Nepal's new PM sworn in

KATHMANDU: Nepal's new prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal was sworn in yesterday but only two positions in his Cabinet were filled because of wrangling over ministerial positions within the coalition, officials and analysts said.

Backed by a loose alliance of 22 political parties, Nepal replaced Maoist leader Prachanda who resigned this month after the president Ram Baran Yadav reversed his decision to sack the country's army chief.

Yadav administered the oath of office to Nepal, leader of the moderate Communist UML party, who served as a deputy prime minister in the country's first elected Communist minority government in 1994-95.