Around the World: Nepal

Maoists head to victory

Nepal's Maoists were marching to victory in the Himalayan nation's first election in nine years, latest tallies showed yesterday, a result almost nobody had expected.

The Maoists, who ended an insurgency two years ago and entered electoral politics, had won 44 of the 81 seats declared so far and were also leading by a similar proportion in other constituencies where counting was continuing, election officials said.