Israeli parliament approves state budget in preliminary vote

JERUSALEM, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israel's parliament approved the state budget in a preliminary vote on Thursday, after years of a political deadlock that has prevented the approval of a new budget.

The lawmakers voted 59-54 in favor of the proposed budget, a spokesperson for the parliament, or Knesset, said in a statement. The vote means the budget still needs to pass two additional rounds of votes before it gets