Cabinet

The Senate confirmed Edward T. Schafer as Agriculture secretary by unanimous consent. The former North Dakota governor attended President Bush's State of the Union address several hours later with other members of the Cabinet.

The Lebanese parliament overwhelmingly approved a national unity Cabinet that gives Iranian-backed Hezbollah a more powerful say in how the country is run. The Cabinet joins Hezbollah and its allies with supporters of Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. For nearly two years, Siniora's government had rejected the militant group's demands for veto power in the Cabinet but compromised after a wave of violence between rival factions in May. Hezbollah and its allies have 11 of 30 seats in the Cabinet.

The Sri Lankan government has decided to formally end a cease-fire with Tamil Tiger rebels that had largely collapsed since a resurgence in fighting two years ago. The Cabinet unanimously approved Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake's proposal to pull out from the 2002 truce, Media Minister Anura Yapa said.

In a government shake-up, Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou fired Economy Minister Gerasimos Arsenis and moved Foreign Minister Ioannis Haralambopoulos to a new post--Cabinet vice president. Actress Melina Mercouri kept the job of culture minister, while Papandreou himself remains defense minister in the new Cabinet, to be sworn in today.

Outspoken conservative Taro Aso took office as Japan's prime minister, promising "emergency measures" to revive the economy and vowing to keep Tokyo in the fight against global terrorism. Lawmakers elected Aso, 68, after quelling an attempt by the upper house to install a rival as premier. He stacked his Cabinet with fellow right-leaning veterans. The former foreign minister replaced Yasuo Fukuda, who struggled during his year in office with a politically divided parliament and chronically low public support ratings.

Insurgents ended their boycott of a new unity government and urged the international community to help make it work. But even as they filled their nine seats in President Laurent Gbagbo's 41-member Cabinet in Yamoussoukro, the rebels reserved the right to leave at any moment. "We ... don't have faith in Gbagbo," said rebel spokesman Sidiki Konate in Bouake.

RE "Cabinets: Think Redo, Not New" [Sept.6]: I refaced my cabinets about 20-plus years ago, and they are still fine. Now I've added a granite countertop, a process where a thin layer of granite is affixed to the old tile. No tearing the kitchen apart for me. Helen Rogaway via e-mail

The new president of this East African nation, Yoweri Museveni, who took control of Uganda last weekend after an intermittent four-year guerrilla war, swore in a Cabinet and political council Saturday. He promised to lead "a government of freedom fighters." The inauguration of the 12 Cabinet ministers and 22 members of the National Resistance Council was held on the steps of Parliament, where empty cartridge shells still littered the courtyard.

President Carlos Andres Perez appointed several political opponents to his Cabinet in a major reshuffling designed to broaden his support and overcome a leadership crisis. The president, under pressure to resign since a failed Feb. 4 coup attempt, shuffled seven ministers as part of a promise to cobble together a unity government. The changes demonstrated Perez's willingness to dump even valued ministers for the sake of polishing the government's image.

A stainless-steel cabinet containing 6,136 handcrafted and painted pills has set a record for the highest price paid at auction for a work by a living artist, an auctioneer said. Damien Hirst's "Lullaby Spring" sold Thursday for $19.1 million, auction house Sotheby's said in a statement. The sale propelled Hirst past previous bestseller Jasper Johns, whose "Figure 4" netted about $17 million last month in New York.