Israeli police: Motorist slams car into pedestrians
Israeli police: Motorist slams car into pedestrians
JERUSALEM — A Hamas militant slammed a minivan into a crowd waiting for a train Wednesday in Jerusalem, killing one person and wounding 13. Hours later, the Israeli military said a Palestinian motorist drove into a group of soldiers in the West Bank, injuring three.
The incidents and a similar attack two weeks earlier raised concern that Israel could be facing a new type of threat. Police said they would put concrete barricades in front of train stations as a first step.
Hamas said the Jerusalem attack was meant to protect the city’s most sensitive and sacred site — the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Police identified the van’s driver — who was killed by police — as Ibrahim al-Akari, a 38-year-old Palestinian. His wife said he was angered by a confrontation between police and Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque earlier in the day in which part of the shrine was damaged.
It was not clear how much damage there was at the mosque. Israeli police had dispersed dozens of masked Palestinians who threw rocks and firecrackers near the site in the Old City ahead of a visit by a group of Jewish activists.
WHO picks new chief to take over troubled Africa office
COTONOU, Benin — With nearly 5,000 dead of Ebola in West Africa, the World Health Organization elected a new director Wednesday of its Africa office, which has been accused of bungling the response to the outbreak in its early stages.
The new chief, Matshidiso Moeti, is a doctor from Botswana and a WHO veteran who stepped down as deputy director for Africa in March, the same month the crisis was announced.
The results of the five-candidate election were made public at a meeting of the U.N. agency in Benin and came amid the worst outbreak of the dreaded disease ever seen.
Moeti is unlikely to play a major role in ending the disaster, since the United Nations has already taken more direct charge of the control efforts. But she could be key to preventing another such crisis.
Ukraine to halt budget subsidies to rebel-held areas
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine will freeze budget subsidies for the eastern territories controlled by pro-Russian separatists, the prime minister announced Wednesday — a move that could worsen the already grievous economic conditions there.
Aging industrial operations in Ukraine’s economically depressed but coal-rich east have for many years relied heavily on state subsidies.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told a government meeting that $2.6 billion in state support will be held back from rebel-held areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. He did not say what time period that subsidy figure represented.
Yatsenyuk said the payment of pensions and government benefits to residents in conflict-stricken parts of the east will resume after separatist forces have surrendered there.
US stocks gain as price of crude oil rebounds
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks closed at a record, as energy prices rebounded and Republicans gained control of the Senate.
The S&P 500 index rose 11 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,023.
The Dow rose 100 points, or 0.6 percent, to 17,484. The Nasdaq composite fell three points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,620.
U.S. crude oil rose $1.49 to $78.68 a barrel in New York. It was the first gain for the price of oil in five days.
By wire sources