Deputy House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has filed a bill seeking to cut the waiting time for a solo parent to become entitled to legal benefits under the Solo Parents Welfare Act of 2000, to six months from one year.

The United States remains the “closest friend” of the Philippines but Manila wants to break away from a “mindset of dependency and subservience” and forge closer ties with other nations, the Philippine foreign minister said yesterday.

A delegation from the Taliban’s political office visited Pakistan over the weekend, senior officials said yesterday, for discussions that could include the latest informal effort to restart talks to end Afghanistan’s long war.

Police investigating the suspected chemical incident which led to the evacuation of London City Airport discovered what is “believed to be a CS gas spray”.

Armed police have descended on an address in north-west London after reports a man has barricaded himself inside a home and is surrounded by “hazardous items”.

The BBC has denied reports a mystery virus has sparked turmoil on tonight’s Strictly Come Dancing amid reports six professional dancers were struck down by illness.

Estate agents have expressed fears over a slump in property prices on London commuter routes which they believe is linked to crisis-hit Southern rail.

The first woman to conquer Mount Everest, Junko Tabei of Japan, died aged 77, media reported yesterday.

Dozens of Indonesians who joined Islamic State in Syria have returned home with combat experience and pose a major threat to the nation, the police chief said recently.

Tens of thousands of black-clad Thais converged on Bangkok’s Grand Palace yesterday to sing the royal anthem in a striking display of devotion to the recently deceased King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

When protesters torched a nearby Dutch-run farm in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, Marc Driessen watched anxiously as smoke billowed above the horizon, fearing his own business would meet the same fate.

The president of Ivory Coast insists it will heal a nation beset by violent turmoil, but as a referendum campaign for the nation’s new draft constitution began yesterday, his opponents decried the text as dangerously anti-democratic.