Thai emergency rule extended

BANGKOK: Thailand extended a nearly five-year state of emergency in the troubled Muslim-majority south on Tuesday, as a bomb attack by suspected insurgents blew off a senior soldier’s legs. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said his cabinet had renewed emergency rule in the kingdom’s southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia for a further three months until April 19. But he said he would push at a meeting of the national security council next month for the imposition of a law granting an amnesty to insurgents in the south and their sympathizers. More than 4,100 people have died since the insurgency was launched in the region in January 2004. Emergency rule was imposed in mid-2005.

Pakistan soldier killed in Kashmir

ISLAMABAD: Indian forces fired across a cease-fire line separating the Indian and Pakistani parts of the disputed Kashmir region on Tuesday, killing a Pakistani soldier and wounding one, the Pakistani military said. The incident in Rawalakot sector in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir is the latest in a spate of border skirmishes in recent weeks that has raised tension between the nuclear-armed rivals. “It was an unprovoked firing,” a Pakistani military spokesman said. Pakistan had lodged a protest with India and called for an immediate meeting of military commanders in the area, he said. India said its soldiers were fired upon by rockets and machine guns from the Pakistani side for more than an hour before they retaliated.

Petition against Estrada rejected

n MANILA: The Philippine Supreme Court rejected a petition on Tuesday seeking to disqualify former leader Joseph Estrada from running for president in the May elections. Estrada will face another disqualification case at the election commission on Wednesday, but says he is confident he would be allowed to join the presidential race. “I am very confident, there’s no law that could stop me from running for president,” Estrada said by telephone. “These cases against me have no basis at all.” The Philippine constitution prohibits a president from seeking more than one term, but Estrada was ousted midway through his tenure in 2001 and claims he can contest again.

— Compiled by Arab News