Cabinet

TOKYO -- Japan's new prime minister lost no time yesterday in loading his Cabinet with scandal-tainted but powerful political warhorses his predecessor had disqualified from office.Including Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa himself, the new Cabinet and the new top ranks of the governing party contain five men stained by the Recruit Cosmos stocks-for-favors scandal of 1988, one convicted of accepting a bribe in the Lockheed scandal of the 1970s and one who resigned from a Cabinet two years ago in a sex scandal.

Maryland's William Donald Schaefer was cited by the Nationa Women's Political Caucus yesterday as the governor naming the highest percentage of women to his Cabinet.The group's annual survey found that Governor Schaefer had named seven women to his 17-member Cabinet, or 41.2 percent. Washington Gov. Booth Gardner came in second with 33.3 percent and Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson was third with 31.9 percent, according to the survey.Caucus officials said they were aware when compiling the lists that two women appointed by Mr. Schaefer -- Linda D'Amario Rossi and Adele A. Wilzack -- were resigning but were unaware that a man had since replaced Ms. Wilzack.

Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown refused yesterday to confirm or deny reports that he is being vetted by President-elect Barack Obama's transition team for the leadership of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "My focus is really on the work of the transition," Brown said after serving a Thanksgiving meal to homeless veterans at the downtown Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training. Brown, a Democrat from Prince George's County, is co-chairman of the president-elect's committee overseeing veterans policy.

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli Cabinet narrowly approved the newest "land-for-security" agreement last night, but added stern demands that may hamper full implementation of the accord.After seven hours of debate by the 17-member Cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was able to win only 8 votes in favor of the pact. Four ministers voted against it and five abstained.The agreement now goes to the Israeli parliament, which will discuss it Monday.Since the Oct. 23 signing of the Wye River Memorandum in Washington, Netanyahu has been trying to sell the accord to his hard-line ministers.

BAGHDAD,Iraq -- Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Nouri Maliki said yesterday that he will present his Cabinet to Parliament today, but he acknowledged that it will not include appointees for the key ministries that oversee the military and the police. Sunni Arab politicians who are a minority in the 275-member Parliament had threatened earlier yesterday to withhold their votes for at least some of the Cabinet ministers whom Maliki will name today. Maliki, a Shiite, responded by saying he would present his government but withhold his choices for defense and interior ministers.

READING ELECTION RETURNS as more a personal than party mandate, Benjamin Netanyahu formed a cabinet that over-represents minor parties in his coalition, raises moderates in his Likud Party and holds its hawks in check. As Israel's first prime minister to be directly elected by the people, he has behaved more presidentially than his predecessors from Day One.The Arab governments that have made or contemplated peace with Israel are understandably alarmed. But their summit in Cairo tomorrow, the first since 1990, should reaffirm their commitment to dialogue.

Gov. Martin O'Malley is to announce three more Cabinet appointments today, a day after a state Senate committee unanimously approved seven nominees and a new people's counsel for the board that regulates utilities. The picks require final approval of the full Senate. Thirteen of 21 positions have now been filled. Cathy Raggio, executive director of a suburban Washington nonprofit organization, said yesterday that she is to replace Kristen Cox as secretary of disabilities, an office with a budget of $6.8 million that drew attention last year when then-Gov.

With his transportation secretary already leaving, Gov. William Donald Schaefer has asked for letters of resignation from his entire Cabinet as well as all other high-level appointed officials of his administration."

MOSCOW -- The ministers who run Boris N. Yeltsin's government all submitted their resignations yesterday; then, when it seemed they still weren't being taken seriously, they stormed out of a session of the Russian Congress.They contend that the restrictions placed by the Congress of People's Deputies on Mr. Yeltsin's economic reforms will lead to financial ruin and the loss of billions of dollars of Western aid.By stopping reform, the Congress will bring down on Russia "hyperinflation, famine, social collisions and chaos," said Yegor Gaidar, the first deputy premier, who was among those who left.

Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. announced yesterday the nomination of former state Sen. Christopher J. McCabe as secretary of the Department of Human Resources, which oversees government funding of 24 local social service agencies and more than 200 nonprofit groups. Ehrlich also named Sharon R. Pinder as director of the Governor's Office of Minority Affairs, Jervis S. Finney as counsel and criminal justice adviser to the governor, and Dilip Paliath as legislative officer for the Office of Legislative Affairs.