabia announced a day earlier during the visit to the region by U.S. President Donald Trump.

U.S. Senator John McCain, one of the leading foreign policy voices in Congress, on Thursday urged the expulsion of Turkey's U.S. ambassador after violence erupted between protesters and Turkish security personnel during President Tayyip Erdogan's recent visit.

EU states aim to pool public money into a fund to help pay for joint military projects, a senior EU official said on Thursday, in potentially one of the most significant steps to underpin an emerging European defence union. The fund would form part of Franco-German efforts to develop a more integrated European defence to respond to threats on Europe's borders, as security becomes a unifying issue for the European Union after Britain's decision to leave the bloc.

U.S. President Donald Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey to end the agency's investigation into ties between former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russia, according to a source who has seen a memo written by Comey. The explosive new development on Tuesday followed a week of tumult at the White House after Trump fired Comey and then discussed sensitive national security information about Islamic State (IS) militant group with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Iranian voters will decide the fate of moderate President Hassan Rouhani and his policy of engagement with the West on Friday as he goes head-to-head with hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi. Rouhani has spent four years trying to pull Iran out of its global isolation, reaching a 2015 deal with world powers that ended some sanctions in exchange for curbs to its nuclear programme.

A new round of Syria peace talks opens on Tuesday, the latest United Nations push to resolve a six-year conflict that has killed more than 320,000 people. Five previous rounds of UN-backed negotiations have failed to yield concrete results and hopes for a major breakthrough remain dim.

President Donald Trump disclosed highly classified information to Russia’s foreign minister about a planned Islamic State operation, two U.S. officials said on Monday, plunging the White House into another controversy just months into Trump’s short tenure in office.

North Korea Monday celebrated the launch of what appeared to be its longest-range ballistic missile yet tested in a bid to bring the US mainland within reach, saying it was capable of carrying a "heavy nuclear warhead".

The United States is on a collision course with its NATO ally Turkey, pushing ahead with arming Syrian Kurds after deciding the immediate objective of defeating Islamic State militants outweighs the potential damage to a partnership vital to US interests in the volatile Middle East.