L A T E S T      N E W S

Govt offers to put FDI decision on hold

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today told Opposition leaders, including Sushma Swaraj and Sitaram Yechury, that the decision on allowing FDI in retail was being put on hold and a final decision would be taken only after consulting all Opposition parties.

"The government is willing to keep the decision in suspension. It will take a final decision only after consultations with all Opposition parties and the stakeholders," sources said after Mukherjee spoke to Swaraj, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, and CPI (M) MP Yechury this morning.

Swaraj is believed to have told Mukherjee that the government should come out with a statement on the issue, which has created a logjam in Parliamentary for several days now.

Yechury is understood to have told the Finance Minister that an all-party meeting be convened before the next sitting of Parliament on Wednesday, during which the parties could be informed about the decision.

An announcement could then be made in Parliament, the sources said, adding that the all-party meeting could be held on Wednesday morning before the proceedings begin.

Mukherjee had last week told an all-party meeting, which had asked the government to reverse the FDI decision, that he would get back to them after he consulted the Prime Minister and the Union Cabinet which had taken the decision.

Yechury is understood to have told Mukherjee today that it would be in fitness of things that all political parties are informed about keeping the decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in retail in abeyance.

The Opposition, however, is still firm on having a discussion in Parliament on major issues like price rise and black money under rules which entail voting, the sources said. — PTI

Pak wants equal treatment on Australian uranium

Melbourne: A day after Australia's ruling Labor Party approved uranium sale to India, Pakistan has demanded it be allowed to buy the nuclear raw material if Gillard administration proceeds with sales of yellowcake to India. Pak's High Commissioner to Australia, Abdul Malik Abdullah, said if Australia is willing to export uranium to India then it should sell it to Pakistan as well. 

Assange wins legal round against extradition

LONDON: Britain’s High Court on Monday gave Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, permission to appeal against his extradition from the UK to Sweden.

Swedish authorities want to question the 40-year-old Australian over accusations of rape and sexual assault made by two female former WikiLeaks volunteers during a visit there in August 2010. 

Assange, who has been living in Britain since his arrest here in December last year, denies wrongdoing. He can now take his year-long legal fight to Britain’s Supreme Court, the highest court in the land. — Reuters