Haiti's new Cabinet was sworn in a ceremony that formally replaced the US-backed interim government appointed to lead the impoverished and conflict-torn nation after a 2004 revolt.
President Rene Preval said the 18-member Cabinet made up of members from six political parties was the result of a new "spirit of dialogue," and urged Haitians to work together to overcome the "mistrust" among Haiti's deeply divided political factions.
Friday's swearing-in of the new Cabinet was the final step in formally transferring power from a two-year-old interim government installed after former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide left the Caribbean nation for exile in Africa amid a February 2004 revolt.
"We are on the path to recovering our dignity and sovereignty," Preval said in a speech at the National Palace.
Preval, a 63-year-old champion of the poor who took power last month, has said national unity is vital to restoring security and allowing the withdrawal of a Brazil-led UN peacekeeping force sent to quell violence in the aftermath of the uprising.
Friday's ceremony was attended by the new Cabinet, outgoing interim ministers and foreign diplomats. Noticeably absent was ex-interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, who left the country for the US last month for personal reasons.
Paul Magloire, Latortue's former interior minister, said a leg ailment kept Latortue from attending the hand-over ceremony.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
Le Tuan Binh keeps his Moroccan soldier father’s tombstone at his village home north of Hanoi, a treasured reminder of a man whose community in Vietnam has been largely forgotten. Mzid Ben Ali, or “Mohammed” as Binh calls him, was one of tens of thousands of North Africans who served in the French army as it battled to maintain its colonial rule of Indochina. He fought for France against the Viet Minh independence movement in the 1950s, before leaving the military — as either a defector or a captive — and making a life for himself in Vietnam. “It’s very emotional for me,”
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Committee is to gather in July for a key meeting known as a plenum, the third since the body of elite decisionmakers was elected in 2022, focusing on reforms amid “challenges” at home and complexities broad. Plenums are important events on China’s political calendar that require the attendance of all of the Central Committee, comprising 205 members and 171 alternate members with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at the helm. The Central Committee typically holds seven plenums between party congresses, which are held once every five years. The current central committee members were elected at the