Sydney - Australia will not sell uranium to India despite voting with other members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to end a 34-year embargo on nuclear trade with Delhi, officials said Monday.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd took office in November pledged to withhold uranium sales so long as India remains outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). John Howard, his conservative predecessor, held that India's refusal to sign the NPT should not debar it from importing uranium from Australia, custodian of 40 per cent of the world's known reserves.

New Delhi - India had the political will to work with the newly-elected Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a message to the Pakistani leader on Sunday.

"In your new office, you will find a friend in India," Singh said in his message, adding that the government and people of India wished to build close ties of friendship and partnership between the two countries.

The nuclear-capable South Asian neighbours have had troubled relations since independence from British rule in 1947 and have fought three wars. They are currently engaged in a dialogue to resolve differences including that over the disputed Kashmir region.

Washington, Sept 7 : U. S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned that time is "very short" to get clearance for the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation deal in the Congressional session, which begins on Monday.

Hailing the waiver given by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Rice said: “The first thing is that we still have a little more to do on the determinations for the Hyde Act, and we will try to complete that.”

Rice made this statement at a round table with the travelling press in Algiers.

New Delhi, Sept. 7 : India has suggested to Pakistan open the Srinagar-Muzafarabad route for trade from October 1 this year.

New Delhi has also expressed its willingness to open new routes to boost trade across the Line of Control (LOC).

In an interview to All India Radio on Saturday, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said: "Our proposal for opening the LOC trade from October 1 has been forwarded to Pakistan and we are awaiting their response. Necessary steps will be taken as soon as we receive Pakistan''s response."

He also ruled out that the proposal for opening the route was connected in any way to the recent political upheaval in Kashmir.

New Delhi, Sept. 7 A 5.6-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of India, Afghanistan and Pakistan on Saturday.

The quake struck Afghanistan’s Hindukush region near the border with Pakistan, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The epicentre of the tremor was 66 kilometers south of Faizabad and it struck at a depth of 174 kilometers.

New Delhi, Sept 6 : India burst into jubilations as the 45-nations Nuclear Supplier''s Group (NSG) approved a U. S. proposal on Saturday to lift the global ban on nuclear trade with India, in a breakthrough towards sealing a controversial US-India Nuclear deal.

Supporters of ruling Congress Party celebrated the ''momentous'' occasion by bursting crackers and dancing outside the party''s office.