15 Feb 2019; DW: The top diplomats from the US and the EU have met a day after Washington slammed Europe over its stance on Iran. The criticism highlights current strains in trans-Atlantic ties.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with top EU diplomat Federica Mogherini on Friday amid tensions caused by a scathing attack by the Trump administration on its European allies over their approach to Iran.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump is prepared to sign a bipartisan bill on spending and border security to avert another government shutdown, but also declare a national emergency to obtain funds for his long-promised border wall, the White House said Thursday.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Attorney General (AG) Bob Ferguson of the U.S. state of Washington Thursday threatened to take legal action against a federal government's declaration of a national emergency to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Ferguson said he will take steps to block the intended action announced by President Donald Trump earlier in the day to declare a national emergency to obtain funds for his long-promised border wall.

15 Feb 2019; DW: Children should not be allowed to use smartphones before the age of 14 to help prevent them from coming into contact with harmful pornography at a young age, an adviser to the German government has said.

Children as young as nine were already looking at pornographic images and distributing videos of their peers masturbating, Julia von Weiler told newspapers of the Funke media group published on Friday.

37 Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers have been killed in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.

20 people were injured in the attack that reduced the bus to a heap of iron.

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) India's first semi-high speed train, the Vande Bharat Express, was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday from the New Delhi Railway Station amid sombre mood in the backdrop of the terror attack in Pulwama.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and members of the Railway Board were present on the occasion and will be on board the train on its inaugural journey

Islamabad, Feb 15 (PTI) Pakistan is committed to implementing the decision of the International Court of Justice in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, a senior Pakistani official said as the country's delegation left for the Hague on Friday for the oral proceedings in the case that will commence at the world court from February 18.

Indian national Jadhav, 48, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. India moved the ICJ in May the same year against the verdict.

MOSCOW, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Russia, Turkey and Iran on Thursday agreed on several key directions of future interaction in the settlement of the Syrian crisis after a trilateral summit of their presidents in the Russian city of Sochi.

"It is very important that our three countries intend to strengthen cooperation within the framework of the Astana process, which proved its necessity," Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference, following "constructive and businesslike" talks with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts.

BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who were here for a new round of China-U.S. high-level economic and trade consultations, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

KAMPALA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's security agencies and immigration department have deported the chief executive of the largest telecommunications company in the country over security reasons.

MTN Uganda on Friday confirmed the deportation of Wim Vanhelleputte.

"MTN has not been notified of the grounds for the deportation," the company tweeted.

Vanhelleputte, a Belgian national, was deported to Belgium late on Thursday over circumstances of threatening national security, said police spokesman Fred Enanga.

15 Feb 2019; AFP: At least 100,000 babies die every year because of armed conflict and its impact, from hunger to denial of aid, Save the Children International said on Friday.

In the 10 worst-hit countries, a conservative estimate of 550,000 infants died as a result of fighting between 2013 and 2017.

They succumbed to war and its effects, among them hunger, damage to hospitals and infrastructure, a lack of access to health care and sanitation and the denial of aid.

New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday dismissed remarks by Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament, attributing them to his old age.

Yadav Wednesday created a flutter in Lok Sabha when he said he wished to see Narendra Modi back as prime minister, a sentiment acknowledged by the BJP leader with folded hands. Modi also thanked Mulayam Singh Yadav for his "blessings".