MOGADISHU, Somalia — A former prime minister who holds dual Somali-U.S. citizenship was elected Somalia's new president on Wednesday, declaring a new “era of unity” as he took on the daunting task of bringing the long-chaotic country its first fully functioning central government in a quarter-century.

Fears of attacks by the Islamic extremist al-Shabab dogged the historic vote, which was limited to lawmakers instead of the population at large, with members of the upper and lower houses of parliament casting ballots at a heavily guarded former air force base in the capital, Mogadishu, while a security lockdown closed the international airport.

“This victory belongs to the Somali people,” the newly elected president, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, declared after he was sworn in. “This is the beginning of the era of unity, the democracy of Somalia and the beginning of the fight against corruption.

“There is a daunting task ahead of me, and I know that,” he said.

Thousands of jubilant Somalis chanted the new president's name as cheering soldiers fired into the air.

Incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud conceded defeat after two rounds of voting, saying: “History was made. We have taken this path to democracy.”

The new president represents a generation scattered abroad by conflict who cautiously have begun to return to help Somalia recover.

Farmajo, who is in his mid-50s and holds degrees from the State University of New York in Buffalo, was prime minister for eight months before leaving the post in 2011. While he was in office, al-Shabab was expelled from Mogadishu, his campaign biography says. He had lived in the United States since 1985.

U.K.'s House of Commons passes bill authorizing Brexit

LONDON — Britain's House of Commons gave its final approval Wednesday to a bill authorizing the government to start exit talks with the European Union, despite fears by opposition lawmakers that the U.K. is setting out on the rocky path to Brexit with a sketchy road map.

As the votes were being tallied, a few pro-EU legislators whistled Beethoven's “Ode to Joy,” the bloc's anthem. But the decisive 494-122 result was another big step on the road to an EU exit.

The bill now goes to the House of Lords, which has the power to delay — but not to derail — the legislation; it should become law within weeks.

It came after three days of debate in which opposition lawmakers tried to pass amendments guaranteeing Parliament a bigger role in the divorce process and setting rules for the negotiations with the 27 other EU nations.

Court bars Russian opposition leader from presidential race

MOSCOW — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was convicted Wednesday in a retrial of a 2013 fraud case and given a suspended sentence, a ruling that bars him from running for president next year and appears to reflect the Kremlin's reluctance to let President Vladimir Putin's most charismatic foe into the field.

Navalny vowed to keep campaigning while he appeals.

Navalny was the driving force behind massive protests of Putin's rule in 2011-12 in Moscow, electrifying crowds with chants of “We are the power!” and saying at one point that the protesters were numerous enough to take the Kremlin.

Even after the protests fizzled amid a crackdown, Navalny came in a strong second in Moscow's mayoral election in 2013, with 27 percent of the vote.

Gunmen in north Afghanistan kill 6 working for Red Cross

KABUL, Afghanistan — Six staffers of the International Committee of the Red Cross were killed and two others are missing after their convoy was ambushed by gunmen in northern Afghanistan, the humanitarian agency said Wednesday.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest against the ICRC in Afghanistan, but local officials blamed the Islamic State, which is known to have militants operating in the area. The Taliban, which also is fighting the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, denied any involvement in the ambush.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility Wednesday for a separate attack — a suicide bombing Tuesday evening that killed at least 22 people outside Afghanistan's Supreme Court in Kabul, news agencies reported.

Man gets 30 years for role in plotting Texas attack

PHOENIX — A man was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday on charges that he provided support to the Islamic State group by helping two followers with an attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Texas that resulted in a deadly shootout with police.

Prosecutors were seeking a 50-year sentence for Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, an American-born Muslim convert who became the second person in the U.S. to be convicted of charges of supporting Islamic State. He was convicted of conspiring to support a foreign terrorist organization, interstate transportation of firearms and other charges.

His friends, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, were the only ones killed in a May 2015 police shootout outside a Prophet Muhammad contest in Garland, Texas, featuring cartoons offensive to Muslims.

Yemen seeks ‘reassessment' of deadly raid led by U.S.

CAIRO — Yemen's foreign minister said Wednesday that his country has asked for a “reassessment” of a U.S. raid last month that killed several women and children, but denied reports that his government has requested a suspension of American ground operations.

Abdul-Malik al-Mekhlafi said that “Yemen continues to cooperate with the United States and continues to abide by all the agreements.”

He added that the government “is involved in talks with the U.S. administration on the latest raid.”

He said reports that Yemen has demanded a halt to U.S. special operations are “not true.”

A Navy SEAL was also killed in the Jan. 28 raid against al-Qaida militants in central Yemen, six U.S. troops were wounded, and a military aircraft was destroyed.

War forecast: Forces fighting the Islamic State group should be able to retake the militant-held cities of Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria, within the next six months, Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend the U.S. commander in Iraq, said Wednesday.

He also said the fight for Mosul's western half should begin in days.

Kennedy seeks office: Democrat Chris Kennedy said Wednesday he will run for Illinois governor in 2018, bringing the name recognition of his family to a race to unseat GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner. Kennedy, 53, is the eighth of 11 children of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy, and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy.