Key figures in Japan's new govt retain their positions.

TOKYO, June 8 (Itar-Tass) - The composition of Japan's new government,
headed by Naoto Kan, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), is to
be officially announced on Tuesday. Most Cabinet ministers have retained
their portfolios, among them Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defence
Minister Toshimi Kitazawa.
Yoshihito Sengoku, who earlier headed the National Strategy Bureau
(NSB), has been given the key position of Chief Cabinet Secretary. His NSB
post is now filled by Satoshi Arai, the Premier's longtime political ally.
Arai will be concurrently Minister of State for Economics and Taxation
Policy and head of the Agency for Consumer Affairs. As Finance Minister,
Kan has been superseded by the Ministry's State Secretary Yoshihiko Noda,
former right-hand man of the Minister.
Yukio Edano, Minister of State for Administrative Reform, has left the
government, upon getting the post of DPJ Secretary-General.
Koichiro Gemba, who was appointed to head the DPJ Council for Policy
Studies on Monday, has joined the Cabinet as Minister of State for Reform
of Public Service System. Gemba has been also assigned to be in charge of
matters aimed at raising birth-rate and ensuring gender equality.
Renho Murata can be referred to as the most vivid new face in the
govenrment. The daughter of a Taiwanese man and a Japanese woman, Renho
became a TV star. Subsequently she successfully engaged in political
activities. She received the portfolio of Minister for Administrative
Reform.
Only the following three persons resigned in the full sense of the
word: former Premier Yukio Hatoyama, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi
Hirano, and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Hirotaka Akamtsu. The
latter assumed responsibility for an inadequate response to a
foot-and-mouth disease epidemic that had broken out in the country's south
last month. He was superseded by the Ministry's State Secretary Masahiko
Yamada.

.Two ISS orbit adjustment maneuvers to be carried out Tue.

MOSCOW, June 8 (Itar-Tass) - Two routine maneuvers to adjust the orbit
of the International Space Station (ISS) are to be carried out on Tuesday,
at 04:10 and 05:45, Moscow time.
A Roscosmos (Federal Space Agency) official said the two maneuvers
would be effected with the use of four mooring and orientation propulsion
plants of the resupply spacecraft Progress M-05M, docked with the Pier
module.
"According to estimates made by the Ballistic Service of the Mission
Control Center, as a result of the maneuvers, the average altitude of the
ISS orbit will be raised by another 2.5 km to become 353.8 km," the
Roscosmos official pointed out.
The two maneuvers are part of the programme for the ballistic support
for the ISS flight. In all, three such maneuvers had been planned out. The
first of them was effected on June 5 to raise orbit altitude by 7.5 km.
The current orbit altitude is 350.3 km.
The Roscosmos official said, "The purpose of the (orbit adjustment)
maneuvers is to shape the ISS operating orbit in line with the strategy
for the maintenance of the ISS flight altitude and ensure optimum
conditions for the launch of the manned spaceship Soyuz TMA-19 and the
resupply spacecraft Progress M-06M and their docking with the ISS. The
launches of the spacecraft are scheduled for June 16 and 30 respectively".

.Four-point earth tremor shakes South Kuriles.

VLADIVOSTOK, June 8 (Itar-Tass) - An earthquake measuring 4.3 points
shook South Kuril Islands on the night from Wednesday to Tuesday.
The epicenter of the tremor was near Shikotan island on the Pacific
side while the focus of the jolt was at a depth of 90 km, the Geophysical
Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences reported. The jolt was recorded
at 04: 46, local time, on Tuesday.
According to Mikhail Mekerov, the Malokurilskoye Village
administration chief, the earth jolt was not felt on the island and there
have been no negative consequences of the quake.

.Olympic Museum to open in Sochi on Tuesday.

SOCHI, June 8 (Itar-Tass) - A ceremony marking the opening of an
Olympic Museum is to be held in this city, which is the venue of the 2014
Winter Olympic Games.
The Museum building, which is located near the city administration
office and Sochi State University of Tourism and Health Resorts, has been
constructed within several months.
The opening of the Museum, which will become a branch of the
Lausanne-based Olympic Movement Museum, is timed to coincide with the
International Olympic Committee debriefing session on the results of the
Vancouver Olympics. The session is under way here from June 7 to June 11.
Ten Olympic medals, won by Sochi sportsmen in different years, will be
the first exhibits of the Museum. Alexei Voyevoda, a resident of Sochi, a
bobsled pusher of the Olympic bobsledding team and bronze medalist of the
2010 Olympics, has promised to present his bob to the Museum.
Among other things on view will be an item that is of historic
importance to this Russian health resort city, namely, a fountain pen used
for the signing of the agreement on Russia's hosting Winter Olympic Games
in Sochi for the first-ever time.
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