A bomb has exploded at a bus-stop in the Thai capital Bangkok, killing one person. The blast was in an area that was occupied by anti-government "red-shirt" protesters for weeks until the army was sent in on May 19th. It’s not clear if the bombing was connected to a by-election in Bangkok, in which a leader of the protest was standing despite being in jail. The by-election was the first test of voters’ opinion since the red-shirt protest was suppressed with the loss of 90 lives. Preliminary results suggested the vote was won by the government’s candidate.

President Sebastian Pinera of Chile has rejected a proposal by the Roman Catholic Church that he pardon members of the armed force convicted of human rights abuses during military rule in the 1970s and 80s. President Pinera said the proposal had created tension and opened old wounds in Chile. Individual cases will be considered, but not if they involve crimes against humanity and other serious offenses such as murder and terrorism.

Reports from Yemen say six soldiers have been killed in an attack in the south of the country. The reports quote local officials in Shabwa province which contains many of Yemen’s oil facilities.

World News from the BBC.

A North African militant group has been reported of saying that it has killed a French hostage it was holding. A leader of the group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said in a recording broadcast on al-Jazeera television that Michel Germaneau was killed on Saturday in revenge for the killing of six group members during a raid to free the hostage by French and Mauritanian troops.