Manila / AFP Two US aircraft carriers have started exercises in the Philippine Sea, defence officials said on Sunday, as Washington’s close ally Manila faces growing pressure from Beijing in the South China Sea. The US Pacific Command said the USS John C Stennis and USS Ronald Reagan, among the world’s largest warships, began conducting air defense drills, sea ...

  Sydney / AFP Three years after being ousted from power following a tumultuous period of infighting in which two prime ministers were deposed, Australia’s opposition Labor said on Sunday it was ready to return to Canberra ahead of national elections. The July 2 poll is tipped to be a tight race, and could see the ruling Liberal-National coalition become ...

  LONDON / AP It’s often said that David Cameron is a lucky politician who has seemed to coast through politics on instinct and charm during a career that has culminated in six years as British prime minister. But now his luck may be running out. In calling a referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union, Cameron has made a ...

  Rome / AFP Voters in the Italian capital went to the polls on Sunday with all signs indicating that they will elect Virginia Raggi as the first female mayor of the Eternal City. Raggi, a 37-year-old lawyer and local councillor, has leapt from anonymity to become one of the best-known faces in Italian politics in the space of only ...

  MOSCOW / AP The Russian military on Sunday rejected the Pentagon’s accusations that it had deliberately targeted US-backed Syrian opposition forces, arguing the US had failed to warn about their locations. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said the area targeted in the strike was more than 300 kilometers away from locations earlier designated by the US ...

  London / AFP WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange starts his fifth year camped out in the Ecuadoran embassy in London on Sunday, an occasion his supporters intend to mark with events celebrating whistleblowers. Supporters said they were planning to stage songs, speeches and readings in several European cities. Assange, 44, is wanted for questioning over a 2010 rape allegation in ...

  BEIJING / AP Residents in a village in southern China where police have been deployed took to the streets on Sunday to protest the detention of the village’s democratically elected leader and historic seizures of land. The protests in Wukan come nearly five years after an uprising there made the fishing village in Guangdong province, next to Hong Kong, an ...

  Beirut / AFP Eight displaced Syrians, including four children, were killed by Turkish border guards while trying to flee their war-torn country on Sunday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The National Coalition umbrella opposition group—based in Istanbul and backed by Turkey—gave a higher toll of 11 killed and condemned the “terrible tragedy.” Turkey has repeatedly denied ...

WASHINGTON We Americans have a confused and contradictory relationship with vacation. In theory; we love it; in practice, we often dread it. So much expectation is heaped on a few weeks of free time that disappointment, if not inevitable, is common. Worse, our escape from the job and daily routine fills us with anxiety that, somehow, this interlude will inflict ...

Serious prospect of Britain leaving the European Union could trigger a domino effect within the UK itself, as Scotland could opt for another referendum, with intention to secede from the UK to join the EU. At worst, Brexit is widely believed to lead to a breakup of the UK if Brexiteers get their way on June 23. Northern Ireland and ...