Nepali King Gyanendra on Thursday reshuffled the Council of Ministers, or cabinet, by changing the portfolios of the ministers and appointing new ministers under his chairmanship.

According to a communique issued by the Press Secretariat of the king, the Council of Ministers has a total of 24 members -- two vice-chairman, 14 ministers and eight assistant ministers.

The king has made reshuffles of the cabinet by issuing orders as per Article 127 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990.

According to the communique, Badri Mandal, Prakash Koirala and Niranjan Thapa are the new cabinet ministers.

While all the ministers and vice chairmen in the council of ministers have been retained, the king chose eight new faces as assistant ministers in his cabinet. The newly appointed assistant ministers include industrialist Roop Jyoti, Yankila Sherpa, Chhakka Bahadur Lama, Golchhe Sarki, Jagat Gauchan, Nitshe Shumsher and Senate Shrestha.

The king dissolved the coalition government led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and imposed a state of emergency throughout the country on Feb. 1. He formed a 10-memeber new Council of Ministers under his chairmanship the next day and appointed two former prime ministers -- Tulsi Giri and Kirtinidhi Bista -- as vice chairmen of the Council of Ministers on Feb. 14.

(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2005)