BRUSSELS: NATO defence ministers gathered for talks yesterday amid US concerns over the EU’s landmark defence cooperation pact and increasingly…

BEIRUT: The head of the powerful Iraqi militia Harakat al-Nujaba pledged on Tuesday to stand alongside its Lebanese ally Hezbollah if a new war breaks out with Israel, reports AFP. Harakat al-Nujaba and Hezbollah have fought side-by-side to bolster Syrian government troops since 2013, most prominently…

SHANGHAI: A woman in southern China was so attached to her handbag that she crawled into an X-ray security scanner rather than let it out of her sight, reports AFP. A video showing the woman’s silhouette as she passed through the X-ray machine at a railway station Sunday has gone viral on the…

DIYARBAKIR: Turkey yesterday imposed curfews in dozens of villages and towns in Diyarbakir province in the Kurdish-majority southeast, in anticipation of a new operation against Kurdish militants inside the country, reports AFP. The Diyarbakir governor’s office said a total of 176 curfews had…

QUETTA: Gunmen yesterday killed four paramilitary policemen in an ambush in Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said, reports AFP. The Pakistani Taliban said it carried out the attack, the second time this month it has claimed a deadly assault on security forces.…

London: Prince Henrik of Denmark, the husband of Queen Margrethe who was famous for his public unhappiness at never being named king, has died at the…

JAKARTA: Valentine’s Day was banned in some Indonesian cities yesterday as police rounded up amorous couples, giving the official kiss-off to a tradition which critics say doesn’t deserve any love in the Muslim-majority nation, reports AFP. The prohibitions come amid concerns that traditionally…

London: The long-term personal lawyer of US President Donald Trump has admitted privately paying an adult film star $130,000 (£95,000) in 2016, in a statement to the New York Times, reports BBC. It follows US media reports that the actress known as Stormy Daniels was paid to sign an agreement…

DAMASCUS: The Syrian government yesterday denied it possessed chemical weapons and branded the use of such arms “immoral and unacceptable”, following a French warning of punitive strikes, reports AFP. “Syria’s government categorically denies possessing... chemical weapons. We…