Kathmandu, Feb 25: Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala today cautioned against adopting federalism without first giving serious thought to its pros and cons.

Speaking at a programme organized by Nepali Congress State Restructuring Advisory Committee here, Koirala said, "It is dangerous as treading on a sword's edge."

"There is a danger that the country may face disintegration if decisions on the issue of federalism are taken on whims. We have to take our decisions very carefully," he added

Kathmandu, Feb 25: Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda has said the government is committed to extend justice to victims of the decade long conflict.

Inaugurating the First South Asian Conference on International Humanitarian Law organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) here on Tuesday, Prachanda said the government is making deliberate efforts to form the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and investigate human rights violations and disappearances during the conflict.

Riga - The field of candidates vying to be the next prime minister of Latvia narrowed to two on Wednesday, with President Valdis Zatlers hosting talks with front-runners Edgars Zalans of the ruling People's Party (TP) and Valdis Dombrovskis of the opposition New Era party (JL).

The search for a premier has included nearly every high-profile Latvian political figure, including EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, who confirmed in an interview with the Dienas Bizness newspaper on Wednesday that he had been approached as a potential candidate.

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and the Left parties have always had an uneasy relationship. This is an irony because Sen subscribes to a fairly left political agenda of developmental goals. Yet, he is not a devoted disciple of everything Indian Marxists do and has on occasion gently chided them. The renowned economist speaks his mind and raps the Left for their partisan rancour much to the discomfort of the comrades.

A BJP-Congress government has interesting possibilities, but is impractical

A small news item that appeared in the papers last week may have slipped by most readers. It reported how the Congress, the BJP and the CPM had all joined hands in Sikkim to form the United Democratic Front, an electoral arrangement that will fight the Sikkim Democratic Front led by chief minister Pawan Chamling in the elections later this year. Sikkim politics barely makes news nationally. But this was an intriguing bit of news — the three political parties who are at loggerheads in a tie-up!

A parliamentary standing committee has slammed the ministry of defence (MoD) and the armed forces for "ill thought-out" manpower planning, which has resulted in a staggering shortage of officers in the army, navy and the air force.

The committee on defence headed by Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil has also blown to bits almost every armed forces excuse, including that not enough youngsters are attracted to the forces because of a lucrative private sector.