India PM meets IAEA head as nuclear deal clock ticks

Source: Reuters

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog head Mohamed ElBaradei met India's prime minister on Thursday in a long-scheduled trip as time started to run out for the government to press forward with a nuclear deal with the United States.
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The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in India on an ostensibly technical visit, sped away from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence without comment.

ElBaradei's trip came just as the government and its leftist allies faced off in an impasse that has threatened either to scupper the nuclear deal, or spark a snap general election.

In order to get the deal passed by U.S. Congress before the end of the Bush administration, the Indian government wants to negotiate IAEA safeguards by the end of this month.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071011/ts_nm/india_nuclear_dc