News in Brief (7-6-2018)

FE Team | Published: June 06, 2018 22:32:24

Women dominate Spanish cabinet
MADRID, June 06: A female-dominated cabinet is taking shape as part of the new Socialist government, which is choosing a former astronaut as science minister and a European Union bureaucrat to oversee the country's economy. Nadia Calvino, who has been director general for budget at the EU's Commission since 2014, was confirmed as the minister in charge of the eurozone's fourth largest economy, Spain's private agency Europa Press reported. The agency said that Dolores Delgado, until now the top anti-terrorism prosecutor in the country, would be appointed as minister of justice, Isabel Celaa as education minister, and Magdalena Valerio in charge of labour issues. — AP
New crew blast off for ISS
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan, June 06: A relatively inexperienced crew of two astronauts and a cosmonaut blasted off Wednesday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a five-month mission on the International Space Station. German Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, NASA's Serena Aunon-Chancellor and Russian Sergei Prokopyev of Roscosmos shot into the sky in warm, dry conditions at 11:12 GMT for a planned docking at the space station on Friday. — AFP
NATO rejects Qatar membership plea
BRUSSELS, June 06: NATO on Wednesday declined an overture by Qatar to join the Western military defence alliance, saying membership was reserved to the United States and Europe. It was responding to a comment by Qatar's defence minister on Tuesday that his country's long-term strategic "ambition" was to join NATO. "According to Article 10 of the Washington Treaty, only European countries can become members of NATO," an official of the 29-country alliance said. — AFP
Kenya plane with
10 missing
NAIROBI, June 06: Rescue teams on Wednesday were looking for a small plane with 10 people on board that went missing north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the aircraft owners and the national disaster agency said. The plane, operated by East African Safari Air Express, took off from the western town of Kitale in the late afternoon Tuesday. It disappeared off the radar screens at Nairobi international airport, its final destination, around 80 minutes later, the owners, Sax, said in a statement.-AFP
Duterte threatens his critics
MANILA, June 06: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened Wednesday to resort to emergency powers and enforce them "to the hilt" to deal with relentless criticism over his human rights record, crimes and government wrongdoing. Duterte, who placed the southern third of the archipelago nation last year under martial law to battle Muslim militants, said "there's no difference actually between martial law and a declaration of national emergency." — AP