VOTE KILLS YEMEN WAR CRIMES INVESTIGATION

Bahrain, Russia and other members of the UN Human Rights Council pushed through a vote Thursday to end its war crimes investigations in Yemen, in a stinging defeat for Western states.

Members voted 23-18 to reject a resolution to give investigators another two years to monitor atrocities, marking the first time in the council's 15-year history that a resolution was defeated.

The seven-year conflict has pitted a Saudi-led coalition against Iran-allied Houthi rebels. Bahrain, China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia, Venezuela and Uzbekistan voted to end the resolution; Britain, France and Germany voted to support it. Ukraine was absent, and the U.S. has only observer status.