World briefs

PHILIPPINES Muslim rebels fled after freeing dozens of hostages from a school in a southern Philippine village yesterday and were being pursued by army troops, as a daylong crisis eased in the volatile region. At least four rebels were killed and two government militiamen were wounded in the fighting, which caused nearly 1,000 villagers to flee to safety.

THAILAND A man arrested over the bombing of an army hospital in Bangkok said that he carried out the attack that wounded 21 people as an act of resistance against Thailand’s ruling military junta.

SINGAPORE An auxiliary police officer who planned to join the armed conflict against Syria’s government has been arrested along with one of his colleagues, the Singapore Home Affairs Ministry said. 

SAUDI ARABIA’s King Salman yesterday appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince, placing him first-in-line to the throne and removing the country’s counterterrorism czar and a figure well-known to Washington from the line of succession.

EGYPT’s highest court yesterday ordered a temporary suspension of rulings by other courts on a 2016 deal that transfers two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, deepening the legal wrangling over the issue.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Clashes between armed groups in the town of Bria have left at least 100 people dead in the wake of a peace agreement signed this week in Rome that called for an immediate cease-fire.

ANGOLA Rafael Morais, a prominent journalist and human rights campaigner in Angola, says he and another journalist face charges of insulting the state for an article about an allegedly unethical real estate deal involving the attorney general.

PORTUGAL is close to containing the wildfire that killed 64 people last weekend, authorities said yesterday, as a minute of silence was held in memory of the victims.

GREECE’s prime minister said yesterday that his bailout-reliant country will “very soon” be in a position to tap bond markets again, which would be Greece’s first test of investor sentiment since 2014. 

ARGENTINA Former President Cristina Fernandez has returned to Argentina’s political stage, launching a new party and promising to fight the economic policies of her conservative successor.

BRAZIL President Michel Temer is being accused of organizing the distribution of about USD6 million of public funds into electoral campaigns. The latest corruption allegations came from key party fundraiser Lucio Bolonha Funaro.