Haiti's Senate ousts prime minister

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Haiti's Senate voted early Friday to dump Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis.

The vote, which came just after midnight following nine hours of debate, was 18-0 after 11 members who supported Pierre-Louis walked out, The Guardian reported.

The prime minister fell victim to the Caribbean island nation's sluggish economic recovery from last year's string of severe storms. Her political demise came despite the recent involvement of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton.

Hillary Clinton had called Haitian President Rene Preval last week, intoning that the removal of Pierre-Louis, a former teacher in office little more than a year, would damage the perception of stability in Haiti. Bill Clinton told an investor conference in Port au Prince that political risk in the volatile country was lower than it had ever been in his lifetime, the British newspaper said.