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From today's featured article

An Australian infantryman at Labuan airstrip on 10 June 1945

The Battle of Labuan was fought between Allied and Japanese forces in June 1945 during World War II on the island of Labuan, as part of the Australian invasion of North Borneo. Following weeks of air attacks and a short naval bombardment, the 24th Brigade landed on Labuan on 10 June and quickly captured the island's harbour and main airfield. The greatly outnumbered Japanese garrison was concentrated in a fortified position, and offered little resistance to the landing. The initial attempts to penetrate the Japanese position were not successful, and the area was subjected to a heavy bombardment. A Japanese raiding force attacked Allied positions on 21 June, but was defeated. Later that day, Australian forces overwhelmed the Japanese position, and by mid-July, Australian patrols had killed or captured the remaining Japanese troops on the island. A total of 389 Japanese personnel were killed on Labuan and 11 were captured; Australian casualties included 34 killed. After securing the island, the Allies developed Labuan into a significant base and provided assistance to thousands of civilians who had been rendered homeless by the pre-invasion bombardment. Following the war, a major Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery was established on Labuan. (Full article...)

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In the news

In the Turkish general election, the Justice and Development Party (leader Ahmet Davutoğlu pictured) loses its parliamentary majority.
In horse racing, American Pharoah wins the Belmont Stakes to become the first US Triple Crown winner since 1978, and in the UK, Golden Horn wins the Epsom Derby.
In association football, the UEFA Champions League concludes with Barcelona defeating Juventus in the final.
At least 18 people are killed on Mount Kinabalu after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia.
More than 200 people are killed in the explosion of a petrol station in Accra, Ghana, which was being used as a shelter from several days of flooding.
Sepp Blatter announces his resignation as president of FIFA in the wake of corruption indictments of FIFA officials.

On this day...

June 10: Portugal Day

1829 – In rowing, Oxford defeated Cambridge in the first Boat Race (2002 race pictured) held on the Thames in London.
1865 – Richard Wagner's revolutionary Tristan und Isolde received its premiere in Munich.
1925 – The United Church of Canada, the country's largest Protestant church, held its inaugural service in Toronto's Mutual Street Arena.
1957 – Led by John Diefenbaker, the Progressive Conservative Party won a plurality of the seats in the Canadian House of Commons in the federal election, bringing an end to 22 years of Liberal Party rule.
2008 – War in Afghanistan: An airstrike by the United States resulted in the deaths of eleven paramilitary troops of the Pakistan Army Frontier Corps and eight Taliban fighters in Pakistan's tribal areas.

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A typical landscape of the rural Alentejo region of Portugal, with an undulating wheat field and a solitary suber oak.

Photograph: Joaquim Alves Gaspar

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