Liew Chin Tong The Malaysian Insider 25 June 2014

Todays Cabinet reshuffle should more aptly be described as a Cabinet expansion.

No deadwood was dropped from the Cabinet and more importantly, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak failed to present a new slate of Umno ministers.

Since the end of 2013, numerous versions of the speculated Cabinet reshuffle have been circulated after all major Barisan Nasional component parties concluded their respective party elections.

Most Malaysians who want to see the country moving forward were anticipating the following:

1. Would the conservative Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin call it quits to allow Najib to move Umno to a centrist position?

2. Would there be a full-time Finance Minister to handle the mounting challenges on the economic front?

3. As the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 incident has shown the world that Malaysia needs a new foreign minister, would there be a replacement for Datuk Seri Anifah Aman?

4. Would Datuk Seri Jamil Khir be dropped for causing distress to the prime ministers supposed centrist agenda?

5. Would the popular Khairy Jamaluddin be promoted further?

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Comment on Cabinet expansion confirms Najibs inability to revamp Umno line-up by Justice Ipsofacto

City of York Council to discuss bus stop plans for Exhibition Square

10:01am Wednesday 25th June 2014 in News

A MAKEOVER for the Theatre Royal bus interchange in the next stage of the Reinvigorate York project will be considered by City of York Councils Cabinet next week.

The plans are also part of the Better Bus Area fund and they aim to see a refurbished Exhibition Square re-open in May 2015.

This is when the Art Gallery is also set to reopen after its refurbishment.

Work on the 270,000 scheme for the Theatre Royal interchange will have to start this summer to meet the deadline, and will see more space made for pedestrians and bus passengers by reducing the size of the existing bus lay-by; two replacement bus shelters; real time bus information screens; as well as better seats for bus passengers.

Cabinet member for transport Cllr David Levene said: Exhibition Square is a crucial location for a number of well-used bus services, but the environment at the Theatre Interchange is currently poor both for bus passengers and other pedestrians using the area.

Through ring-fenced bus-improvement funds as part of the Better Bus Area programme, as well as Reinvigorate York investment in the city centre, the council will make Exhibition Square a better place for residents, visitors, and commuters to use and enjoy.

Proposals for the Exhibition Square aspect of the project will be separately taken to Cabinet in September and works will follow on from the Theatre Interchange project.

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Council to discuss bus stop plans

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) - Here is a list of road projects around the Heartland scheduled for Wednesday, June 25.

Butler County, MO

Route AA will be closed while MoDOT crews perform pipe replacement. The section of road is located between County Road 647 and County Road 602. Weather permitting, crews will be working Tuesday, June 24 and Wednesday, June 26 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Roadwork continues on Route 67 from CR 323 to Route 160/158 signed as Route C. Traffic on the existing Route 67 north and south of Harviell will not have an outlet to the new pavement during this time. East and westbound traffic will be restricted. Existing lanes of Route 67 from CR 323 to Route 160/158 will be signed as Route C. The north end of Route C (existing Route 67) will remain closed for about two months as work is completed at the intersection of Route 67, Route C, and CR 323.

Route Y is closed as crews are removing and replacing the bridge deck over I-55 until July 1.

On June 23, Middle Street from Broadway to Themis and the intersection of Themis-Middle will be closed as the Broadway storm water relief sewer work continues through this area. Depending on weather and other factors, this work could take approximately three weeks.

Route NN will be closed while crews perform pipe replacement. This section of road is located one-tenth of a mile from County Road 277. Weather permitting, crews will be working Wednesday, June 25 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Roadwork continues on Route 21 from Ripley to Carter County from US 60 to US 160 until Nov. 1.

Dunklin County, MO

Route 412 will be reduced as crews perform guardrail repairs. This section of road is located between Route U and Route NN. Weather permitting, crews will be working Tuesday, June 24 through Friday, June 27 from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily.

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Heartland road construction projects for 6/25

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) - Here is a list of road projects around the Heartland scheduled for Saturday, June 21.

Bollinger County, MO

Route H in Bollinger County will be reduced as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform pavement repairs. This section of road is located between Route FF and Route 34. Weather permitting work will take place Monday, June 23 and Tuesday, June 24 from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Route AA will be closed while MoDOT crews perform pipe replacement. The section of road is located between County Road 647 and County Road 602. Weather permitting, crews will be working Tuesday, June 24 and Wednesday, June 26 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Roadwork continues on Route 67 from CR 323 to Route 160/158 signed as Route C. Traffic on the existing Route 67 north and south of Harviell will not have an outlet to the new pavement during this time. East and westbound traffic will be restricted. Existing lanes of Route 67 from CR 323 to Route 160/158 will be signed as Route C. The north end of Route C (existing Route 67) will remain closed for about two months as work is completed at the intersection of Route 67, Route C, and CR 323.

Route Y is closed as crews are removing and replacing the bridge deck over I-55 until July 1.

On June 23, Middle Street from Broadway to Themis and the intersection of Themis-Middle will be closed as the Broadway storm water relief sewer work continues through this area. Depending on weather and other factors, this work could take approximately three weeks.

Roadwork continues on Route 21 from Ripley to Carter County from US 60 to US 160 until Nov. 1.

Dunklin County, MO

Route 412 will be reduced as crews perform guardrail repairs. This section of road is located between Route U and Route NN. Weather permitting, crews will be working Tuesday, June 24 through Friday, June 27 from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily.

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Heartland road construction projects for 6/21

After a week of deliberations the first government under newly-elected president Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi was sworn in on 17 June, led by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb.

The new government, the third since the ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July, 2013, increased the number of cabinet ministers from 31 to 34. Twenty members of the outgoing cabinet retained their jobs, including Minister of Defence Sedki Sobhi and Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim. Together with newly-elected president Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, these two influential cabinet members comprise what t many political analysts consider the real centre of power in Egypt.

Mehleb was commissioned to form a new government on 9 June, one day after ex-army chief Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi took the oath of office as Egypts new president. Under article 146 of the new constitution the government must resign after the results of the presidential elections are officially announced.

Mehleb, who led the swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday, told reporters he is not leading a caretaker government. The government will not act as if it is in power only until new parliamentary elections are held and new government is formed. It will make decisions for the long-term, and will be working day and night to secure a brighter future.

Mehleb said he agreed with Al-Sisi his governments priorities must include restoring stability and security, fighting terrorism, and improving public services. He dismissed rumours the controversial House of Representatives Law, ratified by outgoing president Adli Mansour on 5 June, would be amended. Instead, he said the legislative reform committee formed by Al-Sisi last week would take charge of revising legislation to ensure it conforms with the new constitution. The prime minister also promised the cabinet would also work towards promoting a religious discourse that disseminates the ideals of tolerance and moderation as espoused by Islam and Christianity.

The new government contained few surprises. The most dramatic move was the phasing out of the ministry of information, to be replaced by a National Press Council, which will oversee the regulation of audio-visual and print media as was envisaged by article 211 of the new constitution. Nabil Fahmis replacement as foreign minister by Sameh Shoukri, Egypts ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2012, left many commentators perplexed.

Al-Ahram political analyst Hassan Abu Taleb believes Fahmi did a good job improving relations with Washington and the African Union in the aftermath of Mohamed Morsis ouster. His removal, speculates Abu Taleb, was probably a result of comments made during a visit to Washington last March that the relationship between Egypt and the US was rather like a marriage, a comparison that played badly with both officials and the public.

That both Shoukri and Fahmi served as ambassadors to the US is telling, says Abu Taleb. It signals the importance the post-Morsi leadership in Egypt gives to relations with the US.

It is also noteworthy that Shoukri was Hosni Mubaraks information secretary from 1995 to 1999.

Laila Iskandar, who served in the outgoing cabinet as minister of environment, will occupy the new cabinet post of minister of urban development. According to Mehleb the new ministry will be responsible for improving conditions in slum areas and squatter communities on the fringes of major cities.

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Not a caretaker government

Broken

The belated confirmation of three Cabinet secretaries this weekfour long years after they were first named to their postshas temporarily obscured the problem that lies at the heart of the Commission on Appointments system. It will become obvious again, however, as soon as Congress returns next month. The CA has become a members club, where the interests of its members are placed ahead of everyone elses.

This was the same problem that defined the CA in the years before martial law, except for one substantial difference. Today, the CA, a special constitutional body composed of lawmakers from both chambers of Congress, actively undermines its role in the Constitutions elaborate infrastructure of checks and balances.

To be sure, CA members have justified their objections to some of the appointees in check-and-balance terms. But four years to confirm someone like Justice Secretary Leila de Lima or Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman? No CA member ever attempted a full-scale campaign to force President Aquino to de-nominate De Lima or Soliman (or even Environment Secretary Ramon Paje); instead, those who did not like the secretary-designates found other ways to delay or defer confirmation.

If something truly disqualifying had been discovered in the last four years (say, hypothetically, that De Lima had taken part in voter fraud in her election law practice, or that Soliman cannot account for millions of pesos disbursed through the Conditional Cash Transfer program), then we would have joined our voice to the clamor to replace them. But there has been no such discovery. Indeed, the main factor behind the delay in their confirmation (Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago versus Soliman, for instance, or Sen. Jinggoy Estrada versus De Lima) seems to be mere personal animus.

De Lima and Soliman (and other appointees only belatedly confirmed) are not beyond reproach; they are certainly vulnerable to criticism. But the Executives appointing power was not meant to nominate perfect candidates, but only qualified officials who enjoy the Presidents full trust and will implement his policies. The Rules of the CA stipulate that the commission is driven by only one impelling motive, which is the efficient and harmonious functioning of the government.

Even if we give the CA the benefit of the doubt and acknowledge that it can bypass an appointment, the repeated renomination of the appointee should properly be read as a signal to extend the same benefit of the doubt to the President as nominator. After all, he is forming his Cabinet, and the CA is bound, according to its own Rules, to accord the nomination or appointment weight and respect, to the end that all doubts should be resolved in of approval or confirmation.

What emerged from last weeks committee-level hearing at the CA, when Estrada questioned De Lima intensely, was the sense of entitlement that marks the members of this exclusive club. Letter-writer Romulo Macalintal noted Estradas outrageous suggestion, for instance, that De Lima should have approached each of the members, because it was tradition. Imagine that. When a nominee refuses to cheapen the process by knocking on doors and calling on each of the members, the members themselves see it as an affront.

No wonder a broken system failed to confirm someone like Jesse Robredo.

Breaking

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Editorials

By Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - Federal officials sought to demonstrate Thursday how much work has been done to replace Canada's aging CF-18 jets, but say the details of the evaluation will be kept secret while cabinet weighs whether to continue with the oft-maligned F-35 program.

Members of an independent panel that looked at what fighter aircraft are available as replacements for the 30-year-old Hornets made a public appearance to emphasize the depth and impartiality of their assessment, 14 months in the making.

That analysis, which essentially fact-checks the air force's market evaluation, has been turned over to the government. It lays out what each of the four contenders can do.

Separately, a committee of deputy ministers overseeing the replacement program has handed a recommendation to the Harper cabinet.

The government could continue with the F-35 program, which has been on hold. It could choose an open competition involving the stealth fighter and other aircraft, including the Boeing Super Hornet, Eurofighter's Typhoon, Dassault's Rafale, and possibly the Saab Gripen.

Rewriting the air force's statement of requirements, which critics say was rigged in favour of the F-35, is another possibility and one that could postpone a replacement decision.

No timeline was given, but government insiders said Thursday a substantive decision was expected soon.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons that the government found the report "helpful" and restated earlier pledges to make a decision in the best long-term interest of the military.

In April 2012, auditor general Michael Ferguson slammed the Harper government's plan to buy 65 stealth jets, accusing Public Works and National Defence of low-balling the cost and not doing their homework.

Excerpt from:
Fighter replacement homework done: panel

ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras oversaw a major cabinet reshuffle on Monday in response to his government's poor showing in EU elections last month.

The shake-up, aimed at reinvigorating Samaras's struggling conservative-Socialist coalition, comes just weeks after its defeat in EU elections to the country's main opposition, the radical left-wing Syriza party.

Syriza beat Samaras's ruling centre-right New Democracy into second place in the May poll, gaining more than 26 per cent of the vote.

The reshuffle saw the replacement of more than a dozen ministers, including health, education, development and interior, government spokeswoman Sophia Voultepsi announced on Monday.

Most significantly, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras was replaced by 59-year-old economist and university professor Guikas Hardouvelis.

Hardouvelis, a chief economist of Eurobank and previously a top economic advisor to former Prime Minister Lucas Papademos at height of the Greek financial crisis, is seen as holding similar pro-European, centre-left leanings as his predecessor.

Syriza made significant gains in EU elections on a campaign opposing the harsh austerity measures passed by the Greek government in return for a massive 240 billion euro ($330 billion) bailout funded jointly by the European Union and the IMF.

Syriza's 39-year-old leader Alexis Tsipras called the vote a "referendum" on austerity.

Following Syriza's victory, speculation has been rife that Stournaras, who played a key role in the EU and IMF bailout negotiations, may be replaced.

But it is unlikely that Hardouvelis will depart from the course set out by his predecessor, and is expected to continue to implement the conditions set out by the terms of joint EU and IMF bailout.

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Greek PM reshuffles government after poor showing in EU polls

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Replacement Cabinet Doors: Find the Perfect Replacement ...

Pyongyang, June 10 (KCNA) -- The south Korean internet newspaper Voice of People Monday carried an editorial disclosing the true intention sought by Park Geun Hye by replacing the publicity chief of Chongwadae with a new man.

The editorial said Park replaced the chief under the pressure of the public but she appointed a pro-"government" person to the post.

The new chief is a guy who was censured for kowtowing to power since the Lee Myung Bak regime and causing a furor for censoring anti-"government" articles right after Park took office, the editorial said, adding:

Chongwadae is calling for cabinet reshuffle, but there is nothing to expect from Park's personnel policy.

No matter how frequently Park may change her confidants, nothing will change unless she changes her ruling mode.

The appointment of another confidant in the wake of the appointment of Kim Kwan Jin and Han Min Gu signifies that there will be no change in her future state administration.

The editorial inquired Park until when she is going to keep the state of misunderstanding and self-complacence though the public mindset against her was confirmed through the recent elections.

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Replacement of Chongwadae Publicity Chief by Park Geun Hye Censured