Mexico's embattled attorney general, Jesus Murillo Karam, is leaving the post to take a new cabinet-level job as head of urban and rural development.

The outgoing attorney general has weathered scathing criticism over his handling of the Sept. 26 disappearance of 43 students in southern Guerrero state.

He had also been criticized for being slow to investigate evidence that soldiers killed about 15 criminal suspects after they surrendered in June at a warehouse near the Guerrero border.

President Enrique Pena Nieto's office announced Friday that Murrillo Karam would be sworn in as head of the Department of Rural and Urban Development.

An official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said his replacement as attorney general will be a former senator and electoral-law prosecutor, Arely Gomez.

Murillo Karam, a former governor and legislator, became famous for an off-the-cuff comment at a news conference in November about the case of the 43 students.

He abruptly signaled an end to questions, turning away from reporters and saying, "Ya me canse," which means "Enough, I'm tired."

The phrase was deemed offensive for parents of the missing students who, five months later, still have no concrete information on what happened to their sons.

Police in the Guerrero city of Iguala detained the 43 and allegedly turned them over to a drug gang known as Guerreros Unidos. Murrillo Karam claimed his investigations indicated the gang had killed the young men, burned their bodies and dumped the charred bone fragments and teeth into a nearby river.

However, a DNA match has been found among the fragments for only one of the 43; a final round of tests is still being carried out by a lab in Innsbruck, Austria, but is likely to destroy the remainder of the fragments.

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Mexico to Replace Embattled Attorney General

An entirely new kitchen is possible with Cabinet Refinishing by Kenneth C Lewis. Kitchen cabinets can be dressed up, revitalizing an older kitchen, or giving a newer kitchen the look and feel you dreamed of. Better yet, your kitchen project can be relatively easy and painless due to the process we have developed over the last 25 years.

Cabinet refinishing is a great way to save some money and still have a beautiful or elite looking kitchen. The cost can be lower if your cabinets and doors are in good shape. Decorative Possibilities for Your Cabinets are almost endless due to the fact we use the most durable commercial grade lacquer on the market. Many decorative effects can be achieved during any cabinet refinishing project with paint or stain.

Add New Doors and Drawer Fronts with Refinishing - It is very possible to combine new doors and drawer fronts with refinishing cabinets for a truly new design. This will bridge the gap between a full refinish and refacing, saving you money and still giving you a new look.

Refacing Cabinets - An alternative to refinishing is refacing. Although cabinet refacing is cheaper than all new cabinets, it is still considerably more expensive than cabinet refinishing. Cabinet refacing involves the replacement of the door and drawer fronts (with new) plus installing a veneer of new wood over the existing cabinets. This is usually done with your existing countertops in place if they are in good shape.

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Replacing Cabinets and Countertops - This type of work is a kitchen remodel and involves the replacement of the cabinets and countertops. Since the amount of work is extensive, this is your most expensive option. If your cabinets and countertops are in very bad shape, a full replacement is best.

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Cabinets - Refinishing, Refacing, Replacing - MA, RI ...

A day after Avinash Chander was sacked as chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said Wednesday that he recommended the removal and that the organization should be headed by a younger person.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the termination of Chander's contract with effect from Jan 31, 15 months ahead of schedule. Chander, 64, retired Nov 30 but was given a contract for 18 months till May 31, 2016 as head of DRDO.

"I recommended that a person on contract should not be occupying such a senior position. This senior position should be filled by other eligible senior persons. There is no controversy here," Parrikar said.

"I believe DRDO should be headed by a younger man... I had proposed for his removal and they have agreed to it."

Government sources said nuclear scientist Sekhar Basu was likely to be named the new DRDO chief.

Basu, who heads the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, was behind the nuclear system that is driving the Arihant-class submarines of the Indian Navy.

A search panel headed by the cabinet secretary will pick Chander's replacement from among top DRDO scientists.

Chander's sack notification was put up on the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) web site Tuesday but removed later.

DRDO officials said they did not receive any official information on Chander's removal.

Chander is widely known as the man behind the Agni series of missiles.

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Manohar Parrikar justifies sacking, says younger man must lead DRDO

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appoints former farm minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to the post as Nishikawa's replacement

KOYA NISHIKAWA. Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA

TOKYO, Japan Japan's farm minister resigned on Monday after being accused of accepting illegal political funds, in a first blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new cabinet.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Koya Nishikawa submitted a letter of resignation to Abe, which was accepted.

"Minister Nishikawa's intention is firm. As he said, parliamentary time, which should be used for policy deliberation, should not be wasted on his particular problems," Abe told reporters.

Abe added he had appointed former farm minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to the post as Nishikawa's replacement.

Nishikawa has admitted receiving a one million yen ($8,400) donation from a company run by a sugar manufacturers' group months after the farm ministry decided to grant a 1.3 billion yen subsidy to the group.

The donation has been seen as particularly controversial as sugar is one of the items being hardest fought over in negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade deal that includes the United States and Japan.

Nishikawa is also accused of taking a similar donation from a timber processing firm after it received a government subsidy.

It is the first resignation of a minister from Abe's newly-appointed cabinet, which took office in December.

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Japan farm minister resigns over money scandal

A War Cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers. It is also quite common for a War Cabinet to have senior military officers and opposition politicians as members.

During the First World War, lengthy Cabinet discussions came to be seen as a source of vacillation in Britain's war effort. In December 1916 it was proposed that the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith should delegate decision-making to a small, three-man committee chaired by the Secretary of State for War David Lloyd George. Asquith initially agreed (provided he retained the right to chair the committee if he chose) before changing his mind after being infuriated by an article in The Times which portrayed the proposed change as a defeat for him. The political crisis grew from this point until Asquith was forced to resign as Prime Minister; he was succeeded by David Lloyd George who thereupon formed a small War Cabinet. The original members of the War Cabinet were:

Lloyd George, Curzon and Bonar Law served throughout the life of the war cabinet. Later members include:

Unlike a normal peacetime Cabinet, few of these men had departmental responsibilities - Bonar Law, and then Chamberlain, served as Chancellors of the Exchequer, but the rest had no specific portfolio. Among others, the Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, was never a member of the War Cabinet, nor were the service ministers Lord Derby and Sir Edward Carson.

From the northern spring of 1917, the Imperial War Cabinet was formed. It had representation from the Dominions. Its members were:

Germany invaded Poland early on 1 September 1939, and after to-ing and fro-ing with French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet, an ultimatum was presented to the Germans and on its expiry war was declared at 11am on 3 September 1939.

On 3 September 1939, Neville Chamberlain announced his War Cabinet.

Dominated largely by Conservative ministers who served under Chamberlain's National Government between 1937 and 1939, the additions of Lord Hankey (a former Cabinet Secretary from the First World War) and Winston Churchill (strong anti-appeaser) seemed to give the Cabinet more balance. Unlike Lloyd George's War Cabinet, the members of this one were also heads of Government Departments.

In January 1940, after disagreements with the Chiefs of Staff, Hore-Belisha resigned from the National Government, refusing a move to the post of President of the Board of Trade. He was succeeded by Oliver Stanley.

It was originally the practice for the Chiefs of Staff to attend all military discussions of the Chamberlain War Cabinet. Churchill became uneasy with this, as he felt that when they attended they did not confine their comments to purely military issues. To overcome this, a Military Coordination Committee was set up, consisting of the three Service ministers normally chaired by Lord Chatfield. This together with the Service chiefs would co-ordinate the strategic ideas of 'top hats' and 'brass' and agree strategic proposals to put forward to the War Cabinet. Unfortunately, except when chaired by the Prime Minister, the Military Co-ordinating Committee lacked sufficient authority to override a Minister "fighting his corner". When Churchill took over from Chatfield, whilst continuing to represent the Admiralty, this introduced additional problems, and did little to improve the pre-existing ones. Chamberlain announced a further change in arrangements in the Norway debate, but this (and the Military Co-ordination Committee) was overtaken by events, the Churchill War Cabinet being run on rather different principles.[1]

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War Cabinet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Feb. 17, 2015, 12:30 p.m.

NEWCASTLE: Cabinet document shows government rejected advice about Newcastle light rail.

ROLES: Tim Crakanthorp, left, found the document, and Jeff McCloy, right, says he did not have much influence.

Read the cabinet papers here

A CABINET document that shows the government rejected advice from Transport for NSW about the best light rail route in Newcastle was found in former Liberal MP Tim Owens office, it has been revealed.

It raises questions about how the citys former backbencher came into possession of the confidential information and why Labor did not tell the public sooner of the discovery made after it won the citys byelection.

Labor MP Tim Crakanthorp, who inherited Mr Owens Hunter Street office, said on Tuesday that he had found the copy of the cabinet minute late last year in the back of a filing cabinet after he had given evidence to a November hearing for a parliamentary inquiry into the governments planning decisions.

He referred it to the office of the opposition leader.

During a visit to the region on Tuesday, Premier Mike Baird was forced to defend the selected light rail route as one chosen with the citys revitalisation needs in mind, and labelled as conspiracies claims the route was selected to favour the interests of developers.

Fairfax Media reported on Tuesday that Transport for NSW advised the cabinet infrastructure committee in December 2013 that its preferred light rail route was along the corridor for the heavy rail line that was to be ripped up as part of a Newcastle revitalisation plan.

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Rail document found in Owen office: Labor

A broad coalition of Florida news organizations and First Amendment advocates filed an amended lawsuit Monday against Gov. Rick Scott and three elected Cabinet members, accusing all four officials of violating the open meetings law in the forced dismissal of FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey.

The revised lawsuit lists most of the state's major media outlets, including the Tampa Bay Times. The Miami Herald was previously listed as a plaintiff, as were The Associated Press, Gannett, Gatehouse Media, Morris Communications, Orlando Sentinel Communications, Palm Beach Newspapers, Scripps Media and the Sun-Sentinel Company. Plaintiffs also include St. Petersburg lawyer Matthew Weidner; Citizens for Sunshine, a non-profit advocacy group; the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting and the Florida Society of News Editors.

Sarasota attorney Andrea Flynn Mogensen wrote in an introduction to the complaint: "This action seeks a declaration that the governor and members of the Florida Cabinet, acting in their capacity as head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), are subject to the Sunshine Law when aides seek to act for and exchange information among defendants as to decisions about hiring and firing the head of FDLE. Plaintiffs allege that defendants violated the Sunshine Law by using conduits to engage in polling, discussions, communications and other exchanges regarding the decision to force the resignation of the FDLE commissioner and appoint a replacement without any notice to the public, without any opportunity for the public to attend, and without any minutes being taken. Because the governor appears to justify this conduct by claiming it is part of a longstanding convention and tradition, plaintiffs also seek injunctive relief."

The lawsuit follows a series of reports by the Times/Herald about the circumstances of Bailey's forced ouster after a highly regarded three-decade career at FDLE, including eight years as commissioner. Bailey contends that Scott's former general counsel, Pete Antonacci, came to his office on Dec. 16 and told him he was to retire or resign by 3 p.m. that day, and that he was acting with the concurrence of all three Cabinet members. Scott and the Cabinet never publicly discussed removing and replacing Bailey. The change was made public in a Dec. 16 news release by Scott's office announcing his appointment of Rick Swearingen as interim commissioner. The four officials voted to confirm Swearingen as commissioner on Jan. 13.

The lawsuit asks Leon County Circuit Judge George Reynolds to declare that the Sunshine Law was violated, to issue a permanent injunction to prevent Scott and Cabinet members from engaging in future conversations about agency appointments outside of official meetings, and to pay plaintiffs' legal fees and costs.

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Revised lawsuit filed against Scott and Cabinet; Times joins suit

MADISON Gov. Scott Walker announced a number of changes in the ranks of his top administrators Monday, including the replacement of state Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch with former Madison Gas & Electric executive Scott Neitzel.

Neitzel, who abruptly stepped down as senior vice president of the utility company late last week, will lead the powerful agency, which is responsible for the states two-year budget plan, introduced by Walker in early February.

Huebsch is moving to the Public Service Commission, where hell serve as one of three commissioners appointed by the governor. Ellen Nowak, who is currently a commissioner, will replace Phil Montgomery as chairperson, starting March 1.

Bob Seitz, previously a spokesman for Gogebic Taconite, has been named executive assistant for the Public Service Commission.

Neither Seitz nor Bill Williams, the mining companys president, could be reached for comment Monday.

As we work to reform government, I am confident we have selected great partners to join our efforts to build a government that is more effective, more efficient, and more accountable to the public, Walker said in a statement announcing the changes. Your leadership and professionalism will be invaluable as we work to build a more free and prosperous state.

Neitzel will make $128,026 as DOA secretary; the executive position he left at MGE paid him $493,996 in salary and bonus. Huebschs salary at the Public Service Commission will be $129,000.

Walker also announced two appointments in agencies that he wants to merge in his 2015-17 budget. Tricia Braun, was named chief operating officer of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., replacing Ryan Murray, who left the job in November.

Murray now works for The Firm consulting group.

And Brian Schimming, vice chairman of the state Republican Party, was named deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority.

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Walker cabinet: Huebsch out, Neitzel in at Administration

REUTERS: East Timor's independence hero and out-going prime minister Xanana Gusmao will stay in the cabinet as investment minister, the government said on Wednesday, raising questions about the independence of the new prime minister.

Gusmao, 68, a guerrilla leader who helped end Indonesian rule over the poor half island in 2002, resigned last week as prime minister. Former health minister Rui Araujo was appointed as his replacement on Tuesday.

The president approved the new prime minister's cabinet list that includes Gusmao as head of a newly created investment ministry, which is believed to oversee planning, infrastructure and the statistics department.

"He knows where the money is. The parts that he has got seems to be the agencies that have the most control over the country's money," Charles Scheiner, researcher at Dili-based think-tank Lao Hamutuk, said of Gusmao.

"No one knows yet how much independence Dr Rui is going to have as prime minister and how much Xanana is going to try pull puppet strings."

Gusmao, who was prime minister for nearly eight years after serving as the first post-independence president, said he stepped down to allow a younger generation to lead.

Araujo, East Timor's fifth post-independence prime minister, said the new cabinet represented unity and consensus.

Former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta was not on the list of ministers who will be sworn in on Monday.

After decades under Indonesian rule, East Timor has struggled to develop economically since independence. Despite gas production worth billions of dollars, about of its 1.2 million people in poverty, the World Bank says.

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, after Portugal abruptly pulled out of a colony it had ruled for three centuries, and annexed the territory later that year, maintaining a heavy and at times brutal military presence.

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East Timor's Gusmao to stay in government as investment minister

Published: Monday, February 9, 2015 at 4:03 p.m. Last Modified: Monday, February 9, 2015 at 4:43 p.m.

Several news organizations have joined a Sunshine lawsuit filed last week against Gov. Rick Scott, according to a Sarasota attorney leading the case.

Eight newspapers, two television stations, two media companies and a nonprofit investigative reporter organization have joined the suit, which claims that Scott violated the state's Sunshine Law in communicating with Cabinet members about a controversial change in leadership at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Last week, Scott apologized for how his office handled the December dismissal of FDLE chief Gerald Bailey, the state's former top law enforcement officer. The admission came as Scott tried to quell a growing controversy that has dominated the start to his second term.

The governor continued to deny allegations made by the ousted Bailey that he was forced out, in part, for refusing to target an Orange County official in a criminal investigation.

Among the newspapers joining the suit this week are the Miami Herald, the Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel, the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, the Pensacola News-Journal, Fort Myers News-Press, Florida Today in Brevard County, and the Tallahassee Democrat.

Television stations WTSP Channel 10 News in Tampa and WJXX First Coast News in Jacksonville also joined the suit, along withe media companies Gannett Co. and Scripps Media and the nonprofit Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.

The lawsuit was filed last week by Sarasota attorney Andrea Mogensen, representing Citizens for Sunshine, a nonprofit group that has advocated for open government across the state but especially around Sarasota and Manatee counties. Other original plaintiffs in the suit were the Associated Press, the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and St. Petersburg attorney Matthew Weidner, who has called for an investigation of the replacement of Bailey.

The added interest in the lawsuit came after Cabinet members, given the chance to finally air their concerns face-to-face, seemed unwilling to push Scott too hard. Members of the Cabinet, which includes the governor, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Attorney General Pam Bondi, had been critical of the governor's office during the episode.

The complaint accuses Scott of using aides or conduits in polling the Cabinet on his unilateral decision to force the resignation of the FDLE Commissioner and appoint a replacement without any notice to the public.

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More news outlets join Sunshine suit against Scott