G8 ministers fail to agree on Syria or N Korea

Foreign ministers from the G8 group of rich countries failed to patch up deep divisions over Syria or come up with a plan on North Korea during a meeting in London yesterday.

British foreign secretary William Hague, speaking after the talks, admitted the world had failed to resolve Syria’s two-year-old conflict in which an estimated 70,000 people have been killed.

“The United Nations Security Council has not fulfilled its responsibilities because it is divided. That division continues. Have we solved that division at this meeting? No. We didn’t expect to do so.