Sri Lankan rulers notch legislative win
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka's beleaguered government won a key vote in Parliament on Thursday as a ruling coalition-backed candidate was elected deputy speaker, despite growing public pressure on the government amid the worst economic crisis in decades.
The vote was seen as crucial to demonstrate that the government still has majority support in the 225-member Parliament after 40 governing coalition lawmakers said last month they would no longer vote according to coalition instructions. It was feared that their move would significantly weaken the government and that it might also lose a majority.
Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, who was backed by the ruling coalition led by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, defeated opposition candidate Imithiaz Bakeer Markar. Siyambalapitiya received 148 votes and Markar got 65 votes.
Siyambalapitiya previously held the post of deputy speaker before resigning last month when his Sri Lanka Freedom Party defected from the government. But his party has agreed to work with the government to try to resolve the economic situation.
For several months, Sri Lankans have endured long lines to buy fuel, cooking gas, food and medicine, most of which come from abroad. Shortages of hard currency have also hindered imports of raw materials for manufacturing and worsened inflation, which surged to 18.7% in March.
Israeli knife attacker kills 3 people, flees
JERUSALEM -- An attacker went on a stabbing rampage in a town near Tel Aviv on Thursday night, killing at least three people and wounding four others before fleeing in a vehicle, Israeli authorities said.
Police said they suspected it was a Palestinian militant attack and launched a widespread search for the assailant, setting up roadblocks and dispatching a helicopter. The rampage, coming on Israel's Independence Day, was the latest in a string of deadly attacks in Israeli cities in recent weeks.
The identity of the assailant was not yet known. But Israeli-Palestinian tensions have soared in recent weeks, with attacks in Israel, military operations in the occupied West Bank and violence at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site. The site, home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, was the scene of new unrest earlier Thursday.
Police said they were still searching for the attacker. They called on the public to avoid the area, and urged people to report suspicious vehicles or people to them.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, praised the attack and linked it to violence at the Jerusalem holy site.
"The storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque can't go unpunished," Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said. "The heroic operation in Tel Aviv is a practical translation of what the resistance had warned against."
Guinea plans prosecution of ex-president
CONAKRY, Guinea -- Guinea authorities say they will prosecute former President Alpha Conde and 26 of his officials for violence surrounding his bid for a contentious third term in office.
The 84-year-old former leader was overthrown in a coup d'etat in September by a military junta that now leads the West African country.
The ex-president and his supporters are accused of several charges including complicity in murder, abductions, torture, and illegal detentions, according to documents from the General Prosecutor's Office signed by Attorney General Charles Alphonse Wright. He ordered the district attorney to immediately begin legal proceedings against Conde.
Guinea's electoral violence in 2020 killed at least 12 people in the capital and 50 people in other parts of the country, according to the document.
Conde's bid to extend his rule to a third term, after backing a constitutional referendum that altered the term limits, sparked violent demonstrations. He ultimately won another five-year term in October 2020 only to be ousted in September last year.
Though the ruling junta said in April that Conde was free to move within the country, the new charges likely mean he will be kept under house arrest. Conde currently lives in Conakry at his wife's residence.
Sandstorm sickens Iraqis, shuts airports
BAGHDAD -- Hundreds of Iraqis rushed to hospitals with breathing problems Thursday and the Baghdad airport suspended flights for several hours as a thick sandstorm blanketed the country, the fifth to engulf Iraq within a month.
Iraqi state media said most of the patients suffered respiratory issues as clinics across the country's north and west struggled to keep up with the influx. Authorities urged citizens to stay indoors.
Iraqis awoke to an ochre-colored sky -- and a thick blanket of dust covered the roads and buildings with an orange film. Visibility was low and drivers kept car headlights on to see the road.
Flights scheduled to depart overnight and on Thursday morning were postponed, an airport official told The Associated Press.
Flights resumed by the afternoon, when the dust began to clear.
At least 700 people sought medical care in Iraq's western province of Anbar, and dozens more in the provinces of Kirkuk, Salahaddin and Najaf, state TV reported.
A policeman stands during a sandstorm Thursday in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP/Ali Abdul Hassan)