HAN hails polls

KATHMANDU: April 10 will go down the history of Nepal as a memorable day as the CA elections were held successfully, stated a press release issued here today by Hotel Association

of Nepal (HAN). “The CA elections were the significant logical outcome of the people’s movement that has demonstrated the will of people for sustained peace and stability,” HAN said. It hoped that the newly elected CA would protect the fundamental rights of all sectors, castes and gender. — HNS

Australia, India FTA

SYDNEY: Australia and India will begin talks next week on the possibility of a FTA, Australian trade minister Simon Crean said Friday. Crean said the two countries had agreed on a framework for the free trade feasibility study after the Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh

personally approved the terms of reference. — AFP

G8 action on warming

TOKYO: The prime ministers of Japan and France said on Friday they wanted to put global warming high on the agenda for the Group of Eight summit and hailed nuclear power as a way to reduce carbon emissions. Japan will host the G8 summit in the northern mountain resort of Toyako from July 7 to 9, days after France takes over the rotating presidency of the EU. — AFP

‘Narrow disparities’

Singapore: Asia must work harder to narrow economic and social disparities that remain despite the region’s economic boom, the head of Brunei’s economic development board said here today. While Asian economies have resumed strong economic growth 10 years after the 1997-1998 financial crisis, the per capita income of the region’s richest country, Japan, is 200 times that of its poorest nation, Timothy Ong said. —AFP