India-US talks regarding seal nuclear deal fail...

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...India and the United States failed to resolve their differences during three days of talks aimed at sealing a civilian nuclear deal that has been delayed by clauses that New Delhi says could limit its nuclear weapons program, an Indian official said.

One of the biggest sticking points has been India's displeasure with a clause that would let the United States halt cooperation if India tests a nuclear weapon.

Some in India also fear the deal could limit the country's right to reprocess spent atomic fuel _ a key step in making weapons-grade nuclear material _ and thus hamper its weapons program.

At the conclusion of talks with U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns on Saturday, India's top foreign ministry bureaucrat told reporters that the two sides have made "considerable progress'' toward completing the deal.

"There are still issues where there are gaps,'' Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said, but he refused to go into specific details.

"We are optimistic that we will make the deal,'' he said. No dates have been fixed for the next round of talks, Menon said.

In a statement issued later, Burns added the talks were "useful'' but that "more work remains to be done.''