The prime minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry, resigned his position on Thursday, paving the way for a new government to be formed in the Caribbean country.

According to CBS News, Henry presented his resignation in a letter dated April 24 and signed in Los Angeles by his office.
The development occurred the same day a council tasked with choosing a new prime minister and cabinet for Haiti was due to be sworn in.

The interim council was set to be installed more than a month after Caribbean leaders announced its creation, following an emergency meeting to tackle Haiti’s spiralling and parallel political and crime crises.

The nine-member council, of which seven have voting powers, is also expected to help set the agenda of a new cabinet. It will also appoint a provisional electoral commission, a requirement before elections can take place, and establish a national security council.

Haiti has been facing security challenges since February.

Recall that gangs launched coordinated attacks in the capital, Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.

The assailants burned police stations and hospitals opened fire on the main international airport that has remained closed since early March, and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

Lawmakers in the US House of Representatives passed legislation Saturday to provide key aid to Ukraine and Israel and bolster Taiwan while also threatening a ban on TikTok if it fails to divest from Beijing.

The bills, passed in a rare Saturday session, were approved in quick succession by overwhelming bipartisan votes, though they leave the future of House Speaker Mike Johnson in some doubt as he seeks to fend off angry far-right detractors.

US President Joe Biden welcomed the votes, saying in a statement they would “deliver critical support to Israel and Ukraine; provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, Sudan, Haiti, and other locations… and bolster security and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”

He praised lawmakers who came together across party lines “to answer history’s call.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky also welcomed the long-delayed aid package, saying the military and economic assistance would “save thousands and thousands of lives.”

Not surprisingly, Russia took the opposite view.

“It will further enrich the United States of America and ruin Ukraine even more, by killing even more Ukrainians because of the Kyiv regime,” said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, state news agency TASS reported.


The US Senate could take the bill up as early as Tuesday, the chamber’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said. Senate approval would then send the measure to Biden for his signature.

The bills are the product of months of acrimonious negotiations, pressure from US allies and repeated pleas for assistance from Zelensky.

The United States has been the chief military backer of Ukraine in its war against Russia, but Congress has not approved large-scale funding for its ally for nearly a year and a half, mainly because of the cross-aisle bickering.

Biden and Democratic lawmakers in Congress have been pushing for a major new weapons package for Ukraine for months.

But Republicans, influenced by the party’s presidential candidate Donald Trump, have been reluctant to provide funding to Kyiv for the drawn-out conflict.

The financing of the war has become a point of contention ahead of a presidential election in November that is expected to pit Biden against Trump once again.

Johnson, after months of hesitation, finally threw his support behind the $61 billion package for Ukraine.


“To put it bluntly, I’d rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys,” Johnson said.

The handful of far-right Republicans who had threatened to engineer Johnson’s ouster if he pressed the Ukraine vote appeared to back away Saturday, at least temporarily.

“I’m going to let my colleagues go home and hear from their constituents” about their anger over the vote, congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said on CNN.

The Ukraine bill also allows Biden to confiscate and sell Russian assets and provide the money to Ukraine to finance reconstruction, a move that has been embraced by other G7 nations.

– TikTok ban? –

At Biden’s request, some $8 billion under one bill would be used to counter China through investment in submarine infrastructure and boosting competition with Beijing on projects built in developing countries.

Several billion dollars would be devoted to weapons for Taiwan, the self-ruled island that is claimed by China.

The first of the bills passed Saturday would force TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a nationwide ban in the United States, where it has around 170 million users.

Western officials have voiced alarm over the popularity of TikTok with young people, alleging that it is subservient to Beijing and a conduit to spread propaganda — claims denied by the company.

TikTok sharply denounced the bill, saying it “would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate seven million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the US economy annually,” a TikTok spokesman said.

A total of $13 billion in military assistance has been allocated for America’s historically Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

The money will essentially be used to reinforce Israel’s Iron Dome air defences.

More than $9 billion will be earmarked to address “the dire need for humanitarian assistance for Gaza as well as other vulnerable populations around the world,” the legislation says.

Officials of NATO, the European Union and Germany welcomed the passage of the Ukraine bill in the House.

The United States does not want to see an escalation of the crisis in the Middle East, a top White House official said Sunday after Israel repelled a massive missile and drone attack from Iran.

“We don’t want to see this escalate,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on NBC’s “Meet the Press”. “We’re not looking for a wider war with Iran.”

Israel was on high alert Sunday after Iran’s unprecedented attack sparked fears of a broader conflict.

Iran launched its first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory late Saturday in retaliation for a deadly strike by Israeli on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus on April 1.

Iran’s retaliation marked a major escalation of the long-running covert war between the regional foes.

US President Joe Biden has reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad” support for Israel, while appearing to guide its staunch ally away from a military response.

News outlet Axios said the president had told Netanyahu he would oppose an Israeli counterattack against Iran and that the prime minister should “take the win”.

Kirby added in the interview that the United States is “staying vigilant” to any Iranian threats to American troops.

“We made it very clear to all parties, including Iran, what we would do … and also how seriously we would take any potential threats to our personnel,” Kirby said.

Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles towards Israel late Saturday, injuring 12 people, the Israeli army said.

But almost all were intercepted before they reached Israeli territory, the army said, with help from the United States, Jordan, Britain and other allies.

AFP