WORLD NEWS

Nepal was set for historic change today with a new assembly dominated by former Maoist rebels poised to sweep away the Himalayan kingdom's 240-year-old monarchy and declare a republic. Security was tight in the capital Katmandu, with more than 1,500 police ringing a conference centre where the constitutional assembly is expected to sack king Gyanendra. Proceedings were due to start in the morning but a maoist spokesman said his party was still locked in closed-door talks with Prime Minister, Girija Prasad Koirala. He said the meeting will be further delayed until they reach an agreement, signaling the parties were divided on who should be Nepal’s first president. The constitutional assembly meeting will be the culmination of a peace process that brought the Maoists out of the hills and jungles of one of the world's poorest countries in 2006 and into the political mainstream. Katmandu has been tense ahead of the event, having been hit by a string of small bomb attacks this week. Police say they suspect die-hard royalists were behind the attacks. Hundreds of people defied a ban on protests and gathered at the conference centre to press for an end to Gyanendra's seven-year reign. Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said the king would have a deadline of seven to 15 days to vacate the palace. Gyanendra, was crowned, after the 2001 slaying of his popular brother Birendra, and most of the royal family, by a drink-and-drug-fuelled crown prince, who later killed himself. The former Maoists, who fought for 10 years to remove the king and create a republic, emerged as surprise winners in constituent assembly elections last month, taking a third of the body's 601 seats.