HAITI
New prime minister named
President Michel Martelly has appointed entrepreneur Daniel-Gerard Rouzier as his prime minister, the first major selection of his new administration, Chamber of Deputies president Saurel Jacynthe said. A member of Martelly’s Cabinet, who did not wish to be identified, had previously said that Martelly had “written to the presidents of the two chambers of Parliament to let them know he has chosen Mr Daniel Rouzier as his prime minister.” To be confirmed, Rouzier must receive a favorable vote in each of the parliament’s two chambers, which are dominated by the Inite party of former president Rene Preval.
HAITI
‘Baby Doc’ summoned
Former president Jean-Claude Duvalier was summoned to a meeting on Friday morning before an investigating magistrate, Duvalier lawyer Reynold George said. He did not say which of the complaints against Duvalier he was referring to. Duvalier returned home in January after 25 years in exile and has been accused by the government of corruption, embezzlement of public funds and association with known criminal elements. He has also been subject to numerous complaints filed against him for crimes against humanity, including arbitrary arrest, torture and illegal detention. Since his return, “Baby Doc” has been able to move around the capital, although his residence in the hills surrounding the capital is video-monitored.
MEXICO
Fire guts cell block
A fire swept through a cell block in a prison in the town of Apodaca at about 3am on Friday, killing 14 inmates, Nuevo Leon State government spokesman Jorge Domene said. He said the wing had once been the prison’s psychiatric ward, but was currently being used as a standard cell block. He said the fire was under investigation and there were no further details. The blaze may have been caused by a short circuit, possibly in a television set, said an official with the Nuevo Leon State Public Safety Department, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the fire.
CANADA
Diana dresses up for sale
Fourteen dresses worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, including a blue silk velvet gown she wore to a 1985 White House dinner, will be put up for sale next month, their Florida owner said on Friday. The value of most of the dresses in the collection ranges between US$175,000 to US$550,000, said Waddington’s, the Canadian auction house that will handle the sale in Toronto on June 23. The blue gown, however, is listed at between US$1 million and US$1.25 million. Diana was wearing it when she famously danced with US actor John Travolta at a White House dinner hosted by former US president Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy.
CANADA
Harper visits Slave Lake
Prime Minister Stephen Harper surveyed charred ruins in an Alberta town on Friday where a raging wildfire destroyed a third of the homes and businesses. The fire forced the evacuation of nearly all 7,000 residents of Slave Lake last weekend, after strong winds suddenly shifted the flames toward the town. The prime minister got a look at the devastation on the ground and from a helicopter. He also met with emergency workers, exhausted firefighters and the mayor. He said afterwards that it was a miracle no one was killed.
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday. Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies last month after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. However, while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
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