Ex-Rebels' Chief Chosen as Nepal's New PM

KATMANDU, Nepal —The leader of Nepal's former communist rebels has been chosen as the Himalayan nation's next prime minister.

Constituent Assembly chairman Subash Nemwang announced today that Prachanda — who goes by a single name — was chosen by a majority of the assembly's 594 members. He is chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). He defeated one rival — Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress party.

Mr. Deuba is a veteran politician who has been prime minister three times, while Prachanda led a 10-year Maoist insurgency in which more than 13,000 people died.