A UN General Assembly committee has approved a resolution calling for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons, despite strong opposition from nuclear-armed nations and their allies. The resolution was adopted yesterday by a majority vote at the General Assembly's First Committee on Disarmament. 123 countries voted in favor of the resolution, while 38 voted against. 16 countries abstained. <br/><br/>The United States, Russia, Israel, France and the United Kingdom were among the countries voting against the measure. The resolution now goes to a full General Assembly vote in December. If adopted, treaty negotiations will start in March. The resolution aims to set up a conference in March 2017 to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.