East Timor state of emergency extended

Dili: East Timor's Parliament extended by 30 days a state of emergency imposed after attacks by suspected rebels on the country's two top leaders.

The state of emergency, which bans rallies and imposes a nighttime curfew, was due to end Saturday, but after a request by the acting president, lawmakers voted 34-12 on Friday to extend it by 30 days.

The government said in a statement, "Criminal groups still walk free and are a serious threat to the organs of the state and to the people as a whole."

Also on Friday, over 1,000 police and soldiers paraded in the capital, Dili, in an apparent show of force following the February 11 attacks that critically wounded President Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.