US blocks nuke-free world blueprint

Rose Gottemoeller, under secretary for arms control and international security, spoke for the US delegation (AP)

The United States, Britain and Canada have blocked a global document aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons, saying Egypt and others tried to "cynically manipulate" the process by setting a deadline for Israel and its neighbours to meet within months on a Middle East zone free of such arms.

The now-failed final document of a landmark treaty review conference called on the United Nations secretary general to convene the Middle East conference no later than March 2016, regardless of whether Israel and its neighbours agreed on an agenda.