INDIA: A woman and two separatist rebels were killed in clashes with Indian troops in disputed Kashmir yesterday.

Fighting broke out after the troops cordoned off a village where militants were hiding in one of the houses.

The rebels tried to shoot their way out, backed by hundreds of the villagers who poured into the streets to shout anti-Indian slogans.

Soldiers say the woman was killed in the crossfire, while villagers say she was killed when the troops fired into the crowd.

UGANDA: Scuffles broke out in parliament yesterday as a rumour spread that soldiers were hiding in prayer sanctuaries in the building.

MPs were debating a proposal to remove a clause from the constitution that says the president must be under 75. The beneficiary would be President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled since 1986 and is currently 73.

Opposition MPs arguing against the change have been removed from parliament by troops in the past.

ISRAEL: The UN demanded an “independent and impartial” investigation yesterday into the killing of paraplegic Palestinian Ibrahim Abu Thraya last Friday.

Mr Thraya died from a gunshot wound to the head. He lost both legs and an eye when hit by an Israeli artillery shell during its invasion of Gaza in 2009.

UN human rights commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said his killing was “incomprehensible” and dismissed the findings of an Israeli military investigation that cleared its troops of wrongdoing.

JAPAN: The cabinet approved the purchase of new land-based missile defence systems from the US yesterday, claiming the arms were bought in response to North Korea’s missile tests.

Japan will be the third country to host the land-fixed Aegis system, after Romania and Poland, where it is US-operated.