Sri Lankans protest premier's ousting
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- As Sri Lanka's president met with opposition lawmakers over a no-confidence vote against his newly appointed prime minister, thousands rallied in support of the prime minister he ousted, burning coffins representing what they called the death of democracy in the Indian Ocean nation.
Earlier Thursday, rival lawmakers exchanged blows in Sri Lanka's Parliament after disputed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed the speaker had no authority to remove him from office by a voice vote on Wednesday, when lawmakers convened for the first time since a political crisis began Oct. 26 with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's ouster.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya told the chamber that the country had no government and there was no prime minister.
Rajapaksa disagreed, saying "a vote should have been taken. Such important motions should not be passed by a voice vote."
He accused the speaker of partiality toward his party, the United National Party, led by Wickremesinghe.
Rajapaksa also repeated his call for fresh elections, suggesting that it was the best way to resolve the crisis.
The brawl broke out after the opposition asked for a vote on Rajapaksa's statement, with some lawmakers who supported him gathering in the middle of the house while others rushed Jayasuriya, tussling for his microphone.
Taliban attack kills 30 Afghan police
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A blistering overnight attack by the Taliban on an Afghan police outpost in western Farah province killed 30 police, Afghan officials said Thursday.
It was the latest in a series of brutal and near-daily Taliban assaults on the military and police forces, government and other installations throughout the country. The resurgent Taliban, who in recent years have taken over nearly half of Afghanistan, did not comment on the attack in Farah.
The attacks have been so relentless that authorities no longer regularly provide casualty figures, but unofficial estimates say that about 45 Afghan police or soldiers are killed or wounded on a daily basis.
According to provincial council member Dadullah Qani, the overnight onslaught on the outpost in Farah's district of Khaki Safed began late Wednesday and continued for more than four hours.
In Kabul, lawmaker Samiullah Samim said the Taliban killed all 30 police officers who were deployed at the outpost, including the district police commander, Abdul Jabhar.
Retaliatory airstrikes killed 17 Taliban fighters, but the insurgents still managed to get away with a large amount of weapons and ammunition, he said.
Court finds politics in Russian's arrests
STRASBOURG, France -- The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that Russian authorities' arrests of opposition leader Alexei Navalny were politically motivated, a decision that deals a blow to the Kremlin's dismissal of Navalny as a mere troublemaker.
Navalny hailed the ruling as an example of "genuine justice" and said it is an important signal for many people in Russia who face arbitrary detentions for their political activities.
The court's highest chamber found that Russian authorities violated multiple human rights in detaining Navalny seven times from 2012 to 2014, and that two of the arrests were expressly aimed at "suppressing political pluralism."
It ordered Russia to pay Navalny $71,000 in damages, and called on Russia to fix legislation to "take due regard of the fundamental importance of the right to peaceful assembly."
The ruling is final and binding on Russia as a member of the Council of Europe, the continent's human-rights watchdog.
Navalny told reporters that he expects the Russian government to ignore this ruling and dismiss it on political grounds.
20 U.N., Congo troops slain by rebels
UNITED NATIONS -- Eight U.N. peacekeepers and at least 12 Congolese soldiers were killed in a joint military operation against rebels in Congo's northeast, which is facing a deadly Ebola outbreak, the U.N. Security Council said late Thursday.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 10 peacekeepers also were injured and one was missing after Wednesday's operation that targeted Allied Democratic Forces rebels.
The Security Council's statement said seven of the peacekeepers who were killed were from Malawi and one was from Tanzania.
Congo's volatile east is home to many armed groups vying for control of the mineral-rich region.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on all armed groups to stop "their destabilizing activities" and "disarm immediately," Dujarric said.
He also urged Congolese authorities to apprehend and bring to justice the perpetrators of attacks against civilians, national security forces and U.N. peacekeepers, the U.N. spokesman said.
The secretary-general also gave strong backing to peacekeepers from Malawi and Tanzania "who continue to operate in an exceptionally difficult environment to protect local populations against the attacks of the [Allied Democratic Forces] and other armed groups," Dujarric said.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 11/16/2018