Nepal picks first president rejects Maoist candidate

Nepal on Monday picked the country's first president rejecting the Maoist candidate in a move that could force the Himalayan nation's nascent republic into more political turmoil. Ram Baran Yadav, an ethnic Madheshi from the centrist Nepali Congress party, won 308 out of the 590 votes cast by the constituent assembly. It was the first major vote in a special assembly since lawmakers decided to abolish the 239-year-old monarchy and declare a republic.