The United Nations has rejected proposals put forward for a new international agreement regulating the use of cluster bombs in a vote in Geneva following two weeks of negotiations.
The United States had argued that its proposal to eliminate all cluster munitions produced before 1980 was the last chance to get the world's biggest producers and users - the US, China and Russia - to introduce at least some controls.
The proposal was rejected by a group of 50 countries from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America - including many nations that signed the 2008 Oslo Convention banning cluster bombs.
111 UN member states have already signed up to the Oslo convention and many of them regarded the US proposal as a step backwards.
US officials say it makes sense to bring in rules because up to 90% of cluster munitions stockpiles are held by countries that are not party to the Oslo Convention and have no intention of joining.
Those lining up against the US plan included the International Committee of the Red Cross and the top UN officials for human rights, emergency relief and development.
Humanitarian campaigners claim that anything less than an outright ban would be an unprecedented reversal of human rights law.
Cluster bombs, dropped by air or fired by artillery, scatter hundreds of bomblets across a wide area and can kill and maim civilians long after conflicts end.
