PHILIPPINES
Peace accord reached
President Benigno S. Aquino III announced Sunday that the Philippine government had reached a deal with a major rebel group that officials hope will reduce the persistent violence in the southern part of the country. “This framework agreement paves the way for a final, enduring peace in Mindanao,” Aquino said Sunday. The deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has fought a war of independence for more than 30 years, is the first step in working through centuries-old disputes between the Christian-dominated national government and the predominantly Muslim residents of the southern island of Mindanao.
LIBYA
Prime minister ousted
Libya’s parliament ousted the country’s new prime minister in a no-confidence vote on Sunday, the latest blow to hopes that political factions could agree on a government charged with restoring stability after last year’s civil war. Mustafa Abushagur was the first prime minister to be elected after the 2011 overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. He represented an offshoot of the country’s oldest anti-Gadhafi opposition movement, and was considered a compromise candidate acceptable to both liberals and Islamists.
TURKEY
Firing along Syrian border
Turkey and Syria fired artillery and mortars across their volatile border for a fifth consecutive day on Sunday, in one of the most serious and prolonged flare-ups of violence along the frontier. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had warned Saturday that Ankara would respond forcefully to each Syrian shell that lands on Turkish soil.
FRANCE
Religious tensions rising
France is boosting security at Jewish and other religious sites after blanks were fired at a synagogue and police accused a suspected cell of radical Islamists of ties to a grenade attack on a kosher grocery. President Francois Hollande sought Sunday to allay tensions between Jews and Muslims aggravated by a recent series of violent incidents in the country.
Compiled from wire reports.
