Kathmandu, Oct 21: Nepal and India have agreed to amend the bilateral trade treaty within three months.

The agreement was reached during the two-day Inter Governmental Committee (IGC) meeting between commerce secretaries of the two countries in New Delhi on Monday.

“There has been understanding on issues in which the two countries want change in the trade treaty,” said Purushottam Ojha, Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies and head of Nepali delegation.

Islamabad, Oct 21: Deposed Pakistani chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has said he had many “secrets in his heart” and would share some of them with the public on November 
3 during his address to the Rawalpindi Bar Association.

Paris - Buoyed by a strong Wall Street showing and the French government's announcment on a capital injection for its banks, shares in Paris were up sharply in early trading on Tuesday.

One hour after opening, the benchmark CAC 40 gained 2.56 per cent, to 3,536.76, with gainers outnumbering decliners by nearly 6 to 1.

Banking stocks led the surge after the French government announced late Monday that it would inject 10.5 billion euros (14 billion dollars) into the country's six-largest financial institutions by the end of the year.

Johannesburg - At least six people were believed to have died in a plane crash near Johannesburg Tuesday.

Islamabad, Oct 21: US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher has said that the “Friends of Pakistan” will not offer hard cash to the strife-torn country to fight terror, because in the past it had been witnessed that the agreements (between Pakistan government and the militants) were not enforced properly and timely and “this helped the terrorists”.

“This will not be a cash advance. It is a strategic group to combine efforts being made by Pakistan and its friends. The goal is not to put money on the table, but to look as to how to supplement Pakistan’s efforts,” said Boucher after attending the “Friends of Pakistan” meet in Islamabad.

Frankfurt - Hanover RE Group issued a profit warning Tuesday as the round of market turmoil and hurricanes undercut the world's fourth biggest reinsurer's earnings.

German-based Hanover said in a statement a sharp fall in equity prices and an above-average burden of catastrophe losses led to a decline in profit to 30 September.

With the capital market crisis intensifying as the year has unfolded, Hanover said its profit forecast for the full 2008 financial year was "no longer attainable".