The leaders of the Philippines' biggest Muslim rebel group arrived in Manila on Sunday for a historic visit aimed at ending one of Asia's longest and deadliest insurgencies.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief Murad Ebrahim and other senior rebel figures emerged from their remote bases in the country's south to oversee the signing of an accord on Monday that outlines a roadmap for peace by 2016.

Armed robbers opened fire on a group of people as they left prayers at a mosque in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna on Sunday, killing about 20, a military spokesman said.

A resident reported that the gunmen were disguised in police uniforms as they stormed the mosque in the village of Dogon Dawa just before sunrise, shooting both those still worshiping within the building as well as some outside.

The United Arab Emirates is ready to evacuate a Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for further medical treatment, a top official said on Sunday.

"There is an Emirati plane ready to evacuate" 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, the official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity, adding that the plane would be ready to fly out of the UAE once "final preparations are complete."

Japan and the United States are mulling a joint military drill to simulate retaking a remote island from foreign forces, reports said, amid a festering row between Tokyo and Beijing over disputed islets.

The exercise, part of broader joint maneuvers to start in early November, would use an uninhabited island in Okinawa, southernmost Japan, Jiji Press and Kyodo News agencies quoted unidentified sources as saying on Saturday.

Germany's foreign minister called Sunday for tougher European Union sanctions against Iran, on the eve of a meeting to decide on harsher measures against Tehran over its disputed nuclear drive.

"Iran has not moved on any of the important questions over the past few months. Therefore, we must increase the sanctions pressure," Guido Westerwelle said in a statement.

Five of Britain's elite Royal Marines have been charged with murder following an engagement with an insurgent in 2011, the Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.

British military police had arrested seven Royal Marines last Thursday on suspicion of murder in connection with the incident.

A U.S. Navy nuclear submarine and a cruiser collided Saturday during training exercises off the U.S. Atlantic Coast Saturday, NBC News reported.

The television network said the incident involved the Montpelier, a nuclear-powered Los Angeles-class attack submarine, and the San Jacinto, an Aegis-class missile cruiser.

Thirteen people died and 26 were injured on Saturday when a passenger bus blew a tyre and collided with a minibus in Sudan, official media reported.

The crash occurred about 90 kilometers (56 miles) southeast of Khartoum on the road to Wad Medani, the main town in El Gezira state, SUNA news agency said.

A Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban showed signs of improvement by moving her limbs Saturday, the military said, though she remains unconscious and on a ventilator.

The shooting of 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who campaigned for the right to an education, has been denounced worldwide and by the Pakistani authorities, who have offered a reward of more than $100,000 for the capture of her attackers.

The incoming head of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said on Saturday she supported military intervention in Mali as long as it did not worsen insecurity there.

"If there is a need for it ... as long as it's done in a way that does not cause, create more problems than there are," she said when asked if she approved sending troops in to confront al-Qaida-linked Islamist militants controlling northern Mali.