TOKYO/ AFP Japan’s top government spoke- sman warned China on Monday against expanding its military activity to the skies over disputed East China Sea islands after eight Chinese warplanes flew near the area over the weekend. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that Japan scrambled at least one fighter jet after the planes passed over the Miyako Strait on ...

  Washington / AFP The lengthy US presidential campaign is careening towards a 90-minute on Monday showdown, with Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump squaring off in their first televised debate as they sit nearly neck and neck in the polls. The event, which is expected to be watched — and parsed — by tens of millions of Americans, ...

  Baku / AFP Azerbaijanis went to the polls on Monday in a controversial referendum on handing extra powers to long-serving President Ilham Aliyev, with opposition and rights groups criticising the proposed constitutional changes as undemocratic. The amendments would extend the president’s term in office from five to seven years, and create a powerful new first vice-president position and several ...