Croatia's opposition-backed President Zoran Milanović, a critic of the European Union and NATO, overwhelmingly won reelection for another five-year term on Sunday, defeating a candidate from the ruling conservative party in a runoff vote,

The Philippines on Monday called on Beijing to desist from "escalatory actions" at a South China Sea shoal and said a protest has been lodged over the presence of Chinese coast guard, militia and navy in its exclusive economic zone.

Croats were voting on Sunday in a presidential run-off election, with incumbent Zoran Milanovic ahead in opinion surveys of Dragan Primorac of the ruling Croatia's Democratic Union for the chiefly ceremonial position.