Policemen were seen outside Villa Elfvik Strand conference centre in Sweden where US-North Korea nuclear talks took place on October 5. Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP
Nuclear talks between North Korea and the US in Sweden has failed to produce a deal.
That's the word from North Korea's top negotiator Kim Myong Gil, who cast the blame on the US delegation's inability to "give up their old viewpoint and attitude".
"The negotiations have not fulfilled our expectation and finally broke off," Kim told reporters.
The US State Department, however, said those comments did not reflect "the content or spirit" of more than eight hours of talks.
"The US brought creative ideas and had good discussions with its DPRK counterparts," spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said, adding that Washington had accepted Sweden's invitation to return to Sweden for more discussions with Pyongyang in two weeks.
"The United States and the DPRK will not overcome a legacy of 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula through the course of a single Saturday. These are weighty issues, and they require a strong commitment by both countries. The United States has that commitment," she said.
Britain is working with allies on a range of options to support commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz in the face of Iranian threats, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said on Tuesday as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran roils oil prices.
Australia on Tuesday granted humanitarian visas to five Iranian women soccer players after they sought asylum, fearing persecution on their return home for their refusal to sing the national anthem at an Asia Cup match.
The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon has deepened amid the wider Middle East war, with 84 children killed and more than 667,000 people displaced, two UN agencies said on Tuesday.
Iran is fighting back but is not tougher than the U.S. military expected before the war, the top U.S. general told reporters on Tuesday, as the Pentagon promised its most intense day of strikes in the 10-day-old conflict.
British warship HMS Dragon departed for the Eastern Mediterranean on Tuesday, more than a week after Britain's air base in Cyprus was attacked by a drone in the aftermath of the United States and Israel launching attacks against Iran.