World News Roundup: NATO exercise, Jordan flash flood, U.S-Russia nuclear pact

European members of NATO urged the United States on Thursday to try to bring Russia back into compliance with a nuclear arms control treaty rather than quit it, diplomats said, seeking to avoid a split in the alliance that Moscow could exploit

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

NATO urges Trump officials not to quit nuclear treaty: diplomats

European members of NATO urged the United States on Thursday to try to bring Russia back into compliance with a nuclear arms control treaty rather than quit it, diplomats said, seeking to avoid a split in the alliance that Moscow could exploit. In a closed-door meeting at NATO, Pentagon, U.S. State Department and National Security Council officials briefed alliance envoys on U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which rid Europe of land-based nuclear missiles.

Brazil's Bolsonaro scraps pledge to quit Paris climate deal

Brazil's presidential front-runner said on Thursday he would not leave the Paris climate accord if elected, going back on a prior pledge to follow the pullout by U.S. President Donald Trump, a role model for his anti-establishment run. Right-wing Congressman Jair Bolsonaro's decision marks a surprising about-face for a candidate who enjoys strong support from Brazil's powerful agribusiness lobby and has called conservation efforts a threat to Brazilian sovereignty.

Iraq's new PM struggles at first hurdle: forming a government

Iraq's new premier Adel Abdul Mahdi has had an early taste of the partisan politics he hopes to rein in, failing so far to win parliament's approval of a full government to begin to tackle the destruction of years of war and rampant corruption.

At a heated session on Wednesday night, MPs rejected key cabinet picks and accused some nominees of links to late dictator Saddam Hussein.

Thousands protest outside Madrid cathedral against Franco burial

Thousands of protesters gathered outside the Almudena Roman Catholic Cathedral in central Madrid on Thursday to demonstrate against any plans to bury the remains of former dictator Francisco Franco at the site. Families of the tens of thousands of his opponents who were killed or imprisoned during his near four-decade rule oppose his burial at such an emblematic site.

Spain's Supreme Court sends Catalan independence leaders to trial

Spain's Supreme Court on Thursday said it had ended its investigation against 18 Catalan independence leaders who will now face trial, likely at the beginning of next year. The prosecutor now has five working days to press charges related to an illegal push for independence of the northeastern region of Catalonia in 2017.

China says military will act 'at any cost' to prevent Taiwan split

China's military will take action "at any cost" to foil any attempt to separate the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own, the country's defence minister said on Thursday. China has been infuriated by recent U.S. sanctions on its military, one of a growing number of flashpoints in Sino-U.S. ties that include a bitter trade war, the issue of Taiwan, and China's increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea.

As winter comes, NATO kicks off largest manoeuvres since Cold War

Military forces from 31 countries began NATO's largest exercise in decades, stretching from the Baltic Sea to Iceland, on Thursday, practising military manoeuvres close to Russia, which itself held a huge military drill last month. As temperatures fell below freezing across training grounds in central Norway, giving a taste of what it means to defend NATO's vast northern flank, some 50,000 troops, 250 aircraft and 10,000 tanks, trucks and other land-based vehicles were ready.

Jordan says peace treaty unaffected by scrapping land deals

Jordan said on Thursday its commitment to uphold a peace treaty with Israel was not in question despite ending a 25-year special regime that allows its neighbour to use two parcels of land along its borders under its sovereignty. Jordan formally notified Israel on Sunday it would not renew the deal over Baquora where the Yarmouk River flows into the Jordan River and in the Ghumar area in the southern Wadi Araba desert where Israeli farmers have large plantations.

Saudi Arabia now says Khashoggi murder 'premeditated'

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said on Thursday the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate this month was premeditated, reversing previous official statements that the killing was unintended. The death of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has sparked global outrage and mushroomed into a crisis for the world's top oil exporter and strategic ally of the West.

At least 18, mostly children, killed in Jordan flash flood

At least 18 people, mainly schoolchildren and teachers, were killed on Thursday by a flash flood during a school outing near Jordan's Dead Sea in one of the worst disasters in the kingdom in years, rescuers and hospital workers said. Thirty-four people were rescued in a major operation involving police helicopters and hundreds of army troops, police chief Brigadier General Farid al Sharaa told state television. Some of those rescued were in a serious condition.

(With inputs from Reuters)